ICUity

I’m not sure but I would keep checking because I just got an email from our nurse educators that there would be a virtual meeting to meet the other people in the nurse residency group for MDA. I was hired in March, graduated in May, and began working at MDA as a new grad nurse in July. I haven’t had any residency classes yet bc I was told there weren’t new grad hires to make a group but now that I’ve been notified of a residency group, I’m guessing there are enough of us. There were 8 people in the email invite total, including the educators, so I’m guessing there may be 5 or so new grads in the whole residency group this time. But, I do take it as a sign that they are starting to considering opening up for the next round. I could be wrong but that’s my speculation.

I’m working at MD Anderson. I was hired in March (graduated in May).

I agree! Times are tough, and as long as they put thought into your individual training, that's what's most important. I was originally concerned to be starting work without residency classes as well, but my educators, managers, unit, and preceptor have put so much into an individualized training process for me, and it's been amazing. So I would suggest those job hunting to explore all options as well, especially if it's related to your field of interest.

I'm currently a new grad that started working in the hospital already but without a residency. Typically they would have me in a residency class but I think I was the only new grad hired this time and then they cancelled the Summer residency. I have heard from other RNs on my unit that the residency classes weren't really that crucial. Mostly stuff like self-care, adapting to the job, etc. More general stuff. They said the orientation on the unit is the most important. My educators said if there is an October or Winter residency group that begins, I can take residency classes with them once a month.

I don’t know if ICU will be hiring. I doubt it since they seem so busy and stretched thin. It does seem like they were planning to aim for a residency sometimes soon, though, since they told me I might have residency classes I can join in the fall or Winter. I would keep checking their website to see if they have an application open up. I hope that helps some!

Did you mean my job or what HCA was calling about? I didn’t catch the location if they mentioned one because I was handling a few things at work. For my work, I accepted the offer for MD Anderson ICU back in early March. It is a residency but they ended up not having a Summer residency group bc they stopped hiring I think. I still started my job last month, and they said there may be a residency class for October that I can join if they have one. I’ve heard from a lot of the other nurses the residency classes aren’t that big of a deal though, and the most important is the clinical orientation with the preceptor (which I’ve been doing).

I don’t remember if she mentioned the location. I was at work and a million things were going on ? so I just told them I took another ICU job. They were nice and said thanks for letting them know and good luck. Hope that helped a bit! Oh, and I was a May grad.

They called me on Monday about their ICU, but I told them I had accepted another offer (was actually at work when I answered the call).

This is what happened to me with HCA. They called me 2 weeks ago and told me they still are interested and asked what units and locations I wanted. They said they would be recontacting people in June for sure. I told them I accepted another position already, but they offered to keep me on their HCA list in case the other residency fell through.

Thanks! Staying hopeful for everyone's sake. If things can calm down with covid sooner, than all the residency programs can get back on track.

Thank you! I was so excited to accept the position, and now I’m just praying it doesn’t fall through. I didn’t work there but I had my first clinical shift there and had a great rapport with my clinical instructor that is an MDA nurse instructor. I accepted an offer for the ICU. As far as I know they are not hiring for Summer so it was a bit different of a case. She didn’t tell me how long the freeze will be, but since she told me my start date for the residency program will be 9/8, I’m assuming they’ll reopen interview procedures around late Summer when the Summer graduates are interviewing. I could be wrong, but I’m speculating bc that’s the only way I can imagine they would they have a fall residency class. Glad to share what I know, but I don’t know for sure anything other than my own start date is delayed.

Thanks! I applied at the beginning of March, interviewed and got an offer the next day. It was earlier than usual, so I don’t want to alarm anyone bc I don’t think they interviewed anyone else after that and corona hit soon after. I think they are probably fielding a lot of calls, and she told me the decision JUST came out today to push the residency to 9/8. I think the reason I got a notification is bc I’m in the system already (originally to start 8/17). I do think this is great news for everyone else though, bc y’all can keep trying to get a spot somewhere else, and if you don’t, you can aim to try to interview with MDA when they reopen the process later the Summer. I can keep y’all updated if I hear anything else, but I’m also trying not to rock the boat and bother them too much for fear of them cancelling everything for even fall. I’m already in the middle of my hiring process bc I’ve done my drug test and background test and filled out all my employee ID forms, and I am totally willing to wait. I’m just worried that something ELSE will happen or things will get worse and then I will be out of my job that never began. I turned down Methodist and MH ICU interviews because I had accepted this offer, so that will really sting if I lose this.

I really don't know which it is, if people are losing their original offers or if they're just delaying the rest of the offers and the program. That's just what my preceptor texted me because she wanted to give me a heads-up.

Hi all, Just letting you know, I received a call from HR bc I was supposed to start at MDA this Summer. I accepted an offer right before the quarantine began in early March. They are pushing the start dates to September 8th bc the Summer session is cancelled. I'm guessing that means they'll restart interviews later on in the Summer when things have calmed down. Wanted to let y'all know to give some peace of mind. I would try to go ahead and accept other offers if you can though, since who knows what will happen and which residencies are cancelled.

I heard through the grapevine (my old preceptor) that the people who got offers are being cancelled. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it is what I heard. I really hope not bc I have a lot of friends that are waiting on TCH.

I have a classmate that accepted an offer for their NICU level 4.

I think it is a good sign if they are keeping us informed! I will be withdrawing my application since I accepted another offer, so I'm not in the running anymore ? Good luck! Wishing everyone good news soon. Dear (my name), At Texas Children’s, delivering exceptional care to our patients, members and their families starts with taking excellent care of our people. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, we remain committed to those who entrust their health to us, to each other and to those in our community. As you are aware, the Houston area, along with the rest of the United States, is currently responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This creates additional uncertainty around our clinical needs later this Summer. As a result, we have made the very difficult decision to pause offers to our Graduate Nurse Residency Program until later this Spring. Please know that we understand that this organizational decision could have a personal impact and for that, we are truly sorry. If you have any questions in the future, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for interest in working at Texas Children’s and being part of our One Amazing Team. We appreciate that you took the time to interview with us and hope to connect with you again soon. Please stay safe and we wish you the best of luck in your final semester of nursing school, and as you prepare for the NCLEX. Sincerely,

I applied to PICU. I got the email at 12:53pm from the same person mentioned above. I had not reached out to them with questions or anything, and I don't work there.

It was to everyone. I got it as well.

Not sure about other Methodists, but I was on the phone yesterday with the recruiter from Methodist Sugar Land. They wanted to interview me for the ICU position that was my first choice, but I told them I already accepted another offer. They're still going forward with interviews as far as I can tell.

In case anyone is waiting for a call from Methodist Sugar Land, I just heard a voicemail left for me from them asking about their ICU. I already accepted somewhere else, so I will be calling them tomorrow to tell them I am withdrawing my application, but thought I'd post here in case anyone is waiting to hear from them

I received an email from Methodist Sugar Land ICU on 3/12 that went to my junk mail. I didn’t see it until several days later. It was saying they wanted a second interview with me. I responded telling them I had already accepted another offer, but they still sent me another email on 3/18 saying they would be contacting me to have a second interview. Not sure if they got my response about declining the interview or not.

Over this past year, I noticed myself tuning out the different sounds of my many many alarm clock sounds on my phone. Luckily, I was not late for anything, but a few close calls scared me enough, and I found a great alarm clock. It has an attachment that you can put under your pillow or mattress. When the alarm goes off, an obnoxiously loud sound keeps alarming in addition to the attachment buzzing harshly. It's enough to shake you awake. I have always had trouble sleeping through loud sounds (slept through a couple burglar alarms in my lifetime), but this one always gets me up. I found mine on Amazon, if you're interested.

Hi, I thought I would contribute the parts I have experience with. I got an offer earlier this month for an ICU residency, and I can share what I encountered in my various interviews and what I think helped. I also did 3 other ICU interviews in other hospitals and have progressed in those applications, but I'll be declining them since I accepted the first offer. I did senior Capstone clinical at a nationally-ranked pediatric cardiac ICU, which was an incredible experience. I learned so much about how to monitor the patients, the types of devices, heart procedures, etc. Being able to talk about all of these things during the interview showed that I had been exposed to an ICU setting with intubated patients, ECMO, ventilated, had seen/helped with codes, trachs, etc, and was familiar with the specific things they monitor for in ICUs as far as hemodynamics and labs. I did all or most of the charting for my preceptors on the shifts I was there, and became very accustomed to hourly charting, and I was able to participate in rounds and give report, which was very helpful as well. I think things like this can make you a more appealing candidate to managers and directors at an ICU, I would imagine. (Only able to speak from my own experience and speculation though.) I think another thing they seemed to look at is they really want to know why I want to work in an ICU. I would imagine because it is a stressful, high acuity setting where patients' health conditions are typically unstable, and it can take a lot out of the nurses from what I observed. If you show them you know what you are getting yourself into and have really put thought and consideration into why you want to go into the ICU, then that would probably make you more appealing versus someone who isn't sure but just wants to do it to go back to school for CRNA or something in a year or two. My BSN will be my 3rd degree, and I had to explain at one of my interviews why I had a career change. They also specifically asked me if I would be wanting to go back to school, so I think they are aware of that happening, and probably are less interested in someone that is just going to leave in a year or two after the hospital invests in their training. I was also asked quite a bit of in-depth interview questions, more than the typical behavioral assessment type questions, so it would be good to understand as much as you can about the ICU, patient deterioration and outcomes, etc. That's what I can offer as far as my own experience interviewing in this crazy residency process. Good luck to you!

I heard around the end of the month due to a freeze on offers with HR. She said even after units make their decisions and give them to her, they can’t make any offers until HR lifts this freeze