tirzo13

The problem is if you live in a Metro Area such as LA, SF, SD, OC you are competing with a million people for that great RN job, you most likely will not get it unless you have serious conections. If you take a job at a SNF (with a goal of acute later) they will then not want to hire you because your "experience" is in a SNF, not acute care. So there is a slim chance for new grads to get a job in an acute hospital in a metro area, there is just too much competition. The longer amount of time since you graduated will also hurt you. So if im interviewing 2 people, one just graduated December 2010 and the other graduated December 2009 with zero job, or a year in a SNF, guess who i will hire, the recent graduate, as all the skills he/she learned in school are still fresh. Really what i'm seeing alot of people do is go to little towns 2-3 hours out from a Metro area, like Coalinga, Hanford, out of the way places, working there for a year in Med/Surg then going back home with the experience. In those small towns, they often do not have a nursing school, so they have zero graduates, but they still need nurses to staff their hospital, they also understand that they will have a high turnover because people don't want to live in Coalinga, they want a Fun Metro area. So if you really want that acute job, you most likely have to leave your Metro area for a year, and yes, i understand people have houses, kids, spouses, etc. Sometimes you just have to make those sacrifices for a year. Yeah, some people get lucky and get that great Acute job in their home city, but that is not the rule, it is the exception. Myself i don't plan my life by the exceptions, but rather what is likely to happen, and then i try to be proactive and change it. Getting an Acute Hospital job as a New Grad, or SNF experienced nurse is not likely to happen. Just like getting an ICU, PED's, or specialty job out of school rarely happens. Though years ago it could happen. If you get a 12hr shift, in a town 3 hours away, its not that bad, you just have to stay in a hotel 2-3 days a week before coming home on your off days. Many times you can rent apts. for super cheap in rural areas. If your goal is Acute care as a New Grad, I myself would not go the SNF or Clinic route, nor would i remain unemployed for a year while I search for the "right" job.

Does anyone know if putting "DNR" on the outside of the chart in red letters a violation. charts are in the nurses station, but fellow patients could see that, as well as family members and non medical staff. its still private information, and it seems that it is placed on there for convienence. We do have a face page inside that is bright pink that says DNR, but on the outside seems a violation. I believe I read somewhere that it was, but i'm not sure, and i get different answers from current and former supervisors. thanks.

There is alot to like about SLO. All the things that make it great as a small town, well being a small town there are things to not like. Really did not care for ASH. In my ideal world San Diego would be half the size it is, and they had a place like NSH or Yountvilles Veteran Home. ANyway, Napa is a good place to work and a nice community. Its good size, so there are things to do, and its not 4 hours away from a city like SLO is. As long as you stay away from Vallejo you are fine. The cost of living is actually a bit less then SLO. you can find a good house in American Canyon for less then 200K, stay away from Vallejo, but in Vallejo you can find houses for 5ok, that should tell you about Vallejo, yeah there are 800k houses in Vallejo, but its still Vallejo. Go for American Canyon>Napa> YOuntville. If you want to drive about 35 minutes head out to Sonoma.

1. Would you recomend working there? 2. How were your coworkers, easy to get along with? 3. Is Napa an all male facility? 4. Is it easy to enjoy San Francisco while living in Napa or any of the surrounding neighborhoods? 5. Overall did you have a positive experience working there? 1. yes, its less like a prison. yeah, i know they want us to say its a mental hospital. but they are all prisoners, they all have a p.c. I worked for a little bit at ASH. The thing about ASH is they seem to have the ability to move your shifts and days off. I never heard of that happening at NSH. Much better place to work. It does not feel like a prison, since an outdoor campus. You get to use your cell phone if that matters to you. People talk on the phone all the time. 2. got along with everyone. 3. Napa is coed. 4. about a hour to SF. 5. yes, but i wanted to go to grad school, so i quit. I also think they are getting rid of 12 hour shifts which is a bummer.

I don't want to make up someone's mind for them, i just feel people should hear all sides so they don't waste time. people say they love working in the prison. I worked in 3, never found anyone who loved it. People who say they love it, i ask this question. "if prison pay was less then outside hospital's and the workload was equal, would you still work the prison?" that to me is an indication of "LOVE", you do it no matter what. Prison's pay more for a reason, even though the work is alot easier (just different challenges). Prison is a whole lot safer then the State Mental Hospitals. State Mental Hospitals really should not be called Hospitals, they are lower security prisons without officers. Many of the guys just had a little bit more money to get better lawyers. If you are in LA, there is a Veterans HOme in Lancaster, one in San Diego, i think Barstow and I think Oxnard or Ventura. None are nearly as big as YOuntville though. There is also a state DDS home in Norwalk, but they never hire. to answer your question, I interviewed at Yountville, but they wanted me for nights. My girl at that time worked days, so i said no, even though i prefer nights, i wanted to spend time with my girl on her schedule. San Diego calls me a couple times a year, but i have not interviewed with them. The people i know that worked there compared to NAPA state hospital prefer Yountville, but its hard to get days there they say. Napa i got days in 2 months. I had a good gig in Napa, 12 hour shifts, days, kick butt boss that gave me time off when ever i wanted, but stupid me resigned. Im waiting on the VA hospitals in the state. Alot more vacation days a year. Retirement may not be as good, hard to understand VA retirement. State retirement is pretty clear. Again, not telling you not to work at a prison, just giving people the truth. try working for them thru a registry, you can quit if you don't like it. Alot of registry and state hires do. Here is the crazy thing. yeah the state may lay off alot of prison employee's. but you know what they do, they fill those positions with registry people, that actually cost more. Yeah, its stupid.

New grad RN at San Quintin gets 8500+ a month. state pay for RN is great. As is LPT pay. State pay for LVN is very low.

i grew up in the streets, so i got alot of street smarts, and street cred. if you grow up in the burbs, its going to be really hard to make it. Even with knowing how to handle and carry yourself, knowing how to give respect, knowing how to earn respect does not keep things from happening to you in this environment. you can handle getting punched or urine thrown on you better, but does not keep it from happening to you. I been spit on and threatened, i have had shot callers look out for me, some requested favors that they did not get, some did it because the last nurse they had did not even say "whats up" to them. but still, some guys won't even listen to the shot callers. so you have to weigh the risks. increase in pay, different but less physical work then hospitals (don't want people yelling at me for saying its easier!!!!), helping murders and rapist vs helping victims, getting body fluids and assaulted vs. whatever is the worse that can happen to you at a hospital. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but there is good and bad in everything. i myself would rather know what the bad is. if you date a man or women, don't you want to know the bad things about them. thats what is going to hurt you, the good should be a given. I myself want full disclosure about things, not just sugar coated.

they are on a state hiring freeze because of the budget. not because of staffing. state has been giving layoff warning notices. some of the other facilities have still been going thru the hiring process instead of halting altogether, but staff is needed, they are just being cautious right now.

Somethings i would like to echo. Yes, officers are supposed to be with you at all times. thats what they will tell you when hired. ask the manager hiring you a million times, and thats what they will tell you. They may say eventually "depending on whats going on, the officer may have to be someplace else". well that someplace else happens all the time. Now you can say, well i'm not doing this and that without an officer. eventually the officers and fellow staff will hate you, so you will have to quit, unless you are one of those wonderful employees that can figure out a way to sue your bosses. So yes, officers are supposed to be with you, but they will end up not. and yes, then you will be suspected of giving favors while alone with the criminal, or at least you may be assaulted while alone. don't let someone tell you that inmates respect nurses so they don't hurt them. actually opposite. they will attack nursing staff (inmates that have attacked nursing staff have been interviewed) even if they like the nurse. 1. because they are easier prey. 2. attacking an officer is a felony. attacking a nurse is no big deal (part of the job). they may have got caught, but they are not stupid. yes, they will fake illness to go to hospital. its a vacation for them, they get to feel like big whigs because all these extra officers have to watch them (at taxpayers expense), and its a chance to bring in or take out contraband. So, you get to the point, no matter how good your assessment skills are, you have to decide if this guy is faking, or if he really is sick. If you miss something, you will get sued. Threats to be sued are nearly daily. Even good nurses miss things.

There are assaults at all the Mental Hospitals. the table incident was a few years ago!!! something happens all the time!!!! a women was nearly beat to death not too long ago at ASH, in a week period on my unit at NAPA, staff had cup of urine thrown in her face, another day staff was punched in the back of her head. THIS stuff happens all the time in all DMH facilities. does not happen in prisons. Some people say Napa is better, but i worked there, same things happen as at ASH, Metro, Coalinga etc. Tons of people on disability at all of them, mental and physical. You want safer state job with same pay and retirement, work corrections. If you want to avoid criminals, slight less pay and retirement work at the state veterans homes. less pay, less retirement, harder physical work, try state DDS. Resume has little to do with anything, they need warm bodies, they can't be super selective. Not saying they will hire anyone, but when you work with some of the staff, it will seem like it. All i can say is find a state facility close to your home and give it a try. It may or may not be for you. Assaults are the same everywhere. And if you are the only one with a broken nose, does not matter if there are 10 more at Napa or 30 more at another facility.

At Napa you got a good shot at days. Metro in LA, and Atascadero both are hiring me for nights. I don't care so much as i'm going back to school. If i'm in school bad shifts don't bother me, its a tradeoff. If i was not in school, i would hate that. Once you start you can petition for a day job. Keep looking on the job board at your facility. Sometimes good day jobs go without any bids. course some are in very bad units. My exp. with hiring. Never applied at Coalinga. Napa process was quicker less then 3 months. Atascadero little longer. Metro in LA took the longest, its where i want to work due to location. Napa was pretty easy to work at.

Not worked at that prison. i have worked 3 other california prisons. Shifts and weekends depends. If you work out in the yard clinics, vs. CTC (prison hospital with ER). Clinics are M-F, Hospital is 24 hour. Some clinics, staff works 4 ten hour shifts. Some are 8 hr. CTC is usually 12. Some prison CTC is rotating weekends, some your days off depend on seniority, so you may get stuck with having t/w off till you been there 5 years. OT happens more in CTC then clinics for obvious reasons. Mandatory OT depends on facility staffing. Some are staffed well and you only do 1 OT a month, some you will look at 2 a week. And you can't say no, sick children or not. If you can show up for the beginning of you shift, you better be prepared to stay for OT, otherwise you may want to not consider this type of work. Mandatory OT tends to happen on weekends, holidays, fridays and mondays. Typical day would take forever. CLinics are like any general health clinic. CTC is a combo of SNF/Rehab/ER/Minor Day surgery.

Salinas Valley, SaN Diego, and Folsom hired new grads. Depends on manager and facility like anything else. I worked at plenty of places that said they didn't hire new grads, but one day boom there i was working with a new grad. Don't ever let anything someone says keep you from trying. Exceptions for everything have been made for various reasons.

I did my training at ASH, and i worked at NAPA in addition to 3 prisons. Not to sound like a jerk, but NICE depends on what you are looking for. There are safer jobs. There are more rewarding jobs (spiritually vs. monetary) help the women who was raped, or the rapist? In this society guess who gets more help? At ASH you will be working/helping and advocating for those who have raped and murdered. Its not easy for some people to get around that. Some people don't think about it, they just do the job and go home. Some people get burned out since its not what they went to nursing school for. Some people like the challenge of the job, and tell themself they are helping a disadvantaged group of society and its not their place to judge. Teamwork is good, you have to have a good team, because hopefully they got your back, remember, this is not prison, no correctional officers to watch you, and in prison, the inmates are safer then these guys. In general you are not as busy. You can pee, you can eat, you can actually sit. Can't say the same for many hospitals i worked at. Not to encourage anyone, but most supervisors i have worked with won't come down on you for being a little late to work, from lunch or leaving early. How much is a little varies!!!! If you have not worked psych you may not like it. If you have not worked forensic psych you may not like it. if you have worked forensic psych, things may be slightly different like any job, but in general you will get along fine. You might try to get into the acute medical unit of ASH to get a kind of transition from "regular" nursing to forensic psych.

I replied awhile ago when i was a LVN, I even had a argument with someone who didn't even work for the state who would argue with me about pay, she would follow me around. By the way, i was right back then too!! anyway im a RN now. state pay vs. hospital pay in california depends where you work. example.... San francisco Hospital nurses, alot are over 70 a hour. San Quintin nurse gets about 55-60 a hour. Now we switch to San Diego. San Diego hospital nurses get about 30-40 a hour. Donovan (san diego prison) gets 50 a hour. all the prisons in california get paid the same, except san quintin and salinas gets more. so if you live in the sticks, or san diego its way more at the prisons. if you live in the bay area, even with the bay area prison differential, you make more in the hospitals.