gsg92

Hi, I'm a 32 YOM who's starting out as a new grad in the ER with a two-year commitment in CA. I was initially applying to ICU new grad programs in CA but no luck. I am interested in pursuing CRNA school which requires at least 2-years of ICU experience preferably in ICUs that handle a lot of postop pts w/ vents/VADs/ECMOs etc (I.e. CVICU, SICU over MICU, NeuroICU, CCU) at level 1 trauma hospitals. So this is my game plan so far: - Finish my two-year commitment in the ER while getting TNCC, TCAR, ATCN, TCRN, CEN certifications. I know contracts are not enforceable in CA, but I'd feel bad about breaking this one as this hospital gave me my first chance when all other hospitals I applied to didn't even get me an interview. - Network and shadow CRNAs in nearby trauma 1 hospitals - Towards the end of my two-year contract, start applying to CVICU/SICU RN I-II positions at level 1 trauma hospitals (preferably "learning" hospitals). Consider acute care transition programs and out-of-state (I.e. illinois, ohio, arizona, etc) at other hospitals for backup. - While working ICU, get my CCRN certification and study for the GRE (if that's still a requirement for schools, goal score > 300) - Start applying to CRNA schools at around 1.5 yrs ICU experience If all goes according to plan, looking at getting into CRNA school in 3.5-4 yrs (~36-37 yrs old). Is there any way I can improve this plan to make it more streamlined? Am I missing anything? Appreciate any advice and thanks in advance!

Been hearing it's hard to get into ICU in CA even with a couple years of nurse experience. Many are looking for acute care experience with preference to people with specific ICU experience. This hospital has a very small ICU (like 6 beds) and they told me they are always open to new grads trying it out. Would working in a small ICU have a negative impact on my resume if I want to apply to higher acuity ICU departments at larger hospitals in CA?

8-week orientation in Med-Surg department with option to extend. After orientation, can pick specialty department

Hi, I'm looking for advice as to whether I should take this new grad position or not. The position is for a small California county hospital near SoCal area. They only have about 60 beds, single-floor, and care for low-mid acuity patients with the higher acuity transferred to the large trauma hospitals nearby. The upside is that they seem to take good care of their new grads and the staff seems friendly. I would start in med-surg for initial training, but can easily transfer to a different department in less than 1-year (I.e. ER, ICU, etc.). They have enough patient traffic to get good, consistent experience but not too much to overwhelm hospital resources/staff. Also, I like how their shifts are 3 x 12-hr (not a fan of the 8 hrs). The downside is that there's a 2-year commitment attached to the job offer. I'm not sure if this includes the 1-year new grad training, so it might be ~3-years for the commitment. I'm 32 YOM and single with very few attachments to my current living situation. I do have aspirations for CRNA schooling later down the road, and would like to keep my options open in case things change later down my career. I'm concerned that the 2-year commitment will prevent me from pursuing alternatives if/when they become available. I'm new to the nursing profession so I don't have any experience to know if this is a good deal or not. I've just been struggling to find a job in my area and this is the first job offer that I've had since starting my applications 6-months ago. The hospital would like me to respond to the offer within a month, should I go for it?

Hi, I made a post regarding my experience in the 2022-2023 Samuel Merritt University cohort, and long story short it wasn't great. The biggest problem was not having a preceptorship. The school promised us that preceptorships would not affect our chances to landing a job in the Bay Area, but that has turned out to be untrue. Initially, the school had us sit with recruiters from Stanford Hospital's nurse new grad program where they showed that they hire about 10% of SMU grads in their cohorts. However, we later found out that the students who were hired did have some form of preceptorship. There was still hope in that Stanford does not explicitly ask whether we had a preceptorship in their application. It has been about 7-months since graduating and 4-months since getting my RN license after taking the NCLEX, which I thank in large part to UWorld not SMU. I have had multiple interviews with Kaiser, Stanford, and county hospitals and I'm starting to get a different picture of the applicant pool. Most non-SMU applicants I've talked to has had a preceptorship (I.e. Evergreen community college, state colleges, etc.). Most of my interviews, the interviewer asked if I had a preceptorship. I'm trying to apply to John Muir's new grad residency program, and they require a letter of recommendation from our preceptor. The bay area is a super competitive environment for not only new grad programs but also RN clinical I positions, so any edge will be taken into consideration. I have not received any job offers despite my extensive medical background experience, high GPA, and letter of recommendations. Most of my cohort peers landed jobs due to already having a job lined up with their previous employer. Others are working SNFs or odd jobs while waiting to hear back from job apps. A few have found jobs outside of the Bay Area including out-of-state. I'm writing this as a warning to prospective applicants, preceptorships will have an impact on your chances of landing a job in the Bay Area. If you got not other choice, then here's some advice: 1) Start practicing UWorld questions around the last section (last 2-3 months of school) and plan to take the NCLEX right after you get your registration code. Fight early and message SMU often to get the code on time. 2) Start applying to jobs around the last 2-3 months of school (maybe earlier). Some will say they require RN license but just send any way. Some hospitals will require it 2 weeks before your hire date. Just start practicing interviews while all your nursing knowledge is fresh. 3) Don't rely on the school for anything. Advocate for yourself and just push through. They don't know what they're doing over there, and they're giving outdated and bad advice to students.

Someone gave a great SMU review on reddit: To comment on people employed at SMU, a lot of people were being fired or let go at SMU during my 1-year program. After our first townhall meeting, our dean "left" the college, so we were left with a bunch of interim deans and had to keep re-discussing our problems with them. We then lost of couple of advisors, some professors, and clinical instructors. It made logistics a nightmare as the remaining professors had to teach multiple sections, limited office hours, and noticeable change in behavior (I.e. short temper, callus email responses, etc.). The communication was bad before all these layoffs so it's probably worse now.

Samuel Merritt University ABSN program 2022-2023 To whom it may concern - As a recent graduate of the SMU Accelerated Bachelor's of Science Nursing program 2022-2023, I'm writing this to provide an insight on the program so future students can make a more educated decision regarding their choice in ABSN. 1) Opportunity Cost The total tuition for the 12-month ABSN program as of 2022-2023 is: $84,885.00 + $2,085.00 fees Other ABSN school tuition: - Drexel University ABSN (11-month): $58,288.00 (out-of-california) - San Francisco State ABSN (15-month): ~$37,800.00 - CSU LA ABSN (15-month): ~$31,535.00 - CSU San Marcos (24-month): ~$44,890.00 - CSU Stanislaus (17-month): ~$40,000.00 - CSU Northridge (15-month): $46,400.00 As you can see, the SMU tuition far outpaces other schools. From what I've been told by other students in other ABSN programs, the curriculum is practically the same and the quality of education is relatively equal in terms of instruction, clinicals, and skill labs. The biggest difference that I've observed is the number of available seats per application cycle. For example, SF state only offers 32 spaces per year compared to SMU which has 3 application cycles that offer roughly ~100 seats per cycle for their 3 main campuses (SF Peninsula, Oakland, and Sacramento). In other words, the SMU cohort sizes are bigger (~50 students). We were also told that SMU is planning to increase tuition by an additional 5% per year starting in 2023. 2) Curriculum (52-units) A) Semester 1 (~4-months) - Section 1 (1-month) N138 Intro to Nursing N125 Health Assessment I + Skills Lab **Break** (1-2 weeks) - Section 2 (1-month) N120 Managing Care of Adults I (MCA I) + Skills Lab + Clinicals N126 Health Assessment II + Skills Lab - Section 3 (1-month) N136 MCA II + Skills Lab + Clinicals N128 Healthy Aging **Break** (1-2 weeks) B) Semester 2 (3-months) - Section 1 (1-month) N164 MCA III + Skills Lab + Clinicals - Section 2 (1-month) N158 Pediatric Nursing + Skills Lab + Clinicals - Section 3 (1- month) N144 Care of Childbearing + Skills Lab + Clinicals N108 Nursing Research **Break** (1-2 weeks) C) Semester 3 (5-months) - Section 1 (1.5-month) N129 Psychiatric Mental Nursing + Skills Lab + Clinicals - Section 2 (1.5-month) N170 Community Health + Skills Lab + Clinicals - Section 3 (2-month) N181 Senior Synthesis + Skills Lab + Clinicals N160 Leadership The clinicals start at two days per week (weekdays or weekends) and can range between 4-8 hr shift depending on your clinical instructor and how busy your clinical site is. The school tries to pair you a clinical site based on your geographical location and preference, but there have been many instances of students being placed in sites like San Jose when they live in San Francisco even though there are sites in San Francisco. As the program progresses, your clinicals can be 1-day per week but longer hours (I.e. 10 hr/day) The skills and simulation labs start off as a large part of the program in the first couple months, but drop off towards the middle-end of the program. You might have labs cancelled but are still charged for them when you pay your tuition (no refunds). You will have medication calculation exams for your MCA I-III series and you will need at least a 90% to pass the exam and be cleared to pass medications during clinicals. You get up to four tries and then you speak to the professor or clinical instructor to figure out ways for tutoring. You need more than 73% cumulative grade average to pass the course. Grade breakdown: 100-93% A 90-93% A- 87-90% B+ 83-87% B 80-83% B- 77-80% C+ 73-77% C 70-73% C- You have a HESI exit exam at the end of each course that is worth 10% of your overall grade. You get 1-2 points back by doing remediation (2-4 hours coursework). HESI score breakdown: >=900 - 10 pts **1pt remediation** 850-899 - 9 pts 800-849 - 8 pts 750-799 - 7pts ** 2pt remediation ** 700-749 - 6pts 650-699 - 5pts 600-649 - 4pts 550-599 - 3pts 500-549 - 2pts <500 - 0pts There is tutoring at SMU and a large part of it was run by students going through the program. The cohort ahead would tutor students in cohorts behind. The recruitment process was very lax, so anyone could be tutor despite not having a strong grasp on the subject material. Also, while the program did pay tutors a salary (~$20/hr), the schedule was determined by the student tutor's set availability. I believe the school is starting to transition away from relying on students and is choosing this new program called BrainFuse. Not sure how much of a difference this program is as it was implemented towards the end of our cohort program. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of good student tutors that made a positive impact in my education, but there were some that I felt didn't understand the material well enough to teach others. There are very few professors that will make a positive impact on your educational experience at SMU. It's the sad truth and a problem faced by many ABSN programs. Out of the 10 professors I had, only 3 had an organized, well-constructed curriculum. The other professors were a disorganized, unprofessional mess that made learning significantly more stressful than it needed to be. Some of the issues included: outdated powerpoint lectures, lecture recordings that were hard to listen due to background noise or were missing entirely because the professor forgot to record, and conflicting information on canvas that made time management a nightmare because your didn't know when certain assignments were due or how to complete them. To me, it seemed like SMU lacked standards in terms of how classes should be run and allowed the professors free reign to teach it based on their personal standards, however low that may be. However, I later understood why some professors were doing more poorly than others. Most professors not only teach but also are clinical instructors and/or concurrently attending school for their Ph.D or Master's. Therefore, they just manage the course and don't bother updating it for the students. The students are left to mostly figuring out the material on their own, which is a shame given the amount of time and money invested into the program. 3) The Preceptorship The topic of preceptorship is probably the most disappointing part of this program. SMU sadly has dropped preceptorships from the curriculum and replaced it with senior synthesis. For those who don't know, the preceptorship was a program that paired you with a department of your choice (I.e. ED, ICU, Med-Surg, etc.) with a preceptor who would shadow you as you performed all the nursing duties on a patient. You would essentially be working as a full-fledged nurse and put all the nurse knowledge you learned during the year into practice. This was also a great opportunity to network and have a sort of probationary period with the hospital during which time the hospital could offer you a position once you got your license. The reason SMU got rid of the preceptorship program was because not all of the affiliated SMU hospitals had a preceptorship program. Many hospitals were phasing out of preceptorships starting around COVID and have opted to focus more on new-grad programs instead. SO even though some hospitals still had their preceptorship programs intact, SMU could'nt guarantee placement for all SMU students and therefore decided to cancel preceptorships entirely. We've tried everything to get preceptorships back. Here's a list of what has been tried so far: - Some cohorts have attempted to sue the school to refund some of the tuition - Presentations have been done to try and convince the school leadership to bring them back - Townhall meetings have been held to directly talk to SMU leadership about preceptorships - Talked to hospital educators to talk to the SMU leadership about expanding preceptorships - Seeking alternatives to preceptorships (I.e. more SIM labs, clinicals, etc.) The result of the meetings was the Senior Synthesis. The Senior Synthesis extended clinicals for another 2-weeks. You were not guaranteed to get a clinical assignment that matched your department of interest. We did a bunch of busy work for useless certifications and online simulations that were pointless. The one highlight was the ACLS/PALS certification, but we had to fight to get the school to fund the certification (~$600/person). The entire process was frustrating and disappointing, but at least we got something that would've otherwise have been nothing. Conclusion I was very disappointed with my experience at SMU given the large time and money investment. I did a little research into the program's taxes and the professors/clinical instructors make roughly $200,000/year. The CEO makes at least $5 million/year based on 501(c)3. Source overview: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942992642 The school also recently established a new flagship campus in 2023 using $120 million of it's own reserves in addition to a $139 million bond financing for construction. There was a student-led protest at the site this year. Source: https://www.samuelmerritt.edu/news/samuel-merritt-university-breaks-ground-new-campus-downtown-oakland With that level of income and profit, I expect more professionalism and better customer service to the students than what I observed and experienced during this 12-month program. But it's over. I'm done with nursing school and getting ready to take the NCLEX. I will surely not be recommending SMU to anyone and strongly advise to try applying elsewhere before going here. However, if you have no other choice, then hopefully this post can help mentally prepare you and get you through the program. Good luck! 0 comments

SMU is going through a lot of management changes right now, so it's hard for even students to get answers, so feel your pain regarding communication... I personally decided not to work at all during this 1-year ABSN program, and I think it was a good move from a grade perspective. For at least the first half of the program, the clinical rotations plus the rigorous material from the MCA series (med-surg, critical care, etc.) required a lot of time management and focus that would otherwise be compromised with having to also commit to a work schedule. With that being said, I know plenty of people in the program who are working and are taking care of someone else (I.e. grandparents, kids, etc.). Some were able to make it work, while others struggled and had to drop out at a loss (I.e. time and money investment). It's a good sign that the number of people who had to drop out was a small percentage of our cohort (I.e. about 10 out of 50), but can't speak for other cohorts. However, not sure how this impact grades and grades are worth a lot for new grad nurse residency programs. I would highly recommend not working while going through this program. You're investing about $90k on tuition, keep that in mind. For living expenses, if you can live with family or friends during this time, I would recommend that as well. The cost of living in the Bay Area is insane at the moment and the cost of the program doesn't help either. When I applied to schools in LA, I thought about living in a cargo van for the year and parking near a gym, laundromat, and grocery store then biking or uber for commute. I don't think it's worth paying $2500-$3000 per month ($30,000-36,000/yr) for rent not including groceries and the cost of tuition. If you're interested in the van life, here's a good resource to help with that: https://thevanual.com/. This is just my opinion, so do what you gotta do. Hope this helps, good luck!

First off, the main benefits for having preceptorships was to practice hands-on skills and to demonstrate knowledge gained throughout the program in front of your preceptor and other nurses on the unit. I've talked to many new grad nurses and many of them landed jobs in the same unit they precepted in. In other words, the upside of a preceptorship is that it gives you the opportunity to network and showcase who you are as a person & aspiring nurse over a ~1 month period that you would otherwise not have in a 1 to 2 page resume. On the flip side, if you didn't vibe with your preceptorship (I.e. didn't get along with your preceptor, coworkers, made too many mistakes, etc.) then it could limit your chances of landing a job with that hospital, but the skills and experience could be used to build a stronger resume for a different nursing position. To answer your response, orientations are used to "orient" new hires to the hospitals policies and procedures. Most hospitals typically have different documentation systems, equipment, codes, safety procedures, payment plans, etc. The typical orientation is designed to help nurses get used to how the hospitals runs things rather than actually teach you skills. If you get hired at a "teaching" hospital, then the more experienced nurses are generally more receptive to "newbie" nurses and will help teach new skills. If it's not a teaching hospital, then it becomes more of a sink-or-swim approach, "nurses eating their young" type of situations. The latter is being phased out, slowly... So to make the transition from nursing school to the work place easier, some hospitals (the "teaching" hospitals) have started offering new grad programs. This programs are specifically designed to teach new grads their nursing skills and to simultaneously orient the nurse to the hospital's system. These programs are basically preceptorships (you are paired with an experience nurse who teaches you the ropes and you are on probation for a specified period of time before you're considered a full employee, you can be fired at any time for bad performance), but the hospital takes full liability for your decisions instead of the school. The main difference is that you need to apply to for another highly competitive spot that you would have otherwise not have had to do if the school provided the preceptorship. Despite what schools tell you, getting into a new grad program can be difficult depending on where you apply. In summary, orientation and preceptorships are not the same. I apologize in advance if I misinterpreted your response.

Update: getting close to finishing up at SMU. Some additional info: - Extra certifications will be reimbursed by the school - School is looking into extending clinicals in the student's department of interest during senior synthesis (not preceptorships) - The school gives out registration codes for the NCLEX at the end of the program. Some people get them on time, whereas otherwise wait weeks to months before receiving one. A potential issue if you plan on applying to new grad positions early and need to take NCLEX asap to get licensed. - While the NCLEX pass rate appears to be high, the chance of getting accepted to a new grad position in the Bay Area is low due to high competition. SMU held a townhall meeting trying to tell us not to worry about finding a job in the Bay Area after graduation. They had a hiring representative from Stanford tell us that they hired a good amount of SMU students in their new grad ICU program (about 10% of the new hires were SMU grads). However, recent graduates of the program are struggling to find new grad positions in the Bay Area. Also, most teaching hospitals are in SoCal (I.e. LA) but the pay is significantly less than the Bay Area while cost of living continues to rise. I'm saying all this to give a more realistic perspective on what the program and nurse job field is like in the Bay compared to what you hear on the news. There is a nurse shortage in the USA, but the Bay Area has one of the strongest nursing unions and every nurse wants to work here for the benefits and high pay, so we have a bubble and our shortage issues are not the same as other places. Travel nurses also don't help due to taking up positions that would otherwise be filled by a resident nurse.

Hi, currently in the program. I considered working part-time when the program started. However, I'm glad I chose not to. Once clinicals start, you'll find it difficult to find time to study adequately for the weekly tests. It's not impossible to work and do the program, but there's a positive correlation between working and either getting delayed or dropping out of the program due to poor grades or inadequate clinical hours. For our cohort, we started with a solid 50 students and we've lost about 2 students per class rotation on average due to grades, most of which the root cause was conflicts with real-life issues (I.e. single parents, jobs conflicts, etc.). Getting put back a cohort is months of time wasted b/c you have to retake the class you failed which I believe leads to you paying more in tuition. I know for sure the extra time you spend making up classes is more time between you and the NCLEX & your license, which means your not practicing as a nurse, and not making money. The dream would be to have a per diem (1-2 days/week) gig that is related to healthcare experience or is at a hospital that you have established a rapport with that will help with your apps after NCLEX. Otherwise, if you can take out a loan and rely on what you have already saved, I would recommend that. The program will fly by fast and you'll want your focus to be on the nursing material. If you find yourself tight on cash and want as little debt as possible, I suggest looking into scholarships and grants for nursing school. This one can be applied to SMU ABSN if you qualify: https://bhw.HRSA.gov/funding/apply-scholarship/nurse-corps . Not sure if the application is closed or when it'll open again. SMU has scholarships too, might be a good idea to hit them up now. This was a hard for me to accept. I don't like loans and I wanna be making money. Someone told me to accept a year of sacrifice in order to make more money when I get my license. I've been told you'll pay off those loans quick once you start your nursing career.

Depends on the program. You can put your preferences down, but clinicals typically occur every Thurs/Fri or Sat/Sun.

So far, clinicals have been OK. It has been a hit-or-miss in terms of which nurses are good at teaching and ones who don't care. To be fair, the nurse job is stressful and students often add additional pressures that can make certain procedures take more time (I.e. passing meds, handoffs, documentation, etc.). I try to help out as much as I can (I.e. taking V/S, blood sugars, feeding, cleaning, etc.), but sometimes days are so busy that I don't get the opportunity to truly feel like I can take care of a patient from beginning to end on my own. There have been a few nurses who felt comfortable to allow me to take care of one of their patients on my own, typically the most stable patient. Even though I didn't pass meds or do any significant treatments for these patients, it was an awesome opportunity to be able to do assessments, V/S, and build rapport with these patients and document my findings independently. Of course my nurse had to verify and approve of all of my documentation and I would ask permission before doing certain things for my patient (I.e. meds, food/drink, etc.). In summary, the majority of clinicals is going to be almost CNA/Tech level work and you will not feel comfortable doing nurse work by the time you graduate (hence the reason why people look forward to preceptorships, which are no longer available). Also, depending on your CI, you may be leaving your clinicals earlier than planned. This is a mixed blessing. At least for me, when I'm not doing hands-on work, clinicals gets boring real quickly. Any place other than ER or OR, the most action you'll see is the handoff, doing intro rounds, and passing meds which is only the first 1-2 hours of the shift. You're then left to figure out the rest of the 5-6 hours of the shift to do something productive while your nurse sits and documents. I often find myself going to the CNAs/Techs to help them clean, move, and feed patients in other rooms. Basically doing work for no $$. If you end up missing clinical days (sick, woke up late, don't feel like going), you do have to make it up by doing assignments online. This may be what other students are referring to when they say that you go online to make up clinical hours. Some professors allow you to miss 2 clinicals, we're still not sure if that's 2 clinicals for each section or for the entire program...another communication snafu. The make-up assignments are tedious, which is understandable since the program wants you to do the clinical hours at your hospital. I can't speak on behalf of other ABSN programs, but I'll reiterate that SMU wouldn't be my top pick if I had the opportunity to do this over again. It's not that SMU is any worse than other ABSNs (from what I heard, most ABSN programs operate similar to the issues we currently have in this program), but the fact that we're paying 2-3 times more than other ABSN programs for less opportunities than other ABSN programs in our area, is causing a lot of animosity between faculty, students, and leadership. If that private ABSN is cheaper than SMU, I'd go for that. There are many ways to save $$ on rent (I.e. live in a camper, car, hostels, etc.). Worst case, you pay rent and you end up paying the same as or more tuition than SMU, at least you'll have a higher chance of landing a preceptorship and other opportunities that you would otherwise not have as an SMU ABSN student.

We currently do not meet on campus for lectures or clinicals. Lectures are all online now (recorded and/or live on zoom/webex). Clinicals are in a designated hospital and will be 1-2 times per week (Thurs-Fri, Sat-Sun). If 2 times, the clinicals will be 8-hr shift. If 1 time, the clinical will be 12-hr shift.