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Thanks for all of your responses, they have been very helpful. I have a couple of phone interviews this week and hope that they result in a job offer. I have also submitted resumes and applications to a couple of travel agencies. :)

I want to thank all of you who have replied to my question. I have been applying to Emory Hospital but have not been hired yet. Also, I will be attending Emory University for my Masters degree. I will definitely be looking at apartments close to these locations. Like I said, any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

Thank you for your input. :)

I am moving to Atlanta, GA in 6 weeks from Anchorage, AK. I grew up in SC and visited Atlanta a lot but never lived there. I am trying to line up an apartment before moving down and would like your advice. What are some of the best and worst apartments in Atlanta that you know of. Thank you for your input!!

I currently live in Alaska. I just recently got accepted to a University in Atlanta for graduate school. I am very excited but having a difficult time finding a job while living so far away before moving. I have applied to all of the area hospitals. Hence my question: Has anyone ever used a travel agency when moving to get your foot in the door at a hospital. I think that if I can get a travel assignment there then I will be available for face to face interviews to arrange a job for after the travel assignment. However, I have never been a travel nurse before and do not know which companies are the best. Any advice that anyone has would be much appreciated. Thank you!!!

I currenlty live in Anchorage, AK but just got accepted to Emory University for graduate school. I am so excited but I am having a hard time getting a job in Atlanta prior to the move. Hence my question: Has anyone ever used a travel nurse company when moving to get your foot in the door at a hospital? Is this a good idea? I have never done travel nursing and do not know which companies are good and which are not so good. Any advice that anyone has to offer would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!!

I just took the GRE in April and did a lot better than I thought I would do. I had only studied for about 2 weeks and got a 1120 combined and a 4.0 on the written section. I used the Kapplan study guide book. Go for it, I am sure you will do great. Remember, you can always retake it if you don't like your scores and you will have a better idea of the areas you need to study.

I know this may be a silly question, but do travel nurses have to sign a 1 year or 2 year contract? I am really interested. Are there any companies where you do not have to sign a contract. Which travel nursing companies have you had the best experiences with? Thank you for your responses.

I am a RN at Providence Alaska Medical Center in the Progressive Care Unit. I graduated from UAA and started out as a new grad in the PCU. This is a step down unit from their ACC (ICU). They have great RN intern positions for new grads. You can find job openings at providence.org and apply online. If you want info about moving to Anchorage, Alaska take a look at ADN.com. This site has a lot of links for the information that you need. Getting a job in Anchorage is not hard at all. Good luck!!!

I am applying to Emory's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. I am interested in the part time program. Are any of you in this program or completed this program? Was getting in difficult? What was your GRE score (if you don't mind sharing)? Do you know how many people are admitted at a time? Does the part time program admit each semester or only once/year? I have talked to the admissions department, but they seemed frustrated with my questions, so I stopped asking. I am looking for some inside information about the program. Anything you would like to share would be appreciated. Thank you very much! :nuke:

What city and state are you in? That will help us recommend universities in your area. Most bachelor degree in nursing programs do not require that you have an ADN first.

You do not need to become a RN first before getting your BSN. I am an RN who entered the field with a BSN without first getting an ADN. (Not that there is anything wrong with ADN programs- I do not want to get into that debate here- this is just the path that I chose for myself). There are 2 ways to become an RN. You can either get an associate degree in nursing or a bachelor's degree in nursing. Look at universities in your area for nursing programs. You will find that there are BSN programs which do not require an RN license to be admitted. There are, however, BSN programs out there that are designed for RN's with associate degrees, but this is not what you are looking for. I hope that I have helped to clear this up for you a bit.

I just graduated in December 2006 and we practiced IV's on each other. We were not required to but we could at clinical sites and we did.

I was hired on day shift in a progressive care unit 7am-7:30pm as a new graduate. The starting pay is $24.24/hour plus $2.00 shift differential for weekends.

I too suffer from migraines. When I was in nursing school I would often have migraines and discovered Midrin. This is a miracle medication for me. I have learned that one thing I can do to prevent my migraines is to eat a good breakfast, have a quick mid-morning snackbar, and then eat lunch around 1:00. If I do this then I typically will not get a migraine. I suggest that you work with your physician or NP to figure out what is causing your migraines and then do what you can to prevent them. Don't let migraines get in the way of your dreams. Good luck!!!

I would like to thank all of you for your responses. I noticed that someone was unsure what a PCU is, it is a progressive care unit. From the postings, clearly blood tubing is the way to go. I wonder why some nurses use regular IV tubing to infuse fresh frozen plasma.

I am a new RN. I have been working in a PCU for 3 months now. I had a pt. the other day who needed a FFP transfusion and I wasn't sure if I needed blood tubing or regular IV tubing for the transfusion. I asked the charge nurse who is an experienced (20+ years) nurse and she said to use regular IV tubing piggy backed into normal saline primed tubing and to run it in without a pump at a fast rate. Then another experienced nurse was administering FFPs in the room next door and she was using blood tubing without normal saline and running it through a pump at 100ml/hour. I am confused. I went to our hospital policy and procedures and all that is mentioned is whole rbc's and platelets, nothing about fresh frozen plasma. I have also looked in my nursing books from school and nothing seems to answer my question. Therefore, I am turning to allnurses.com to see what you guys have to say. How do you infuse fresh frozen plasma? Thank you in advance for your responses.

I am not sure what the previous poster (Tazzi) was trying to say. I am not in California but I just recently took the NCLEX and passed. After taking the exam I was sure that I had failed. The computer shut off at 75 questions and I went home sure that I had failed. However, I had passed. The wait was killing me as well. I have friends that I graduated with who took all 265 questions and passed. Remember, that it doesn't matter how many questions you take b/c it can go either way. Hang in there. :)

I just took the NCLEX March 2 and passed. I used Saunders NCLEX review book. This book can be purchased at Barnes and Noble. It comes with a CD with NCLEX like questions. I took somewhere between 2000-3000 questions total in my study time. I would study from 8am- 3pm each day taking questions. Also, many of my friends used this same book and passed on the first try with only 75 questions. Don't be hard on yourself. It is a very hard test. :)

I am planning to move to Houston in December as well. I am looking at homes online to buy. I was wondering if you could give me a good estimate of commute time from Kingswood to downtown Houston. Thank you.

Have you completed the FAFSA form? I have paid for school with a few scholarships but mostly federal student loans. I have been able to get enough student loans to pay for tuition, books, and supplies. Try going to your financial aid office at school, mine have always been very helpful. Also, I have had to work at least 30 hours/week to pay bills. It is not fun but can be done. Beats being in school forever. I graduate this December with my BSN. :) Good luck!!

As to your question about moving up to Anchorage in January. Yes it is safe. In fact I moved up to Alaska in January about 4 years ago now. I am attending UAA and will graduate in December of this year. Providence has a really great intership program for new graduates. I have not heard of any new grads having trouble finding work. In fact, a couple of the nurses that I have worked with during clinicals have been new grads. If you want information on the internship at Providence go to www.providence.org . Also, as far as furniture rentals we have Rent-A-Center and a few others. Anchorage is a big town. Also, for transportation during the winter months just make sure you have studded tires or snow tires and you should be fine. Of course 4 wheel drive is the best but not absolutely necessary. Rent in town ranges from $900/month and up depending on what you are looking for. I hope this helps you in your decision to move to Anchorage. :)

This is the website for the school of nursing at UAA. The program in Fairbanks is an extension of this program. If you contact the school of nursing at 1-907-786-4558 they should have contact phone numbers for you. Good luck!! http://nursing.uaa.alaska.edu//ProspectiveStudents/index.cfm General UAA website: www.uaa.alaska.edu

In RE to: Are "nursing research" classes standard courses in a BSN curriculum? I notice a lot of schools require that class I am just finishing up my BSN this December. My school requires Nursing Research for the BSN. Therefore, I am taking it right now. I think this course is very helpful in learning how to analyze research articles.

I am excited to hear the pay rates in Houston. I am moving there after I graduate in December with my BSN. I can't wait. Thanks for all of the great info.