zena231

I have worked at OSUMC for 14yrs but only for 2 of them as an RN. Yes, you have to pay union dues and they are steep (unless you choose to work at OSUE). New grad pay is similar to all the other Cols. hospitals from what I hear. We have really good benefits including decent health insurance, and retirement options. Continuing education is also a benefit. I know several people who graduated from nursing school when I did and also now work as nurses at OSU. I haven't heard too many complaints about how nurses are treated. I did do the internship which was a good way of test-driving the floors under my specialty heading. Stay on top of the internship people though because you could spend a lot of time waiting for them to contact you, and in reality they may have already sent out acceptance notices -they don't send out rejections...So if you don't hear from them in a decent amount of time, call and ask if they have made their decisions yet. PS, I work in inpatient rehab and love it!

I've also heard people talk and act like they feel rehab is a lower order of nursing. When you hear all of the talk of how we have to promote nursing and let the world know just how important it is, etc-maybe we should also work to promote rehab nursing whenever possible. Our patients are so much more diverse than on any other floor in the hospital-because we have patients from all over the hospital. And we have to be able to take care of all of them. It's hard to get bored when you are constantly changing gears and trying to find better ways of doing things. We have all the wound dressings, wound vacs, burn dressings, LVADS, other cardiac patients, cancer patients, strokes, neuro diseases, spinal injuries, TBIs, general deconditioning, amputations, MVA patients.... When I first started in rehab my saying was that "other nurses help save patients lives, rehab nurses help patients get their lives back". Two years later and I still feel that way and am still on fire for my job. The relationships formed with our patients and their families are special. Seeing a patient able to go home, priceless.

I finally became an RN just 6 months before turning 40 and several of my co-nursing students were already in their mid forties. I figured I have too many more years left to work so I might as well make more money for those years and do something that means a lot to me. I also notice that because of my age some of the patients think I am more experienced.

I graduated from the CSCC online program last June (2nd online group). I really liked the program for its flexibility especially. I worked fulltime (M-F days)at OSU and was able to do my nursing classes online with clinicals and labs in evenings and weekends. It made all the difference for me since I didnt have to switch to a more flexible fulltime job while in nursing school like so many others I know had to do. The course work was hard, much harder than what I had to do for my 1st degree. But, I really liked most of my teachers and truthfully CSCC was a much nicer overall school experience than what I had in the past. It was nice to be on campus there and I liked the fact that we used so many of our books throughout the program, so you dont constantly have to buy new books every single quarter. Also, I think there is a difference between how the online program worked vs the traditional, but it was to our benefit sometimes ex: we didnt have to do some of the more time consuming things the traditionals had to do. We didnt have to buy as many books and supplies as they did. The downside was that we weren't in classrooms having the "important material" discussed with us. We had massive amounts of reading that we had to decide what needed focused on. Helpful hint: get together with some of the other students and form study groups. There was so much reading that several of us decided to divide up the info and type up notes on it. This gave us good study guides to focus on with less work per each person. With the overwhelming amount of material, you have to have good plan in place. Also, organization is very important. Keep a calendar where you can see it and organize your quarter. Write down when assignments are due and tests are scheduled. It is very easy to foregt these things when you have so much going on. If there is anything else I can help with let me know.

once you are hired to a floor and properly oriented they could very well offer OT.

I've found that many of my nursing friends who work in other areas have no clue exactly what we do. I've heard many people say before that we are like a glamourized nursing home. Obviously, that isnt correct. What I usually do is explain to others what kinds of things we do, the variety of skills we have to master, as well as the varied patient population we care for. I think we have to be our own advocates and respect ourselves and each other.

I'm hitting the 6 month mark this month and I can say I see differences in myself all the time. I am one who has to do something several times before I feel confident. I have finally got to the point where more things are now more confortable to me. I still have many episodes of lack of confidence or times when I feel overwhelmed , like there is just not enough time in the day to do what I want to do. In our area, we dont tend to insert many IVs, Just last week my patient needed one and I knew I had time to think it out and if it didnt work call in another more experienced nurse. Well, I hadn't put one in since last August, so I was nervous--but I did it! I was so excited and now maybe not so fearful to try again. And, I have more experienced nurses asking ME to help them with things like blood draws(which I have gained confidence in while working night shifts). I think we have a ways to go, but just like those last few quarters in nursing school--I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know nursing is a continuous learning process, but feeling like I actually AM a nurse and fitting in will make life more "normal" again.

OSU does employ some LPNs. I work with some over at Dodd Hall which is our inpatient rehab hospital. Also, I think some of the outpatient clinics hire some as well. Parking is definitely an issue. About $26 a month for a staff pass, and parking is OK as long as you are working early or late. Midday parking can be a pain to find. Union dues are steep ( I think), but then I have never been in a union before. Pay rates are determined by the union contract. Pay is pretty close I think among all the local hospitals. Columbus in general does not have the great nursing shortage to the extent seen in other areas. Every one I graduated with did get a nursing job, but the local hospitals arent fighting for nurses anymore. There are many new grads in our area. I would say that it is a great place to work and offers many benefits. I would apply on line and interview and see what they have to offer.

I used mostly Saunders but also got some books from the library (other NCLEX prep books) and reviewed them as well in my spare time. One was a Davis book, cant remember the other.

OSUMC starts ADNs at around 21.82 and BSNs get slightly more(not much-just over 22, I think)

I would rather think that is not the case. I definitely would not get involved with a patient (or anyone else for that case as I 'm already married). It is a violation of the relationship we are supposed to have with the patients.

I'm new too and work in an inpatient rehab area. I have to say that I would be very overwhelmed too with the situation you describe. That does sound very hard. Fortunately, our patients are divided up in teams and the RN always has either an LPN or a PCA working with them. So when I have a PCA, they do all the vitals while I gather meds and together we get every one ready. When I work with an LPN they are basically doing everything I am, so we divide our group of 4-6 patients and we do all care for those assigned pts. Also, sometimes we have the therapists coming to do ADLs for some pts so those are ones we hurry and give meds to and the therapist actually helps them get ready those mornings. Stick with it. I think rehab is an exciting field and I know that with some more practice we can get better and feel more comfortable with our time management.

I just got my results Tues and I passed :) I've been waiting for that moment for soooo long and funny thing is, that once it happened, I was happy (obviously) but then realized that aside from not having to worry anymore, that I really didnt feel much different. SO far, this week, I called or emailed all my friends and family who had been anxiously waiting. I also started packing up my desk because this is my last week at my current job and I start my nursing job Monday. I packed up my old books to sell or give away and the books that my neighbor loaned me that I can now return and get out of my house. I have more thank you cards to make tonight... I am hoping to actually relax this weekend without stress... although I AM starting a new job Monday--I think I will be stressed a bit longerWell congrats to all who passed and to those who didnt yet--never give up, you've made it this far(that's a BIG accomplishment)-keep the faith!

I would assume it is reliable. One of my former classmates checked hers at pearson vue and found out she passed. I was too cheap to pay the $8 and decided to wait it out. Finally her results and mine were verified by seeing our license numbers on the board of nursing site after 2 business days.

I've had the opposite issue.I've been very calm so far and am starting to worry that I am slacking or something. I fear that I will regret not being more nervous or rather driven to study faithfully. I'm scheduled for July 14th. I've been working through Saunders questions at work every day on my lunch break from work (get about 12 questions each lunch, sitting and discussing questions with my lunch buddy). At home I have some book like "nclex made simple" or something like that with more questions that I review at home (maybe another 10-20 questions there). So I don't know what to tell you. Everyone seems to say to stay calm and I do believe that it will help me to go in being calmer. Sort of like mental or emotional preparation in addition to the material content we study and use to prepare. Yes, I fear I am not studying enough, but I think everyone feels that way. I'd say keep doing what makes you feel confident in your abilities but remember to relax a bit too.

The starting pay at our hospital for those with specialized training in CT/MR/NucMed is right at the same for starting nurses around $21 /hr. Imaging techs that I know started out in regular diagnostic/xray areas and then would start cross training in the other specialty areas such as CT/MR. Nuc Med techs have a separate degree or at least at my community college did and their program was harder(had certain higher level courses in things such as biology) than the regular rad tech degree.

On the floor where I precepted last quarter, The aides would gather and have a report session to pass on report to the aides working the next shift. This was at the same time the nurses were also finding each other for report. I really liked to see the interactions on that floor. It truly seemed to be a well oiled machine (so to speak..). I think the communication and respect factors go a long way toward making a great team.

OSU was paying for us to go to CSCC for the RN program. However, they recently stopped taking new applicants ( maybe they have plenty of people in the program?). Riverside also pays for nursing school at CSCC for their people. I assume that program is still running, but am not sure as I dont work there. They also were paying for futher education -BSN and such.

I was in the cscc online program and when we had the pharm class we never had to use the CD. I truthfully dont even remember if the book came with a cd then. We basically had to use the calculations book and occasionally (in the early classes) do some homework and bring to lab. You can also email the course coordinator.

we had about 50 starting and about 30 graduated. Most were rejoining the program with the next class.

Congrats! good news and bad news--bad news is that you will probably lose more of your classmates. We lost a lot more than I expected even up to 6th and 7th qtrs. good news--I remember 1st quarter. Everything seemed so far away still, but you know ,the time will start to fly and before you know it, you will find yourself preparing for your pinning ceremony and graduation. I just graduated June 8th from CSCC. I almost can't believe it is over ! I won't know what to do with all that free time.

I know several people who are currently or have completed such arrangements (including myself). Your best bet is to check with the offering facility. They will explain their program to you and can show you their contract. This could easily vary per facility. In my contract, I have all tuition/fees paid for classes. I have to pay for parking, books, uniforms and things like that. In return , I owe my hospital 2 years of service and then contract ends. If for some reason I do not fulfill my part of the bargain, my contract says that I will reimburse the hospital for all of the money it has spent on my education. Different hospitals probably have different agreements. I planned on staying here anyway so the commitment really didn't bother me too much. Some people in the same program as me have said that if they found something better elsewhere, they wouldn't mind paying the hospital back if they ended up making up the loss by making more money at another hospital anyway. Also, I know people who were in the program , but due to issues with the employer (their dept at the hospital) they were allowed out of the program with no pay back required.

usually for our clinical instructors we have always donated toward a group gift anywhere from $3-10. This quarter since we had preceptors it was strange for me to figure out what to do. I simply wanted to show appreciation ,but not go overboard. I ended up giving my preceptor 2 movie tickets and a nice card. Another of my fellow SNs typed up a letter from 3 of us to the whole floor since they really were very inviting and helpful to us and we brought in food for the floor. On the other hand, I know of students who gave $50 gift cerificates for stores and restaurants.

Our on-line program (ADN)at Columbus State Community College is for people with a bachelors degree in anything. You do lectures online and discussions and such,but you have to go in for clinicals and labs and testing.

I've not seen it done, but as a patient I would think it's a bad idea. If you've waited so long that you're sick of waiting, why would you want to drive back there? And , what if by the time you came back, there were more important cases in front of you again? That just seems like it will set you all up for more customer service related type issues. On the other hand,I will say though that maybe a follow up call to check on them could be a good thing. Here's the example I have. My friend was involved in a bad auto accident where she was stopped at a light and a large truck slammed into her at about 40mph. She was taken by ambulance to one of our level 1 trauma centers which was nearby and she had waited 8 hours to be seen, finally her husband took her to another nearby hospital and they got her in within an hour. Now, as much as I like the 1st hospital, it seems extreme that they were that busy and couldn't get to her. And because of that , she and everyone else who knows about it (including myself) will repeat the story of how she had to wait so long there until she had to leave. So as far as PR goes, it looks bad. Maybe if they had called her to check on her it might have looked like they cared at least a little....