meeep

Highly recommend looking for an inpatient position at a teaching hospital. Ratios will be much safer than freestanding facilities. We staff by acuity so sometimes I have 1-2 patients but a normal assignment is 3 patients per RN. We have an admission/discharge nurse, group nurse, and charge nurse who do not carry a patient assignment, so we have a ton of resources. Having security on site can't be beat either - I know a lot of freestanding facilities do not have security. We typically have 2-4 techs who do vitals, meal trays, and safety checks. One of the really nice things about a teaching hospital is we always have attendings and residents on site, so obtaining orders for your patients (should you need something) in a timely manner is a cinch!

I work in inpatient acute psych. We occasionally will have patients with IV's, but it's typically only the sickest catatonic patients receiving fluids or an ativan challenge. For the most part, we do not accept patient's with IV's or with feeding tubes. We will very occasionally accept patients who self-cath but it's extremely rare.

A SMART goal is just an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based. OP - Are these goals for your own learning progression she wants you to set? Or goals with patients?

No, I didn't get a confirmation after I selected a time.

It’s possible they have different dates for the different tracks and haven’t sent out invites for the other specialties yet. They are doing the psych track interviews next week.

I received an interview invite today, so check your emails! :)

Has she looked into becoming an ND (naturopathic doctor) at all? That seems more suited than the NP role for her interests and goals.

I work in a 25 bed locked acute unit. We have a group report at the start of the shift with all the oncoming nurses/techs and charge RN. The charge RN goes over the highlights of the unit, any behavioral issues etc to be aware of, upcoming discharges, new admits, safety issues, then we all get nurse to nurse report on our patients from the off-going nurse.

A few of my co-workers are in the PMHNP program, and they said they received interview invites in December, for both December and January interview dates (I believe you sign up for a date & time that works for you). They received decisions in February.

I also applied for psych specialty!

I took it recently and it wasn't too bad. There were a few pretty detailed questions that weren't covered in the book, but oh well, I still passed. I used the mometrix book posted above as well as the ANCC study guide for the exam. I mainly just skimmed those and did a bunch of practice exams to study.

We definitely know how spoiled we are. We are hiring! They provide relocation assistance as well.

I work for a private, not for profit hospital on a locked, acute psych unit and our ratios are almost always 1:3. Sometimes we are 1:4 if we are short but have never gone higher than that. Mood disorders, geri/med psych, and our adolescent psych inpatient units have the same ratios. I just can't imagine how you would be able to safely care for 10-15 patients per 1 nurse ?

Most BSN grads I know have gotten jobs in the units they wanted, regardless of school attended. I do not think it is something unique to Emory.

Piedmont is one of the last of the area hospitals to open applications for their residency, so you may end up in a position of not knowing when other hospitals have already made offers. My suggestion would be to decide where you truly want to work and dedicate yourself to obtaining that goal.

Look up categorical syllogism examples and quizzes. Almost the entire CT test consists of these! If you have taking a logic, critical thinking, or math modeling course, you will be somewhat familiar with these types of questions!

I am graduating at the same time and plan to apply to residency programs for summer, too. I believe the GMC August app was for the winter residency. I am planning to apply to Eastside, Northeast GA, Northside, Piedmont, Emory, Gwinnett, and the Savannah-area hospitals. I have family there and wouldn't mind going back.

Nooooo. I want a few more weeks of summer

Do you think your summer grades will bring you up to a 3.0? I think they do require that as a minimum, but you could email admissions and ask. If you have extenuating circumstances and your prerequisite grades are good, they may be willing to make an exception.

Jayleen, a 3.5 is fine. What is your overall. Mercer does not just look at GPA. They look at the whole package of what makes you, YOU. They place a lot of emphasis on the essay. You can send in letters of recommendation and a resume of volunteer activities/life experience as well. They will accept supporting materials you think will bolster your application. I am not applying for fall, I will be a senior there in the fall. I am willing to answer any questions you have.

GBCN class of 2017

It has, Ashley

The argument I have always heard is that the entirety of a pmhnp clinical hours are spent in psych, vs a PA's more generalist training.

Really? (Genuinely curious, not being sassy!) All of the PA's I have spoken to have told me if you want to do psych, go for NP over PA. Care to elaborate?

The nursing school thrive guide is a little better than the porter Thomas book imo. If you can afford it, they're both OK reads though