BrittRN2b

Just received an email inviting me to an interview march 20 - hope to see y'all there!!!!

That's great! I'm still impatiently waiting for an email or letter. Anyone else got an interview for Fnp?

Julia, when's your interview?

I'm hoping to hear about an interview for Fnp soon. Stalking the mail man. :)

That is awful! I hope she gets another job offer that works out better for her.

I don't understand how TCH remains staffed in the NICU. From what I was able to gather they only hired like one or two new grads the past few semesters. Then again, I've heard that their nurses basically never leave, so maybe they just don't have many openings. Or maybe they just don't like hiring new grads and prefer to transfer in experienced NICU nurses :shrug:

I know for a fact that Hermann in the med center is not on a hiring freeze. Myself and lots of other classmates have been hired for the June 2009 internship. Something like 16 are hired into NICU, 4 to 8 in ER, a handful in women's services, quite a few in ICU... and that is just the ones I know about so I'm sure there are more. From what I understand, many units at Hermann TMC actually hired too few grads in Dec 08 and are now hiring more this May to make up for it. But this is specific to the TMC location and I have heard that satellite locations are on a freeze. I heard that MD Anderson also plans to hire lots of new grads. I keep hearing different things about TCH, but since their apps don't normally come out until mid-April anyway it is hard to know now.

Please post if you have heard of any hospitals that are on a hiring freeze and how you obtained this information. There is a lot of buzz going on around my school among the May 09 grads afraid they won't get a job and hearing that so and so isn't hiring. Also, I suspect that some hospitals may say they have a hiring freeze but this does not apply to new graduate internship spots. Please share what you know!

So everyone thinks it should be fine and that an applicant would not be revoked an offer or made to change units based on their potential sister-in-law working there?

Well considering they did not know about the pending brotherinlaw sisterinlaw relationship when the hiring took place, there is no way it could have been favoritism. Basically, Sue is afraid that she and Bob will get in trouble for being in laws and one will have to quit or change units. Any problem with them both being staff nurses? I guess the only potential problem would be if one wanted to apply for a manager job down the road maybe.

Scenario: Bob applies for a job at a unit where his brother's fiance, Sue, is a staff nurse. Large unit of about 100 staff nurses so it is not likely that they will ever work together anyway. Both Bob and Sue will be staff nurses, no supervisory or management role. When the Bob's brother and Sue marry, will this be considered nepotism now that the bob and sue are sister-in-law and brother-in-law working on the same unit? Do you think this would be cause for not hiring Bob?

could it be a vasospasm?

I am in the accelerated BSN program at UT Houston. It is challenging but not overwhelming. It is a lot of reading and self-study. We are on campus about 3 times a week the first semester and then just once a week the second and third semesters just for exams. We have 12 hr clinicals about twice a week. We still get breaks and holidays. We had a full 2 weeks between summer and fall and we get a week for Thanksgiving and two weeks for Christmas. I have been very happy with how things turned out. Good luck with your decision! Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about the program.

If you are sharing your delight in finding a specialty that suits you, congratulations! However, if you are you saying you were jumping for joy to find a client cutting her wrists, I find that a bit disturbing.

South Texas also known as "the valley" has a severe nursing shortage. I've heard of some large bonuses to try to attract nurses. Knowing Spanish is important.

I'll be taking this since I graduate May 2009 and I don't have a problem with it. As nurses we have so much responsibility and it to our benefit to know the law. I don't see it as just "one more thing" to do but an opportunity to know the rules and regulations that we will be held to in real practice.

You might also look into the accelerated BSN program at UT Houston. I'm currently in the program and all of the classes are online so you just come to campus for labs and tests. Also it is 12 months instead of 15 months. There are advantages to each program, but I'm glad I chose the one at UT because it fits my lifestyle better and it is 6 months shorter.

What a fabulous idea! Do you have to buy a 1/2 size larger shoe to comfortably fit the insert or do they work with your regular size shoes? I just imagine that the insert might be thick and require extra space.

Nursing and medicine are vastly different. Find out more about what is available in each and then decide which would be right for you. There are great career opportunities in nursing including all of the various graduate specialties you can pursue to become an advanced practice nurse. I would say do what you think will fit your lifestyle the best and make you most happy. Good luck!

I bought some Red Cross brand white leather shoes on allheart.com on clearance marked to $25 (from $75)! They have been great. I actually bought two pairs of the same brand: one lace up tennis shoe style and one clog. Both are great but I especially love the "courtney" clogs. the website is http://www.allheart.com

I don't do late nights very often, but when I do it is IHOP, Dennys, or other 24 hr breakfast type restaurants. IHOP has a great never empty coffee pot for $1.75 :) Or I just stay home and turn all the lights on and brew my own coffee and make snacks so I stay awake.

I have wondered the same thing. I have thought this specialty would be very interesting but I'm reluctant to seriously consider it because of the job outlook. I don't have any solid research but the only two people I've known who worked in forensic nursing worked at the county medical examiner's office. Neither of them worked there for more than 2 years. There don't seem to be a ton of positions out there and I'm from a very large urban city. But maybe I just don't know what else is out there.

When I lived in Austin about 5 years ago I lived in Tanglewood North apartments and really liked them. Back then it was 900 for a 2/1 apartment and the real plus was the air conditioning was included in rent so my electric bill was only $25/mo, so that saved a lot of $$. I felt safe in that area because it is in a residential area of 45th street near Red River. It was about a 10 minute drive down I-35 to get to downtown, and if the freeway was ever clogged it was a 15 minute drive down Red River. There is a good website where you can view the crime statistics by apartment complex in Austin... I don't remember the website but you should be able to find it with a Google search. Have fun in Austin, I think it is the coolest city in Texas.

Your cost of living is going to depend largely on where you live in Houston. You mentioned wanting to work in the med center. If you want to live reasonably close (within a fifteen minute commute) to the med center I'd guess you will be paying about $900 for an average 1 br apartment, $1100 for a 2 br. There are some pockets in the area that are cheaper but I'd stay away because those aren't the safest areas, in my opinion. Now if you want to live out in one of the suburbs you might pay less rent ($600 1br $800 1br) but your commute could be 45 mins to an hour. Especially with gas prices going up and more people moving closer to work, I've seen the rent in the area increase quite a bit in the past 2 years. Houston is great but the great cost of living comes with a price - one of the worst commute times in the country.

are you getting excited about tomorrow? i sure am! it is going to be great. i'll see you tomorrow morning at starbucks around 7:45 am.