head3rd

Its a tight market in most parts of the country right now, the Shortage started about 10 years ago and schools have steadily been churning students out with new programs opening all the time. If you combine that with the economic situation where nurses are working longer and changing jobs left. My new grad cohort had 105 new nurses but over 900 people applied. Get a job in a hospital that has a residency program as a CA/CNA/ PCT on a unit while in school and work PRN or part-time. Everyone in my graduating class that was already working at a hospital was hired as a nurse at graduation

You might want to think about relocating, The hospital system I work for hires new Grad's or any RN with less than 1 year experience into a residency program called Versant. They have a website versant.org, if you go to clients it shows cities that have these programs. You can also type GN residency programs in google and it will you show tons of hospitals that specifically hire new nurses. Here in texas we hired 105 GN's in June and are hiring 80 more in October. Good Luck

While I'm a new Nurse, years as an Paramedic have made me old in medicine, I love grossing out the young nurses I work with at night by heating up my food in an emesis basin or making tea in a urinal. (we run out of break room supplies a lot)

So true, so true

It is true there are quotas to be filled, in Nursing males are a minority. When I graduated I knew of 10 guys that all applied to the same residency and we were all hired. We made up 20% of the new hires

As the only male nurse on the night shift on my unit, I want the females to treat me as a peer and not an outsider. Luckily I guess the ladies I work with are all very cool. I found it funny that after a couple of years working with them They really relaxed. There are sometimes TMI moments related to body parts, cycles and stuff but hey if it was 1 female and a bunch of guys it would be the other way around

I think its funny I get assigned Pt's that the last shift say were a nightmare and after explaining to the Pt how "we" will be managing their care, its usually smooth sailing. Problem Pt's seem to be less of a problem for male nurses

So True, it happens all the time, my last shift I had a patient calling me Doc all night, I kept telling him I was his nurse but he just kept at it. Finally he said you should be the Doctor you are the one actually taking care of me not him.....gotta love it

Get a job at a local hospital as an CA/Tech/whatever they call it in your area. That way you will be seen by the people in charge of hiring GN candidates for that unit. When I graduated my facility hired 18 acute care GN's, 14 of us already worked there as CA's, in fact every CA that graduated at the same time as me had a job. Our network of hospitals hired a total of 105 GN's and had over 900 applicants

I would have gone with gray personally, all through nursing school our uniform color was light Teal, wasn't a fan but hey, they man makes the clothes not the other way around

Every Nurse I work with has something that grosses them out, Poo, snot, vomit etc. They all work through it when they have to. It also depends on where in Nursing you end up. ICU, Med/Surg, Nursing homes = POO ED, Home health, surgical = No POO

Thats awesome to hear, I work on a Neuro unit and love it, My best days are when I come back after 3 or 4 days off and see that pain in the A** patient that was combative, pulling lines every 10 min, in a halo, and 4 point restraints walking down the hall with family and the say hello and know my name. Now that is a great day!

Good pay after a few years Always a job once you get your 1st one Go home most days knowing you made a difference in someones life So many options with a few years experience....hospitals, home health, corporate health, medical technology, list goes on and on

If you are choosing based on finding if you really want to work in OB vs Med/surg, I would go OB. A coworker of mine thought all through school that she wanted pediatrics, after her preceptorship she knew she didn't want that after all.

That is crazy, female nurses can take care of male patients alone but not the other way around. If you violated policy and just did it, you would lose in court as you knew the policy. If on the other hand you were terminated or lost shifts due to lack of male patients or female chaperons...... then you would have a discrimination case

Go for it, but definitely cover it up at the hospital, If any of my old instructors saw that....big trouble, not to mention working RN's. When you pass the NCLEX you have earned the right to use those 2 little letters we all worked so hard to get

Using filter needles with ampules is simply best practices, keep in mind often our higher educated team members (Dr's) don't seem to feel the need to wear gloves with MRSA patients, masks with neutropenic patients etc. Do what is best for your patient and mention to the person that you heard of a study about it

The fact is that locality makes a huge difference, here in central Texas there are 4 major nursing programs cranking out 600-700 new grads twice per year. There are 3 hospital systems that hire a total of 300 new grads annually for their respective residencies. I cant say enough that it is all about who you know, or better yet who knows you. I was 39 when I finished school, all through school I worked as a CA at the hospital I wanted to eventually work at as a nurse. I did this intentionally, while taking all of my pre-nursing courses I worked part time somewhere else, as the nursing program started I changed jobs so I would have the inside track on a job as an RN. I feel bad for all of you that are looking for jobs and those of you that are scared of graduating soon with no prospects in sight. If you haven't taken boards try to get a job as a CA, if you have, see if you can get a PRN or part time position as a companion sitter for the hospital. At least you will be able to meet people and make some contacts. Good Luck!

So very true, when I graduated I was working at the hospital as a Clinical Assistant and had a job no problem. All of my classmates that were working at the different hospitals had jobs at graduation while very few of those that weren't working found jobs for months.

My school required a 900 on the exit HESI to graduate when I took it, if you have paid for an NCLEX review program use that to run through, diseases, pharm, prioritization, etc.

It all depends on where you work. I work at the County hospital which is also the only Level 1 Trauma center in the Region, it's a daily occurrence for us to have someone hit, kicked, bitten, etc. But very few of these people are A&Ox4, most are DT'S, head trauma's, AMS. As a decent sized male nurse, the blows have never been so bad that I was actually injured, it has hurt few a few minutes but that's it. I never call a code on the incidents, what is security going to do say "Bad Rt sided brain flap, don't do that again", I just chart the bahavior and move on. Another hospital in our network that is not County or a level 1 almost never has this happen, it all depends on the facility's patient population

A couple of weeks ago I was going off shift after a very long 12hrs, while walking down the hall one of my 5 Pt's saw me with my bag and asked if I would be back the next day. When I said I was off for the next few days she promptly grabbed me and gave me a hug while telling me how great I was to her and how I had made a very scary day much easier to deal with. Days like that don't happen very often, but when they do..... it's all worth it