jo716

Hi! Thanks so much for your feedback! Is there any particular company/organization that teaches lactation education that's recognized as being best to learn from or get certifications from for nurses? Thanks! Jo

Hello, I'm a nurse with experience in home care, medical surgical, telemetry, and inpatient psychiatric nursing. What could I do to get a job in Post Partum nursing? It seems most places are either looking for New Grads with past related preceptorships or already experienced Post Partum/L&D nurses. What would hiring managers like to see as far as highlighted skills that can cross over and are there any classes, certifications (I hear NRP), anything else that could make me an attractive applicant? If you've been on the hiring/interviewer side - What traits do you generally look for in applicants and what makes someone stand out to you? Thanks! Jo

Wow thank you so much to everyone who replied with great tips and insights!! I've had experience in medsurg and mental health and working with families so hopefully parts of those experiences and skillsets will apply towards the NICU setting. I have actually looked into PostPartum but that's yet another place that mostly wants experienced nurses in the specialty. Nevertheless you all gave me a lot to think about and I feel more encouraged!! Thank you!!

Thanks so much for your time and input!! I found it quite helpful ? Are there any courses online or otherwise that might help prepare me for the NICU setting?

Hi, I've noticed that most hospitals require NICU experience in order to apply for jobs but how can one get into this specialty without any pediatrics/baby/NICU experience? Thanks!

Gosh, this is an old thread but hopefully people who have been in these programs or similar ones can still see this and chime in! I'm interested in becoming a Diabetes Nurse Educator and see that several people mentioned the same here. I was wondering if these programs had helped at all in helping you eventually obtain such a job or helped you get those 1,000 teaching hours you need to sit for that CDE exam? Getting those hours seems to be the biggest challenge as there is no direct route to getting them.

Davey Do, Wow that's a lot of stuff you did! Would you say that patients in the outpatient setting were generally more calm and stable compared to inpatient patients on average? I understand especially working with Crisis Stabilization or when patients are off meds or needing to change their meds or having had changed meds they might be heading towards a similar state as inpatient but once in a while is much less intense than a few days a week to daily. I'm curious what those lectures you gave were about? What job was that related to exactly? And do you have any tips on how I could get into a case management position? Seems like most jobs are looking for people already experiences. Thanks a lot!

Every Learning LPN, Thanks so much for all your insight and tips! I have actually been working in a locked psych facility for the past 2.5 years now and I totally understand all the things you've described though there's some useful info I can apply as well that's new to me! The intensity and high risk for violence is the main reason I want to step out of acute care and work in a community setting more or in a safer position which I imagine case management would be. I would like to still have some patient connection though and so I'm looking for a good middle ground. Thanks again!

Hello, I'm curious about case management as a potential next job in mental health nursing & there is currently a position that is mostly clinic based that I'm looking at. Does anyone work in such a setting and what is your typical day like? Do you feel it is much safer than working on an acute care locked facility? Thanks

Thank you for your input!! :)

This was Exactly the information I have been looking for!! I wasn't sure what was appropriate for me to take or not and also the lactation course info I found on my own was super extensive and a little much for the current time but your info and options make a lot of sense. Thank you for looking and linking for me and thanks for the variety of options too!!

Hello! I am aspiring to become a postpartum nurse (have had some years of experience in various other types of nursing so far but wanting to break into the PP world. Recently spoke with a unit manager who suggested learning about breast feeding as a way to prepare and it also makes you a better candidate with this knowledge base). I've been looking around online but haven't reached any definitive answers as to which places and courses are best for nurses to take? Most classes are geared towards patients/new parents. Are there any that are specifically for nurses who work with these patients in the San Francisco Bay Area or would managers ever consider those new parent courses as some education? Or would I have to look into actual lactation consultant courses? CEU courses would be great too if possible. Thanks!

Sorry if that title had some grammatical errors ^_^, but anyway, I had my senior preceptorship in pediatrics, specifically on a surgical unit in a children's hospital. Since jobs are hard to come by right now I am wide open to all sorts of nursing jobs and I am wondering how I should go about tailoring my cover letter for each specialty (ie: psychiatric nursing, medical-surgical nursing, maternity)? My cover letter now is very much geared towards pediatric jobs, speaking of my previous job working with kids and my preceptorship. Would it be unwise to keep that preceptorship section in the letter if I am applying for an adult medical-surgical job, since I did use the same technical skills (of course I'd tweak the part about loving my work with kids)? I don't really have fantastic stories to tell from my adult med-surg clinicals, which is why I'm having this problem... Also, would it be fine to just use my precepting nurse and preceptorship instructor as main references even for adult med-surg job references? My adult med-surg clinical instructor probably doesn't even remember me anymore. Thank you!!!

haha, well actually i did ask near the end of my preceptorship and there weren't any openings in the foreseeable future at the time. But i ended up calling today :)

Hi, how soon should I call the nurse manager of a unit if I applied for a job on the unit and shift that i precepted on (to let her know i applied/am interested/etc.)? I applied yesterday, and the job was posted the day before. Should I just call today to let her know i applied and am interested or wait till...Monday (that'll be the third business day) so that she has had more time to review the applications? Thanks