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

Thanks for all the great feedback/input everyone! I'm always amazed by how fast people respond to questions on this forum, it's awesome!

So in nursing school, they teach that you should auscultate all four quadrants for bowel sounds, and if you hear nothing you should listen for 5 minutes until you say that they are absent (if you hear none). In your practice do you always listen for 5 minutes and write "absent" bowel sounds in a fresh post-op patient, or do you listen for a bit, and if you don't hear a thing, chart down "hypoactive bowel sounds" instead and keep assessing periodically (and also for flatus)? Because aren't we also taught to notify the MD when there are absent bowel sounds as it could mean a paralytic ileus? But since a paralytic ileus is more of a concern if the bowels don't get back into action in the first 72 hours...which is the best action for the nurse? This is a bit confusing because what I've experienced in my capstone differs from what they taught in school...so i'm wondering how you all do it on the job? Thanks!

Hello, My brother (who's in business) says I should bring a nice portfolio to keep my things in. Preferably one with my university name on it. Now, what kind of things should I bring to an interview that would go in there? So far, I can think of: Interim permit, Questions to ask interviewers, a copy of the questionnaire i filled out and clinical reference forms i submitted, copies of my resume and cover letter and reference list (how many of each of these should i bring btw??), and maybe a teaching plan i made as an assignment when i was as tutor (not related to nursing but i dont have anything well put together as far as nursing school teaching plans and such for some reason...). Are these the things I should include and am I missing anything you can think of? And are you supposed to give extra copies of things only when prompted or asked? Thanks!!

Thanks everyone for the great info, and especially that link guiltysins!! I actually just remembered that i had to purchase a book called "Davis's Nclex-RN Success" by Sally Lambert Lagerquist. And there's over 1,000 nclex-type questions in there. I asked my sister who took nclex two or three years ago and she said the questions in there seem complex enough in structure that they're similar to the types of questions they'll ask on nclex. And i read through the section on test taking strategies, which i think will be pretty useful (the Saunders book i have doesn't really tell you too much but this book does...even teaches some relaxation methods...) There is a pretest of 500 questions that you can take in the book (aside from the chapter questions) and there are answers with rationals for each option you should or should not choose per question and what category its from. Just fyi for whoever else reads this thread and is like me (still studying and looking for the right resources ^_^) The only drawback is the year it was published, 2005 or 2006 but i dont think it'll be TOO bad.

Wow thanks for all the great feedback! Is it also typical to receive a scenario where you are asked to talk about your first actions/responses?

I'm sure you will do better on your next one!!! Everyone gets nervous sometime, you can't help that. But you Can practice thinking in a more positive way, by thinking of how much you want the position you're applying for, and how that eagerness to take on that role will easily show to your interviewer(s) as long as you are answering honestly and with sincerity. I've read that the process of choosing people for interviews is where the employers assess whether you're qualified or not, so don't worry if you don't have the experience yet (because they already know that and they Still chose to give you a chance, so it's possible! So focus on what you know you Can bring to their team and make that known). I think it's important to remember that our passions give us confidence and you can't do more than be yourself (in a professional way), and i think knowing that will help you be less nervous next time. Remember, they don't know what your faults are, don't think of what you have to be afraid of in the moment, think about how well things Could go and how you need to think and act in order for it to come true. Believing in yourself is the first step towards accomplishing anything. Good luck!

Hello, I have several questions for you if you have been interviewed before or have held interviews: This will be my first nursing interview (actually my first interview in general ^_^) and it's for a new grad training program at a children's hospital next Tuesday. So I have about a week to prepare for it. As a part of the application process, I answered a questionnaire that included questions regarding my interests, why I wanted to work at this hospital, why I would be an asset, and a difficult situation I had once and how I dealt with it, and a few others. From your experience, will the manager have already read all of this or will it be a tool for them to use to guide the interview (meaning I already know my answers)? The manager said "we look forward to meeting you" so I am assuming there will be more than one interviewer. I am wondering what kind of questions they might ask me, and if it IS the same ones, is it okay for me to answer the way I did on paper? And with group interviews, what kind of sceanarios would they throw at me if they do (and I'm assuming they will since they've already gotten me to answer other stuff in their questionnaire...) Also, people say that I should know about the hospital but what kind of information exactly should I bring up if asked (or however the topic comes up - and should I be the one to bring it up)? A tricky one is when they ask me "where do you see yourself in 3-5 (or 5-10) years?" My professor said it is okay to say that you are interested in continuing education and eventually going for a role such as NP or CNS as long as you make it clear that that is an idea for the Future, after working a while in this hospital, etc. Because nobody is going to want to hire somene who is already planning on leaving in two years. I mean, do people ever just say that in 2-5 years they hope to be working on the unit they're applying for right now? How did you answer this question? Lastly, what kinds of questions should I be prepared to ask them? Thanks so much!!!

Hello, I'm studying for the Nclex-rn test which i'll be taking on july 23rd, and I'm using the Saunders review book (2008 edition). Has anyone used this book and how was your experience? People recommend practicing questions more than anything and I've heard the questions this book provides (on the cd as well) are more of review questions or not really the complex, application questions that are to be expected on the actual nclex test. The book of course recommends the Saunders Q & A book that has only questions to practice with. Would you say it is a good book to invest in or are the questions in there the same as the review book and i should therefore look for another that has harder questions or questions more like the nclex ones? Are there any books that you've used that have questions like the nclex ones that helped you? Thanks!!!

Thanks for all the great info everyone!!!

Hi, I have read that as a psychiatric CNS, you can provide psychotherapy to patients, my main reason for wanting to become a CNS. Can you describe what that process is actually like (psychotherapy), how long it could last, how involved it is, how many clients you have at once, to what end are you working towards, and what other professional is involved if any? Would a CNS providing psychotherapy pretty much replace a psychologist or psychiatrist or therapist? In that sense, is it also harder to get a job as a psychiatric CNS because there are already other professionals competing for the job? I have spoken to a psychiatric NP who had attended an accelerated program (and I don't think she ever did any psych nursing just as an RN.) and she told me that RNs don't typically interact very much with their patients, at least not to the level/depth that the CNS does as far as talking to them. But of course, since she has not actually experienced it herself, maybe that's not completely correct? For RNs out there on the psych units/settings, how involved have you ever gotten? Is there anyone who has been both an RN on a psych unit and a CNS who could describe the similarities/differences in their experience in each role? Also, are there any pscyh. CNS' that work on a pediatric unit or with that population that could describe how a day in your life is while on the job? Thanks so much!!!