strider1500

Hi, I am not a nurse YET, but I already work within UPMC and most of the nurses who have their BSN tell me that the only time it makes a difference is they might pay you a few more dollars an hour. Other than that they tell me that they mainly got the BSN to eventually help them move into perhaps a management position.

I tried for years and years to get into UPMC, the only way I got in was when I started nursing school, the recruiters came and told all of us to apply online. I feel without the connection through the school I never would have heard from them.

I applied for a job in Sept/Oct didn't get a call until Nov. Then didn't hear from them until January with the job offer.

For what it's worth, Western Psych has their nurses in the SEIU union.

Greetings, For those who have done a fair share of traveling, I would like to ask are there specialties (ER ICU) that would make me more valuable/in demand? I know that there is nothing wrong with being a "floor" nurse, I just wanted to start in the right direction and get the proper training under my belt before I start traveling. Also, I noticed on a website they posted some hourly wages for their assignments. Something didn't seem right, what I read was that they had a position that was paying $40 an hour. Now in addition, it listed what the job would pay for overtime. It listed the overtime wage at $43.33. Now, where I come from, overtime is paid at time-and-one-half. How do they get this as the overtime wage? Thanks.

Are you guys are talking about the tube they put down through the nose? I had my appendix removed and when it came time for my tube to be removed, they simply put a paper towel over my nose and pulled.

This is what I was worried about, but just like you said, I don't think it will get to my floor.

That's the one good thing that came out of this, I would have never known about this problem. Once I'm covered under their health plan, I'll get this issue taken care of.

The physical was after the job offer. I was told of a mandatory medical screening, I didn't know that they were going to draw blood.

Well, the phone call came from the employee health dept, which is in the hospital. I don't know if the results will reach my unit director or not.

Yeah, they checked my glucose, cholesterol. I got all this told to me in a telephone call. I'm supposed to get the results in the mail some time this week.

I'm starting at a hospital soon and as part of the pre-employment medical screening they took a blood sample. This was tested and when the results came back they informed me that my triglycerides are 1600. After thinking about this, I feel that this is something my employer doesn't need to know about me. I realize that my health is very important, but how do I know what else they tested my blood for? Is this standard policy in hospitals? Thanks.

When I worked as an Aide for a large Pittsburgh area health system, it was not uncommon for nurses to have ten patients. This was a Med-Surg floor. Once a week I saw nurses with tears in their eyes.

Did you sign an agreement regarding this? Otherwise I would feel that you can't be bound unless it's in writing.

This is a good time to practice being patient, they do not move very fast at Shadyside. The first time I took the entrance exam, it took them so long to notify me that I passed that I was forced into the Evening/Weekend class. Also, a new full-time class just started (ME) so they might have their hands full at the moment.