billzie

Please let me know where this is! You can em or pm me with the info. I might be returning to Chicago if the planets are aligned and something of a miracle were to happen in my personal life. This kind of deal sounds like something to look in to. I prefer 3 12s, it's the perfect combo of enough pay and time off. Bill.

Howdy folks, my wife and I (both RNs) moved to SE Ohio, Athens, from Chicago a little over a year ago. We came from a large hosp that offered all kinds of potential C.E. thougout the year and throughout the system. The system required X amount of C.E. hours per year even though the state did not. We are now in a part of Ohio with very little professional competition, hence, some of the perks of being in a city or big hosp don't exist. Sooo, Does anyone know of any good and preferably cheap/free sources for Ohio certified C.E.? Any help is appreciated, thanks, Bill.

Congrats to you. I attended a different school in IL. I don't know why the OH programs are delaying admissions, this isn't the case in IL, schools are begging for applicants there. IMHO, I try to steer would be nursing students inot rad tech programs for a multitude of reasons, but I guess it's just not a field well known in the general public. Bill.

When I lived in Chicago I bought from Uniforms To You (UTY, and owned by Cintas). Twice a year they have a good 30% off sale, that's when I special ordered my Landau pants (cargo side pockets, eleastic and drawstring waist) and UTY tops. I'm a big guy and my sizes are always priced higher. IMO, getting the higher quality pant was money well spent, the tops are all about the same so I saved a bit by getting the nicer level house brand. For shoes, I'm a believer in wearing white non-cloth shoes, I only buy New Balance in the 800 series, I buy from nbwebexpress.com. I don't go ultra-cheap, heck I have to spend a good portion of my life in these things. And, they're tax deductible for the purchase and cleaning. Bill.

Howdy folks! My wife and I are looking for BLS and ACLS certification sites in SE Ohio, in particular we are in Athens. We were a bit remiss in our recerts, thought we were good until June, but "DOH" :selfbonk: expired in April. We haven't worked since Christmas and are now looking for jobs. If you know any places, please let me know asap. Thanks, Bill

First off, thanks everyone for your input, it'll definitely help in our job search. Why Athens??? Well, I've been trying to leave Chicago for the better part of the last 10 years. We (wife and I) finally made the decision to leave and stick to it. Athens has two things that make it attractive. One, my Mom lives there and has a 5 bedroom house and just her living there. Two, I want to return to school to complete my ADN to BSN and possibly double major. Mom has cheap rent (three months so far and still haven't figured out the rent yet!), lots of space for a newlywed couple to keep privacy, and my wife gets along great with my Mom (maybe too well :uhoh21: ). Athens has OU and a bachelors' completion for RNs, also has a nice Jr college in the next town about 15 mi away to take the "bs" classes on the cheap. What we're trying to do is gather as much info on the various hospitals as possible without actually sitting down with a nurse recruiter or HR personnel, we want to leave the door open for any potential referral bonuses for folks who might want to split it with us (Know anyone??). We went to Holzer Hosp in Jackson yesterday, but after hours so we didn't even get to see the nursing units or to talk to any nursing staff. It's seems to be a nice place and looks brand new, but it's small. We went to O'Bleness Hosp in Athens today, during business hours talked briefly with an HR rep who then let us roam about the place, we talked to an LPN and RN on their Med/Surg unit and gave us a lot of info. It helps that we "acquired" a copy of the hospital contract before we moved, so we have a very good idea of the pay there. It seems to be nicely upkept (didn't smell) even though it's an older facility, it is small but growing a little. My wife is really very nervous about the whole experience, the last hosp we worked was her first healthcare experience whereas I've worked in hosps since high school and came from a family of folks who mostly worked in hosps. The main thing that worries me is the lack of a challenge in these small hosps. The last hosp we worked for was a 443 bed teaching facility in Chicago, there it was actually considered a community hosp and probably bigger than most in Ohio overall, surprisingly for a time we did more cardiac interventions (cath, CEAs, CABGs, etc) than other big name hosp in the Chciago area. The unit I worked on was 44 beds and larger by itself than either Holzer or Obleness, also it was a very busy surgical tele/SICU step-down unit with post-CABG, big bellies, vents, etc., soooooo, I'm worried about keeping up my skills. My wife probably just wants the place to be nice and friendly and have good benefits. Well, sorry for the long reply and thanks again for your input, keep it coming! We're probably looking to get my wife a FT gig by end of April and I'm looking for something PT around the same time. Thanks, Bill.

Any help will be greatly appreciated... My wife and I are recent transplants from Chicago to Athens, Ohio. We are both R.N.s with experience in home health/private duty, and experience in med/surg and surg/tele, respectively. We would like any info, input, etc on the opportunities in our area. Location of hospitals, pay scales, benefits, etc., "the good, the bad, and the ugly". We are just applying for our license transfer and not in a big rush, but looking for placement in the next month or so. Also, I might be open for working travel contracts within Ohio and would appreciate that info too. Thanks, Bill.

Nursing books are all different, however the content will be very similar, it's just how it is presented. The books you will NEED will be determined by what school you ultimately choose, the state has no bearing on this, it is the school. If you are just looking for a general nursing knowledge before you even go to a nursing school, then I would suggest looking for a general nursing text with a clinical companion that is no more than 3 years old from publishing date (most medical texts are updated every 2-3 years). I have found that the best prices other than a personal friend are on Ebay, and that is where I sold all of my nursing books in one BIG lot. Sometimes you can go to your local junior college bookstore and find a used one that is no longer on the schools active text list. Please keep in mind that when you actually go to nursing school they will require you to have exactly the book they recommend, and IMHO this is the best way to go, many questions on tests in my program came straight from the study guide companions to the texts. HTH, Bill.