snag

Dear Methos64, Thanks for the reply. I was just wondering if there is anything the interviewers look for that might be "out of the blue" or difficult to formulate a response to. I haven't had any clinical experience since last April when I was in school, so if they ask me about performing open heart surgery with a Bic pen I will be clueless. Is the interview an extremely difficult hurdle? They told me they would fly me down from Alaska and then fly me back when it is over...I really want to work for an organization that treats people with the kind of respect and professionalism I have experienced with the folks at Mayo so far...I am just a little paranoid of the interview process. All I have done for 22 years is fly airplanes in the military so this whole interview-health care hiring process is a BIG black hole for me. Thanks again for your answer. They are offering a job in the " medical cardiology" unit...is this the same as a step-down unit from the cardiac ICU? I only ask because I agree wholeheartedly with you that a step down unit would be a great challenge for me and a good intro introduction to the complications associated with caring for critical patients. The recruiter said they would send me to the 1st 6 weeks of the 12 week EPIC course and that after 6 months I would be eligible (not necessarily ready and, of course, assuming I haven't crashed and burned by then) to attend the final 6 weeks of the EPIC courses and work in an ICU. Also, would the HR people know more details about the unit I am being interviewed for or would it be better to ask the "job placement" folks? I don't know the hierarchy on the employment process there yet. The one lady I talked to who explained the ICU placement process was Ruth Lorificen (?). Should I ask her about this cardiology floor? Thanks for taking time to read this. I would appreciate being able to email you with a few more questions if you would allow me to in the near future. My regular email is: [email protected]. Take care and best wishes. Sincerely,

Dear Jenrosie, I was called today by the Mayo Clinic for an interview. I live in Alaska and will have to spend several days getting to and through the process. I am a new grad and an RN in Alaska. I haven't worked yet so this will be for my first job. I graduated in May 2005 from the University of Rcohester (NY) from their accelerated nursing program. I was very fortunate in getting a 4.0 and several clinical and acdemic performance awards. My background is that of 22 years of flying for the USAF. I retired in 2002 and now I am 51 starting out in a brand new career. I retired as a lieutenant colonel so I was lucky to have several commander experiences and lots of projects to test my organization/leadership skills. Of course, a lot of that experience is not going to help me as a new nurse trying to get into Mayo. I asked them about my long term goal of working in an ICU as a critical care nurse and how I could work toward that goal. They told me since I did not have 160 hours of ICU clinical experience in school that they would start me out in a "step-down" unit and give me 6 of the first 12 weeks of the "EPIC" course as a start. At the end of 6 months on the stepdown unit, I would be eligibla to begin in the ICU and finish the other 6 weeks of the EPIC courses. Of course, that is only if I keep from screwing up on the stepdown unit. They told me I was to interview for a job on the cardiovascular medical floor. Is that a stepdown unit from the CVICU? Is it tele? Can you point me in the right direction for the interview process? I know you wrote a little about it in your one post I discovered...I am just looking for a leg up. If I am going to relocate from Alaska and leave my wife behind (she has a good job there and our home will remain there) I am going to ensure I leave home for a top notch institution like Mayo...otherwise it's just not worth it. Might as well shoot for the top huh? Thanks for any info you can provide! Good luck to you in your career. Sincerely,

You know, I hear those types of warnings all the time about what not to say. How do those ignorant, catty slobs ever get corrected in life? Do they just always assume (correctly) that they can get away with that kind of behavior? Are they supposed to be allowed to chase others off just because they have their own little clique and can point a collective finger at the new hire? That is BS and it is a sign of an extremely poor manager. I know it goes on all the time and is difficult to stop, but maybe having these cliques called on the carpet for THEIR behavior by a manager with guts may stop some of the abuse of coworkers on that floor. Nursing is tough enough without us having to make it hard on each other...we are a team! We need to have managers who have the right stuff and won't put up with this kind of crap on their units...otherwise there will be no end to this behavior. If this reply sounds emotional...good. Sometimes emotional responses ARE a good thing. When I was in nursing school, I even heard some of the med students and residents joke about the petty behavior of some of the nurses on my floor and warned each other to "watch out for _____ " or "don't bring this up with ____ because you'll just be shooting yourself in the foot". How sad...this is professional collaboration? JMHO.

One question...do you think they would have the guts to treat a newly hired physician this way? I DON"T THINK SO!!! Equality is supposed to apply EQUALLY!

Hey, with the nursing shortage in this country they need you...you don't need them. If they want to play games and be "brutal", take a walk and find somewhere else to work. One year of experience and you can just about find anything you want. That's the key to this career...flexibility for you-not for them. If they want to continue poking themselves in the eye with a sharp stick, then the &%$# with them. After all the sweat and tears you went through to get those nursing credentials you need to go where you are WELCOMED with open arms...not some stuck up place where they feel they have to run you through a gauntlet for the "privilege" of working there. Tell 'em "no thanks" and walk. It is a sellers' market out there...use it to your advantage! Good luck and GOOD HUNTING! PS: Do you REALLY think they make physicians go through this crap?

Dear NRSKarenRN, Thank you for the reply and those websites. At least I have a start now! Best Wishes, Snag

Dear folks, I am looking forward to some expert advice...maybe from the moderator. I apologize if this question has been addressed somewhere else on this site. I did do a search for more specific areas, but they didn't seem to hit at the center of my dilemma. I live in Alaska and am a recent grad from an accelerated BSN program in NY at a well known school. I was lucky and did very well there. I am 51 yo male. I am interested in ICU work. I realize there are a HUGE amount of day-to-day care and time management skills I have to learn. I am not one of those who mistakenly believe that if you do well in school and perform well during the limited clinical hours we get in a program that you are a "shoo-in" when it comes to real bedside care. I know I have a long way to go...but I am sure I would enjoy the challenges faced in critical care despite the difficulty of such a steep learning curve. So, I am limited it seems in Alaska. Here in Fairbanks the interim ICU nurse manager says he hardly ever hires folks and it would be quite a while before I get into "his" ICU. I'm no dummy...I can see the writing on the wall. At 51, I don't feel I have the luxury of spending 2 or 3 years on a med-surge floor just to have a "shot" at an ICU that doesn't even handle cardiac or burn patients...they just medevac them to Seattle (good for patients...bad for me). My eventual goal is to get into an air ambulance service here in AK (a very necessary service) as a CCRN nurse. I have flown combat aircraft in the Air Force for my entire 22 year career, so being around aircraft and occasional (non-medical) crises is something I have experience with and enjoy very much. Sorry about the blah blah...So, do I have an option as a newly licensed RN, BSN to do an ICU internship at a large hospital? Is that sort of thing very common? I realize I will start out in med-surge care just like a lot of others, but the thing that is important to me is that I will end up with a preceptor in an ICU and a follow-on position in the ICU instead of waiting for possibly years to get into an ICU that doesn't want me poking my nose around there anyway. I hope this makes sense. Please send me some common sense. (PS: My wife will be remaining behind at our home in Alaska while I go off to do this. She has a great career up here and is used to me being gone all those years while I was in the AF. I just figure I could leave to get the experience I am after without spinning my wheels and begging for a slot up here and when I am done with my commitment I would return home...just like when I left and drove 5000 miles to attend nursing school.) Thanks for taking time out to read this tome! Sincerely, Snag

Thanks a lot RN34TX! That will give us a better idea of what needs to be considered before answering this type of question. Have a good one! Snag

Hi everyone! Just passed my NCLEX the other day but a friend of mine is still studying for her exam and she asked me a question I couldn't answer very well (no big surprise since I am a brand new RN and have EVERYTHING to learn!). She asked me if an RN can delegate the "setting up of a patient's room" to an LPN. She clarified it to mean setting up for the arrival of a new admit OR setting up the room for performing wound care, etc. My first guess is that each state determines the appropriate delegation rules for RN's and those rules are governed by that state's board of nursing. My second guess is that such a valuable asset as an LPN can perform standard, unchanging tasks such as wound care. That would also mean she/he should be responsible for setting up their own care environment for that purpose (dressings, sterile gloves, etc). I think I heard that an RN is responsible for setting up the new admit room for the patient...but I don't know and I am looking for someone out there who may know a more definitive answer (now that I have thoroughly confused the issue). Anyway, thank you in advance for any suggestions you may provide. Joining the best group of professionals in the world!... A New Alaska RN!!!

Dear everyone, I live in Fairbanks and have been flying in the military for 22 years...the last 16 up here. I am now a brand new licensed BSN/RN just having graduated from the University of Rochester's Accelerated Nursing Program. I am going to see about working up here in AK first...but, if they don't offer me the right kind of job opportunities, then I will once again leave my home intact up here in AK (my wife has her own career up her) and I will get on a plane and work where I think my needs will be met. I am too old to pay my dues for years slugging it out on some floor where I don't really want to work in the first place. It's a sellers market out there and I am going to start out in the best place for me. If that means getting a plane ticket and going to Outer Elbonia, so be it. My home will still be here when I return. Good luck to all!