penny112

I am an ADN new grad in the bay area and I am finding that most places prefer BSN. It's rough out there. I am applying to RN-BSN programs and keeping faith that I will find something. Good luck!

Guess I heard wrong then...

My mom works there and has been talking to the nurse recruiters and they haven't called anyone yet. They said the program is being pushed out because they haven't started the interview process. Before they call anyone they have to send out their certification email, which is the one they send everyone who meets the minimum requirements for the job and I haven't heard of anyone who has received one. I have applied for several VA positions and have always received the cert email. There have been positions posted for nursing that aren't new grads. Perhaps the interviews were for those positions?

Nope, they haven't sent those out yet. The VA is sloooow.

Wow, after reading some of these I feel really lucky to have gone to the school that I did. I graduated from an ADN program in June and we had lab to work on skills for the first year. In clinical our instructors would find out the skills you hadn't done and would try their hardest to get you a patient where you would be able to practice those skills. We had a lot of experience dealing with CVC's. We only got 1 chance to practice IV starts on each other in lab and most students didn't get many IV starts during clinical (many of the hospitals had IV teams) but I think I got lucky. I did a community rotation at the student health center of our school and got a lot of practice with blood draws and IM's. Then I precepted in a level I trauma center and hit the ground running. I started IV's from day 1, started a minimum of 5 a day along with so many blood draws I can't count. I put in a couple of NG's and many foley's. It was an awesome experience. My school was really big on making sure everyone got as much experience as they could before graduation.

Pretty much all vials have overfill so if you want to be exact I would measure it. For some things it doesn't matter but I think using the correct amount is a good habit to get into.

Yeah, it said 10 openings. And it is a long process :/ i hope things start moving along soon. Good luck to all of us!

I know that the way the VA works is first they certify you, basically saying that you meet the minimum requirements for the job and you will get an email about that. Then they score you after you have been certified, and then based off of scoring and other factors, like cover letters, they forward certain apps to the hiring managers. I have several family members that work there, some high up who are involved in hiring processes (not for this position, or nursing for that matter) and they explained the process to me. They also said VAPA has a notoriously slow HR dept. so it may take a while to hear back from them. I have applied for other positions and it took me about 2 weeks to get my certification email.

When did you submit your app?

Does everyone's upload status say "uploaded, not retrieved"? Just wondering when they will start retrieving the uploads.

Yes they are hiring in iicu for new grad program. New grad program listed iicu, med surg, spinal cord, endo, and Geri. Yeah I k ow about the service points. I have family that works in sci so that's off the table for me. Thanks so much for the info!

You started in endoscopy? How was that? I had a few days there at another hospital and it didn't seem like it would provide the best learning experience for a student but maybe it's different at VAPA. I put IICU as my first choice. No prior service but I do have BLS and ACLS. I also have prior hospital experience, not in nursing though.

If you read the requirements closely you do not have to put clinical hours on your resume. Instructions state "Clinical rotations, AND number of hours of any volunteer experience or any previous work experience related to the position, such as EMT, EKG Tech, Surgical Tech, etc. Include date of graduation from nursing school and your RN license number and State." That just means where you did clinical rotations and the number of hours of volunteer or work experience that is related to the job. A certain number of hours are required by the board so by being licensed it is assumed that you have completed these hours. All ADN programs should have similar amount of clinical hours, as all BSN programs should have similar hours.

It's ugly out here. I'm a new grad in the Bay Area and it's bleak. Get some experience where you are and then think about moving back.

I've worked as an inpatient pharm tech for the last 6 years and I just graduated. It has been such a valuable experience for me. I have become comfortable in the hospital setting, I really know my meds, I have a strong foundation in med safety, I am familiar with typical dosing (i.e. I can recognize when an order doesn't seem right), I understand how the hospital works as a whole and not just from the viewpoint of the nurse, and I have become involved in a nursing/pharmacy task force that works together to improve workflow and patient care. I love my job and I will be sad to leave it when the time comes (although I am so ready to move on. Come on new grad job!). CNA would be a great job as well but in nursing school I noticed that the CNA's felt more comfortable with basic patient care but I had the edge in other areas. Just my 2 cents. Everyone's experience is different.