mnscotti

Shortly, I will be interviewing for ICU positions at Abbott Northwestern, United, and North Memorial. These positions are straight nights and would be for the units that do NOT work on fresh hearts. I have not yet seen any of the units or met personally with managers/staff. I was hoping to get some opinions of the working environment, coworkers, and general satisfaction of RN's who have worked at any of these facilities. Any thoughts would be appreciated!! Thanks!!!

Less than 7% of hospitals currently have magnet status so don't worry, all the hospitals in your area will not have it anytike soon.

Ok, so here is where I sound like a jerk. Too many people are giving you questionable advice. "Don't feel bad"?, yes you should feel bad. You are only human? Yes you are and we all make mistakes. But for god's sake, feel bad! This is how we learn. This is what guilt is for. Don't get me wrong, obsession and incapacitation does no good, but if you get anywhere near complacentcy knowing that, hey we are only human, and its ok to make mistakes, we will be that much more susceptible to let our guards down. As a new nurse myself, I have no doubt I will make errors similar to yours if not worse. But I will feel bad and will not seek forgiveness because I won't deserve it. Our mistakes and our remorse for them make us better nurses. Once we can blow off mistakes and let it flow off our backs, we should get a desk job and get out of the way of those who can fight the good fight. I fully support you and am glad you have such passion for your actions. My whole point was to bring us all back to the fact that embracing our errors is not the same as dismissing them as inevitable...even if they are.

Ok, so here is where I sound like a jerk. Too many people are giving you questionable advice. "Don't feel bad"?, yes you should feel bad. You are only human? Yes you are and we all make mistakes. But for god's sake, feel bad! This is how we learn. This is what guilt is for. Don't get me wrong, obsession and incapacitation does no good, but if you get anywhere near complacentcy knowing that, hey we are only human, and its ok to make mistakes, we will be that much more susceptible to let our guards down. As a new nurse myself, I have no doubt I will make errors similar to yours if not worse. But I will feel bad and will not seek forgiveness because I won't deserve it. Our mistakes and our remorse for them make us better nurses. Once we can blow off mistakes and let it flow off our backs, we should get a desk job and get out of the way of those who can fight the good fight. I fully support you and am glad you have such passion for your actions. My whole point was to bring us all back to the fact that embracing our errors is not the same as dismissing them as inevitable...even if they are.

PMFB-RN, Can you tell me how long ago you went through the program? Were you in the CCU or SICU? Can you expand a little bit about the 3-5 nurses being laid off each shift and the low unit morale? That doesn't quite seem fair if you are committed/required to be a 0.8 or 0.9 and the hospital doesn't hold up it's part of the deal. I certainly agree that the pay for new grads is not at the top end at St Joe's. I am starting at a bit over $22/hr. But I don't think there are any hospitals in Wisconsin that pay $10-12 more an hour for new grads. Even in Minneapolis where new grads are paid more than most of the rest of the country, they are only at $31/hr.

Well, I accepted the position and will be starting on March 5th. The opportunity is a great one so I'm not going to pass it up just because Marshfield is a little "rural" :) If anyone has any advice on where to look for a nice apartment or rent, please send me a PM.

Thanks for your reply. During my interview and subsequent tour, I really felt like it was a top notch hospital and a potentially great learning experience. I'm glad you can confirm that. I've mostly lived in bigger cities though, so it will be a bit of a change.

Hi All, Are there any past or current Critical Care interns that are willing to share their experience during their time at St. Joseph's Hospital? Any thoughts about Marshfield itself as a place to live? Thanks, Scott

Thanks WSUCHIC. I think I'm looking for a place with a little greenery and space. I've lived right in the city for some time now and my dog is telling me she needs more room to play. I check into your recommendations and I look forward to meeting you in person soon : )

Hi there, I just received and accepted an offer to work at OSUMC in their Critical Care Internship program. I'm moving from Minneapolis in a little over a week and am excited yet a little stressed about finding a place for me and my dog and getting settled in time to start. Columbus seems like a very nice city so I'm still trying to learn as much about it before I sign a lease somewhere. Just curious if anyone else on here is also starting on Feb 15th at OSUMC in their new grad program. - Scott

Hey Katie, Sorry it took me so long to reply....as you might expect, this program is as intense as it is advertised. Anyway, I took online courses through a local community college in Michigan (Oakland Community College) where I lived before I moved here to attend school. If you are a resident of Florida, I bet you will get better rates locally. I also used Fort Hayes State University online. They had lots of relevant courses and were super cheap compared to a lot of places. I'd start there if I were you. They are in Kansas, not that it matters since you don't have to ever be there. I didn't apply to any other school in Minnesota. I applied to one in Buffalo, NY and got accepted, but UofM was a much better fit for me. Send some of that Florida heat up here! It got down into the teens last night

hi katie, yes, so far so good. this program is pretty unique. they cram a lot of stuff in the short time we have. so keeping on top of things is a bit of a challenge. the application process for me did not seem all that intense. i filled out the forms, submitted the essays, got a couple of references and sent it in. eventually, i was told what my prerequisite requirements would be based on my transcripts (and my work experience). for example, my background is engineering, so i was able to justify why i didn't need to take a statistics class. as far as where you take your prereq's, they really don't care. i had 3 to take and i took them all through online community colleges, one of which was not even in the state i lived in at the time. so don't worry about that. after some time, i was told that i qualified for an interview. normally, they want you to do this in person, but i asked if it would be ok to do a phone interview and they let me. about 3 weeks after the phone interview i found out that i was accepted. there were over 200 qualified applicants in my class and they accepted 48 of us. there are 10 men and 38 women. it is quite a mix, some are 'old' like me, i'm 36. others are in their early 20's. lots of folks have advanced degrees such as in public health or psychology. they also have a lot of extracurricular activities, volunteering, and many have lived overseas. this is not to deter you, but just to prepare you for the types of folks that made it through the process. i applied to a couple of programs with this being my first choice. i suggest you might do the same simply because the demand for positions is much higher than what's available, for this program and most others. best of luck you to. apply as early as you can and submit a petition to be excused from as many prerequisites as you think you might be able to justify. i got more excused than i thought i would, so it never hurts to ask. by the way, what is it like living in key west? i've been there a couple of times and it's great. the locals are very nice but it seems like it takes a special personality to actually live there. good luck! - scott

I am starting nursing school this fall, but my wife has been a nurse for 3 years. At the start of this year she took a new job. After the first month, she felt that she was doing a lot more work (compared to others there) and was a lot better at it. She explained this in detail with examples to the nursing director and said that she would like a raise of $2 per hour. The director listened to her and said she would have to see and get back with her. In one week she came back and said that she would be able to give her a $1 raise. Again, this was after only 1 month of working there. So you might follow this example. Get in the door, make sure you are happy and can confidently explain why you are worth more than a new grad and should be paid more. You might get lucky. The worst that can happen at that stage is they say NO. Good Luck!

I'm starting an accelerated RN program in the fall and was curious about possible student loan repayment benefits from area hospitals. I will be getting a Stafford loan but was also considering getting some private school loans from the bank since my credit is very good. If there is a decent chance that I could find a hospital to work at after I graduate that helps to make some or all of my student loan payments, then I am thinking I might want to load up on as many loans as I am eligible to take with the plan to have my employer foot part of the bill. On the other hand, I don't want to accrue interest for 2 years and then find out that I will have to pay all of the interest and principle anyway because hospitals generally don't help with student loan payments as a benefit. Is anyone getting their student loans paid for by their employer? If so, what kind of commitment do they demand? I will be getting loans for sure. I'm just not sure how much liability I should take "gambling" that I might get some help after graduation from an "enlightened" employer. Any insight would be much appreciated!!!!

I guess I should be a little more specific in that I am interested in Minnesota (Twin Cities) and Michigan (Detroit) areas. Also, I wonder if there is a difference between Federal and private loans as far as employer repayment is concerned.