jchaconBSN

I have found that the more rural community hospitals are offereing a higher pay scale to try and get nurses to come work there. For most city, suburban hospitals, 24/hr is for sure the norm! You really need to pay attention to the benefit package of the hospital though. You may get hired on and making 27/hr, but have to pay a pretty good premium every paycheck for benfits. On the other hand, you can get hired and make 24/hr and be at a facility that offers free medical and very minimal premiums for dental/vision. Don't just focus on your hourly rate!

Littman is usually considered top of the line. I'm not sure what your financial situation is, but if you don't have a lot of money to play with, I would say that you don't need a Littman for nursing school. There are plenty of other good stethoscopes out there that you can use and are much more inexpensive. But, once your done with school and working as an RN, you should be able to afford a nice Littman...That's just my opinion. I'm sure some will say you need the best you can get for nursing school.

Congrats on passing NCLEX! I think your friend is right, you should start out on Med/Surg. Having no previous experience, it will give you a great foundation on your nursing skills. You will see every type of patient with different problems, and this will eventually guide you into an area that you want to speacialize in. As far as starting in a nursing home, I would say no. Your biggest responsibility in a nursing home would involve passing out oral meds. You need to get into a hospital and get experience with assessments and procedures you will never see if a nursing home. Good luck! Where are you located?

Congrats on being accpeted. My advice, relax and enjoy your time before you start school. You are going to be very busy. There really isn't much you should do as far as work in order to prepare you for nursing school. They will lay everything out for you and teach you everything that is expected. Honestly, just relax and enjoy your time before you start. Good luck! Where did you get in?

I graduated from WSU Tri-Cities this past May. It seems like WSU and UW look for the same things when picking their students. Of course, it helps to have a good GPA, but it won't be the reason you don't get in. The interview is what I felt was the biggest aspect of the application process. It's hard to prepare for questions, because you pick an envelope out of a basket that already has typed questions on it. They weren't anything too difficult. I felt like they were questions that would help the interviewer get an idea of what kind of person you are. For example, social skills, personality, quick thinker, etc. I'm not sure if you plan on applying to WSU Yakima because it's close to where you live or what, but by applying there, you are for sure reducing your chances of getting in. Spokane is the main campus for the WSU nursing program and they take around 120 per semester, or something like that. WSU Tri-Cities and Yakima are about the same, which they only take about 22 per semester. Another thing you should think about is your learning style. Again, since Spokane is the main campus, all the instructors/lectures come from there. Being in the Tri-Cities and Yakima, all the lectures are via satellite. You see everyting live and you have microphone in front of you so you can speak with the instructor in Spokane, but, you will never have a live instructor infront of you for lecture. The only in-person instructor you will have is for clinical. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions about the WSU program.