WittleOnesRN

New Grads in Central Valley are making $28 an hours at our hospital. It works out to about 70k a year with time and half. I assume you will get double time after 12 hrs, right?

We have all different personalities in the NICU. Some very serious particular nurses and some gentle happy go-lucky type (me). You will love the NICU. You will fall in-love with the babies and enjoy your day in a different way you would in ER. I believe the type of nurse you are molds your personality. An ER nurse has a different personality then a baby nurse. There is less attachment in the ER as you only usually see your pts for hours and in the NICU pts can be there for days or weeks and even months. You dont cuddle your ER pts but you get to cuddle your pts in the NICU! You will find what you are looking for and if you arent happy...you can change depts...the beauty of nursing!

It was mostly support staff that were cut. The hospital closed their special program that assisted hospital staff into getting into local RN Program since there isnt as many openings for RNs. There are students that have graduated from local programs that cant find jobs and the hospital WAS hiring about a 100 New Grads but that is no longer the case. You can still apply who knows what will happen!

Even a job as a unit clerk would be helpful. I wish I would have done that when i was in nursing school. I was an extern/cna but the unit clerk exp is invaluable and I wish I would have done that too as it is a little less physical and you learn a ton!

I work at Community and I am sorry to say most of the depts have hiring freezes and we laid off employees recently. You could try surrounding hospitals by looking at google maps. Go to Google maps, enter "Fresno hospital" and you can see the hospitals in the areas.

I am not sure how old you are but some schools have a "college reentry program" that allows you to register before other students. I was able to register for A&P, Micro, Chem...ect before EVERYONE ELSE at West Valley College. Here is their link http://www.westvalley.edu/et/

It depends on the night/day. We have a huge L&D dept and the NICU is in some ways an emergency dept for L&D. Sometimes it is crazy while other times it is peaceful and you get to nurture babies. It is the best job in the world.

I take benedryl and I know a nurse that drinks nyquil...LOL. She is so funny! I turn a fan on in my bedroom.... it is white noise that blocks out stuff during the day. My neighbors were working on their scooter and my husband said "didnt you hear that"?? I didnt hear a anything and slept like a baby!

It really depends on where you live and now IF you can find a New Grad RN job... sadly.

Go to "California" under "regions" tab and read the posts. There arent many. It is really frustrating

It may depend on where you go. I had a year exp and I couldnt find a job in the Bay Area. You could always try a travel agency and see what happens.

Ya I have the same problem, we got a new floor at work and the squeaking started. I think it is the floor. So, I have bought crocs. I love my clogs but the noise bugs me!

I have been in the NICU for about 3months now. I wish I had gotten the book "Stable" sooner. It is a good overview of the basic needed to know in the NICU. I came from Oncology and since it is so different the book would have helped me understand new things going on :)

Best thing to do is check you policies at your hospital to be safest. Our policy is 72hrs but in our oncology unit it is 24hrs.

I think the OR would be more marketable in the future as it is hands on/pt care.