Circejane

Mercy Hospital Grayling is currently hiring. For new grads, it's just M/S, but for experienced RNs there are ED and L/D openings. They're affiliated with Munson, but are a small, rural hospital. Might be worth checking out, although Munson is awesome if you can get in there. :)

I used to live in Jacksonville and Wilmington years ago, so I'll throw in what I can. Onslow Memorial is the only civilian hospital in Jville, apart from the Bryn Mawr inpatient psych facility, which is small. There is also an outpatient surgical center in town, although there may be more now. The Naval Hospital serves the military there. Any other hospital is going to be a solid hour away from you. Lenoir Memorial in Kinston , Cartaret County General in Morehead City, Craven Regional in New Bern, Duplin General in Kenansville, and New Hanover Regional in Wilmington. Let me stress that these are your closest neighboring hospitals, and that they are all at least an hour's drive each way. None of them are big facilities. If you live in Hubert or Piney Green, Morehead City gets about 10-15 minutes closer. From Swansboro, shave off another ten, although you're still looking at around 40 minutes. Great beach air most of the way, though. Enjoy living Down East!

The OP stated that she had not worked ICU or stepdown. I am not saying that she would not be able to take the exam. I simply suggested that she try a practice exam first before contacting the AACN, to see if her knowledge base is comparable to what the CCRN tests on.

I have worked LTC/subacute care, M/S, and now ICU. While there are some very sick people in LTAC, it is nothing like ICU nursing. Both are very challenging in their own way, but very, very different. I would suggest trying a practice CCRN exam before contacting the AACN.

If you're not set on being near major metro areas, Check out Munson Medical Center in Traverse City. It's a great hospital in a fun little city. I have no idea what their hiring situation is.

Check the rural hospitals up north. They are known to hire new grads, although because they are smaller, the openings come up less often.

As a frame of reference for pay and location, I was making $15/hour in Minneapolis in 2002 as a vet tech. In 2005 I was working in SE Mich and making $13 at a bigger, fancier hospital and 24 hour Emergency Vet/Surgical Center. When I moved to Northern MI in 2007, I was offered $12/hr as a vet tech. Since I was going to nursing school at the time, I took an $11/hr job as a CNA, since it was close in pay, worked better with my school schedule, and gave me direct patient experience. I started working there as an RN the day after I passed my NCLEX. If you are in a large city with teaching hospitals and research facilities, the upward mobility as a VT that another poster spoke of MAY exist for you (although we never had first assists in OR, it was just those of us who knew what we were doing in there). Pay generally scales with experience, but there IS a cap. There are many wonderful things about being a vet tech. I quit after more than a decade due to burn out, and there is a great deal of burnout in the field. Great people to work with, heartwarming stories as well as sad. That said, unless you work in a very sheltered environment, you'll see things that will keep you up at night.

How are you doing on practice exams?

This is right on the money. I was a vet tech for years before going back to school for my RN. While I loved the places that I worked (very similar to the above poster, regular office and Emergency Vet), there are things that I've seen done to animals that still haunt me. It's full of people who can't afford care for their pet, who then either suffers or needs to be put down. It's full of animals coming in who have been HBC (hit by car) or poisoned or what have you. It's the umpteenth owner calling saying, "We're having a baby and need to find a home for our dogs/cats (who have done nothing wrong), can you help?" It's wonderful to help animals, but it's full of a helluva lot of heartbreak, every day, and that's not even getting into the euthanasias. Which happen all the time, for good reasons and bad. Also, you're not going to be able to test out of classes, for the most part. While your pre-reqs for NS will stand you in good stead, you're still going to have to take most if not all of the vet tech classes towards a degree. A vet tech is a lab tech, radiology tech, receptionist, OR nurse, and everything else, all at once, and the classes reflect that. On top of that, you're going to make the aforementioned $12-$15 an hour on average, and there is NO LATERAL OR UPWARD MOBILITY. One of the best things about nursing is the ability to change into another area within the field, and the option to get further training/degrees to move up the ladder. In vet med, you're either the vet or the tech. Period. I'm a firm believer in following your dreams, etc. I've followed mine, and am so happy with nursing. But following your dreams and running away from what is making you unhappy are two different things. I wish you the best of luck in sorting out your anxiety issues and making the fully informed decision that is right for you.

This. Please look into fields other than nursing. My nurse friends and I have a saying: If we ran the world, everyone who wants to go to nursing school should have to work at least 6 months as a CNA first. Not only does it make one proficient at the most basic levels of patient care, but it makes sure that every nurse has an appreciation for what their aides/techs do. It also weeds out the very nice and caring people who are just not happy with the less glamorous side of nursing. Just my .

Older post, but bumping it because I have the same question. CCU nurse looking specifically at MICU/IICU, but would love to hear overall impressions of the hospital as well. Any replies appreciated, thanks!

If a preceptor is doing the job right, the new nurse is NOT doing all the work. He/she's going behind the orientee and doublechecking everything. It's the preceptor's license on the line if the new nurse screws up.

I'm happy to say that I never, ever ran into this issue. I worked hard, studied up, asked questions, was friendly to everyone, stayed humble, was always willing to pitch in, and had great experiences at both the LTC where I started and the hospital that I moved to after 6 months. The people that I've seen have problems are those who are either ultra-timid, full of themselves, or just out of their depth. One incident of eye-rolling from a new grad will not be forgotten, let me tell you. That said, the culture of the workplace also dictates whether bullying behavior is allowed or not.

We have several acuities in our CCU, which is a small 6-bed unit. True CCU patients, Intermediate, and Tele Overflow. These acuities are assigned "time frames". One CCU pt. is considered to take 6 hours of a shift. An intermediate is considered to take 4 hours, and a TO two hours. We will sometimes have one CCU, and Intermed. and a TO, or even a CCU and two Intermed. Never 3 CCU pts. for one nurse. That said, we sometimes have pts. that should be 1:1 and we'll have an intermediate as well, which can be a little hairy.

I moved from LTC to Med/Surg first, and was hired into the CCU from the M/S floor. I do know of one nurse who was hired from LTC, but he's really exceptional, and freaking brilliant. I'm no slouch, and was considered to be fast-tracked--was in M/S for 9 months before transitioning to CCU. Most of our CCU nurses did at least 2 years in M/S first. We don't hire new grads into the unit. I'd strongly encourage you to move into Med/Surg ASAP. Make it known that you want it. Study your rear end off. Show yourself to be a knowledgeable nurse who does not get frustrated or flapped by either annoying people or medical emergencies. Good luck to you. :)