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 aweso...

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 ce...

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 ...

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 befo...

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 Northe...

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 animal...

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...

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!

I recently transitioned from M/S to CCU at my small rural hospital. It's a great facility that treats its nurses well, but is financially strapped enough that they will not be able to do more than give me a couple of education days for attending NTI...

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 ...

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 t...

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 ...

Our CCU is also small, but we almost always use a titrated Propofol drip. I have seen an Ativan drip used, but not Ativan pushes. My understanding with the Propofol is that it is easily titratable, easy to rapid bolus, and well tolerated by most pat...

There are a number of threads on this exact subject, with great advice in them. I'd do a search on the forums. Enjoy night shift--I do! :)

Our docs would not be happy to be paged at 6am with a 3.4 K+ level. And that is NOT critical. Some P.O. potassium would bring it up quickly. Was the patient symptomatic? If not, sounds like the doc was overreacting. Unless your hospital policy is ...

CCU. Love it. So happy. :)

I personally can't stand a sleep mask or earplugs, and struggled for the first month or two on nights. Our house has a finished basement, and we set up another bedroom down there (we had the extra bed already). Since then, I sleep MUCH better. It'...

Scrubs. Solid color, professional, neat scrubs.

I don't know of any hospital in Northern MI hiring LPNs for the floor. There are some existing on the floor, but they are grandfathered in and will not be replaced with other LPNs if they leave or get their RN. Even the better LTCs are hiring more R...

Glad that you posted this, Tony. I'm curious about the same thing, ER/CCU.

I also prefer Davis. I have it on my phone, use it daily.