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I am hoping someone out there can give me some advice. I have been an LPN since 1999. In June of 2009, I finished my associates degree and passed my boards in August so I am officially an RN now. I immediately started searching for a job in a hospital. Almost all hospital jobs posted said you needed a years RN experience for the position. Since 2001 I have worked in an acute long term care facility for pediatric trach/vent dependent patients. Since graduating with my associates, I have become certified for ACLS, PALS, and I have now completed my BSN and finished with a GPA of 4.0. Now that I am finished school again and applying for jobs they all seem to say must a have years hospital experience. How am I suppose to get that when I can't even get an interview? I have applied to hospitals from Reading, PA to Philadelphia, PA. I am willing to travel and do what it takes to get my foot in the door. Most of my patients come directly from these hospitals NICU's and PICU's. I feel I have so much to offer and would love the opportunity to just meet face to face with someone. I have also attended a few job fairs with no luck there either. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I just finished my BSN with Chamberlain in October of this year. I really enjoyed the program. It was challenging and I learned a lot. I worked very hard and I am graduating with a 4.0 GPA. I had a couple of instructors for my GE's that I didn't love, but that happens with any college. Chamberlain is very helpful if you have any questions or problems. I honestly can't think of anything negative to say about the program. It's great that you can go at your own pace. I was able to finish in a year. I also searched all the available on line programs out there and felt that Chamberlain was best for me. Hope this helps.

Shivone-so good to hear from someone in the same area...I am in Quakertown just around the corner...I have applied multiple times to reading and did speak with someone in HR who gives me the same story...I don't have a years rn experience & dont have hospital experience...if only they could see what I do at my job...I have worked for bayada doing private duty cases, but I just can't handle having only one patient...boredom sets in quickly cause there is only so much you can do for one child no matter how complicated the case...Reading is a hike for me also but I need the experience and want to get into a critical care area because I eventually want to get to nurse anesthetist school...and I am not getting any younger...hitting 41 this week...I would love to move out of state, but my husband has his own business and my 14 yo girl would not be happy...ps I have also applied at Good Shephard no luck there either...been trying to find intern programs but not many out there...one at albert eistein but have to have BSN which I won't finish till October...would love any other suggestions..

Needing to vent...I really understand where you are coming from...back in the day when I had my first child I took off 2 years to be home with him...when going back to work no one would even take the time to interview me bc I hadn't worked in that 2 years...fast forward at 30 I became an LPN put in 10 years work and then got my RN last August, I am currently in an RN to BSN on line accelerated program and will finish this October. I have paid $500 to get my ACLS and PALS certification...I have worked so hard and want a hospital job...lol no one even wants to talk to me because I haven't been an RN for a year yet and I don't have a years Hospital experience...FRUSTRATED...does not begin to cover how I feel...I have spent 10 years working with trach/vent dependent children in long term acute care...for what???....I have only gotten one phone call from all the applications I have put in and was told that maybe they would take into consideration my 10 years as an lpn, but I don't have a years RN or hospital experience yet...if anyone has any tips to assist me in my job search I would greatly appreciate it...I also have looked in neighboring states....same answer...even paid to have a company do my resume...still no luck...I am about an hour outside of Philadelphia, PA...a recent article in advance magazine stated if you are a new grad in PA, NJ, or DE you might as well move out of state for the next 2-3years if you want a hospital job...becoming depressed with the search and disappointment

Nancy I have been on the course and checked out few things out. I plan on working on it tomorrow. Don't worry about what you write, your experience is your experience and no one can judge it unless they have been in your exact shoes. I am hoping to write my post tomorrow, so maybe I can help break the ice. Lisa

Hi Nancy-The program is called perla. Have to find out exactly where she got it. There seems to be many sites out there and I want to get the one she has. As soon as I know i will post it. Lisa

Joan- Online is tough till you really learn the format. My nursing course is under the angels format and the soc course is under a devry format. It's hard having to figure out 2 of them at once. Don't know if you know this but you can get to chamberlain and the GE course really just about every class site you would need under chamberlainonline.net. It saves some steps. There is also another address my.chamberlain.edu this is where your email is with the college and a whole bunch of other stuff that I am still working on checking it all out. We can communicate thru this also. I tried to send you my personal email but wasn't allowed to because I don't have 15 quality posts on allnurses so no private communication yet. This is also the place where you can get the free download of Microsoft office 2007 from the college, but you can't get it till next weds. I haven't written a paper for quite some time and a friend of mine was telling me to get something for $30.00 off the internet that sets your whole paper up in the APA format and it can be converted to microsoft format so you can upload it to your instructor. I am going to find out more about it from her next week. She says it saves her so much time when she it writing her papers. Hope this info helps you. Lisa

Hi Nancy-Good to hear from you. I spent most of the day yesterday downloading all the programs I need for the courses and trying to figure out how to navigate it all. Seems like every college's online programs have different formats, but I am getting there. Lisa

Joan- I would love to stay in touch also. I say see how the first session goes for you then if it works start working on your ccrn. I am hoping that the first session goes well and if it does I am picking up 3 courses the next session. With the student loan I can only take one course next session but i asked about taking a 2nd one and they said I could I would just have to pay for it myself. If I pay for one myself I can take a 3rd free because the college can only charge a certain amount of money each semester anything more than that is free, so I am really hoping two go well. What other course are you taking this semester? I am taking cultural diversity in the professions SOCS350. Lisa

I just went onto my course finally. I have been quite busy the last couple of weeks because I have been prepping to take an ACLS & PALS course. I passed ACLS last friday and take PALS this sat. I am doing this to pump up the resume because the hospitals around here only seem to be hiring from within right now. I really want to get into a critical care area. My instructor is (moderator edit of name), I didn't see a Joan on class list either. I was so hoping we could go through this together.

Nice to meet you Joan. Thought it might be nice to get to know each other. I became an LPN 10 years ago. I have spent the last 9 years working with trach/vent dependent children, infant to age 21. My kids are now almost 14 & 18 so I had more time to spend on school for myself. I did the Excelsior LPN to RN program and graduated in June. Passed my boards on August 1st. I found a study buddy the lives about 40 minutes from me and we worked together to pass our last step at Excelsior which was the clinical practice nurse exam in NY state. The program was very much all on your own and although I did well, I didn't care for the lack of structure and support. I started searching programs & found Chamberlain to be the one I wanted to go with. I was told orginally I would need to take 14 courses, but once they received my transcripts I found out I will only need to take 12. That was good news to me. Lisa

Hi! My name is Lisa. I am starting with Chamberlain on-line rn-bsn program on October 26th also. Yes I am starting with nr351.