arockingroupie

I worked there and loved it. So salary can be broken down to hourly rates (they tell you what your hourly equivalent is) but salary means you work 40 hours a week. You can work 32 or 36 hours and still get benefits but of course you wont get paid the same. Most units have 12 hour shifts and schedule out of 6 weeks. You work 3 shifts a week and every 3 weeks you work another 12 hour shift (the hours balance out to 40). You have to work 1 Monday, 1 Friday, and 1 weekend every 3 weeks. Some units rotate, some have enough staff for strictly days. Nights have a boost in salary and every 6 months we had $1k bonus. Some out patient areas are 10 or 12 hour days and you might be 36 hours a week or 40. I never noticed anyone staying after to chart, maybe 30 minutes at max. They use EPIC so if we did a patient assessment we could paste and copy our previous assessment which cuts down 15 minutes Id say. Ive used Cerner and its horrible in comparison. Hopkins charts by exception so they assume everyone is healthy and if one person has 3 arms and someone else is missing a leg you would chart that, not that all my patients have round heads. (Sounds dumb but hope it makes sense). The population can be hard...I was on a tough floor so we had a lot of the neighborhood population there. It wasnt uncommon for someone to have been admitted for a heart attack and break the rules to go outside with a PICC line and use drugs, diabetics going to the cafeteria and have 500+ blood sugars or bedbugs. The new ICU/pediatric tower is really nice but some floors still have 2 patients to a room. The doctors are typical doctors but think outside the box. Different floors have different services, there are no "med surg" floors its either medicine or surgery. There is one unit just for famous patients to be seen but they could be on any unit really, theres just a super nice one and the nurses are allowed to accept gifts. I think its a great learning experience but not for someone that just wants to clock in and out. You will see a lot of rare diseases and there is sooooo much nursing support. If you want to start a protocol or research project it wont be shoved in a trash can like other hospitals.

My friend had a lot of problems with Bowie's nursing program. I went to Stevenson, graduated in 14 months from my ASN to BSN. It is the most expensive undergrad nursing program in the state but fast application process (mine was 1 week). Classes are about 4-6 weeks each and you can do all of it online except for nursing assessment where you have to test in person once. The campus is really nice and the advisors have a clue what the hell they are talking about, mine was a PhD and nice! Credits were $500ish each so my program was about $17k in total. Maryland gives you 30 credits "free" for associates to bachelors majors.

They are building a new ICU tower there that will open in 2015. The units look outdated and they dont even have a pyxis system for materials. My friend likes the Peds ER there but any critical care peds are taken to Childrens National. They have a decent NICU and they have the highest amount of childbirths in Maryland but if you know the demographics it makes sense. Some Catholic hospitals don't endorse birth control (and dont offer it as a benefit for its employees) so heads up on prescriptions there. If you want peds specialty go to Childrens or Hopkins.

I started as a nurse in Maryland which takes a few weeks the MBON is really slow, so much you have to sit in their office and wait and wait because emails and messages wont be answered. DC took me less then 2 weeks to be endorsed. You get paid more in DC but the hospitals are mixed and rush hour is a pain. I wouldnt recommend Doctors in PG county (sorta near Andrews). I'd say the drive to Baltimore would be worth it.

They just implemented a new computer system so they aren't hiring very many nurses right now.

Go to the MBON and sit in their lobby and demand answers. They will not answer phone calls or respond timely by mail. It is very aggravating but you aren't the only ones. The job market for CNA's here is slowly diminishing. If all else fails try to apply for D.C., suck it up, and make the drive down for work. D.C. has some advantages.

It took me over a year to get my first RN job in the Baltimore area, I applied to every hospital in the state. There is a huge influx of nurses here due to all of the nursing schools (universities and community colleges). Most got their foot in the door either by working as a tech in a hospital first or the colleges are contracted with specific hospitals that gives them a foot in the door.

Psych nursing is a lot of hands-on nursing care (giving medications, etc). At minimum you can have an associates degree to practice nursing (still almost 3+ years of schooling) and a bachelor's is the way to go (4 years) for optimal jobs. You can work in a psychiatric facility or a psych unit in a hospital (a few of several options). Psychologists are clinicians in a sense, they can diagnose patients, counsel, etc. From what I gather you won't be doing much with patient-care until you reach a master's degree if you follow the PhD path.

I would guess 4-6 weeks - most nursing boards take that long.

They don't have listings for "new grad nurses" nor do they have many internships. They are listed as "nurse clinician." Some list entry level (usually medicine floors). If you see a specialty you are dying to work in don't hesitate to apply if it it mentions 1 year required. Jobs are listed weekly so check often. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/nursing/jobs/application_process/index.html

Contact the Maryland Board of Nursing for details. It doesn't look like you would have to take the NCLEX again - MBON would just need to verify your NCLEX scores and application. http://www.mbon.org/main.php?v=norm&p=0&c=licensure/endorsement.html John's Hopkins is one of the best hospitals to work at especially as a new grad. You will see a lot of therapies (medicine and holistic) that you won't see for a few years elsewhere. You will also see medical conditions rarely seen elsewhere - patients are sent from all over the world to be treated here. The hospital has lots of research for nurses and doctors. Everything is protocol driven. It's not a bad thing as it is a "standard" for what conditions to report and how to set up equipment. It is a culture shock for those use to peaceful rural areas. There is a lot of room to grow here and many opportunities for nursing.

They are always hiring - they have between 5 to 50 new nurses every 2 months. I have only known 1 person to get the specialty floor they wanted. Most of the ICU/peds floors want 1 year of experience (student nursing doesn't count). They always have open spots on the website. I applied for several spots. The recruiter called and connected me to medical floors that were short on nurses. Maryland is a compact license state - California is not. You would have to apply in Maryland. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/employment/locations/johns_hopkins_hospital.html I wouldn't recommend applying for the other Johns Hopkins affiliated hospitals if you are looking to get brownie points on your resume.

I'm going through the hiring stages with Carnival Cruise. They just want certifications from what I can tell and emergency experience (mine being a paramedic). They quoted me $48K a year and they are making contracts for next year now. Go directly to the cruiseline websites and employment.

Wow I can't believe no one puts up salaries on here. My friend was a travel RT working at Hopkins. When she asked (this time last year) they said starting RN's make $23.75 an hour. They have decent benefits (medically is superb) but it's the name on the application, not so much the money for working at this hospital.