lion09

Remember, although I'm responsible for 20 patients I'll have a med nurse and 2 MHWs. My responsibilities are admissions, discharges, dr's orders, answering the phone, blood draws, and supervise the other staff on the unit. My only concern is if it is manageable for a new grad. Orientation is twelve 8-hour-shifts. I will also be floating to different psych. units.

Jules A, How many shifts did you initially have? How many RNs per unit and how many units does the hospital have? I'm trying to figure out what the odds are for me to work more shifts? Thanks.

I will be in charge of the unit and be responsible for 20 patients. My duties are patient admissions, discharges, charting, answering the phone and supervise MHWs. There is an LVN passing meds on our team. Do you think it's to risky to be responsible for the whole unit as a new grad? Thanks.

I am a New Grad RN and have gotten an offer for an RN position at a psychriatric hospital. It's per diem and I would be scheduled for one 8-hour-shift per week. There are only one RN per unit and there is a total of 5 units at the hospital. The hiring manager says I'm likely to get more shifts to fill in as needed, but that there are no guarantees. Anyone been in the same situation and how did it turn out? Remember there is only one RN per unit. I can't afford only working 4 shifts a month.

I'm a new grad RN and I'm offered a per diem RN position at a hospital. I will only work one eight-hour-shift per week. Isn't that kind of odd to only work one shift per week? How many shifts do you all have as per diem RNs? Thanks.

I'm a new grad who applied for an RN position in a psychiatric hospital. My duties would be to chart, doctor's orders, admissions and discharges. I will have 20 patients, but I'll have another nurse administer medications, and MHW help and interact with patients. I would do a quick "check-in" with patients to assess their affect, but other than that the manager said that the RN doesn't interact much with the patients since the RN is responsible for 20 patients. Does 20 patients sound resonable? remember, I don't administer medications. I will be in charge of the unit and if anything happens it is on me. So does that mean I could lose my license if a patient gets hurt e.g. committs suicide due to lack of observation by a MHW? Thanks.

What happens if you accept a job offer for an RN position, and then later before the start date change your mind? Thanks.

For HouTx, What do you mean with "there is a REASON the pay in Eagle Pass is that high?"

Do you think it is redundant to send a "thank you email" and also mail a "thank you card" after an interview for an RN position at a hospital? If you think I should do both, can I write the same stuff in the email as I write on the thank you card? Many thanks.

There were two people interviewing me. I know that you are supposed to mail a seperate thank you card to each person at the interview, but I'm planning on sending a combined "thank you note" by email. Do I start out by saying "Ms. Kelly Smith and Ms. Jane Jones" ?

I just had my first interview for a new grad RN position at a hospital. Am I supposed to immediately send a thank you note by email and also mail a thank you card? or is it better to just mail a thank you card and no email note? Thanks.

For Skysthelimit, When you called HR regarding wether they had any New Grad RN positions available you said that they gave you a call when they did have a position open. I was wondering how chatty you were when you spoke to HR. Did you just give them your number or did you give them a "60 sec. introduction of yourself"? I just wanted to get some tips about how personal I should be with HR. Thanks in advance.

I'm applying for an RN position at a psych. hospital and I've got a question regarding the application. In the application under "additional skills and experience" it says, "include all knowledge of medical equipment proficiencies" What type of medical equipment do you think they are referring to? Thanks a lot.

OB is an area that is not as common as other areas to have an open new grad positions. You said that OB is not your ideal department and I was just curious as to why the hospital gave you an OB position as oppost to an ER or med-surg position which is far more common for a new grad? Normally OB positions goes to people who love OB and fight hard to get into OB. What city do you live in? I'd love to be in your shoes.

Where I did the nursing program chemistry was only a prerequsite for microbiology and was not calculated into the GPA for admission into the program. As far as retaking classes, one of the classes that did count towards the GPA (algebra) I got a C in and retook it because I wanted at least a B. I received a B in algebra the second time around. However, unfortunatley if you get a C in a class that grade will count towards your GPA even if you repeat a class and get a higher grade. The only grades that will be replaced with a higher grade is a D or an F. It's almost worst to get a C instead of a D....

Hi elkpark, I don't have much experience with computerized medication administration and I was wondering how does one know weather or not pharmacy has put in the medication order correctly? Thanks.

The only people from my graduating class who got jobs as new grad RNs in hospitals were people who either previously worked there, have relatives working there, or did the preceptorship in our senior year at the facility. I'm curious to know if anyone got a hospital job by just simply applying online without any other connections to the hospital? Thanks.

Thanks for your inputs. I also wanted to ask new grad RNs who attended the career fair as to if the hospitals were there to recruit (pre-screen) new grads. Another words did they ask you questions about yourself etc.? or were they simply there to give out information about their hospital? Thanks so much.

I'd like to know how the career fair in Pasadena hosted by Nurse Week was (2/25/10). Did the hospitals say that they have openings for new grads? One seminar was called "is it really a nursing shortage?" What did the person who did the presentation say? Was it worth for a new grad going to the career fair? I was really bumed that I wasn't able to go, but I'm curious how it was. Thanks.