NewbieRN2010

I'm an ER nurse in a diverse area. I've seen many useful websites/charts/books for medical/nursing translation into Spanish, which I've found very useful in practice. I've noticed a prominant Arab population is serviced by my facility and I was wondering if anyone has any useful suggestions for learning key phrases in Arabic (clearly not has easy to learn as Spanish!). Things like: Hello, my name is ___________ I'm going to be your nurse. I need to start and IV to give you medicine. We need to draw blood for some tests. The doctor will be with you as soon as possible. Do you have pain? Point to where it hursts? How much Pain 0-10? Take a deep breath in... and exhale. Do you have any allergies to meds or food? Thank you.

I got hired for a new grad job this month -- I have an ASN (prior BS degree in another field, but that doesn't count for much of anything). The work experience in the field has set me apart from the pack, I strongly believe. So far all the students who had hosptial jobs of one sort or another (unit secretary, transporter, CNA, laboratory, primary care/office staff) from my class have gotten jobs. I literally only had a hospital job for the last 4 months of school (one day a week), but it was enough to set me apart from the rest of the students who just did school or had other non-related work experience (server, bar tending, etc). I realize that now that we are done with school -- we can't go back in time and get that hospital experience.... so if ANYONE is reading this who is still in school, get that experience while you can!!! I think it makes all the difference right now in this tight economy.

I had a panel interview for the Grossmont ER last Tuesday and they said they would call by May 15th. They called yesterday to offer me a JOB!!!! Miracles can happen!!

Please do share how the Interveiw went!!! I got a call last Wednesday to interview as well at SharpGrossmont, ER New Grad Program. This will be my first RN interview (I had one interview for Extern, it was a panel of 6 - nerveracking!!) so any heads up you could lend this time around will be wonderful. HR told me it's a panel of 8 for the ER interview -- just trying to get a feel for the types of questions they may ask. Best of luck to you!

Although it is better than sitting at home with no job, understand that many hospitals (especially in so Cal) specify minimum 1 year Acute Care RN experience. I personally would take the LTC job, but continue to apply for new grad positions in Acute Care (if one EVER happens to come along) while working. Best of luck.

I didn't have a clinical there. I do work as a tech in another ED (not sharp) though, so maybe that experience was helpful (per diem since Aug 09). I didn't do my final preceptorship in ED either, I did it in a Step Down ICU. Some of my clinical rotations (like Neuro) were done in another hospitals ER, so I've had some time as an RN student in the ED, just not at Sharp. They just have an enourmous advantage over all the students. So many applicants -- I don't know how they manage to narrow it down. I heard from a Medic at work the other day that Sharp had 500 applicants for the ED spot and they are taking 12. I don't know the reliablity of his numbers (since everyone seems to have different hear say coming at them). But that's all I've heard so far....

I'm thanking my lucky stars everyday, but yes -- I got a call for an interview on Wednesday this past week (for the SharpGrossmont ER New Grad position. The HR person who called me said that they were going to continue to call people for interviews and would send me a finalized email confirmation sometime next week (once they called everyone). I think each department and facility (ie: Grossmont, Memorial, Mary Birch) are all doing their own timeframe for acceptance/rejection -- so just because you have not heard anything yet, I wouldn't loose all hope for this round.

Even if the ONLY thing that comes out of this bill is: no exclusion for insurance coverage based upon pre-existing conditions -- we will have done something good for American's Healthcare. I have had cancer. My mom has MS. My dear friend's daughter has Spina Bifida. Why should we die from lack of $$ to pay our medical bills, while fighting diseases we did not bring upon ourselves? It's just wrong. The bill is not perfect. It is expensive. But I believe whole heartedly, it is a step in the right direction.

Yes, I'm thrilled the bill passed. Our Government (and system for passing reform) may be just as broken as our healthcare system is, so NOTHING is going to be perfect. We have to work with what we've got and continue to try to move in a general direction of PROGRESS (that means some things you like in a bill will always come with some things you don't like. Just like some things you do like in an elected leader with come with some things you may not be as thrilled with). Thank you, President Obama, for the forward progress towards healthcare reform.

Regarding the post on NPR discussing nursing shortage in California: I'm simply going to vomit if another reporter does a piece about a shortage without addressing the issues of thousands of unemployed new grad RNs. I posted a comment to the NPR site following the article (it is free to register and then comment). There are presently 9 comments to the story - of which 4 elude to or state the new grad issues. Perhaps if more new grads have time to share their situation (especially the "old" new grads) - maybe the reporter will have a legitimate story worth reporting on. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=125594201