Birry

Dude, you're not even allowed to say manly any more. Not sure of your background, but it's not uncommon for male nurses to be perceived as feminine or gay. It's old and mostly incorrect, but it persists. As you've learned here, one thing women, and especially nurses, seem to hate is insecurity and lack of confidence. Whether working or dating, if you don't own who you are and what you're doing, you'll get eaten alive or left behind.

Most of my charting is by exception, but the notes I most frequently make are "Dr xxxx at bedside," "pt up to bathroom without assist, ambulated with steady gait," and anything that isn't covered in my EPIC click boxes. When I do get very specific is when I notice someone acting hostile or displeased with things out of my control. Those are usually the complainers and potential litigants, so I try to provide as much detail as I can. This is where direct quotes are your best friend. If someone requires physical or chemical complaints or is on a hold, every interaction and observation of behavior outside the normal realm of expectation gets described in a note. I hate the CYA mentality, but my license is worth taking a minute to accurately describe a situation which may be audited or called into question later. Don't be afraid to have someone else look over your note, or even have them enter their own.

What do you mean by, "Vesting is roughly another 2.5 years of work at 90%"? Does that mean you get the full pension and benefits after about 6 years? Is the 90% referring to working 36 hrs per week, or does it mean something else? I know it's not the Bay Area, but UC Davis is in a much more affordable area, which is also surrounded by Kaiser facilities.

My facility has the obs unit completely under the umbrella of the ED. It's all ED nurses and techs. Not many like it, but sometimes it's a much needed "break" from the main ED.

I started as a new grad in the ED a little over a year ago. The two most important things I would say for you to incorporate into your practice are to ASK QUESTIONS and DELEGATE TASKS. Ask any question that comes up. Ask the attending, the resident, the grizzly veteran nurse who terrifies you..ask the social worker and the interpreter and the phlebotomist. People know you're new and they should be happy to help. I still ask a million questions. "Forgive my ignorance, but..." "Pardon me, I've never heard of ...". As for delegation, it is essential. If a co-worker asks what they can do for you, give them something to do. In my department, everyone loves to start IVs. It's a solid bet that if I ask someone to do it, I'll get three volunteers. Don't be afraid to delegate VS and other errands to techs and CNAs. That's part of their job and if you're too busy doing things beyond their scope, ask them to do it. The flip-side to that is to BE PROACTIVE in returning the favor. You'll get a lot more help if you're seen as not just a taker. Got a few free minutes? Offer to help someone else. I'll toss in a third key item. It may be the most difficult, but it'll really help you progress. And that is to TRUST YOURSELF. Yes, you still look up meds. You still look up policies and procedures. But you know a lot. You can speed things along for patients by keeping in close communication with doctors, and making relevant suggestions. Think a social work consult will be needed? Get on the horn and give SW a heads up. Suspect the doctors may be missing something? Bring it up to them. If your facility has nursing protocols for orders and such, get used to using them. Congrats on your job! I think ED is a great place to start!

Jeez that's depressing. I make more than 2x that as a new grad in the SF Bay Area but I want to move to somewhere I can afford (and will have enough water to support human life). Housing isn't much cheaper in the surrounding areas, but with the pay being half and no pt ratios, it sounds like a really crappy switch for work.

I second Sheehy's Guide for more ED specific stuff. Fast Facts for Critical Care (Fast Facts For Critical Care - Critical Care Reference - Kathy White Learning Systems) was referred to as "The ICU Bible" by many excellent nurses I worked with in a cardiac surgery ICU. I have em both, and as a new grad, they're indispensible

Nurse residencies are the golden ticket into acute care nursing. They are paid positions with extended training and mentoring, with added classes and conferences added in. Imagine your last semester preceptorship, only getting paid as a nurse this time.* That said, they are highly competitive and the application windows are very short. If you see postings, stop what you're doing and get an app in right then. *At least, every residency I've seen or looked into or heard about.

I usually try to do that. When I've gotten any feedback on why I was passed up, they tell me that answering how they want to hear it will disqualify you. One instance was especially grating. My reward for being honest and considering each question on its own and answering based on my experiences? Denied an interview and barred from applying for any positions in that organization for two years. And this is after an informal interview with a department director who personally put me on the interview short list. The obsurdity of today's Human Resources is just uncanny. In the days of being overqualified or too good of a fit for an organization, you just have to wonder who really is stearing the ship.

LinkedIn may not directly point you to jobs, but you can bet recruiters will look for you there (and on facebook and Google in general) if your application manages to avoid the round file. It's also a great networking tool, so take it seriously. That said, a good bit of advice I've heard is to make your summary and title about what you DO, rather than what you ARE.

I hear you. I've answered those any way possible, from brutally honest answers to lying like a sociopath and it doesn't seem to make a difference. You never get anything but the most vague feedback on those. I wish there were a law saying that testees (heh) are entitled to receive their results and the resulting evaluation. As it is now, it really just sucks.

Thank you. We don't really need to be "ranted on." (How rude is that, anyway? Who honestly would feel good about "ranting on" a bunch of frustrated strangers?) I'd rather people keep their backhanded "advice" to themselves.

There is also an AHA EKG and Pharmacology certificate you can get. I got mine bundled with ACLS from the same instructor. It adds on another day, but it's another line in your resume you can add for recruiters to gloss over while they think about where to go for lunch.

The title pretty much says it all. If I am applying to many positions in several different hospitals in the same network (or chain, if you prefer), and that network's career tool (*shudder* Taleo) only allows five uploaded documents at a time, how would you proceed? I've got 4 letters of reference, a résumé and a cover letter. I could genericize my résumé and cut it down to one or no letters, but that would still limit me to only applying to 3 of the hospitals. Or would you go with a generic cover letter, too? Like, instead of writing one for the Kaiser hospital in Anytown, USA and one for the Kaiser hospital in Otherville, USA, just writing a single letter customized for working for Kaiser Permanente. I've got a lot of apps going out but this issue is holding me up. Thanks in advance for your input.

The "nursing shortage" in California is a lie. It is a great psyops tool to flood the market with "hungry" applicants, and it creates a clamboring demand at the college and university level. I'm sorry you got caught up in it, too.

Haha, this just goes to show how inconsistent and maddening the job hunt is for us new grads. I was told (by a department director) that my resume and cover letter were too dry. Of course the objective is to GET THE JOB, but like you said, you can't just say that. Applicant evaluators are strange, unpredictable creatures who wield amazing powers of subjectivity over the lives of so many people (applicants) and predicting their own preferences is part of this futile game we play. I would say put whatever you want, as long as you can articulately support it. I've tried both approaches, and neither way has seemed to make a difference, so maybe just don't listen to me at all.

Don't worry, eventually new grads will be on a "volunteer" basis, ultimately leading up to the corporate wet dream coup de gras of charging new grads for their training.

At least RNGriffin has it all figured out. The dearth of new grad positions is our own fault! But really, your condescension doesn't do anyone any good. All of the new grads I know are incredibly bright and motivated people. We all networked our butts off. Many of us got jobs in local hospitals during school. For some it worked out, for many it didn't. I have worked in a hospital unit for almost 8 years as a unit secretary. Sometime during my schooling, hospital administration changed and HR decided to strip managers of any say in the new grad program. My manager stopped hiring new grads for several years because she would only pick the ones she knew. When it came time for me to apply to the program here, I knew I wouldn't get picked after hearing the director brag about how she was stamping out nepotism (at an institution notorious for its good ol' boys' club mentality. It's also something like 60+ applicants per opening, so odds are if you applied and qualify, you still aren't even getting a call back). So I've got great letters of recommendation, references, contacts, a polished resume, a solid work history including 12+ years experience working in the hospital in the unit, dozens and dozens of applications sent all over the place, and I'm still a unit secretary. We are up against disconnected HR recruiters who are innundated with applications and will toss your resume if the font isn't to their liking (did you know Calibri is the resume font du jure?), and that's only if you make it past the scanning software, and woe betide those who didn't pay a consultant for the proper buzzwords and catchphrases. When was the last computerized "personality test" you took? How did that make you feel? How much rejection did you go through before you got your first RN job? Don't blame us for the reality of the situation while ignoring the bigger picture. The deck is currently stacked against new grads, and most are going to have a tough time finding a job. Some few manage to step in unicorn poop and fall into a great job right out of school. They are the exception, not the rule. We all went to school to become nurses and better our lives with a challenging and rewarding career. We are not lazy. We don't want hand-outs. We just want jobs. Please just ignore us when we vent our frustrations, if all you have to say is the equivalent of, "Let them eat cake." We're trying, but understand that it's not that simple.

I am at the 8 month mark and my degree and license haven't gotten me anywhere but in a bit of debt. "No one can take your education away from you," they said at graduation. Well, that may be true, but they sure can make it worthless by not allowing us to put it to use.

It might help, but probably not much. I've got 12 years of continuous hospital work, in the units, and haven't gotten squat for interest in any of the dozens and dozens of applications I've filed. Even the place I've worked the last 8 years rejected me twice as a new grad without so much as a phone call or pity interview. You would probably have been better off majoring in hospitality, as far as getting a career going upon graduation.

Nah, getting a BSN is a waste of time, too. Unless you already worked as an RN and are moving up from an ADN or something. 8 months, no call backs, no interviews, no nothing. Way to blow the last half of my 20s working and going to school for nothing.

Mine haven't changed from "application received" since applying on 11/11.

I'd ask her early on next time you're there for a few minutes of her time that day. Then go into her office with her, tell her what you think of the unit and that you'd love to work there blah blah blah. Don't wait til the end - give her time to actively pay attention to your work. She's probably super busy and if you want a slice of her time, you just need to be more assertive in asking for it. These are just my opinions, though. Good luck :)

Pre-med undergrad courses are much different than what you'll get from a BSN. You would need much more time in upper-division sciences to be prepared for med school. A BSN program will train you to be a nurse. A guidance counselor should be able to help you choose a path for your undergrad that would prepare you for the MCAT.

I got my BSN in May and have worked the last 12 years in acute care on the unit as a clerk and monitor tech. I may as well have gotten a degree and license in underwater basket weaving for all the good it's doing me in the job hunt. "Knowing people" and having your foot in the door doesn't count for anything in today's top-down, corporatized Lean Six Sigma worshiping hospital environment. The personality tests added in make it like Gattaca, where if the computer determines you are not fit, you are garbage and there is nothing anyone can do about it, regardless of your actual history or potential. I also think the Versant and UHC new grad programs are killing us. They are a great idea and very effective, but so resource-intensive hospitals are cutting down on their intake of new grads. And if a hospital offers one of these highly structured programs, there is no hiring of new grads outside of the program. So these coveted few spots have become extremely competitive and hospitals are content to pick the perfect candidates from their spreadsheets and are guaranteed a permanent base of desperate workers who will be simply grateful they effectively won the job lottery. Unscrupulous nursing schools promoting the "nursing shortage" are also benefitting greatly from all this. It all comes together to make a perfect (****)storm for new grads.