KWbeliever

Looking for advice on how to handle this situation. I am currently a FNP w 1 year experience in community health center and 5 years experience as CVICU RN. I was recently hired to work with a hospitalist group. The hospitalist program is new at the hospital and they currently are looking to hire at least 4 NPs/PAs but now only have 2 ( I am the second). I prefer to work nights and communicated this in my interview, however, they insisted that I would have to work days for a while until I am trained and they hire more staff. Upon taking the job, during my first week, I was discussing w the MDs that I prefer nights and will work them once we are staffed. The MDs were excited and the medical director immediately approved for me to start nights because there was such a need. I agreed and emailed the clinical manager that I would be working soley nights and inquired about the night shift diff. After 5 days, she emailed me back and stated simply "no night shift diff". I could kick myself b/c hindsight, I have learned I should have negotiated this scenario and had it written in my contract, however, it never dawned on me that they would not pay a shift diff and it was made clear that I would be working days for some time. I feel taken advantage of and cannot get comfortable w not being compensated for working nights. My question is how do I discuss this issue w my clinical manager w/o getting on her bad side, but also making it known that I should be compensated. I feel like she knows I prefer nights so she is not going to be willing to pay me. Key points are 1. there is a need for nights and no one wants to work them-I do 2. From my understanding, it is standard for nocturnists to be paid night shift diff and had the position been posted as nights, a shift diff would have been offered..that was my experience when interviewing at other hospitals, and I know of NPs in same hospital system being compensated 3. Help lure more experience NPs (they are having a problem w currently) that do not want to work nights b/c I would be doing that 4. Retention-they are not going to want to spend the time training me and then I ultimately leave to go to a facility where I can work nights and be compensated

I remember being where you are at now a few years ago when I decided to go back to school to get my BSN. I already had a Bacheor's in Biology. First, what type of nursing program are you looking into? Are you doing an accelerated BSN or a bridge program which bridges you from you current bachelors to a masters in nursing? Usually the bridge programs are 3 years. In my opinion, I think that nursing is definitely the route to go instead of PA school because you have more flexibility in terms of career options. With a nursing degree you can become a clinical nurse specialist and educate the staff, a clinical research nurse and work with drug trials, a nurse practitioner and see your own patients, you can teach, go into an administrative role..the list goes on, there are endless things you can do as a nurse which is why I decided it was worth it to get my 2nd degree. I did a traditional B.S program that was 2 years long. I wanted to vomit when I thought about going to school that long to get another bachelor's degree but it really does go by fast...you are so busy with things to do. It's not just the time you are going to be in class and the time studying, but you also have clinical which is usually 12 hours a week and you have to go to the hospital the night before your clinical and get info on your patient and do a write up which takes hours. And after clinical you usually have a care plan or something to write up afterwards. You just get bombarded with all these little assignments that you have to do on top of your 2-4 chapters per week that you are trying to learn for class. If you are doing a bridge program, you will be extremely busy because they will be craming all the nursing material that we learn in 2 years into 1 year and then you will have to take the NCLEX before going to the masters portion which usually has about 180 hours a semester of clincial. If it's really what you are interested in, you will enjoy it but it is a lot of hard work and your time with your family will be very limited. I think a lot of people underestimate how difficult it is to go through a nursing program...it's a lot of hard work and studying. But you can do it! I did it, I worked full-time for the first year and part time for the remainder and I had a baby during the process...but I'm finishing this fall and I have so many job opportunities..it really feels worth all the drama! Ironically, I'm looking to get into clincial research once I graduate. I started working on some research studies in March and I really enjoy it, I worked for 2 years as a drug rep for Merck so I'm familiar with the drug trials. I am trying to network my way into a research position...what did you do exactly? Any helpful tips? Good luck with your decision.

Yeah, going to Northside personally is exactly what I would do. Also, have you looked into Grady Memorial? The hospital definitely gets a bad wrap as far as working on the floors in general because it is an extremely busy hospital, a level 1 trauma center, and a lot of their staff is overworked due to the shortage in staffing there, but as far as training there, especially for critical care related positions, it is the best place to train because you really do get to see a little bit of everything, and you get a great deal of responsibility and opportunity to do things that you would never get at another hospital. They say if you can work at Grady, you can work anywhere and hospitals in the area, as well as around the country really value hospital experience gained working at Grady. I'm sure you'll do great on your interviews, good luck with hunting that nurse recruiter down at Northside...if you haven't already thought of it, I would drop by the NICU there and introduce myself to the clincial administrator, maybe he/she will be able to help you out..you never know.

Hello, congrats on your interview. I currently work at Piedmont, but I'm in the ER so I don't have any experience working in the NICU. Piedmont, however is one of the nicer hospitals in Atlanta. The hospital is very technilogically advanced, all charting is done on the computer..their are a lot of resources within the hospital. I've been up on the 2nd floor where the NICU is located, it's a nice floor, seems very structured..but like I said, I have very little knowlegde about what its like to work in NICU. Have you looked into working for Northside Hospital? That is the place to work if you want to work with babies, the hospital delivers the most babies in the country, and that section of the hospital is extremely nice and i know staff there and i haven't met a person yet that doesn't love it. Good luck

I'm interviewing for the VALOR program at the Atlanta, VA hospital and was wanting to hear from anyone who had completed or knows any info about the program and how it is working for the va hospital. I hear so many mixed reviews.

Wow, I see why you got in! I have never taken A&P, but I am currently taking it now and will take the 2nd half in the summer. That may have something to do with it....although as of now, I currently have an A in the prereqs that I'm taking (A&P I and Stats, I will take the 2nd half along with Micro in the summer). I applied to both the accelerated and the traditional and am wait listed for both. They did tell me that they are going to have both options available to start in the Spring this year which is something new and that that effected some of the decisions made about who was allowed in the fall program. All I can do is wait, I'm just anxious, I guess. Thanks for the info, I'll have to keep you posted. Congrats and good luck!

Congratulations! I hope you don't mind my asking, but what do you think it was that got you in? Was it your GPA? Work experience? I'm trying to guage how competitive I am...I have a B.S in biology and my GPA was a 3.1 and 2 years experience in pharmaceutical sales, currently I am taking 2 prereq. courses...and will finish up my last 2 prereqs this summer. What's your opinion?

Hey I recently applied to Georgia State's BSN program...I applied to both the Traditional and Accelerated tracts. I just received a letter that I was placed on the waiting list for both programs....does anyone know what the odds are of getting into this program or any program off the waiting list? I have a previous degree in Biology that I got in 1999 and I had a 3.1 GPA and I am currently taking a couple of pre-req. courses at Georgia State and so far I have an A in those courses....I'm kinda scared that my chances are slim to none in getting in the program. Can anyone give me some insight?