mgh000

Hey is any of you in CO now? can any of you give me a base of what the traveler pay is in CO springs? I have 2yrs ICU exp. @ Hopkins, CCRN, ACLS, BLS, PALS.. it will be my first travel assignment and I wanted to go out there in Feb. THANKS!

First of all it does not take 5 years to gain enough experience for CRNA school. I would recommend any and all new grads trying to get into an ICU to absolutely not settle for Med-Surg unless of course you have to for financial means. I work and run charge with nurses and that have been working for over 15yrs and they come to me asking me questions at times, and only I've been a nurse for almost 2yrs. I will admit it is hard but its not rocket science. This whole "intuition" thing that you speak of does not take 10+ yrs to get, you know when your patients going to crump. I have a lot of friends that got in to CRNA school with 1-2yrs experience and are working in the field and love it. It is usually the older generation that tends to tell the younger nurses that they "can't handle it" straight out of nursing school, which honestly depending on the nurse it is completely do-able.

everything mentioned above is exactly what we do in the ICU, so dito

I'm about 78k right now everything included, for 3yrs on Nrsg school. I plan on being around 150k 180k after I'm done with CRNA school. I have a lot of friends that have a lot more debt than that. No debt is ever a good thing, but school debt is better than other kinds of debt. Its an investment and if you really want it 50K isn't that bad. one of my co-workers is went to NYU and is 100K in debt another will be around 350K once her and her husband are done with dental school.

i was born and raised in atlanta, got my bsn there, did clinical in a majority of the metro-atlanta hospitals. moved north mainly because of the pay in ga is among the lowest. #1. i would tell you st. jo's. one of my friends works in the cvicu there and they are one of the top cardiac hospitals in the nation (don't know the rank, but if you want to do cath lab i would def. put them at the top of your list) - you'll get a lot of good cardiac experience. emory would be 2nd, i rotated in all of the emory's around atlanta. emory will look good on your resume since they are so well know and you'll get a good amount of experience there too. i would say def. pass on the va - i've heard horror stories about them (could be wrong, i don't speak from experience). piedmont - caters to nurses, i rotated in there cardiac/tele med-surg there and everyone i talked to loves it there. (money wise.. not so much) grady and amc (atlanta medical which is down the street from grady, its runner up) - is trauma central, its inner city with all the inner city perks. northside is the top l&d hospital and is known for it. i can tell you if i was going for cardiac myself, st. jo's would be the first hospital i'd apply to. #2 some icu's are all combined, but in the major/trauma hospitals the majority are going to be separate, micu, cvicu, sicu etc. #3 i know experience nurses make more, obviously.. but the south in general pays a lot lower than the northeast and west coast. but, the cost of living is def cheaper. #4 i would do all the above. in this economy a lot of units aren't taking on new nurses unless they plan on staying a while. but there are always jobs and retirees, so do it all. hope this helps!!

My unit still had her videos, I watched one or two and she's actually really good, yes they're out-dated but most of what she says is still good/same. I took the CCRN this past March and all I used was the PASS CCRN CD (I didn't open the book - just did lost of Q's everyday), Kaplan review book (I don't recommend it though I only read half of it) and took a reveiw course by Carol Rauen.. she was AWESOME.. I learned more from her 3day class than I did in a whole semester of nursing school. she teaches all over the US, mainly on the northeast coast though, but totally worth it. The Q's from PASS CCRN CD were almost word for word for some of the Q's on the Exam. Good luck!

I work in an ICU and sadly see a lot of this type of family dynamic issues. Your stepmom if legally married does hold the rights to the medical care for your dad, but you obviously have to be in aggreement with what she wants done as well or can go to court (but she does hold a higher right). I would talk to the nurses and doctors about the fact that you notice changes in your dads vitals/etc. when your stepmoms sisters are in the room and the fact that they are talking neg. things in front of your dad is not benefiting your dads progress. Def. talk to the social-worker at the hosp. because you do have rights as far as who is allowed to come see your dad and if you feel certain people are not helping with progress in his care you can have visiting restrictions. My mom and her sister had a similar situation, but it wasn't till after her dad died that they had issues with his estate.belongings etc. (he had no recent living will either) and her stepmom got it all and sold it. Sorry you are going through this, wish you the best and your dad too!

Hey - Welcome to the south if your new.. I was born and raised in ATL, and went to Mercer Univer. for nursing school. I don't live in atlanta anymore I work at J. Hopkins, but I rotated at AMC for a bit in they're ED and a bunch of my friends work in they're ED now. AMC is a good hospital its runner up to Grady though as far as acuity/trauma which is the big trauma hospital in the city. They usually send major trauma pts to grady and if for some reason there are no beds or AMC is closer they send them to AMC. You'll get a lot of experience @ AMC in they're ICU, its an inner city hospital with all the perks of inner city patients ; ) Atlanta is great though you'll love it! I know my preceptor headed up the ICU new grad dept program there when I was in school but IDK if she's there anymore. Good luck! let me know if you have anymore Q's about ATL!

so, i've been a nurse for a couple years, graduated from a bsn program in atlanta. my total loans after interest for 2.5yrs is around $75k. i now pay about $600/mo. in loans, it's a chunk of change yes, but i can afford it. if you're that concerned about the financial look of it after you get done then don't do it, look at alternative schools. however, nursing school is extremely competitive as mentioned above... i'm sure even more than when i applied, so def. keep that in the back of your head. i felt the same way when i took out my loans... but i would do it again in a heartbeat at the same school. most people i work with (all bsn) have about the same amount of loans, i'm not condoning it as good thing to have that much debt for school but, when i applied going in nursing was a stable job market for 'new grads' and i knew i would be able to pay it off. so with all that i have no opinion for you, do what makes you feel right and comfortable. good luck ; )

"teasingly plump" "I'm s*****g out rocks, they're like the damn rocks you find in the dirt"

I took the test a year ago, but I did the entire Kaplan book and Q-Bank, they are the most similar to the questions on the actual test. I did the review material and all 1000 Q, got 75. You'll all pass don't sweat it!

So, I graduated in Dec '08 and my class was worried as well about the economy, but honestly it depends a lot on where you are looking/area to work in. There are lot's of jobs out there, tons once you get your foot in the door.. but a lot of hospitals are not taking on new grads because of the cost of precepting, economy, change in healthcare etc... But all the students from my class and the may of '09 class have gotten jobs. I ended up going out of state, and several others did as well, but I work in one of the top hospitals in the nation - ICU and we are still hiring new grads as of this month. The economy is always going to flip flop, by the time you finish nursing school it could be a totally different arena, so if it is really your calling then I would go ahead and go to school.. the money is stable, you'll always have a job (once you get one), and there is so many different avenues you can take with it, just do it. Good Luck!