azdesertflower

I just started at the VA. I work in telehealth. From the time I applied until my first day of orientation, it was about 4 months. I was working so I wasn't in a bind and needing employment. So far, I love it! I went from floor nurse to office and that in itself is a big difference. At the facility I'm at, RNs seem to be treated as more "professional" than the community hospital I came from. There are all kinds of training I can take and they pay extra for every certification you have to or get. I say go for it! I did and I'm happy I did!

Check out the VA (Veteran's Affairs) website. they do telemedicine, I think they call it "telehealth". They specifically have pts with chronic illnesses like CHF, DM, COPD. They use a "telebuddy", which is a computerized BP cuff, sp02 etc. is put in the pts' home. Then every morning they do their vitals and it gets sent into a main office. An RN reads over the data and if anything is outta wack, the pt gets a call from the RN about meds or needing a doctor visit. The VA also uses video to do remote offices visits between pts and their MD. VA has the largest program in telemedicine. Good luck!

I would start looking. I work on a medical tele unit. Our ratio just went up as well, 1:6 on days. It is soooo unsafe. In one shift I'll have 3 pts with dementia on bed alarms and hi/low beds with neuro checks q4h, pulling out IVs, getting naked and pooping everywhere, 2 COPD pts with PNA and q2h breathing tx and high glucose from the steroids on top of their diabetes and antibiotics and maybe if I'm lucky one pt in detox that -might- be stable, usually not. Everyone's on IVFs, tele. AND we're usually short staffed. I'm applying elsewhere as I'm fried and I've only been doing this 3 years! We got the teamwork talk too. Really?! If we're so all about teamwork, why doesn't the manager come in and take a team of pts when we're short staffed!! It's getting old. Good luck, hang in there.

I'm in the same boat. I interviewed this week for an office job doing telehealth. M-F 8-5. I currently work on a busy med-tele unit. We're experiencing the same thing, higher acuity assignments, less staff, more demands documentation wise, etc. My unit is definitely not boring, but I feel like any day I'm gonna make a mistake. I'm looking forward to a change. Just think, you'll actually get to take a lunch break AND go to the bathroom! Think of the relationships you'll make with your patients. Good luck with your decision!

The hospital I work at is now eliminating verbal report when we get pts transferred to the floor from the ED. We are now just suppose to use our new SBAR tab in our charting program to get our info. I guess once the pt is booked into a room, they then just show up. Does anyone have experience of receiving pts from the ED without getting a report? Is it me or does this seem unsafe? any thoughts?

Maybe they were talking about the MSN or doctoral student when it comes to clinical placement? Were they specific at all? There would have been no time for us to seek out our own placement what with the class lectures and homework that was crammed into the 14 months. NAU is less than UA for a BSN and for MSN. GCU is expensive because it's a private school. Pima goes through their list pretty quickly as a girl I work with was on for 2012 and they called her, moved her up the spring 2010. She said, people cancel, flunk out all the time.

As a graduate of the ABSN I can second all that giardiafan is saying. Also, I'm a Tucson native and have heard for many years that quite a few unit managers and doctors prefer to hire and work with RNs from Pima than UA, mainly due to their clinical experience. It's that experience that allows for you to make connections for futures jobs and lets you decide what kind of nursing you like best. The UA is still riding on a reputation of old, which is too bad. I personally feel that the nursing profession as a whole needs to phase out the ADN for BSN for all entry level nursing education. (opps side note!) I would be very cautious before committing to this program. Many of the Tucson area hospitals are not hiring new grads anymore. They are on hiring freezes and layoffs. When I went into school 4 years ago, hospitals were offering sign on bonuses, moving expenses and giving raises, now we're not even getting cost of living increases! And my insurance went up, again. Of course this may change (hopefully) in the next few years, but with AZ cutting AHCCCS funding to hospitals, there are less people in the hospitals, reinbursements are down and hospitals are cutting everywhere they can to keep the adminstrators happy and making $$. I'm very disappointed to hear they are trying to make the student set up their own experience. Unless you know someone in the field or have connections you are at a great disadvantage. The hospital I work at, everyday we have students and its not unusual for a RN to have 2 students at a time with them. RNs don't get paid for this extra work and quite a few on my unit refuse to take students. You are competing with NAU, GCU, Pima, and UA traditional program students and there is just not enough clinical time or spaces for all of these students. I don't know why they can't set this up. They've been doing it for the ABSN students. Like this is different?! FYI-When I applied to the ABSN I also applied to the traditional program. It was my second time applying and I was applying everywhere (NAU, GCU Pima). I received a call from the ladies in the office saying that "I can't apply to them both, it's one or the other". Well, I called the Dean, and you CAN apply to them both as there is nothing to say that you can't. The difference is of course that it is slower paced, allows you for more study time and a life outside of school. And you WILL be placed for clinicals. You might be the oldest, most life experienced student in your class, but its still a BSN!

Yes, and I'm one of the many consulting a lawyer over this tax issue. When it is advertised as "free tuition" and you receive a letter stating you owe taxes less than 2 months before you complete your contract, it burns you bad. NOTHING was said to us about this before school, during school or when we started at our hospital. 6 more shifts to go...then DONE! expect for taxes....*****!?

Hey Giardiafan I remember your posts when you going to apply! Do you have a job? I know a couple of the 2010 folks that did their last clinical on my floor still did know if they had a job or not and said the hospital wouldn't even talk to them until they pasted the NCLEX. I was very disappointed in the program also. I worked so hard to get in, applying 2 years in a row and it was crap. And for all the crap that it was, we all should get this "master's" just for putting up with it! good luck with your first year!

I heard the same thing, that all NPs have to have DNP by 2013. UA told our class that you had to have at least 2080 hours of RN experience to even apply for the DNP program. And then, at the graduation ceremony, they announced that one student in our class had been admitted to start her DNP that same month! She had NO medical experience at all other than clinicals and she had a 2 year contract. So I have no idea how that happened. That's just another reason for me to be weary of the UA. UA cancelled their MSN in 2008 and started the DNP in place of before this new program they are advertising. I know NAU, ASU, University of Phoenix have MSN programs. I don't know any DNP graduates and any NPs that work at my facility have a MSN. Who knows where it will go. I did not pick where I wanted to work either hospital or floor. Some people got their hospital of choice. The one thing that I did get was a dayshift, which I lucked out getting. Mostly the hospital places new grads where they need them which is mainly nights, med/surg. You kinda have to already have an in to get on say at L&D or ED, ICU or such.

Shar81- The accelerated class I went thru had 79 students. One was asked to leave at winter break and we graduated 78. Your choice was either complete it or pay out $28K. You were expected to get higher than 78%, if you received 78% or less on an exam or in a class, you had to see your advisor and make a "plan" to get your grades up. There were a few people that failed the NCLEX, but I'm not sure how many because I was only in contact with the students from my hospital group as they grouped by hospital and that was the main way we went through the program. Although I've been "tied down" for the past 2 years (7 more shifts and I'm done with my contract!) I was the last new grad hired on my unit for a year. I was very thankful to have a job and not have to look as some of the students at another sponsoring hospital were "cut loose" and had a hard time finding jobs. abend- are you working or doing a NP? Are you here in AZ? I'm on the fence, I want to return to school, but not so sure of job availability. Any thoughts?

Hey abend, did you go to UA? Were your friends able to find jobs? gabby27, I don't think there is any sponsoring with this new program, I believe it's all self pay. Reason be that none of the hospitals want to employ new nurses at this time as they have too many right now. My own floor the whole night shift is new grads, which is scary. The UA accelerated class of 2009, 40 students that were suppose to be employed at Carondelet were cut, no job and possibly $28K in debt. I'm just saying, be very careful when exploring the UA programs. Go to info sessions, ask tons of questions and try to look up and ask previous students about their experience with them. After reading the UA website, I'm not sure how it works. It says you'll have a MS in nursing, but calls it a Master's Entry in to the Profession of Nursing. And that you can sit for the RN exam (NCLEX), but there is nothing about being a nurse practioner (NP) or if you can sit for the NP exam. Usually a MSN is prep for NP. I know that UA is really pushing their DNP program which will allow you to sit for the NP exam. Northern Arizona University has an on-line MSN that allows you to sit for the NP.

It's probably on the AZBON website.

I'm not sure what the AZBON rules are about that. One of the PCTs was told directly by the manager that she would look "more attractive applicant" if she was employed than if she had quit her PCT job and was just job hunting. She has a BSN and the others an ADN. So who knows? Her title is PCT not RN or GN. I did not have to go through that because I already had a contracted job. I was lucky!

Be very cautious when dealing with the U of A and their nursing program. I'm a graduate of the accelerated BSN program from 2008. The program at the time was advertised as "free BSN", a "waiver", a "scholarship". Just last month I received a letter from my sponsoring hospital stating that I have to pay the taxes on $28K of a "loan" for the program. 35 or 45K is just too much for the education you receive at the U of A. There is a revolving door of professors and let me just say, the good ones don't stay to put up with the BS. The 14 months that I was in the program did not in any way prepare me for bedside nursing on a super busy medical floor which is where I am now and hope to leave as soon as my contract is complete. There are people from my graduating class that once they started working decided that "nursing was not for them" and paid to get out of their contract. These people had graduate degrees in other fields, had been managers and higher ups and now they were less $28K. Nursing is not for the week. I can in no way imagine getting a NP with no RN experience. New RNs are having enough problems getting jobs here in Tucson with PCT experience. There are 4 PCTs on my floor now that have had their RN for 4 months now and no job. Most of the managers at the facility where I work don't care about my previous work experience or education. And most have associates degrees in nursing. anyhoo, sorry for the rant. Just get all your info, especially with the U of A. I know that Johns Hopkins has a direct entry master's. I would rather have one from JH than UA! At least I know that I got what I paid for!