optimusRN

Don't stress too much. I graduated in December and it took Atlanta hospitals until mid February to early March to contact me. I think they are a lot slower than others. Since you're graduating in May you'll probably start hearing from places in June or July. I think they like to give people time to take and pass the boards before they start hiring.

Which hospital is this for? I had applied to just about every hospital in Atlanta and I never "had" to put in an email for a previous supervisor. If you call HR and they say you have to then try calling HR at the places you worked and maybe get the emails from them. Have you tried putting "unknown" is the field or something like that?

Thanks for the info! I probably won't do any traveling until August or September anyways so I should be good. I'm looking forward to starting. I'm excited and nervous. How was your experience?

The ICU has a contract for 2 years so I'm assuming it would be around the same for a two year contract. They told me I would have to pay back a portion of $2000 if I left before the contract was up. Good luck!

Youcandoit: I think I only checked my status after they called. I applied around feb 3 I believe and got a phone call a few days later. They should email updated as you move along. Studentnurse: awesome congrats to you too! Will you be at midtown or the main campus? I'm hoping to get more info too. I wanted to take a couple trips but I can't plan when I don't know how my schedule will be.

Wow thanks for the response! Sounds like a really good program. I never heard anything from them about their critical care residency even though my application says forwarded to manager. Ill keep them in mind after I get some experience.

Me too. I want to know how comparable these facilities are.

I'm not sure if they are still interviewing or not. I would imagine they are since the start date isn't until the 21st. But I'm not completely sure since I won't be working on either of those floors. Hope you can get a call!

Well I ended up getting a job on a med-surg step down unit. And luckily we have a sister ICU so I'm hoping to get to know the nurse manager there and transfer after a year. I was hoping to go straight into ICU but when a good opportunity came up I couldn't let it go!

I got a job at Emory and I wanted to get an idea of how they train new grads. I know that I'll have orientation for 1 week but I don't know what happens after that. The shift manager told me that I would be working 8-hour shifts for a good portion of my training. ; Has anyone gone through this that can give me an idea of what to expect? Will I be in the classroom for a while? When will I start working on the floor?

Has anyone had an experience as a new grad at either of these hospitals? I want to get an idea of how the working environment is and education for new grads. Also, does anyone know how much they pay?

The hospitals are requiring contracts because it's expensive to train new grads and they want to get their money out of them. From what I can gather, the money you owe decreases the longer you stay at the hospital. 2 years isn't too bad because most people probably won't leave within that amount of time. Some hospitals don't have formal residency programs but I think most of the major ones in Atlanta that you listed do. I'll probably have to do the same thing even though I don't have any loans either.

That's what I heard. I have a classmate of mine that got hired into the CV residency this week. Still never heard from them for an interview but when I called the lady said they were still interviewing people who applied. But it sounds like they might be finished.

I believe you have to sign a contract. They put a lot of time and effort into training their new grads so that's prob why they male them sign contracts.

I have heard many nurses say "new grads should get at least 1 year med-surg experience". On the other hand, I have had some say that if a new grad has a good orientation and education they can succeed on an ICU. I've always been interested in working on an ICU. I feel it's a bigger challenge and would push me more. Did any of you start in the ICU as a new grad and wish you didn't? Any good stories from being a new grad in the ICU? I'm starting to feel discouraged from achieving my goals. I would like to go to CRNA school one day and it seems like it's going to be difficult to get the experience I need.