KeepCalmCarryOn

Does 'clean' eating involve eating beef that was raised in a feed lot? Have you ever smelled one of those places?

Congrats on the new job!!!:w00t: Yay! I am actually in a similar situation as you! I just got a job as a PCT too and it is my first job in healthcare after working as a cosmetologist for many years. I finished all my pre-reqs for nursing school in Dec and I just put my application in. I had orientation all week this week (3 days in the classroom and 2 days on the floor shadowing) For the next 3 weeks I will be working with another PCT with 17 years experience (awesome!). And after that I will fly solo! I was super anxious on my first day on the floor, even though I was just shadowing! :uhoh21: Today was much easier and I even was allowed to help a little bit. It felt so nice to be able to help! There is a lot to learn, but you will get it. Remember to be patient with yourself, keep calm (just like my name says, hehe), work smarter not harder, and SMILE . Those are my words of advice from one new PCT to another... I think it will be rough for a while (I'm speaking for myself too!), but in time you will find your routine and it will become easier to manage. I think that we are going to find that this job can be very rewarding! Congrats again and best of luck to you!

In Austin, TX: $10.75/hr with no experience. Extra $1.30 for nights. 36 hrs/week, 12 hr shifts. Tuition reimbursement after 6 months of employment. Benefits are a bit expensive to me. I can buy a plan online for my husband and I for about half the price with similar benefits. Go to esurance.com to look at plans before you decide on taking your employer's benefits package.

Just wanted to give you guys an update. I DID get the job! Yay! :w00t:(I was very surprised because I got both of them and had to choose!) And it's on day shift...whew! I was worried about working nights. I had my meeting with HR and OHS yesterday and I'm going to pick up my scrubs today! I'm not going to lie, my stomach did about ten thousand little flips when I got the call. I thought, oh crap...I'm really doing this. It's pretty scary as a first-timer. Like Weezy, I have been researching...Looking at countless videos on youtube and reading all that I can to make sure I am not completely dumbfounded when I get in there. I have lots to learn! How did you do on your interview Weezy?!

I just had 2 interviews for a PCT (CNA) position on telemetry units at 2 different hospitals. Whew, I was so nervous! I have never worked in healthcare before, only customer service. And I don't have my CNA certification either, so I really had to ace my interviews! I thought I would tell you some of the questions they asked me! Like Summer2022 said, they will probably ask you a bunch of scenario questions and ask you to be very specific. You can draw on any past experience, but I stuck to my work experience because it was most relevant. First of all, she asked me why I wanted to work in healthcare and why that specific hospital (do some research on the facility). She also asked me to: Tell her about a time I: Was faced with a conflict with co-worker, management, or a customer (patient) and how I handled it; Had many important priorities and how I handled them; Felt proud of something I had done for a customer; Stood up for something I believed in; Had to work as a team to accomplish a task; Was faced with a very challenging task; etc. The hardest part about these questions is thinking of a specific example, and quickly. Sometimes you may draw a blank! In that situation, just focus on the main idea of the question or generic examples and elaborate on what it means to you, e.g. teamwork is about supporting, teaching and helping each other. I hope this helps! Maybe you've already had your interview and if so, I hope you did great! If not, good luck!! :-D

Koko, I decided to go to my local community college to get my RN after considering many options--including accelerated or 'alternate-entry' BSN programs. Frankly, I didn't want to spend the money for these programs and I didn't want to go back to school full-time. I still need to work right now. Community college is cheap, it's fast, and it places a huge emphasis on clinical practice (the most important stuff!) Right now I am still working on my pre-requisites. Since I already had a bachelor's degree, many were already eliminated (such as math, english, psychology, and my humanities course) So for the past year I have been knocking out my sciences (Anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology, and a speech class) all while working 25-30 hrs a week and paying it off as I go. By the end of December I will be finished and ready to put my application in, hopefully to start in the Fall 2012 and graduate in Spring of 2014. I will come out debt free and ready to work. A few years down the line I will most likely do a bridge program to get my BSN and then perhaps even go back to school for CRNA. Radiology would be great too and there are some good programs at community colleges, but I have always heard that there are too many of them and work is hard to find...? Of course, they are saying that about nurses now too! Might I also suggest the field of dental hygiene? I thought about doing that as well, mainly because it is more of a '9-5/weekends off' kind of job, which would be nice! Ultimately I stuck with nursing because of all the different paths you can take. There are many different specialties you can pursue and fields to explore, so there is no chance of getting bored! And plus, like AprilAnney says, it's a very 'hands on' profession, which is a must for me!

You sound like me! I went to school for studio art and Spanish. It was a great time, I had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends and gained so much confidence. But in the end, I realized that I wasn't as passionate about it as I needed to be to put in the energy needed to be successful. I needed a career that would allow me to help others, give me more stability, challenge me, and of course, pay the bills!! I'm not a nurse yet, but after a few years of wandering, I'm on my way and I finally feel as if I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I know that it's gonna be totally gross cleaning up bodily fluids, and the politics of working in healthcare are atrocious, and I'm gonna have awful coworkers, bosses, and patients sometimes. But to me, that's LIFE! Once you accept that, you can do anything. I believe the good stuff will make it worth it! So chin up! Good luck to you, whatever you decide!

Hi cutiepatootie512! I am also taking pre-reqs at ACC in Austin. Since it has been a while since you posted, you may have found this out already, but you do not have to take Anatomy and Physiology....Only Anatomy and college level Math. For example, I am taking Pharmacology right now in the summer session and my teacher asked us to show proof on the first day that we had taken Human Anatomy and College Level Math or else she would drop us from the class. I'm not sure about the Pre-Pharmacology test, I haven't heard anything about that, but it would probably just be a basic Math assessment test. Now, I know that you DO have to take an assessment test before you sign up for Physiology (basic chemistry stuff), but like I said, you DO NOT have to take it before Pharmacology. So my advice, if you haven't signed up for summer classes is to plan on taking Human Anatomy (I would recommend John Norris) in the fall and then Physiology and Pharmacology in the spring. I'm not sure if you have to take Microbiology. I'm going for the RN and I have to take micro :) Good luck to you! Let me know what u decide! Take care

Thanks for the advice everybody :) You are right about the hours MusicEMT...I'm not sure I would want to work 12 to 24 hr shifts while in school. Perhaps a CNA would be a better choice. In fact, I have already applied to many positions as a CNA, but without previous experience and no training, I'm sure I was quickly shifted to the bottom of the pile. I haven't had any calls or emails. But I'll keep trying! I'm sure it's easier to get a job as a CNA once you've already been accepted to nursing school. I have also met some CNAs who had no previous experience in healthcare and got the job purely based on recommendation and were trained by the hospital. Btw, I would eventually like to become an OR nurse (I think!).

Hello everyone, I am thinking about going through the EMT Basic program at my local community college while I finish up my last pre-req (physiology) in fall 2011. The program is a 5 hr lecture/lab course plus 1 hr clinical for one semester. Would this be too much to handle while also taking physiology and working part-time? I am mainly thinking about it because my current job is not in healthcare at all and I would like to get some basic training and experience before I am thrown like a dear in headlights into nursing school! I also have been thinking it might be a good part-time gig while I'm in nursing school? Anyone done this or know someone who has? Is it unrealistic? If so, I'm wondering what kind of other position (preferably paid) I can attain that will help me gain some experience while I'm waiting and after I get in. Now that I've made my decision I'm itching to get started on something...anything related to healthcare! Thanks!