BaltimoreHon

You need to shorten it to one page. When I was office manager for an audiology practice I was told by my manager to toss any resume longer than one page and I believe that is a common practice. A short objective statement at the beginning is also important.

The letter I wrote really was what helped me get my license 3 days before I had to start work. The governor's office actually called the board of nursing and by some miracle they were able to produce a license for me within 24 hours of the phone call. Getting my RN license this year was not quite as challenging. The biggest issue was that our entire graduating class did not get our ATT until late June because the woman who does that was out sick for 2 weeks and of course no one else in the office can do data entry? Bad management all around. It ended up delaying my start date at work a month but really, I think having the time off was good for me. Bottom line, they really need better management and employees that care about their jobs because they can really mess with a person's livelyhood.

I am a new graduate ADN nurse at a magnet hospital. My BSN collegues do not start at a higher rate of pay than I do. The difference lies in advancement opportunities. Without a BSN there comes a point where I can no longer climb the clinical nurse ladder. I estimate this will be about three years down the road. Ample time for me to get a bSN.

I don't wear any rings at all because all the alcohol based rub that we use before entering and upon exiting the patient's room does not dry very well under my rings and ends up cracking my skin. I do wear a a very short necklace that would be almost impossible for a patient to get their hands on.

It definitely depends on the local job market. Here in Baltimore while there are a lot of hospitals there are also tons of area nursing schools just pumping out the new grads every six months. There are so many new grads that the hospitals can afford to use ADN vs BSN as a criteria for selecting who will fill an open position.

Don't let it discourage you. I would say that most nursing students I have known have been written up at least once for something. Some instructors like to write you up for little mistakes, others just point it out and let it go and only write you up for the big ones (to me handwashing is a biggee). What you need to remember is that you are new and you are green and you should take your write up as a learning opportunity. Just brush it off and move on. Also, I can assure you that most likely you will never forget to wash your hands again!

Some very good advice. I just graduated with an ADN from our local community college and I managed to get a job at a local magnet hospital. For me, what made the difference is that last year instead of planning to have a nice summer off I started applying for nursing externships in February. I got called for interviews at 2/3 hospitals I applied at and accepted the nurse externship at the hospital that I knew would have more opportunites when I would be a new grad. I spent my entire summer busting my butt and continued to work one shift a week until graduation. My classmates that had not been working as a CNA/PCT/extern..etc for the most part are the ones still looking for work. I highly recommend that in such a competitive job market you need to get your foot in the door early on.

The kinesio taping made a huge difference.

I have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars in the past year trying to get relief from plantar faciitis. While it is not cured yet, I have found that on days I work 600mg of ibruprofen, kinesio taping (look up on youtube), and Sannitas (used to make dansko before dansko started being produced in China) will get me through twelve hour shifts with little more than slight soreness. On days I don't work I don't take the ibruprofen. Doing the stretches is extremely important! Get them in whenever you can. I no longer do cortisone shots because I found when I could not feel it I forgot to do my stretches and I was not healing.

Getting A's in my BA/Sociology curriculum was a piece of cake. Getting straight A's in my ADN/nursing curriculum almost drove me insane! It was the most challenging thing I ever did but I graduated really feeling like I accomplished something remarkable!

Baltimore: $26.38 base salary, with rotating D/N 28.89/hr plus excellent benefits at magnet hospital. From other local new grads I hear the starting salaries average around $26. Many new grads are having trouble finding work here

Are you still looking for a place? I know someone who is renting out the cutest townhome in a very nice neighborhood only a few miles from JHH.

Congratulations spring 2012 students! You will love the program. AACC students are very well prepared to enter the workforce as RN. I am finishing third semester now and will be entering fourth semester (yeah). We didn't have as many hybrid courses available to us, I think we were the guinea pigs for many of the hybrids. I did love the flexibility of the hybrids. My only complaint was with med-surg2 there was not always consistency between the material presented in class and what the hybrid students received in the power points. Also, some of the power points we got were really badly written, not edited, and had misinformation, so just be careful. On another note, if anyone is interested in purchasing almost all the books you will need I am letting go of mine cheap. Another word of advice. It is a tough market so you will need to get your foot in the door ASAP. After first semester you can apply for your CNA license. Get it as quick as you can and get hired as a tech in a hospital for the duration of your schooling. Baltimore is saturated with nursing schools, each pumping out almost 100 students a semester who will all be looking for jobs when they graduate. When you do your clinicals ask the new hires how long it took them to find work. I came across many BSN graduates who it took them upwards of 6mo. What they had in common was no CNA experience, no in. Many of us currently working have already been promised that we will transition to RN upon graduation. Lastly, you will need to eventually get a BSN. Take the prereqs at AACC. Above what AACC requuires you will need general chemistry and statistics. AACC will push you in the direction of Stevenson for your bSN because there is a matricualtion agreement with them, but there are many other universities to choose from that are way less expensive and have better reputations.

CNAs on our floor do straight caths and foleys. We also do trach care and G-tube feedings in addition to VS, baths, and fingersticks.

I am so sorry you had this horrific experience. Not only were you traumatized by the assault but then you had to be traumatized again by the behavior of the staff and that should have never happened.