buckheimer

Thats right....we left out Psych Nursing...Where do you put that on the continuum of "hate or disdain " I know a lot of my classmates who went to Psych Nursing and loving it. They consider themselves as "Lazy" nurses and they love what they're doing :-)

Is the LTC you all are referrring to the same as LTAC ? I believe LTAC is probably in between LTC and acute care hospital in terms of # of pt/r n ratio, pay, etc.

Become a doctor as in MD. If you're smart, and go-getter, I would suggest becoming an MD as that would be far more stable and respectable job than being a Nurse. The harder it is to become, the lower the supply is and so less headache finding a job. Nurses are dime a dozen now that its pathetic being one. Just my honest 2 cents.

Thank you guys for all your comments and kind words. I emailed the lady and guess what, she granted me an extension ! Yes, its my 3rd job in 8 months but its a long story. There are jobs out there ! You just have to look and look and apply and apply ! North Dakota has 3% or so unemployment rate so they need lots of nurses and other professionals up there --just to name a few. I live here in one of the southern states---medium sized cities. My thinking is as long as its not NYC, SF or LA, job market is ok --but not great. Also I am not a new grad--almost a year of experience--so its a little bit easier. So for ppl thinking of becoming a nurse just to get a job--forget it, just stick to your strengths and passion and dont follow the mob. Just my .02

Hello all, Thanks for all the great discussion at this forum. This site has helped me learned a lot about my journey of becoming a great nurse. Today I have a dilemma that needs your thoughts and advice. I am an 8 month old new grad nurse. ED was my first 2 jobs but now looking at doing med-surg or ICU (being my long term goal). During the past few weeks, I've been sending a lot of job applications. 3 have called me back with an LTAC interview done last friday with still 2 interviews (2 inpatient med-surg hospitalist positions) left --one on Monday and the other a 2nd interview on tuesday. The LTAC in med-surg called me today with a verbal and also an email with letter stating that " I am very pleased you have decided to join the ______ at _________. This letter confirms our verbal offer of employment as a Registered Nurse and provides additional information concerning new hire orientation. As we agreed previously, your contingent start date is 2 weeks from today. etc. etc." My dilemma are the following: 1) I did not state any agreement on the offer yet. but apparently, the caller who gave me the offer thought I accepted. With my previous job offers, they would call me and ask "so we are pleased to offer you a position, do you accept?" I usually ask for a few days to think about it. She did not ask me that this time and went ahead and told me that an HR ppl will be scheduling my drug test and physicals, etc. After a few minutes, I received the confirmation letter via email. 2) I still have 2 interviews left--one on monday and the other 2nd interview will be on tuesday with the manager stating that she will make the hiring decision on that day--which is tuesday--itself. My preference would be to work on a Hospital Med-surg unit which are the 2 position interviews left. Given the above backdrop--how do I notify the LTAC that I would like to wait until say after all my interviews (with results or at least until next tuesday) are done to state my decision ? Do I call the person who called me or email her about my intention to wait ? How do I phrase it in the email ? Would appreciate any advice and thoughts. Thanks and have a great day !

Thank you guys for all your comments and suggestions. What about the ICU in LTAC vs Med/Surg Hospital ? Which one would you prefer if you wish to go to SICU or CVICU someday ? I've read somewhere in this forum that ICU in LTAC also has some critical patients and they require 2 years of ICU experience to be an RN at an ICU in LTAC. Let me know your thoughts and comments. Thanks !

Just would like to know your thoughts, guys--If my long term goal is to be in CVICU or SICU, what would be a good experience for a new grad given I already have less than a year of ED experience-- Med/Surg in a 300-bed inpatient hospital or Med/Surg in an LTAC ? Appreciate any detailed response with explanation :-)

Thanks guys for all the comments and thoughts ! The 2 hospitals that I worked at were NOT teaching hospitals but private ones. They're not into training new grads on the floor. When I was there at both facilities--I was the only new Grad on the floor on BOTH day and night shifts. Anyway, I've been applying to ALL sorts of RN positions (except ED) to all hospitals in the past 2 weeks but so far no interviews and its so disheartening. When I resigned from the 1st ED job, I got the 2nd position within 1 week. Whats so funny was I got a call from an ER manager in a hospital which I appied for asking me if I would be available for interview. SHe said that their HR recruiter passed my resume to her even though I applied for a different position. This is crazy--am I now branded as just for ED or what ? What if I have exhausted the list of hospitals in our place ? I am in a situation where I cannot just uproot or relocate due to family circumstances.

Great post llg ! Thanks for everyone's thoughts and comments ! For new readers, let me know your thoughts as well.

Thanks once again for all your replies and comments. Appreciate it. However, I have another question--should I still cite those 2 ER work experiences in my resume given the 1st ER job (lasted 4.5 months) while the last ER job (lasted 3 months) or just cite the 1st ER job ? Im afraid that citing 2 ER experiences in a span of 8 months might not land me an interview because HR managers might think I am either a bad "fruit" or a job hopper. You know how ppl jump to conclusions esp now with the econ so bad and market full of RNs. My thought is even if I cite my 1st ER expeience only omitting the 2nd one, I can still say that all these times, Im looking still for a position. Appreciate again any thoughts and words of wisdom !

Thank you guys for all the comments and kind words of encouragement ! I definitely am looking at Med-surg and other non-ED positions here in my neck of the woods. @ Carene-- I totally understand you cause we were in similar boats. Cant say bad things about my colleagues but its just that they dont say directly to you your mistakes and instead go behind you and tell the charge nurse and supervisor making a mountain out of a molehill which is rampant here in this profession. I guess its just the nature of the beast which is nursing. I've worked in a few industries--Investment banking, construction, Retail --and I would put Nursing one of the tops in terms of backstabbing and hypocrisy.

Hello all, I am an silent avid reader of allnurses.com and fully appreciate all the tips and sage advices that you all have given to one another. This time--Im the one who has a problem and would like your thoughts about it. I became an RN last Oct following an accelerated program. Being an RN is my 2nd profession as has been doing my own gigs during the past 16+ years. I was hired as an ER nurse on my first job. I passed the orientation program which lasted for 8 weeks but was forced to resign after 4.5 months otj due to "lacking of assessment skills." I reapplied and this time got into another ED department. I worked hard and really did my best on this one but apparently after several times of being "passed" around by different preceptors I was let go before my 3rd month. It was a tough pill to swallow because not only did I do my best, I believe I was not given enough time to blossom into a full fledge nurse. In my weekly evaluation, there were good eval with the same ongoing project, type. but was surprised on my final day when they forced me to resign--they list all the "bad stuff" that I've had for which some were unknown to me or not shown on the weekly eval report or if its known, basically ive improved on the next ones. I felt betrayed because I am new and I need to learn and I was given the impression that if a newbie is not ready by the 12th week of orientation, it will be extended to 16 weeks, etc. The reality is I did not made the cut and I dont blame them because a lot of new hires here have years and years of ED experience for which I dont have. I feel I did good but apparently, my colleagues dont think so. Of course, compared to other RN colleagues who's had 10+ years of ER experience, I am a neophyte. Whats the point of training a newbie where you can hire an "oldie" who's got experience. My question now is--how do I get hired on a med-surg or other units with 2 jobs within 8 month period ? How do I explain the reason for leaving ? Am I considered a bad applicant for not holding a job longer than 5 months ? Would appreciate your thoughts on this matter. Im a newbie and it just feels so discouraging to know that you cannot trust your colleagues because of the backbiting and stuff going around this profession. Sorry for the rant but thats the way I feel right now. :confused: