kmp5

Schools in the Atlanta area vary and can be very good to horrible. You'll need to look at school ratings for the area you're thinking of living in. Traffic is awful in the Metro area, so you need to take that into consideration when you're house hunting and job hunting. I live in an area with highly rated schools and can get to my job in about 25 minutes maximum, both which were very important to me.

I work in a hospital in L&D and my resident program/orientation was 22 weeks long. Most of the units at my hospital have their residents in orientation for 12 weeks.

I work in L&D as an RN. We are required to sign up for 12 hours of call per month. We get paid a small amount for being on call and get callback pay (time and a half) if we get called in. My department is larger than yours and has more staff so we usually have around the clock call coverage. There are times when no one is on call and they call people to come in, too. I don't think it's legal to not pay you if you're on call. Plus, being on call, even as part of a team doesn't appeal to me.

I work at a hospital in suburban Atlanta and we have an inclement weather policy. If a code white is called, staff is called and asked to come in before the storm hits or gets bad. You are expected to be at work for your scheduled shift(s). If you choose to not come in to stay or sleep at the hospital, then you are expected to come in to work, regardless of the conditions of the roads. I know in the past if you called out due to bad weather, then they really haven't done anything punitive but they might this time around. If it's the same day as your shift, you are paid call pay for the hours you come in before your shift. If you sleep over before or after your shift, you are paid double call pay for those hours. You are given 2 meal vouchers (worth $5) per 24 hours stayed at the hospital. I was scheduled to work Tuesday from 7p-7a. Code white was called as of 5am Tuesday and we got calls about it on Monday. I went in to work around 2pm to wait for my shift to start, as the bad weather hadn't started and got call pay for those hours. I worked my shift Tuesday night and slept Wednesday until I worked Wednesday 7p-7a and got paid double call pay for those sleeping hours. The worst part of the storm was Wednesday and our building (Womens services) had 96 employees sleeping over. We slept in patient rooms (with no patients in them, obviously) and some people slept in conference rooms. Our departments were fully staffed and it went quite smoothly and we actually set a record of 28 deliveries in 24 hours! I heard that employees who called out at any point during the storm were required to come in and work on Friday for people who had been there for the duration of the storm. We had several people who had stayed at the hospital starting on Monday and left on Thursday, when the temperature was above freezing, so while it was slushy, the roads were ok to drive on. I actually slept for a few hours after my shift ended on Thursday morning, after waking I went outside and spent the better part of an hour chipping ice off of my car and drove home. The roads were slushy but not bad at all and I drive a small car that is not 4WD. I think that my hospital's policy for code white is fair. I know other metro hospitals will put their employees up in hotels that are close to the hospital. I also heard that one hospital pays premium pay for those working during code white. A few other hospitals mandate people to work the shifts while they are there, regardless of whether they are actually scheduled or not and are not allowed to leave until the code white is called off, I think in part to make it so people don't have to travel during inclement weather. At my hospital, or at least my unit, we are required to work our scheduled shifts and are required to be here period, no matter what. Obviously if your house was burned down or something similar to that, then the call out wouldn't be considered to be bad but we were given plenty of advance warning of what the expectations were and told what they needed us to do. If you chose not to do this, then you ran the risk of punishment. I do know that on Thursday morning, my charge nurse told me that if anyone planned to stay over on Thursday night, then everyone would be moved out of patient rooms and everyone would have to sleep in this huge conference room that we have on cots and mats. The reason why is because we had no patient rooms left and needed the rooms for patients so employees couldn't continue sleeping in the patient rooms. I wasn't scheduled to work on Thursday night but was on Friday night, so if I had been unable to get home on Thursday, I would have gone to a local hotel (across the street from the hospital) and rented a room, as I was not planning to sleep in a conference room with 50+ of my co-workers and fight for showers in the changing room. Plus, there wouldn't have been any place for me to stay on Thursday night, since I wasn't working and I didn't want to just hang around work for 12 hours. Thankfully, I was able to get home but I would've rented a room in a minute if I hadn't been able to get home.

I am a new grad and started in L&D as a nurse in August. My residency will last 22 weeks. This is in a metro Atlanta hospital.

Our school (in GA) had us apply for the GA BON, apply for NCLEX, pay all fees, do fingerprinting, background check, everything in early April. That way, everything would be done well before the school sent paperwork to Pearsonvue. Our graduation was May 12th, the school sent in our paperwork on May 13th and I got my ATT on May 13th, tested June 12th and passed, thankfully. Others in my class didn't get their ATT as quickly as I did and no one seems to know why. They seemed to be giving them out in bunches. Some hadn't done all the required things beforehand and that held them up but some had and still didn't get their ATT as quickly as I did. Others in my class had their scores held up because of paperwork issues at the BON, such as name changes, them claiming they hadn't gotten a copy of the person's driver's license (my friend sent hers in 5 times, using different methods), etc. The hold ups were crazy. At least one person I know drove down to Macon to clear the mess up so they could get their license number. Mine went smoothly. My license number showed up on June 13th,

You can ask your advisor this question when you are getting advised the day of orientation. I think that you have to take med micro no later than your first semester of the second year but I could be wrong. Honestly, I'd take it as soon as possible or next summer, as 2nd year is very, very hard and I'd advise you to not take any classes other than nursing classes 2nd year. I had classmates take med micro first semester of 2nd year and it was very hard for them. Most people either had it done before they started nursing school or took it during the summer between 1st and 2nd year.

They're pretty strict about attendance both years. If you miss clinical, there will be makeup work. First year's makeup work was bad, second year's was completely out of control awful. We missed a day of clinical for Med/Surg because school was cancelled due to snow and we had this HUGE paper to write, despite the fact that it was out of our control. It was awful. You can miss class but I'm pretty sure that the "party line" is that you can only miss 7 hours total each semester between class and clinical. If you have to miss anything, I would recommend missing class. Also, they didn't seem to mind too much if you left early, as long as you clear it with the lecturer first. I know that at our campus last year, people left early ALL the time, sneaking out and nothing was ever said.

Working is definitely doable, especially first year. I worked full-time (3 12 hour shifts a week) through both years of nursing school. I thought it was hard first year and I'm sure it was but it was very, very hard second year, with having clinical 2 days a week and class one day, add working 3 days, left me with only one day a week to do everything. Plus, being a single mom, I was doing everything at my house. It is doable but honestly, I think that I survived on about 4 hours of sleep a night second year. It was hard and I did it, but I'm not exactly sure how I did! I maintained a 3.4 GPA and am very proud of being able to get all As and Bs in my nursing classes with all that I was juggling. You have to prioritize, let people help you, let go of things that you just cannot do and do what you have to do.

Nikki, Trying to get work in the hospital is a very good idea. If you work as a PCT at NGHS you are pretty much guaranteed a job after you graduate. New grad jobs aren't super easy to get so getting your foot in the door is a great idea. NGHS, Northside and Gwinnett have nurse extern programs that you can do during the summer after your first year. It's not easy working and juggling nursing school but it can be done.

Dupton, please don't worry about it. I'm willing to answer any questions, as I know how scary and hard it is.

You're right, Habersham instead of Chestatee! For some reason, I thought you went to Chestatee!

Signing up for a mentor is a very good idea. I signed up for a mentor first year and the person never contacted me. I didn't feel comfortable contacting them since they never contacted me. I unofficially mentored sk8inghunny (from here on allnurses) last year and hope that I was of some help to her, answering questions, offering guidance and just holding her hand, as nursing school is unlike anything you've ever done in the past.

I got the drawstring pants instead of the elastic ones, as I don't like elastic. Our campus had a private FB group and our class had a public FB group and both were very helpful. Clinical sites for first year are NGHS in Gainesville and Chestatee. 2nd year for Psych you can go to Cobb County, Peachford or Laurelwood in Gainesville, M/S NGHS. OB were DeKalb, Johns Creek (someone told me they weren't going to JC next year), Gwinnett and NGHS. Peds were Scottish Rite and Egleston. For OB, some of us were assigned to DeKalb and the rest of the class got to choose where they went. For Fundamentals, M/S and Psych, you were assigned. I worked full-time (3 12 hr shifts) the whole time I was in nursing school. I won't lie to you, it was difficult. First year was manageable, as we had one day free a week (the day I wasn't in clinical or lab) most of the semester. I was also taking an online class each semester in addition to the nursing classes. 2nd semester, it was awful but I survived. Looking back, I don't know how I did it, but I did and graduated with a 3.4, which was good considering how much I had on my plate as a single mom to 3, working full-time and going to nursing school. It IS doable but it's not easy. You have to let a whole lot go and just do what you have to do. The good thing is that I was working at the hospital that I will be working at as a nurse in the same department that I've been in for 4 years, so that helped me get my foot in the door. Elanessea, if you need to take history classes, I would suggest that you take them online, as that would be way easier than taking them face to face. You can take classes on Tues or Thursday and many of my classes who needed classes did so, but I would recommend taking them online as that worked out quite well for me. UNG definitely does a good job of preparing you for the NCLEX. Everyone I know who's taken it has passed, so far.

If you have the time, you should try to get up to Dahlonega on a different day than orientation to get your ID and parking pass, as the orientation starts at 8am. At orientation, you sit in the big auditorium and you are introduced to the first year teachers. It lasted all day and lunch was provided. I went and got my books after orientation but don't remember if there would be enough time to get your ID and parking pass.