jan286

St Marys new grad pay $29.25/hr. Evening diff $2.45. Night diff $3.45. Weekend diff $3.75. So far not much has changed with the merger with Trinity. We were informed 2 weeks ago that they are NOT doing a wage freeze, so everyone will receive a wage increase based on performance evals. The only thing that changed is they did away with the weekly contribution to our 401K where they matched what we contributed and as of right now will not do a year-end contribution either. Waterbury Hospital staff did take a temporary pay cut. I do not know how long it is for, but from what I hear, staff is not very optimistic that they get that money back. St Francis starts new grads at $28.75.

Try Saint Marys Hospital in Waterbury.

Are you a new nurse, first license in CT? If so, when the state approved your license request, you should have received an email that said when they mail them out. For me, my email stated licenses are mailed during the 3rd week of the following month. If you are licensed in another state and have requested a CT license, I do not know...but I would assume it is the same. But like the previous person said, your employer can verify your license on the website.

I also just graduate. I already took the NCLEX and passed with minimal prep on my own. I think the program prepared me well for the NCLEX. Semester 3 is the hardest. If you get "difficult" clinical instructors the first year, just enjoy being pushed harder when things are easy in lecture because it won't be as much of a shock when you hit semester 3. I had laid back instructors with minimal expectations and the final semester I was with a notoriously difficult instructor. I made it through, but with a lot of anxiety. Most of the people who have gotten jobs in a hospital (myself included) did so either by working there prior to finishing school or by their clinical instructors. Most of the adjuncts (and a few of the full time ones) still work in the hospitals and typically have a lot of pull when it comes time to hire new grads. Get in good with your clinical instructors (especially the final year) and you are all set. As far as school, the first semester content-particularly at the beginning-seems really simple. It will be really easy to brush it off, especially if you have experience. I highly recommend taking this time to establish really good test taking skills. Attend all of the extra things that they offer (they will have a couple test taking strategy seminars), go to the journal club meetings, reach out to your advisor if you are struggling because they have more resources available. Don't freak out about the skills validations. Don't get discouraged if you get a lab referral. In fact, there are some clinical instructors who love lab referrals. Going to the lab on your own or because an instructor is making you, will only make your skills better (at least for validations). Take it one day at a time, don't get caught up in the gossip mill, always be professional especially at clinical, don't complain-the instructors have been doing this for a long time. Some of what they make you do may seem ridiculous, but in the end you will realize why they made you do it. CLEWs are awful, but once the final semester came around, I could do them with my eyes closed. I also knew so much about about diseases and disorders from doing pathophys that when we finally learned about that disease or disorder in class, I already had a foundation and I think it made things easier. I learned lab ranges from writing them every week in my CLEW and you can also learn a lot of med's that way. Some instructors say to save the CLEW in a word doc on your computer and enter in your hospitals lab ranges and common meds you see, then print that and fill in the blanks. The people who did that did not learn lab ranges. Just remember, you will get out of it what you put into it.

I took my NCLEX on Friday. I read somewhere that quick results are issued 48 business hours after testing, but have read in other spots just 48h hours. Has anyone gotten quick results on a Sunday before?

It is so much easier to get them through the uniform store because they will sew the patches on. I know everything seems a lot right now (fianancially) but the uniforms really aren't overly expensive. Also-if you are in a major bind and really can't afford them, there are some that have been donated by people have graduated, and I am sure they will get more donated in June after my class graduates. Reach out to a course leader or the secretary. If you have trouble-PM me...I organized the donated uniforms, so I know which instructor's office they are in!

Can anyone give me a little information about this program? All I really know is the first 12 weeks are days (I am assuming classroom and skill stuff...) Thanks in advance!

RN-BSN agreements Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU)

Can anyone who has been through or currently in the Graduate Nurse Residency Program at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT tell me a bit about it. I know it is a year long...but that is all I know! Thanks in advance!!

Yes, sorry! I meant April-not March!

They will open a link once everything is uploaded. They usually post an announcement that the link is up. Previously we were able to search "nursing" in mycommnet and get the link before they officially released it, but I think they changed that last year.

The community colleges do not send out their own decision letters. The Board of Regents will post in mycomment at some point in March (usually in the first 2 weeks). It is different each year. They stopped sending letters through the mail 2 years ago.

Albany Med in NY and I believe Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, Ct is as well.

Amazingly well put! I hope some of the writer's hospital administrators are on here and will read this. I wish the administrators at my previous hospital could read this! They are quick to point a finger at the people on the floor doing the work, but don't think twice when they look at their personal check books.

At the end when you have the opportunity to ask questions, some of my nursing instructors said to ask about the turn-over rate on the unit and the reasons for it (termination, promotion etc)...I feel like that is not a good question to ask. What are your thoughts? Also, would it be ok to ask about patient:nurse ratios?

I got rehabilitation nurse, certified nurse midwife, psychiatric NP, and lastly, reproductive nurse.

Check the hospital policy. One place I worked would pay us our vacation time that we had built up as long as we gave at least that amount of a notice. Say you had 4 weeks of vaca time, in order to get paid for that time they required a 4 week notice. If we gave a 2 week, we lost that other 2 weeks worth of vacation pay.

She did not say that she was unconscious, nor did she say she was forced to go to the ER. She could have passed out and come to within a few seconds and said "this happens to me often, I will go home and call my PCP." You are assuming she was unconscious for a significant amount of time. Regardless, she should be responsible and ethical and deal with the bill, not sweep it under the rug.

People not paying their hospital bills have a hand in why so many hospitals are becoming financially strapped. You used their services, so you should pay for those services. You said you had a history of fainting-why chose to go to the ER then? You could have seen your PCP and paid a much cheaper office co-pay. Also-this is not considered a self-pay or uninsured visit. You had insurance. Most likely, the bill was submitted to the insurance company. The bill was adjusted to the rate the insurance would have paid if you had met your deductible for the year. Since you had not met the $2500 deductible, it then becomes your financial responsibility-that is the agreement you had with your insurance company. But either way, if the hospital had your insurance information, they legally have to submit it to the insurance company first so it can be counted towards the deductible. I would recommend talking to your bankruptcy lawyer or going to the billing department to work out a payment plan.

I teared up reading your post. I am so sorry you have to go through this and try to stay strong for the people around you. It sounds like you need someone to talk to-like a social worker. Is there anyone at your hospital you can meet with? A one time vent on AN is not going to fix this. You will continue to go through a roller-coaster of emotions.

St Mary's Hospital, Waterbury Hospital, Sharon Hospital, Charlotte Hungerford (although, they don't hire too many new-grads), St Francis in Hartford...you literally need to read each job posting...some will say "BSN required", some will say "BSN preferred" and some won't mention it at all. Apply to all of the BSN preferred and the ones that don't say anything.

Have you looked into CT?

I know the community colleges have an "expiration date" on the science classes...I believe it is 5 years. While I can't speak for every program in the state, I would imagine most follow the same kind of guidelines since A&P if your foundation for nursing.

I did clinical at a hospital that did EOW, but that weekend included Friday...so, when it wasn't your weekend to work, you had Friday-Sunday off. Not sure if that is the same thing as what you are talking about...the nurses seemed to love it, unless it was their weekend to work

I see a bunch of dates available at a few of the community colleges. I took the TEAS twice. The first time I just went in to see what it was like. Then I got the study manual and did it front to back and took the TEAS a second time and did really well! The first time I took it was right when this version came out-so like 2 or 3 years ago, I think. The second time was the September before I applied. You want to give yourself enough to re-test if you need to. I would recommend taking one this summer so you can see where you stand. If you need to retest, you will see what areas you did the worse on, so you could focus your studying to those sections of the study manual.