FeistyPiscesRN

10:37 am by KinkyKurlyRN Hey girls I don't think I got the job at lee. I think they have moved on. So I'm moving on too, I'll still apply again in April to see what happens. #78 Hey KinkyKurlyRN! Why do you think you didn't get the job? Did HR call and tell you you didn't or did you get an email? I know a new grad that works for LMHS and she was a CNA on my floor. When she graduated and got her RN license she had to apply and go through the process like everyone else. It took HR a week to get back to her to tell her she got the job. Sometimes it can take awhile. But if you didn't get the job, I love your never give up attitude :)

To KinkyKurlyRN: Hello there! Sorry, I can't PM yet, but I wanted to answer your question. Third interview I remember them asking me long term goals. Also they ask a lot of " tell me a time when..." kind of questions. They want to see how you handle conflict, are you a good team player and then they want examples of those scenarios. At least that's how mine was. All in all, just remember interview basics. Smile, be genuine, dress appropriately, minimize jewelry, hair off the face, no perfume. If you are at the third interview, just remember that they like you to take you this far. The third interview is generally about assessing your character. You will do great!

During orientation, someone asked if you don't pass the test do you get fired? The person explaining the test stated that the test is graded with varying degrees of passing. For example, exceptional, above passing, passing, below passing, and failed ( not the exact categories, but you get the picture). As long as you get passing, you are fine. Now, for travelers, yes they will fire you if you don't pass because they don't have the time to teach you. For core and new RN's, they will give you a second chance if you need it. That is what they told my orientation group 3 years ago. I only remember because I was freaking out about passing. Oh, and they give you the list of diagnosis for what may happen so you can look them up and at least be familiar with the disease processes and what you would do.

Don't stress about this. I had to take it when I was a brand spanking new intern RN for Lee Memorial. They do go over some of the test content. Essentially, the PBDS is a test with 10 or so scenarios. You are presented the scenarios on a computer screen and then you have to identify what is happening to the patient, the interventions you would implement, and then the reasoning as to why you would implement said interventions. As a new RN, you WILL get things wrong. DO NOT WORRY! Your nurse educator will get the results of the PBDS and then go over your score with you. She will then tell you what you got wrong and why and then you get to take the test again:) Good luck! PS Did you get a job with Lee Memorial?

Hello there. I was in the intern program. I was an intern for two years for a Lee Memorial Hospital. I found the intern program to be great, especially for a brand new nursing grad with no nursing experience. You first have to apply for the program. The application for the nursing intern program is available during the first five days of every month. If chosen, you will be contacted by HR. If you pass through HR, they will put you in contact with one of the nursing managers. They do ask where you would like to work, however, you will be placed basically where there is a need. However, they do try to accommodate your preference. The pay is okay. Low 20's, but you will get the differential if you work night shift. You have to sign a contract that basically states that you will stay for two years as a full time nurse or you will have to pay what equates to $10,000. The intern program provides mandatory classes for new nurses ( you are paid for the classes) and they put you with a preceptor for about 3 months or more depending on the person and unit. Good luck! Best wishes to you and your job search :)

SouthernPoint, Have you worked at the "toxic" hospital that you keep referring to? If not, then you are doing the exact same thing that you are accusing me of doing which is talking negatively about organization of which you have no work experience with. If you had really read my previous post I stated throughout it that I have never worked at Lehigh Regional Medical Center and that the OP should go and give it a chance before listening to what anyone might have to say. I specifically told the OP that I have never worked there and only told the OP what I have heard. Not to mention, that you confirmed some of the things that I mentioned about the hospital such as the paper charting and the high nurse to patient ratio. I am aware that Lehigh is not a specialized hospital. That is why we receive many transfers from the facility. However, we also receive a considerable amount of transfers from Lehigh due to other reasons, the majority of which involve that the patient did not feel safe at that facility or felt discriminated against. If you work at Lehigh and are happy there, good for you. My post was not a slam against the nurses or staff who work there, but more about some of the things I had heard about the organization in its entirety. So unless you represent the entirety of Lehigh Regional Medical Center, I really do not see why you felt the need to go on the rampage about the "toxic" hospital that you did. To the OP, I encourage you to go to Lehigh Regional Medical Center and the other Lee county hospitals and check it out for yourself. I wish you luck in your job search.

I have never worked at Lehigh Regional Medical Center, but I haven't heard good things about it. I work at a hospital in Fort Myers and we receive a lot of transfers from LRMC because either: the family requests it due to poor medical care or the doctors feel as though the patients will receive better treatment at another facility. I have had several different patients/family members tell me that they wouldn't send their worst enemy to Lehigh for medical treatment. I do not mean to be a negative Nancy, but I just haven't heard anything good about it. I applied to Lehigh and the hospital I work at now when I was a new grad. The hospital I worked at now offered me a job first, and I jumped at it. One of the nurses I work with now used to work over at Lehigh and has told me horrible things about the facility. High patient ratios, low pay, lucky to have a CNA or unit secretary, paper charting. To be fair, she worked there 7 years ago, so things could have changed for the nursing staff. However some of my patients who transferred from Lehigh told me that they felt unsafe being a patient at that facility. Sorry I can't answer your questions more specifically. If you do apply and get an interview, these would all be excellent questions for the nurse manager. Good luck :)

Thank you all for your advice. It is greatly appreciated. As far as hospice being a possibility, it stems from a few things. 1) After nursing school, a few of my school friends applied to hospice and were offered jobs. Every now and again I see my school buddies and they just rave positive about their job. I hear over and over again how much they love their job. I have to admit, I am envious. The reasons that they love their job vary, but the overall consensus is that they love helping families go through that difficult transition. They feel a sense of honor knowing that that they helped a dying patient die with dignity and pain free. That's basically the jist that I hear whenever we talk about their job as hospice nurses. Now I have also heard the other side of being a hospice nurse. How it can be absolutely emotionally draining, the hours can be long and extensive, the never ending paperwork, the constant back and forth with families and the inter-family politics. Just recently we hired a nurse who on the floor who just left hospice because she was just burned out on hospice. 2) I have always been interested in hospice nursing. Even when I was a nursing student I strongly considered doing hospice house as my first RN job. However, I was discouraged by some professors because they told me I should have acute care experience first. We all know that story. In the hospital I have worked with hospice patients and their families and saw firsthand how wonderful hospice can be for patients and their families. The hospice nurses I know are wonderful and are truly an asset to the nursing profession. I agree that there can be worlds of difference between hospitals. I do enjoy acute care. I love learning new things and new skills. Even with 2 years experience, I find that more and more there is a never ending abundance of new skills and concepts to be learned. I love teaching people and helping patients and families understand biological processes of diseases and the treatments that go along with those processes. I am considering float nursing because I am so over unit politics. This is part of my problem. Our floor is difficult. The acuity on that floor should really be a PCU level. Plus everyone on that floor is unhappy. Everyone. Including our director. That makes for a toxic work environment. Everyone is so busy, especially on day shift, that we find it difficult to help out our team members. We are being told by our director that we aren't working hard enough, our scores went down, work harder with less. It is beyond frustrating. I am hoping with float nursing that I can just go into work and do my job and not get caught up in the floor drama. If not float nursing, then I was considering switching gears all together and going onto a cardiac floor. Just so I could learn more and get a different perspective. This has not been easy. I have made the decision to leave the floor which I know is the right decision. Other nurses who have left our floor I still keep in contact with and they tell me over and over again, it's not nursing, it's that floor. They all seem happier now that they have moved on and taken different positions within the hospital. As far as not burning my bridges, I plan on leaving on good terms. Even though my experience has not been easy, I am still grateful for the opportunity. I was hired as a new grad with no experience. My director gave me a shot to earn experience and make a living. That is something I can not thank her enough for doing. So when I do resign, I will state in my resignation that I do desire to be PRN and hopefully she can still keep me on. Again, thank you all for your advice. It does help reading about others experiences and just knowing I am not the only one going through this. Thank you.

Hello all! This is my first thread on AN and I am asking for any and all advice. I have been an RN for 2 years. I was hired as a new grad at a large regional hospital. As part of the new grad hiring process, I was put into a nursing internship program and had to sign a 2 year contract to that hospital. I was then placed onto a very busy neurology floor. My 2 years is almost over and I am completely miserable. While I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked on a hospital floor while many other nurses are still looking for jobs, I am completely burned out. This floor is tough. Period. We are supposed to be 5 to 1 on day shift, however because of lack of staffing we are often 6 to 1. Most of the CNA's on the floor are difficult to find. We have high acuity. Lack of help from management. The list goes on and on. Anyway, since my contract is almost up, I have decided to leave. I know that for my mental and physical well being, I have to leave this floor. The issue is I am undecided on where to go. My current job is over 35 miles from my house. That is a long commute 3 days a week. However, in the city where I live, there is a smaller hospital that is currently hiring. If I apply to the smaller and closer hospital I would apply to be a float nurse. But my current situation had made me weary of hospital nursing. It can be so exhausting mentally and physically. Not to mention all the nonsense with the Press-Ganey scores and how customer service reigns supreme at the beside these days. My other option that I am looking into is hospice. My fear with becoming a full time hospice nurse is that I will lose my clinical skills and therefore make me less marketable if I ever decide to go back into acute care. I am truly at a crossroads. Any and all advice would be much appreciated. Thank you :)

OP, I completely understand what you are going through, because I am experiencing the same thing right now at my job. Unfortunately I am forced to stay at my current job because I signed a contract (which is luckily over this November). Life is too short to be so unhappy. Try to see if you can transfer to the unit that you feel would be beneficial to your mental health and nursing experience. Even if it is only for a few months, you can learn a lot and be re-energized for your next nursing job before you move. However, if you feel guilty for transferring and then leaving only a few months later, see if you can go part time on your current unit and then get a PRN job to supplement. Not the most ideal situation, but it may help cut down on your stress. I hope everything works out for you. Good luck!