RNforGod

I graduated from nursing school in the SF Bay Area in California, and was looking into relocating to Washington. Is it just me or are RN's underpaid in the Seattle area? I was shocked to find that the starting RN pay in Seattle is $30 an hour or less. In California I have seen new grad positions that start at $48! I've never been one to think about nursing "for the money" but considering the fact that the cost of living in Seattle is not that different from other metropolitan parts of the Bay Area, I am interested in hearing how my Washington nurse peers are able to balance the cost of living with their wages. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Got an email saying I'm moving to the next round, which is panel interviews! Yay! Does anyone know how many more rounds there are after that? Thanks!

Hi All, I'm a recent BSN graduate and newly licensed RN from the San Francisco are in California. Because of how bleak the job market is here in the Bay Area I am considering widening my net and also applying to some of the new grad programs in the Seattle area. I have family both in CA and WA so moving is an option. What is the nurse to patient ratio like on Peds Med-Surg Units or Peds Critical Care Units? Coming from CA I know that we have no more than 4 patients per nurse at a time but wondering what the average is in WA. Thanks in advance!

I'm a new grad, precepted in the Pediatric ICU and LOVED it, but have recently given thought to applying for a new grad position in the Pedi ED. What would you say are the biggest differences and deciding factors between PICU nursing and ED nursing?

Would love to hear what your results were, nursewr! :)

Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes! I PASSED!!!!! I could've sworn it could go either way, but I suppose that the difficulty/obscurity of the questions I was getting showed that I was above the passing line. So so thankful!

I'm a recent grad and sat for my nclex today. I finished my four day kaplan course three weeks ago, and have been steadily tackling all of the question trainers (averaging about 59%) and all of the qbank questions (averaging about 65-70%). I felt like I really had my testing strategies down, especially the decision tree, and I really put in the time and effort of understanding the content when remediating. I felt like my scores were on target with the kaplan testing material as well. However, when I took my test today I felt like many of the questions were on unfamiliar topics and obscure material that was barely touched on in nursing school and not covered at all in the kaplan content review! I had no delegation questions, no questions involving the analysis of lab values, no hot spot assessment questions, nothing on common surgeries or med-surg type diagnoses-- it was all completely out of left field! And when there was a familiar topic, I found all of the available answers undesirable. I didn't find that I could use the decision tree on any of the 75 questions-- if anything, I only used kaplan's "who do you see first" strategy on a couple questions. Has anyone else ever had this kind of experience with the nclex before? I'm praying I did pass but can't help but feel that it could go either way. Thanks for reading!

I'm bumping your thread because I'm a student in the same position! Would love to hear from all the nicu nurses out there.

Anyone? Please?

Any thoughts?:)

Anyone from the Bay Area?:)

I am precepting this fall and would like to precept in a hospital where I would not only receive excellent training before I enter the workforce, but also a place where I could leverage my preceptorship to get hired there. What are your thoughts on choosing a hospital in the bay area? Should I for a magnet hospital like John Muir? A County Hospital? A Kaiser? Alta Bates? Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Hi All, I'm currently in the process of requesting a preceptorship from my university's list of available hospitals. I am allowed to choose three hospitals within the vicinity of the university, and will be placed on a medsurg unit from one of the three. I would like to precept at a hospital where I would like to work, but so far none of the few med-surg floors I've been to have really stuck out to me, so instead of basing it on the unit or whether I have rotated there, I was thinking of basing it on what kind of hospital it is. For those of you who are RN's, what made you decide to work where you do (other than that they were hiring)? (ie- What are the deciding points for working for Not for Profit Hospital vs County hospital vs Kaiser or Sutter) thanks!