JoonSusanna

Yup, that's me! Love kids, always have, don't want any of my own (at least, not for the forseeable future). Personally, I don't know that I would be able to be a peds nurse with kids at home - I could imagine it would be easy to blur the boundary between nurse and parent. But, I do know that there are plenty of pediatric nurses that do manage to balance both roles. Whatever works, you know?

I wanted to chime in here too since I just recently took the PREP test and passed! KayRN910 was definitely right when she said that focusing on growth and development, as well as peds specific disorders, is key. If you know your basics (interventions, therapeutic communications, etc) than you will be absolutely fine. And she was also right that the closer to your NCLEX you are, the better. I had never taken the HESI, only ATI, but I found my ATI peds nursing book (a general concept review guide) was more than sufficient for the test. Good luck to all of you facing this part of the interview process - you're almost there!

Miss_TT, you do find out your score right after you finish. It's computerized so the results pop up. And you are on the right track - if there's a disease specific to childhood it is fair game. I think you will be alright if you keep studying the way you have been. :) It sounds as though everyone has a different interview process as far as the time between meeting the recruiters, the exam, and job offer. I think it depends on the unit you're interviewing for, honestly. GaMommy81, Thank you!! I will be working on the GI/Endo floor. I can't wait!

Scottish Rite! Things actually moved really fast for me - phone interview last Monday, interview with the Nurse Manager Thursday, they scheduled me for the PREP test today, which I took and PASSED!!! I was expecting to meet with my nurse recruiter and have her interview me too (that was after I took the exam) but she didn't question me at all, except to ask "Do you want the job?" I bet you can guess what my answer was :)

Thank you thank you thank you! I'm trying to study as much as I can - I hope it's sinking in because I'm starting to freak out. I'm on the right track with Growth and Development, and Childhood specific disease, though, right?? That's where I'm focusing my energies on, so I hope so...

No worries! Computers do things against our will sometimes :) I'm glad that something is working out for you job wise. I went to GPC for school - did you like Gordon? I felt like GPC was tough but it was one of those things where I knew I'd be thankful for it at the end. And I am. :) Did you particularly like peds or were you open to other areas? I was okay working with adults, but I have a lot of experience working with the pediatric population and am just more comfortable around them and that family dynamic in general. Thank you so much for the well wishes - I have my fingers crossed for you too!

Thanks GaMommy81 - I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic at this point! I am right where you are - graduated in May, licensed in June. I put in a lot of applications at CHOA as well and didn't hear anything back - have you applied to the New Nurse Residency position? That was only opened on October 1, since they recruit graduates in March/October each year. Maybe that will help get you noticed? I hope that something happens for you soon - for all of us. We've worked too hard to get here!

Hi everyone - This is my first post on here, though I've been lurking shamelessly since I even *thought* of pursuing nursing. That was long enough ago that I've been through the rigors of an ADN program (going back for the BSN soon I hope!), and passed my boards. So now I'm going through the joys of trying to find a job, which unfortunately a lot of new grads seem to be doing. With me, pediatrics was the definitive option from the get go, CHOA being the obvious choice since I live near ATL. I applied to the new grad position, got a phone interview, and met with the Unit Manager. Did the shadowing, all went well, the nurse recruiter called AS I WAS LEAVING (!!) the hospital to say they were interested and schedule the PREP test. For next week. Again I say (!!!!). So...I'm not sure what happens from now. I want so badly to be optimistic, (though I do have to pass the test first so there's that) but how excited should I be? As in, how likely are my chances of a job offer? Any new CHOA employees that can chime in?? I'm absolutely mutliating my fingernails here in anticipation - this is my dream job and I'm so close!