leighTX

The PRN float pool I got hired as a PCA for requires 32 hours every 28 days, 8 hours must be on weekends, and no more than 32 hours a week. I'm used to working 24 hours a week while in school, so depending on my clinical schedule I'll be aiming for 16 hours a week, maybe more if my school schedule with tests and care plans is light.

The schedule works great as a student, too. I'm only required to work minimum 32 hours a MONTH, no more than 32 a week, and 8 of those hours must be on a weekend. This past semester I worked 24 hours a week while in school, so this should be no problem!

I'm a nursing student and also just accepted a job working as a float PCA! I'm excited about it because I will be exposed to a variety of different environments on all the units and able to explore different specialties as a professional, not just clinical experience. You'll probably also be able to learn a wider variety of skills as opposed to if you were just on one home unit. However, I don't think I would like to work the float pool as an RN.

In regards to the parking question, most students have either zone 4 or 3. Both require waiting lists. Zone 3 is literally right in front of the nursing school, zone 4 is over next to Gold's Gym and is a bit of a hustle if you're running late. Zone 5 parking permits are always available immediately, but do require you to ride the shuttle to campus. I put myself on the waiting list for zone 4 at orientation in August, and just parked "illegally" at some office buildings instead of dealing with zone 5. I got my zone 4 permit right around finals in December. I have no idea who parks in that garage... Also, I got the 13" Macbook Pro and I love it!! My friends with the 15" (both Mac and Dell) have said it gets a little bulky to carry around, and as girlwarrior said, our "desks" are tiny.

I have a Littman Classic SE II, as do most of my classmates. I've never been afraid of it growing legs, but that might be different in the hospital working as a nurse. Mine was about $80, but I bought it from MediSave (I think) and they did engraving of my name on the diaphragm. So that makes it harder to steal. My friend has worked as an LVN for years and still uses her Littman. They are a good investment - good quality and will last you a good long while.

At my current hospital system, RNs wear navy, CNA wear wine, lab wear eggplant, someone else wears grey, green, etc. Another system has RNs wearing blue and techs/PCAs wearing wine, as well... so at least that stays the same!

San Antonio, one hospital as a PCA $11.30/hr. No experience. Another hospital system is $9.50 as PCA/Nurse Extern.

This will probably be the route I end up taking! Just curious, why Corpus? The only other place I've lived has been St Louis (for three semesters). I like living in big cities with things to do, haha, so the smaller towns don't appeal to me too much. I don't want to move too far outside SA, but at the same time, I do want to gain more experiences by living somewhere else, not just going somewhere for travel. But maybe I'll just settle for travelling the world over living all over the place.

Unfortunately, I don't have any advice to give you, but I'm interested in hearing some responses! I too and interested in both ER and NICU nursing (still a student), but I think I'd like to stay with a neonatal/pediatric population. I know NICU is one of those fields that nurses practice in for 20, 30+ years, but I want to have the option to switch it up if I start to want a change in my life. Good luck to you!

Hey y'all, I'm a BSN student in San Antonio, all set to graduate May 2014. I've lived in SA my entire life (with the exception of 3 college semesters in St Louis), and I like the city, but I just don't want to be one of those people who spent their entire life in SA. I have a job in one of the local hospital systems here, but I'm nervous that by getting my first RN job in SA, I'll just end up staying here until the end of time. I'm wondering, how easy is it for a new grad/fairly new grad to get a job in Houston if they have had no clinical experience in any of the hospitals there? I might just "start out" and get my golden one year of experience here in San Antonio before moving, or maybe do the one year in Houston to see if I'd like to stay there for come back to SA for good... just trying to see what challenges I might have ahead of me!

At my school, upon admission you're required to run a background check. I did get "arrested" (technically, I think? It was a confusing situation...) and fingerprinted and had a mug shot taken, but never went to court (never got charged, again, I think, confusing simes), so I got dinged. I wrote a Declaratory Order to the TX BON, they sent back a letter basically saying I was able to start attending school, and here I am, almost done with semester 2/4 for my BSN. Passing the criminal background check is a REQUIREMENT of the conditional admittance my school offers a person. They also stressed during orientation that should anything happen to you during school - arrested for a DUI during Thanksgiving break, for example - you should immediately go to an advisor to start working on correcting the issue IMMEDIATELY, as opposed to after graduation and learning you have to wait additional months/years just to sit for the NCLEX! Good luck on your journey, I hope everything works out for you!

Austin is having a lot of influx lately, so I know pay isn't that great because there are so many people willing to move there and taking a lot hourly wage. Dallas and Houston are both good places with great medical centers, but you might find more success in the suburbs (Woodlands, Sugarland, Katy, League City, etc.) Houston/Dallas/Austin/San Antonio are going to be the most populated and most competitive for jobs. Popular beach towns such as Galveston, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Rockport, South Padre Island, etc don't have a lot of people living there. For one, Galveston and even Corpus aren't the pristine beaches of Mexico or even Florida! South Padre Island is south near the Texas/Mexico border, and I know a lot of border towns such as Eagle Pass and in an area we call "The Valley" (included Harlingen, McAllen, etc) are looking for nurses - many even offer signing bonuses. But don't worry... the beach towns aren't crowded at all. There's more tourists than actual residents in the beach towns.

Hey all, I'm currently a BSN student in Texas (graduating May 2014). Although I have no clinical experience in NICU (yet, at least!), I keep finding myself being drawn to it. I'll be interested in other specialities, but it always fades, yet here I am on the NICU nursing board week after week! I've gone through a lot of posts talking about all the good things about NICU and all the healthy babies you get to send home from parents... but I was wondering, exactly how sad is it when babies don't live? Would you say the majority of your babies do survive and go home, or do a lot of them die? I just want an idea of exactly how hard it is to deal with an infant death... obviously it's very hard, but is it extremely emotionally taxing? How often does it happen? Are the happy moments truly enough to outweigh the bad? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm just wondering how you amazing NICU nurses handle the sadness that comes from new life ending in just a short amount of time :/

Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio has one of the best burn units in the country, if you don't mind a ~government job

Select Specialty is an LTAC in San Antonio, and I'm fairly sure they hire new grads (ADNs included). I know one of the WOCNs I saw there on clinical was an LVN.

Yes, I'm graduating with my BSN next May, so this is probably thinking ahead a bit, haha. I'm definitely interested in pedi, and trauma second. I know UH has a great ED (and Magnet status), but I was just wondering of any others. North Central Baptist has a pedi-specific ED, I know for sure.

I'm currently in nursing school, and am VERY interested in ER nursing. I was just wondering your opinions on the different EDs in the city - is one nicer, better to work at, more diverse patients, etc? Which hopsital/urgent care center would you recommend to *work* at... not to visit :)

15 weeks of orientation and a nurse is puzzled about accucheck?? I've only gone through one clinical rotation at an LTAC and that seems REALLY ridiculous.

Sure thing! UTHSCSA does ATI, so I can't help you on any HESI information I'm not sure how my friends did on it either, but I believe they're both good students, the type to get a mix of As and Bs. I do think my one friend struggled during chemistry, but she really committed this last semester of her pre-requisites and got into the program for Spring 2013. I think UTHSCSA and UIW are the only 2 straight through to BSN programs in San Antonio, but Alamo Community Colleges offers the RN/ADN program, and Baptist Health System has a nursing school with an ADN program, and an RN-to-BSN, I believe. That might be a good option because you'll already be in a hospital system, and I know there are often RN positions reserved for BHS new grads only. Best of luck!! :)

I've talked to a bartender about this. She used to work at a strip club (as a bartender, not dancer) and I asked about putting it on resumes... She said most don't list it on resumes, and just say they were being supported by their parents as the reason for the "gap" in their work history. I don't judge people for being strippers or working at Hooters or Twin Peaks or what have you, but personally I would feel uncomfortable with listing something like that on my resume.

I go to UTHSCSA but two of my friends attend UIW. The one big difference is 5 semesters as opposed to 4... my friend and I started nursing school the same time, but I will graduate May 2014 and she graduates December 2014. I have about 120 people in my class, she has about 40. She seems to enjoy it and it hasn't been too overwhelming for her. We don't have too much time to talk but I really haven't noticed a huge disparity in our nursing school experiences (UTHSCSA v UIW) I do think she mentioned the people in her class were maybe a bit older than the people in mine... we have probably about half in our 20s, the rest early 30s, and a handful 40+. She said most of her classmates were in their late 20s/early 30s. My parents wanted me to look into UIW, but I never considered it due to the expense and because I was tired of going to private, Catholic school - I went K-12, then 3 semesters at a Jesuit university). Otherwise, it's a great school, beautiful campus, friendly student body, respected program.

I am currently enrolled in a BSN program here in town. Most of my friends going through nursing school work as CNA/PCAs (which are basically the same thing), and get paid ~9.50/hr. I applied for a number of different jobs, and actually just got hired as a lab tech. I'll be making $11/hr with evening and weekend shift diff. The most important thing to keep in mind with finding a job during nursing school is that you're doing it for the experience, not the pay. Most hospitals I've heard understand what nursing students go through and are pretty flexible with scheduling/planning. My job in the lab is only going to be about 24 hours a week, but that's all I need to get by. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up more hours once school is out for the summer.