wmr5

See everybody tonight!

My Clinical Requirements link on Certified Profile hasa due date of 7-11-14 for everything other than the drug test. I would assume we need to get the ball rolling now. I am waiting on the physical appointment and the background checks in the mail.

Has anybody began the process of downloading and submitting ALL of the background check forms? I would like to get started now, but I am not entirely sure if they want a completed background check before a particular date?

Thank you for your time.

Some clarifications: my contacts from volunteering as an EMT on an ambulance are over 45 minutes away, not possible to capitalize on. My ability to meet other staff and faculty is second nature to me, I do exploit my position to both network and collaborate in order to expand our labs contributions and volunteer my time to learn from and teach others; always a win-win. I have many friends from undergrad who are now attendings, we help each other; I help them get some research time in to publish papers and they help me gain experiences in many areas of medicine. I have several applications on file, from years ago till recent, and getting an interview has proven to be a much longer process; which I am pursuing. "Most positions are filled before they are posted" is the cliche I tend to hear a lot. With my current schedule, volunteering may not be the best experience, but could be the edge I can use during this busy, busy time. Questions: I understand freshly minted RNs are generalists, do they have clinical rotations in specialties? Can these opportunities lead to employment within those departments? Do you have experience with teaching/ hiring new grads in ICU/ER specialties? What skills and habits do you like to see in a colleague? Thanks for your time.

Leigh, do you work at a research institution?

Thank you for your comment, I will explore this option...further.

This is a very helpful suggestion. Exactly what kind of info I was hoping to get from this site. Now I just have to navigate through the UPMC system, since I am currently a part-time employee as an EMT/Pre Hosptal Provider, to be eligible for these positions without any conflicts with the transfer and/or rehire policies. I know that as an employee of UPMC; transferring and/or getting into a new position is full of complications due to the formal structure of the system. I will meet with my current supervisor at UPMC to discuss my best options moving forward. Keep everybody posted! Thanks ChristineN for all of the info, keep it coming!

Thanks for the feedback. Presby ER was the place. I first spoke to the ER attending about volunteering as an ER Tech. He looked at me in my lab coat (I work in a research lab in Scaife and just walked down with a friend who is an Internist attending at Presby) and he said, "You want to volunteer as a Barney?", I just looked at my friend in confusion...he then directed me to the nurse manager, who then pointed me to the "Head ER tech", an older gentleman who stated that all the positions were full and to speak with the nursing manager next month or so. I never made it back down to follow-up; tried to pursue a artificial heart unit as well. I will check West Penn, AGH, Shadyside, Presby, etc. for something; unfortunately I can only commit as a volunteer because I am booked-up throughout this endeavor: all week 8-4 pm at PITT, weekday evenings for classes/weekday evening clinicals/study time and weekend clinicals and study time. Whatever I can do, I will. Keep the suggestions coming.

Hmm, good question. I believe the registration is soley for nursing classes being that acceptance into the program is a prereq and your co-reqs are up to you to fill in along the way. But, I'm not sure that they also want to supervise your current and future course loads during the program, making sure you don't have any conflicts between classes. If they are summer classes, I would commit. Try emailing or calling the nursing department.

Ok, just spoke with the liver transplant fellow and he did say that many ICU nurse managers do not like to hear that your reason for becoming an ICU nurse is for the purpose of becoming a CRNA, because, for one it takes the hospital and unit nurses months and approx. $50,000 dollars to train a new nurse how to be a good ICU nurse. They, perhaps, do not want to go through all of this to see a well trained nurse leave in 2 years after the prereq is met. He also said that it is, on the other hand, a win-win for both parties being that many ICU nurses come and go and many nurse managers see some of these positions as a rotating door; "everybody can be replaced" and some units nurse managers know that a percentage of all staff will explore other pastures so to speak. He said it is a game that everybody plays, even in residency and fellowships for GI for example; meaning they interview on the pretence to do research in internal medicine and then get into the best fellowship for GI down the road based on the internal medicine research background, ultimately focusing on more clinical time and less research as a GI, "scoping for dollars" in the end. So, I will focus on just becoming a very good ICU nurse, and show both appreciation and respect to the nurses I have the opportunity to learn from. After I have done my time and paid my debt to the department that took the time to train me and gave me the opportunity to learn and treat patients in the ICU; I will then revisit this concern. I feel that is the only way to accomplish this goal moving forward while being honest and respectful. This could very well be much longer than the 2 year prereq, which is perfectly fine with me; "if you take the time to do something, take the time to do it right!"

Hmm, a lottery system...random...I am empathetic for you Mizz1371; and for myself of course. I rarely get what I want in a "lottery" from my experience. I guess I will just have to go with what I get then; being proactive about either an ICU PCT, or ER Tech position. I will look into Montefiore as well, I know a surgeon and a liver transplant fellow who work at both Presby and Montefiore I can talk with today. ChristineN, thank you for the insight. I spoke with the Head ER Tech about a year ago and he said that the unit was full at the time, the nurses and doctors call the ER Techs "Barneys" because of their distinct purple scrubs. I will also pay him a visit. Mizz1371, have you applied for jobs yet as an RN in the ED? What is the market like from your experience in the Allegheny program and word of mouth from other students and RNs in all fields? ChristineN, I have 2 friends who are CRNAs and they love it. They say I would make an excellent CRNA with my biomedical background, analytical skills, fun personality, etc... I am taking the stance to build on the foundation of nursing and place myself in a position to "be able" to pursue that goal if and when I feel that taking that step is what I want. Meaning, first I need to learn how to be a good RN regardless of where I am in the field, and then get the experience necessary to pursue that goal "if and when" I make that choice. Does that sound premature to those who are already tenured RNs? I am constantly reading comments stating,"how do you know you want to be an ICU nurse, or ER nurse, or a nurse mid-wife for example (which is not on my radar)?" Other comments like, "Nursing is not for everybody, it takes a special kind of person" etc... Yet, I feel that getting those pre-requisite years completed, regardless the difficulty, hours, friendly and/or miserable coworkers, extreme stress, or redundancy will only give me the insight into whether I enjoy it and/or will excel in that environment. This is my goal, it makes perfect sense to me, any thoughts regarding my plan? I've heard that announcing my intensions of possibly pursuing a CRNA at this stage is not what any of the RNs in ICU want to hear. But I do want to make it clear that learning how to be the best ICU nurse, or even more clearly, learning how to be the best nurse I can in any setting, is my first goal. Focusing on what I already know from the 180+ hours shadowing experience I have with CRNAs, as well as my friends motivating me, is currently my bulk of knowledge and experience with nurses; I also have many friends who are nurses in Telemetry, GI, and Oncology. I have seen 4 CRNAs in action for many hours and can see myself doing this very clearly. I have also read that many CRNA programs do not consider the ED as strong clinical experience on applications, yet I also really enjoy my time in EMS. I am choosing to get the prereq years in ICU and then see if I'm still excited about becoming a CRNA or if I enjoy assessing patients so much to advance to a DNP. Let me know if you have heard this strategy before, or what your thoughts are in general; if you do not mind. I want to be prepared for any comments from faculty or fellow nurses moving forward regarding this stance.

Thank you for the information carbon86. I'm also searching for info about any insight into the specific clinical opportunities within the program, do you by any chance know what areas are covered and where they are? Or are they different for each semester based on availability and faculty? I am currently an EMT/prehospital healthcare provider for UPMC "occasionally " on the weekends, full time biomedical research tech Mon. thru Fri., and of course will be a nursing student evenings and weekends moving forward. I will go speak with someone next week at UPMC regarding your suggestion and see if I can arrange something within the critical care units though. Hope all is well and thanks for your comments, please keep them coming. I also hope to hear from current students, experienced nurses and any of the guests who have anything to contribute; please create an allnurses account and share your experience, no matter what it may be. It might very well be the best option for myself and others. Carbon86, you are already one year into the program, correct? Boyce fall 2013 start I believe. Are you happy with the program?

Thank you for the information carbon86.

Hello everybody. I am currently in the process of enrolling into the CCAC Fall 2014 Allegheny Evening nursing program and I am pro-actively both asking and seeking information about what opportunities are available to acquire clinical experiences in the ICU/critical care units within the CCAC Allegheny evening program. I am already looking into ACLS courses at Pitt and the CEM, as well as becoming a student member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) to begin differentiating my focus towards critical care. Does anybody have any insight into the critical care clinical rotations at CCAC Allegheny evening and how to make the most of them? ANY insight would be very helpful.