cleealto

The process of finding a clinical site was very challenging.I won't lie. I spent months reaching out to clinical sites on my own behalf to see if anyone was willing to start a contract or those that had contracts if they had a space for me. I was fortunate to get into a large hospital organization on a trial basis and they ended up extending the contract to accommodate me for the whole program and all my sites.. CC/TELE/MED/SURG-GERIATRIC FLOOR/ Public Health at their offsite OP AIDS/HIV center. This was with Virginia Mason in Seattle if you are in that area. They were wonderful. It is easiest if you can get your own employer to start a contract since you have connections on who to contact in the education department... hope this helps! ISU helps only with the writing of the contract not with finding one for you.

Hello!! Just wondering if you took the position at Dell Seton ? I am in same boat. I am relocating to Austin from Seattle for the MICU New to Specialty RN Fellowship. My family is relocating with me but I will be all by my lonesome for a month since I have to be there two weeks before to do the health screening. Looking for advice and interested how you like it so far! :)

So I will be starting in the July ICU New to Specialty Cohort in July. I am moving from Seattle to relocate myself and my family to Austin Tx! I will be on my own for a month or so and would love to know if anyone else is relocating for this job. Would love to hear from you!

It most certainly is NOT 67k! I can't remember how much I paid, def under $30k and that is with me taking out a little extra with ea loan to help offset working less. It is a university and everything goes off $/credit hour. So totally depends on what classes you have already completed. To get the most accurate here is a link to thier website: Tuition and Fees | Indiana State University you would be an out-of-state online student.

Being a VA hospital I think you are less likely to recieve credit for your years of expierence as they follow Federal guidelines and not state. They are strict about the steping tiers. I worked as an LPN for 6+ years and then graduated the LPN-BSN program. The VA Hospital would not offer me any credit, had two other offers from two different hospitals that were contracted with unions in Washington State. Even thought, BOTH, contracts stated that LPN years of experience would be recognized as half coming in, only facility would honor that! SO... I went with the one that honored my years! I was contract at the VA and was making $26/hr and going into my new position I started at $33.41, WITH a raise twice a year and annual step increase (so three raises a year) built into the union contract. If you can get into a hospital with a union I recommend it:) P.S.It didn't make difference pay wise if I had my BSN or ASN bc they required everyone to get their BSN within 5yrs of hire anyway. Hope this helps!!Persevere and branch out to get the most of your worth!!!Don't let anyone discredit the valuable experience you gained as an LPN!!

Hi! Yes you can email me. I accepted your friend request so I should be able to recieve private messages from you now. I would be happy to offer guidance. But the best reccomendation I can give is to FIRST apply into ISU. The applicaiton fee is small. Have all your credits from previous college expierence transfered over so that they can be reviewed by the admissions dept. to see what they will accept. Once you are accepted into the ISU under general applicaiton you can request to speak with someone from the nursing dept and have credits reviewed to see what you will be able to use. I will say that Excellsior college credits will most likely NOT transfer over to ANY university as it is a CLEP based program and not GPA credit based. I discourage the use of such programs due to these limitations and this is why you will not be able to be endorsed in some states such as CA. During the endorsement process your education is reviewed, and ea state differs on the details of which they want there nurses to have completed. In my case, most my courses were done in my AA and anything that required a lab I completed at a local CC and then transferred those INTO ISU's program so that when I apply to CA, those courses met the lab requirement. That is how you get through the "ISU is not supported in CA" myth-loop whole:) I am wondering how far into Excellsior you are? And how much flexibility you want with your RN license. If you are satisfied to work as an ADN prepared RN and never going onto BSN and/or not applying to any of the states where Excellsior is not accepted (I think there are over 5, CA is one and few other major states) .. then its not a bad program.. :/

@remotefuse,BSN,RN "I wouldn't mention CRNA school at all during the interview. It is very expensive to train a nurse, especially a new nurse into ICU. It is a bad investment on their part." I agree! I am at a loss on how to best answer this question though.. do you have any advice? If you are a recruiter what are some of the best responses you have heard.. i.e. discussing general goals to return to grad school or stay away from that all together and focus more on professional development and growth within the companies organization.. I am worried that by staying away from educational goals it may seem like I do not desire to continue to grow...

Hello! I am seeking some advice and guidance on an RN Fellowship phone interview. I have already interviewed with a few facilities for the New to Specialty programs and feel it did not go as smoothly as I would like.. I am very hopeful for this upcoming interview and have been researching interview questions in preparation. One thing I cam across on this board are comments that recruits do NOT like to hear your ambitions are a CRNA program. While I understand the logic, I am wondering if there is a better response if that is your end career goal, however, I want more than the year experience.. to be he best clinician I can be I would like to practice for a 2 years + before deciding on my grad program of choice, I just truly enjoy the challenge and reward of nursing. Are there any specific scenario questions I might encounter? I have stumbled on the "tell me about a patient where..." questions before as recalling only one patient when I have so many that stand out, so I am going to try to have a few patients in mind and write down as much detail as I can for reference.. Advice please!!:)

I am glad my post helped you out. Feel free to reach out to me if you need any help through the process and I will do my best. I know going into the program I wish I had been able to find someone that had already been through the process.. they were out there but hard to find:) As for clinicals.. it can be tricky. I had just moved to WA from teh east coast when I started this program so my nursing network was limited. I was a contractor LPN for the VA, so they could not help me as I was not a permanent employee.. ISU has a website for assisting you find facilities in your area that they already have a clinical contract with.. HOWEVER ... that does not mean they have to take any more students. It only means they have a student currently or recently that used their facility for clinical. It is up to you to contact the appropriate person at those facilities to see if they would be willing to accept you. Persevere! Keep contacting as many facilities as you can, even if they do not have a contract. It does not take much to establish one. I ended up doing all my clinicals with Virginia Mason Hospital in downtown Seattle. Look for the nursing education office, or HR that can direct you to the person you need to speak with. It is a timely process so start early. In the end it makes you a very autonomous and resourceful nurse for it! And the positive side is that you will always be a 1:1 preceptorship instead of cohorts that are 5:1 or more at times. You get more hands on experience and time to ask questions.. Good luck!

Is the facility in Denver also a Swedish Hospital ? I only knew they were in Seattle. I am not sure about moving costs... sorry. But I know that the next cohort will be in July. That was what I was told about the units that were available to me... that I could interview with the units that were left or wait till the next cohort in July. Also WA state is unionized. you can check out the union contract for swedish for pay scale and compensation at Swedish Medical Center

@Just beachy nursy.. I am wondering if you have had first hand experience or where you are retrieving this information if you don't mind me asking? What are your credentials and what state do you work in? I have looked into this personally and directly from the endorsement application, ISU program would probably qualify as meeting the requirements. Excellsior may not. Here is what I have located:Nursing Licensure in California | CA - Requirements " Both out-of-state and internationally licensed nurses are considered for California licensure. If a nurse is currently licensed and has already taken the required examination, the process is called endorsement. The candidate should provide verification from the state in which he originally passed the license exam in addition to the one where he is currently licensed. The Board notes that Excelsior graduates are subject to the same requirements as other out-of-state applicants. Anyone who enrolled in a program from December 6, 2003 on has been required to have supervised clinical practice, obtained concurrently with nursing theory. Out-of-state candidates are not required to use Live Scan for fingerprinting, but should be aware that if they opt for a fingerprint card in lieu of Live Scan, an additional fee will be assessed by the Board. Application packets are available on the Board site (Board of Registered Nursing - Licensure by Endorsement). In most cases, endorsement candidates may apply online (http://www.dca.ca.gov/proflic/rns.shtml). A temporary license may be issued for an additional $50; this allows the nurse to work while materials are being processed. Criminal background information must be received before any license, including a temporary one, can be issued. If the background check has been completed beforehand, a candidate can hand carry materials to the Board office to expedite the issuance of a temporary license (404 Not Found). The licensure process is, by law, expedited for any eligible candidate who is the spouse or domestic partner of a member of the military on active duty in California. Applicants should attach a copy of their marriage certificate, evidence of legal union, or certified declaration of domestic partnership. A copy of military orders should also be included. International candidates should send their school a form titled Breakdown of Educational Program for International Nursing Programs” in addition to the transcript request. If the transcript is not in English, it must be translated by a professional translator. The necessary forms are available in the endorsement packet, along with detailed instructions. International candidates must take and pass the NCLEX. Canadian candidates who took a pre-1980 licensing exam may be exempted. The Board notes that the Canadian Comprehensive Examination does not substitute for the NCLEX-RN. Out-of-state nurses are eligible to work under a temporary license. International candidates from non-English speaking nations must present TOEFL scores if they wish to work under an interim permit while waiting to take the NCLEX-RN examination."http://www.nursinglicensure.org/state/nursing-license-california.html

Hi justbeachynurse ! I was wondering if you have any info on RN CA endorsement ? So I have passed NCLEX am a registered nurse in WA as well as IN. If I apply to CA for endorsement would I run into trouble?

You should check with the CA BON and ISU before enrolling to see if CA students are being admitted. For a while, CA was going through a thing where they would not allow ISU to conduct clinicals from afar, and without clinicals you could not complete... I am not sure if they have resolved this issue. BUT in answer to your question.. SUPER EASY AND SEAMLESS. I took the NCLEX (here in WA) under Indiana BON, then once I passed the VERY next day submitted my endorsement application and within one week had my WA RN license #!:) So took the Nclex 1/20, received results 1/21, submitted endorsement 1/23 and by 1/30 I was licensed in WA.

Hello! I am new to the thread/discussion. I just accepted a position on the Gen/Surgical floor in the Feb 2016 Residency Cohort. I am a local Seattle resident though.. I am happy to give local advice.. I have lived in Seattle for 3 years now, from the east coast originally. I am nervous about starting in Feb and am happy to see others here that have been dealing with the same issues. I applied a few times to the residency program, starting in December, and finally after passing NCLEX was interviewed.. I thought that had something to do with it, but perhaps it wasn't. I am excited about the floor I was selected for, while it was not my first choice. I am hoping it will help my career path and not set me back. I was not selected to interview for the ICU where I originally wanted but hoping to transition maybe after 6mo to a year.. As for a lot of the comments about how they are hiring so quickly.. my take on that is that they are aquiring SO MANY new small organizations they are growing quicker than they can keep up with. I did my clinicals at a local hospital in Seattle, Virginia Mason. During that time, it came out that they lost their surgical contract with Group Health to Swedish. Group Health closed their doors a few years back and since then all surgeries went to Virginia Mason, comprising 1/3 thier revenue. Which means that anyone with group health insurance and needs hospitalization/surgery now has to go to Swedish. Swedish also acquired ambulatory surgical centers in Seattle, James and Minor. From my knowledge they are consuming more and more small health care practices in the area.. leaving them with over 1500 inpatient acute care beds to manage and staff with nurses. SOOO... that is my take on the urgency to staff.. How has the preboarding process been going for everyone else? I am having hard time reaching people and getting a timely response..

Hello! I am a recent graduate of an online LPN-BSN program, have successfully passed my NCLEX and am registered now in two states. The program I attended was Indiana State University and it took me a little of 2 years at a mix of PT and FT courses. I worked while attending, and have a family. I made the mistake of getting mixed up with TCN bc thought I needed to, in order to get the challenge exam study material.. they have since eliminated that and are no longer contracted with TCN.. thank goodness! TCN is a waste of money. However, while there were hurdles to over come, if you have the self motivation to stay ontop of tight deadlines, and ability to work with students all over the US and sometimes oversees(military) then this is a FANTASTIC program! I am happy to be a resource for a local Washington LPN should anyone need guidance in their application process or just need someone to vent to that is already in the program:) I want to assist in the success of this program bc that is how much I believe in it! I have seen a lot of questions about ISU on this forum and thought it easiest to set up a new topic thread instead of answering everyone's posts..