KnarfKS

KU gives a "$3000" bonus for student loans upon hire, it is taxed so you actually get 2100. As far a tuition reimbursement you get 6 credit hours a semester paid by KU up to $3000 per year. The stipulation is you have to work for 6 months past the semester you took in school. So by the time you finish you only have a 6 month contract after that. And if you do leave they prorate it so if you are 3 months short you only owe them 1/2 of the last semester's tuition. It is a nice deal and they don't care what the classes are. I don't know why more people don't take advantage of it. If you live within 75 miles of KUMC they require on site testing, if you live farther you have to have an approved proctor. As far as clinicals they allow you to find clinicals or select them off of a list. This was one good thing because you were also allowed to make your own schedule for the clinicals.

Most hospitals don't require any certs except for BLS for aides. I worked as one for 3 years prior to and during nursing school. If you take the initiative it can be a learning experience that will help your nursing career. It will also give you a little experience to see if nursing is really what you want to do.

I personally hate online courses. I also hate repeating the same exact curriculum that I completed in my ADN. The only 2 classes that aren't repeats are public health nursing, because my ADN program did very little of that and nursing research. Did I mention copious amounts of busy work, not really learning, just justifying that you spend time doing something for the classes. The program is also stated to be flexible at KU. HAHA. The classes are only offered during certain semesters so I'm doing nothing this spring because I couldn't take both my clinicals this fall. This next fall I will take 2 clinicals, and then a final practical in the next spring, but until then I can't do anything except wait. The classes didn't announce test dates until the day the classes started, of course I had a test I had to be at KUMC for the very next week after classes started...of course this program is "flexible" for those who work. I also have a history with KU. I went to the main campus and hated every second of it. To be honest I couldn't stand huge classes(all but 1 class had 1000+). And KU might as well be known as Johnson county...(privileged spoiled white kids who whine when they have to work). The funny part is that quite a bit of people at Johnson county community college were from Lawrence. To be honest JCCC is a much better school than KU, I learned way more and I didn't feel like dropping out because of frustration due pointless hoops needing to be jumped through. I have very good grades at both schools, I just don't think that KU making you put up with more bull crap should justify a higher degree. A higher level of education yes. I think KUMC is like KU main campus as far as the undergrads get screwed, but the grad level courses are very good. I have had many friends go to KU as far as grad school and all are fairly happy there. I had plans to do the RN-msn program, but I don't know if I can take KU for that long. And I plan on being out of Kansas within 2 years, 27 years is enough. Here is a word of advice also. Never buy the books for an entire program at once. First of all several of the books won't be used. Secondly new editions of the books come out every year so either buy a new one, or get the old edition really cheap saving you a lot of money. I haven't heard anything about FHSU, I live 5 min from KUMC and 10 min from UMKC so those were the 2 programs that I looked into.

you might call them about the BLS, they may have an opening, you must have it before you can even step on the floor legally. If it is expired it is useless, but they typically last 2 years. I'm uncertain of the wages because I don't know your experience, and I'm only a 2nd year nurse so I just get their set rates for raises. As far as the benefits go, they are set, you simply decide during orientation which option you will take, the PPO is actually cheaper than the HMO, I only pay $24 biweekly for very good insurance(single, no family). They have dental for $3 a paycheck as well. They offer all sorts of things, life insurance, cancer insurance, short term disability. I honestly only see a use in the dental and health insurance personally, but you may want the others. The shifts are 12 hour shifts, 7am-7pm, 7pm-7am. I would imagine the ratio to be 1, 2 or 3 patients per nurse, but honestly I don't know. That is what it is in the other ICU's depending on the patients. BTW Check your personal messages for the board.

You can't transfer them in. You just have to do a bunch of independent study hours. Like you may get the sentiment, I'm not a fan of KU SON for finishing my BSN. It may be great for others, but I personally can only stand it because I'm more than half way done.

I don't know about St. Lukes, but KU offers to pay for 6 credit hours a semester if you are full time. I'm currently finishing my bachelors right now. I bet St. Lukes offers something very similar. My department is fairly flexible with scheduling for classes as well. They are both magnet hospitals so it makes them look good to have a higher level of education for their nurses as well. I would say that KU is very supportive and actually wants you to continue your education. Both hospitals offer a load of CEU's so you should never have to pay for them. hopefully this may help

Yes, I'm in the RN-BSN program, they basically accept whoever applies. There are clinicals, but they allow you to do them basically anywhere. It is all online, which I really hate. But there isn't much of a choice all of the programs are online. The program is not flexible like they say it is, only certain classes are open certain semesters, and they don't even offer enough electives to be able to graduate, which is ridiculous. They also "counsel" you to not take pharmacology before patho..."It would be too difficult that way"...I passed the class with a 96% so don't listen to them on that one. If you don't take the full 6 hours in the summer you are stuck in the program for at least 3 years because of prereq's. I would go to another program if I didn't already have most of it completed. So my honest suggestion is to look into other programs such as UMKC or others. I like working at KU Med, but I don't like their SON or the main campus in Lawrence which I attended for a year.

I work at KU, I know they are always looking for neuro ICU people. After coming out of school I decided I would only work in 1 of 3 places. Truman ER...would be very interesting. Or St. Lukes or KU. I have friends who work at shawnee mission as well and they seem to like it, but they are floor nurses, I'm not certain about the ICU's. I would personally stay away from HCA's I worked for one as a tech while in nursing school, I thought it was a bad environment. Almost completely staffed by agency. They paid well, but it wasn't worth it. Almost all of the decent hospitals pay about the same, maybe + or - 50 cents an hour. St. Lukes, KU and St. Joseph are magnet hospitals...probably better working conditions. Honestly I would say St. Lukes and KU are the best hospitals, that is just my opinion, but many people share my feelings as well. Just remember there are hospitals that pay better, but they have to in order to get people to work there, there is a reason for that.

I'm uncertain of where you are in KS. If you are in the KC area there is UMKC, KU, St. Lukes, William jewell, mid America nazarene etc for bachelors degrees. Part time would probably take you 4 years. There are also advanced programs that allow you to be done in 10 months, and with you education already that may be the way to go, but you can't work, it is just too intense. Mid America nazarene and I think William jewell have those programs. A cheaper way is to go to a community college. I went to JCCC. I'm finishing my bachelors at KU right now and work with students from KU and I honestly think JCCC is a better nursing program. It is way cheaper, and I worked 36 hours a week while in the program. I know people harp on needing a BSN, but honestly you are paid the same for an ADN. The best thing is that most hospitals will pay for your BSN like I am doing through KU, I'm paying for books and maybe $20 a semester.

I'm with you Indy, the hospital I work at only wants experienced RN's from ICU or brand new grads for their ICU. I was told by the recruiter that working tele would be a good stepping stone...not as far as the ICU managers think. I told my current nurse manager from my origional interview that I would want to switch to the ICU and she was fine with that. She even tried talking to the ICU managers for me, highly recommending me, but nope. Maybe a new hospital is on my horizon as well. I could see why someone would say that starting over in a specialty could be hard because we have one area mastered and starting from scratch could be hard, but I honestly don't think it will be a problem for me. I haven't worked long enough as an RN to think I have it all figured out anyway and I want to learn ne things, otherwise I would be happy to stay in med-surg. I say medsurg is good for some, I'm not stressed out by it, just bored.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets screwed on this one.

At my hospital we have an "IV team" that takes care of central lines and hard IV sticks. I followed them and watched them when I had the time and when it was my patients and asked questions. Luckily for me most of them are very willing to teach. Because of that people call me in if there is a difficult stick. I also watched the phlebotomists from the lab when they were drawing on difficult patients and learned from them as well.

Its funny, I just graduated in may and the 3 that KCalohagirl mentioned were the only 3 I was willing to work for in the KC area. I now work for KU med as well and I do enjoy the learning envirionment that KU offers. I live in Roeland park, about 2 blocks from mission, it takes me literally 5 minutes to be in the parking lot at KU. Avoid the HCA hospitals like the plague, I had quite a few friends start in them, but none of them lasted longer than 4 months before quitting.

The instructor who runs the RN refresher courseat JCCC is awesome. She quit teaching the main program for the most part so she could begin the refresher course the year I graduated. She would definately ease you back into things.

I'm starting back right now, I just graduated in may. Honestly I had to have a break, I would have gone nuts otherwise, I had worked full time and gone to school full time for 4 years straight.

paying off all of my debt, then saving up to go back to grad school, or leave the country and do missions work for a year or 2

This is the real world, employers don't have to throw themselves at you because you have an acronym after your name. It does suck that people can't find jobs immediately, but at least RN's will find a job eventually. It may not be exactly what you want, but oh well. There are plenty of people with bachelors and masters degrees who can't find jobs at all. Some places are in a nursing shortage, but employers must do what they have to to keep their organization going. By hiring new grads during certain periods probably keeps the costs of training way down. A one on one orientation would probably be very costly. When you work as an aide and have an RN you are held to the RN standards, but at the same time are only responsible for the job description of an aide. If you have to worry about losing your license as an aide, then you will probably lose your license when you work as an RN very quickly because of the added responsiblity. No offense to aides, I was one before becoming a nurse. If you have no job = no money. Aide job wages are less than RN job wages, but aide job wages are better then starvation and eviction from apartment. But if you think your too good to be an aide because you have an acronym, then you probably chose the wrong profession anyway. Nursing is very humbling in and of itself. Sorry about the rant, sometimes I just feel like I have to.

I woke up while they were putting in a greenfield filter, it was an emergency and i had eaten an entire chipotle burrito a couple hours beforehand, so they couldn't fully put me under. I woke up 4 or 5 times during the procedure. I just remember them pushing and prodding on my neck to get the filter in, but the fentanyl made it not hurt as much.

I would look more north as well. If you are coming into the south side of KC (K-10, eudora, de soto) you have to come up I-35, which is by far the worst drive in KC, it is always under construction and always busy. The only way to get through decently is to avoid rush hours.

I live with 2 room mates here in roeland park. We each pay $300 a month in an older house. Utilities usually run around $100 a month. It is possible to pay more and get a better place, but I don't care that much, I would rather pay on debt. I currently live 5 minutes by car, or 15 minutes by bike from KU med. In lawrence I always lived with a roommate. I payed around $300 there as well. But gas back and forth to KC makes a huge difference. I lived in village square apartments on 9th street. They were ok, ran about $525 a month for a 2 bedroom, with utilities around $75 a month. There is no problem finding an apartment in lawrence, or KC area. There are actually way more apartments than there are people to live in them. In overland park, which is 10 minutes south of KU med there are complexes offering a few months free rent to get you to move in. If you do get an apartment in lawrence I would recommend either living near the turnpike exits, or live on the east side of lawrence near K-10 highway, that way you cut about 10-15 minutes off your drive each way getting through lawrence(I wish I had done this). There are apartments near harper street that look nice and are really near K-10 highway so you don't have to pay the toll like you have to on the I-70 turnpike. (If you are looking online for apartments, K-10 highway is the same thing as 23rd street in lawrence) If you go to baker, I would suggest living on the west side of lawrence near 6th street, the you can take highway 40, or I-70 to school. Hopefully some of this helps.

The nursing school for KU is in Kansas City, Kansas which is 45 minutes away from Lawrence. There are lots of suburbs that are reasonably priced in KC, especially up north, or you can live on the missouri side for KU med as well since it is literally on the state line. If you go to baker you can live in topeka or surrounding area, or commute from lawrence(25-30 minutes) I lived in lawrence for 25 years, I just moved to roeland park, a "suburb" of KC. I like lawrence and KC because there are things to do all the time. Concerts, sporting events, I live 10 minutes from the plaza, 5 minutes from westport. There are museums, parks everywhere. There just isn't much to do in topeka(I'm a 25 yr old male). My best friend is from topeka, he hates the city. I worked at st francis hospital, I hated driving to work because I had to drive through downtown topeka to get there. My uncle is buying houses and fixing them up in topeka. One has been set on fire twice because the people in the crack houses don't want to be forced out. I have a very low opinion of topeka, but that may just be me.

I work at KU med center right now. I graduated from associate's program in KC. I would say that the clinical experiences at KU med would be great. I chose to work at KU because of a clinical experience there. I'm starting the RN to BSN in january as well. The other thing is, KU at least instate tuition is less than half of what Baker costs. I looked into both programs. You might want to look into washburn university as well if you are already thinking Topeka is an ok city. Washburn is a good program as well. BTW Topeka, where Baker and washburn are is the crappiest city in Kansas, that says a lot. Just my opinion.:wink2:

Zashagalka, I was thinking the exact same thing with the thread name.

Work in an academic hospital. You get to see interns who know less than you as a brand new grad. It is really funny when a doc asks you what he or she should do when you have just graduated. Then you have to learn to call them because they constantly screw up orders.

I speak from experience, my brother and one cousin are meth addicts. I'm in kansas near kansas city, it is crazy the number of people in small farming communities in western kansas that are addicted to meth. It isn't the teenagers either, it is the 40-60 yr old farmers and middle class, it doesn't make any sense to me at all. I work at the biggest hospital in the state, we constantly get addicts. I was driving down the street near the hospital one day and had to get a passed out meth addict off the sidewalk in 100 degree heat. He wasn't too happy when the cops showed up, but at least he was alive.