jessica.k.h

Thank you for this perspective! I am a "new grad", but nursing is my second degree, the first being in Psychology. I have been job hunting for 2+ months in the Nashville area, and the hospitals are pretty limited on how many new grads they hire for "hospital work." I think it will be easier to get my foot in the door via psychiatric nursing, but people had warned me about getting pigeon-holed. It's very reassuring to hear that people do transition and go on to have fulfilling careers outside of behavioral health!

Hi, I have definitely thought about holistic nursing. As a new grad, I don't want to specialize right away, but I'm glad to hear there are programs out there that people are enjoying.

Hi, I graduated in Dec 2013 with my BSN from University of South Alabama. It's my second degree (first in Psych). So far, I've been applying to fairly big name hospitals in Nashville and Phoenix and have gotten nothing but rejection letters. I'm overwhelmed with the job application process, and have been struggling with what to focus on-LTAC may be the perfect solution! I can get my first job somewhere that I'll learn A TON and also seem to have a lot of choices on geographical area. I have a Tennessee compact license, and family/friends all over the country, and am hoping to get out of the south for a while-hopefully staying in Nashville, or moving to Colorado or Arizona (where the nieces are ). My question is, how to tell that a facility is going to be a good environment? What are some stats to check, questions to ask, etc? Obviously, I've learned from the other posts I probably shouldn't be a supervisor right away. Any other advice? My next career goal is to work for Doctors without Borders in the next 5 years.