bw0712

I wish some these people would stop bashing you and actually give some advice. Unfortunately, at some point you're most likely going to work a job that requires a weekend and holiday rotation. I myself work every 3rd weekend and every other holiday in a critical care unit. I also one day would like a job that does not require weekends. But in nursing many of the positions that have m-f no weekends are management level. My mom is a clinical informatics specialist at a large hospital and works monday-friday, no weekends, and also makes a six figure salary. But she also has a masters degree and about 30 years of nursing experience. So it's not an unrealistic dream to have at all, it will just take some time. Hope this helps.

Scrubulator, I have been in a similar position as you. For the past 9 months I have been working on a telemetry unit in a small ,135 bed community hospital. My plan has always been to get into an icu asap so I can pursue a graduate level education. Last week, I was just informed that I landed my first critical care job in a surgical trauma ICU at a level 2 trauma center outside of philadelphia. It was a long process though. I applied for dozens of jobs with no response. But in the past month I got calls from 2 different hospitals. I began trying to separate myself from other applicants (which was difficult bc im a nurse with 9 months experience). I began to contact nurse recruiters at hospitals. I wanted to know exactly what they were looking for. I also began sending personal emails to recruiters and directors with my application. In the emails I would explain a little about myself and my passion for critical care nursing. Nothing too crazy just a short paragraph. I just thought that they had to have so many applicants for these positions that I had to set myself apart somehow. Once i started doing this I started getting calls back. Is it a coincidence? I have no idea but worth a try. Good luck.

Hey gang, I'm a male RN with a little less than one year experience on a telemetry unit in a small community hospital. Today I was offered and accepted a position within a surgical trauma ICU at a much larger hospital (about six times as large). This hospital is a level 2 trauma center just outside of a large city. I'm really excited about this opportunity. I always knew I wanted to be an ICU nurse. My goal is to put in approximately two years on this unit and then go to CRNA school. But it the mean time my focus is making this an affective transition and becoming a skilled ICU nurse. I'm expecting this to be a tough transition. I have never worked with any type of trauma patients before. I'm fully expecting to walk into this unit and feel like a new grad again, which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess. Anybody got some tips for making this work? Thanks to all. bw0712

My lord, when did everybody get so sensitive. This is a forum, it is not rude to ask. Good family friend of mine just graduated CRNA school and accepted an offer in philadelphia for $147,000 along with 6 weeks paid vacation.

Hey Simmons, I'm a new graduate nurse who passed his boards earlier this month. I decided to purchase the Kaplan review. I did the in class review for two weeks then I directed my attention to the online content which included multiple tests and Q bank questions. I can say with confidence that Kaplan absolutely helped me passed this exam. The program is expensive but I really just didn't want to risk failing it. And now that I've passed I think it was definitely worth it. I ended up doing a total of approximately 1500 questions before the exam (which I found out was a lot less than many of my peers). But I felt very confident going into the test and passed after approximately 100 questions. I don't remember the exact number. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Keep your head up. The fact that you recognize your mistakes puts you way ahead of the game for the next term. I've had friends not pass a class and come back the second time and score the best grades in the class. You got this.