Irene joy

Does anybody have any recommendations for a hospital? I'm currently working in a level two trauma center with about 350 beds. Looking for something at least this size or better. I have mostly medsurg ICU experience and also work as a House supervisor. Oh, and prefer no pediatrics.....

Thank you for your response. I am in love with the state of Arizona and would probably take a small pay cut if needed to escape this gray rainy weather:)

I hope to be moving to AZ in the next couple years and have noticed that AZ seems to pay at least 10 dollars less an hour than the hospitals in my area, the PNW. I earn about 45.00 /hour for 10 years experience here and everything I've seen seems to be in the low thirties all over AZ . Do hospitals pay more for experience? I just want to be sure I can afford to live there if I move! Thanks so much for your responses!

I'm also looking to relocate there in the next 2 years and Im looking for a great hospital. 9 years of critical care experience with some leadership responsibilities. I'd love any other input from current nurses in the area!

Congratulations!!!!:nurse:

Congratulations! You are officially an RN! I want to encourage us all to post our successes:), I think the lurkers(myself included) need to see people posting about passing along with the folks who post about failing. It gets discouraging and scary to see post after post about people failing... :yeah:

Congratulations!!!! Good News!!!

I recently took the ATI predicter test and passes with a 96% chance of passing NCLEX. I got a 76% on the overall test with 170 questions (something like that). I'm just wondereing if that prediction for me is acurate. I plan on studying just as hard as if it said I had a 70% chance, but was wondering what all your experiances have been. Thanks!

I love it too! I'm on a chest pain unit so I get MI r/o, post cardiac cath patients and other telemetry patients. I do lots of blood sugars, vitals, set up ECG's, dinner trays and other details. I'm allowed to do blood draws and catheters, but so far the lab takes care of blood draws. I have been able to put in catheters though! My nurses are very good about teaching and letting me do lots of things. Last week she let me do a bubble echocardiogram with the Tech. Very cool, so far this has been a great learning experiance.

Thanks for your responces! As a student still, I know how broke I am now, and how good it will feel to be able to pay the bills without too much stress! It would be hard to go back to broke again after getting accustomed to not worrying about money as much. As much as I want to go right into CRNA after my bachelors, I feel that I owe it to my family to be around for them for at least a little while. The kids have seen me in school since the age of two and they probably will need a break. I'm hoping to be set to go for NA school when they get closer to high school age. Here's another question, since I have the time, 6 years or so, should I spend as much time in ICU as possible? It's hard to decide, I want OR and I want ICU at the same time and I know I can't have both.

Yes, definitely work as a CNA or Tech. My hospital employs nurse techs, nursing students who have passed level two. All techs that I know have gotten the job they wanted before they even graduated.

My hospital is discontinuing the Baylor program right now. By June all Baylor nurses will have a different scedule. I guess it cost too much money:(

Yes, that's true. It seems like on the medsurg floors there's not a lot of teamwork, but in lets say, the OR or cath lab, they work as a team to finish the case. I think it depends on the unit.

I'm a nurse tech, I believe the same as nurse exturn. The position in only for nursing students. I'm on a cardiovascular unit that specializes in chest pain rule out, post cardiac cath procedures and various other things. I take lots of vitals, transport patients to Xray, ultrasound, discharge to car. I can draw blood for labs, insert catheters, take blood sugars and get 12 EKGs set up. Last week my nurse evan taught me to pull a femoral sheath! Not that I would do that myself but still cool. Good luck with your externship, you'lle learn a lot!

I think that yes, you can perform as a nurse evan without passion as long as you are a kind person, who cares for others and works smart and safe. But, it is very hard to do well in nursing school without passion. Passion is what keeps you up studying at night, passion is what it takes to do EVERYTHING it takes to do well in your courses. At 20 I had no idea what I wanted, and I definitely didn't have any passion. Take some time and you will find it, whatever it is. Good luck!