GleeGum

Everything you do and learn will be valuable for your next steps. May the direction of your career path be clear and good, and enjoy the journey. You are asking good questions, may you be successful in the ways that are important to you! ❤️

Hey! Honestly I'm not familiar with ICD-10 certification so I can't speak to that. Most CDI jobs are hiring unexperienced for entry level I suspect, because it's such a growing field. I'm sure they would prefer to hire experienced but maybe it's not a requirement. 2 years is not a lot to be honest. This is because so much of what we do is reviewing clinically while knowing the coding rules. ICU or ER experience would probably carry more weight. $300 for the apprenticeship program is not a lot to invest in a career change. The bootcamp is pricey however and likely the be worth the investment if it gives you an edge to be hired. Hope that helps ?

Well your post was a while ago but I have no idea what a pre-hire exam would be that you could study for. I would look at ACDIS - the industry leader, and just get familiar with the language.

Hey! I can only speak to Clinical Documentation Specialist type of position and a master's is not required or necessary. This type of job directly impacts the data for the hospital but in some hospitals they work closely with Quality, however they are under HIM/Revenue (because what is billed becomes the data) In terms of certification - I would say certification in your current bedside specialty is valuable. CDIS would come after 2 years or more after working as a clinical documentation specialist. No need for CPT and ICD9 is out. Hope that helps a little.

Hey! Are you already a Clinical Documentation Specialist? Or is that what you are looking into? No need for a master's in HIM for that. I guess it depends on what you want to do!

I agree. You won't go blindly. They will know your profile and you will do your research. Ask them how many beds, what kinds of assignments do the travelers get, what's the ratio? We do travel nursing for us, because we want the adventure, the opportunit, etc.. They want travelers because they need help. An experienced nurse who they can rely on and not train. When you interview you can find out more!

I was always up front with my recruiters that I worked with two or three others. I would say, oh I already put in for that with another recruiter, for example.

1:10 in acute up to 6 in critical care. level I trauma teaching. burnt out on nursing. sad about it and don't know what to do next.

Stony Brook UMC in Long Island, NY

i'm sorry. that's hard. journal if you do that. talk it out with someone or also with others who were there. it's not really something you forget, but important to process.

doesnt ER count as ICU experience? after all we take care of ICU holds for days in the ED sometimes, right?

i agree with KC87T, I go with travel tax and they are wonderful! just download the forms from their site. Good that you are not waiting till the last minute. and I don't think they are expensive, totally worth every dime.

Hi V-Neck! I was on assignment in SD with AMN and was housed in Mission Valley (worked at Sharp Grossmont). The housing was great, but the area, well, it was suburban mall sprawl. We LOVED spending most of our free time in Ocean Beach but don't know how housing was there. Maybe too hippie for some. That's where we would go if we did it again. It would have been worth the commute time.

Figured someone would be interested to know that Stony Brook (NY) opened up some new grad positions in their Level 1 ER.

Stony Brook ER in NY has new grad openings for Residency Program.

I have been able to stay on as traveler at assignments if there is a known lag time. Even for two week increments. No problem. They are glad to keep you, has been my experience.

Hooray! Yes, we went to Cali and LOVED it. San Diego was alright but not my fav. Loved Stanford, Sacramento, Central Coast. I did not go inland except for Sacramento. And can we talk about ratios and breaks? how refreshing. still worked hard but not insane burnout like NY. Let me know if you need a great recruiter to get you there. I have 2. Btw, Cali license takes time.

I wanted to add something else we did while on the road with our young son. We hung ribbon with thumb tacks in the living room and also bedrooms where we could easily hang up his artwork or projects with clothes pins. This was a low impact way to decorate and display his work. Hope your plans are going well, OP!

IV form of zofran can be given PO as well, used in pediatrics i always give vanco over 2 hours to avoid the work related to rare but happened to me twice reaction of red mans syndrome solumedrol 125mg hurts like a beast IM. my patient cried for 20 minutes and she was not a crier. heard that it has happened before. since then i refuse to give it IM. i will take the time to place the PIV and then administer and remove the IV. ice pak on iv site and start NS piggyback before starting potassium helps prevent the burn. phenergan MUST be diluted and bigger iv preferred i never open a narcotic vial until i have a line, vitals, and the patient knows what they are getting. it's a waste of time to find the charge nurse to waste it.

Hi there. I had 3 1/2 years experience at a Level 1 Trauma center including triage. I traveled for 2 1/2 years (7 jobs). It was a great experience. I was expected to know my stuff and hit the ground running. 12 or 16 or once I had 36 hours orientation in the unit and then ... GO. the first few weeks at a job were stressful. Some places they recognized my ability and I ended up being float/resource/lead or lead pretty quick otherplaces just hung out taking care of medium sick patients. Two places they did not have travelers do their traumas, but at one I did get to help after some time. Each place is different. go in with a positive, helpful, friendly attitude and don't talk about "well this is what we did" instead you can say "how do you do it here?". I traveled mostly to Cali which was great for the ratios. seriously awesome. check out the traveler section... good luck!

yes, it's worth the money. stanford is great on the resume plus it's a GREAT place to work and the possibility of going perm after 6 months.

that sounds awesome swansonmail. good for you. yes health insurance is a big issue because it is so expensive to begin with and then if you don't have good coverage, yikes! COBRA can be great if you already have a good health insurance, but it would have run us 1200 or more a month. I ended up with American Mobile's insurance and paying for the family coverage (single coverage was free) but that was about $800 a month. and if you go to the doctor, there were a lot of things we still had to pay for after our deductible when we did go to the doctor. Also, COBRA is only for 18? or so months. The other issue to consider is each agency will offer their own insurance. you can take it and if you like it, then take their cobra. in my own case, my health insurance with my staff job before i started traveling was so great that even though the COBRA was expensive, in 20/20 hindsight it would have likely saved us money and annoyance, if we had stuck with it instead of going to the first agency's insurance, paying their cobra as we overlapped time to the next job and then starting theirs.... etc. some travel agencies have their insurance start on the 1st day or perhaps 1st or 15th of the month depending on the coverage you choose. Anyway, it's an expensive and sometimes annoying detail. And in our opinion it was really important to have continuous and good coverage on the road with the family. ps. cobra as described by the department of labor is this "COBRA generally requires that group health plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health coverage (called continuation coverage) in certain instances where coverage under the plan would otherwise end." in other words you pay to extend your health insurance by your previous employer but there is a maximum amount of time you can do this.

I just remembered another important thing we did to keep in touch with family. We bought digital photo frames that could receive pictures by email (wifi is needed). It was great.

go for your dreams. yes there are hospitals that hire new grads in the ER. you may need to willing to relocate.

Hi Dance4life, So good to hear someone having a similar adventure with a similar adventure. We were in NYC also and I agree about the housing. Not sure where you are, but I had some job offers in California. Our driving cross country was best when we did 8 hours/450 miles a day. It took us 8 days with a one day stop in the middle with family. And no DVD! I did make a lego box that could stay on his lap. and he insisted I make him some curtains on his side which I did with bungee cords and pillow slip covers. We did some Kumon books and sat some in the back with him. he didn't always require interaction but he enjoyed the company. Hi L&D, It may be hard but I would definitely have some savings in reserve. Have you ever listened to Dave Ramsey? He recommends 6 months of living expenses for anyone. as far as why the gaps - one was because it was my second job and wanted to get to cali or colorado but jobs were still scarce then. the 2nd time i refused the flu vaccine and it was Christmas time and not many jobs available. I have two favorites - Stanford in Cali (and awesome church there too) and Central Coast California. ohhh we love it there!!