DeigoT

I signed with up MSN but was cancelled numerous times (the same agency in NY rarely had cancellations). I learned that a part of the reason was my fault since I had only completed orientation packages for 2 hospitals. To avoid multiple cancellations, consider completing orientation for multiple hospitals, so when you are cancelled at one they can call around at others. Another thing I noticed was that some hospitals have their own in house agency, which means they will exhaust that list before going to the staff from the outside agency. You may face a higher likelihood of being cancelled from those.

I think if you google "Maryland hospitals", then go to the individual hospital's website, you will find that like in most places, there are a bunch of openings for nurses. You simply need to find one that fit with your needs and values then apply. My last jobs were in Philadelphia & NY, and I can tell you I make a lot less here but the nurse to patient ratio is not as ridiculous as some hospitals in NY.

I worked there recently, and was pulled after 4 hours. The first 4 hours was on the 3rd Medsurg which a poster suggested to avoid, and the second 4 hours was on 9th floor medsurg. In the short time there, I would agree with the poster, and plan to avoid the 3rd floor. Most of the staff on the 9th floor were very friendly.

I agree with the other posts. I have been licensed in several states, but had to make numerous calls to MD BON to get my license. Another interesting thing, they renewed the license online, but after waiting two weeks and not getting a hard copy, I called the office and was informed "BON no longer issue paper copy of licenses." Apparently this is a recent change, and they said the employers needed to look online to verify that you are licensed. I signed up to work with an agency, and they automatically told me they would look online. I would suggest you first check online to see if you are licensed, then take it from there.

Lived in White Marsh and loved it, but it is about a 30 min or so commute to downtown. Parts of Mt Vernon seems to be pretty nice too.

I think alot depends on the facility. At my job, travelers may register for and take classes available to the staff, however they are not paid for the time spent in class. These classes include chemo certification, EKG interp, critical care course, pain mngt etc. There are also continuing medical education courses which may be free or at a reduced price for nurses. If that fails, manly local colleges offer continuing education for nurses, and there are a host of online classes.

Abetta care recently contacted me with positions in ST. Thomas (minimum 13 weeks). I am interested but the pay seems really low.

I have been an ANP (primary care) since 2001, but I am in transition, so I have not been working as an NP recently.

OOPS! It was a Target, not Walmart.

Ok, so I had my first experience with minute clinic. What a concept! Well I felt a cold sore coming on and felt that a RX for Valtrex may help to stave it off. Called my primary and he was out for the holiday and the answering service didn't seem to know of anyone covering. I remembered reading about the minute clinic and found the closet one in Maryland. Well I drove down, waited at the Walmart for 5 mins then was seen. It was too easy. The NP and I spoke. As it turns out this is her third NP job and she felt it was the best. She liked the hours and the location. She was happy that she didn't have to deal with someone coming in with multiple disorders and insurance issues. She just liked the episodic visit, and didn't care that there wasn't any continuity. She described it as a very laid back job. She also felt the downside was, there was some restriction and little autonomy. For exampe, when I told her why I was there and what I wanted, she looked in a book to see the protocol for that diagnosis. She said she could only precribe what's in the book and exactly the way it is written in the book. Otherwise she thought it was a great job. I was tempted, but just couldn't bring myself to asking the salary. Also, you need to be a family NP since you will be seeing children. There is a website with info on jobs. I believe it is www.minuteclinic.com This definately opens more opportunities for NPs.

She felt it wasn't worth it. As a surgeon she wanted to build a "center of excellence." Well, she had no life. She would sometimes spend nights at work and rarely saw her children. She felt that work became her life. It was just too consuming. It didn't help that 90% of the surgeons in her dept were male and she was the dept chief. They made it really hard for her, and when she complained they basically told her that "maybe she needed to be home with her children and she should get out of the kitchen if it was too hot for her." She just wanted to practice medicine, but there were just too many other things that made it difficult. Her husband, I haven't figured out. They never like talking about why he got out, she would always say "he is happier now." My boyfriend, who is a lawyer, seems to think he may have been sued in the past. Who knows? As for recommending PA to her daughters, she said a PA is able to practice medicine, and in most cases, the level of responsibility and time commitment is not the same. The training takes less time, and the debt at the end is much less. She also felt there is more flexibility with being a PA since you are able to work in different areas without actually doing a residency in that area. Of course I was offended that she didn't say NP. Although she loves the NP role, she felt that her daughter would first need to be an RN and "RNs work too hard and don't get the respect they deserve."

I think it is seen as a "large increase" more so because, as you mentioned, there had been a decrease in applications to med schools for many years, and most schools have kept their enrollment numbers the same. Over the years, many theories had been given for the decrease in application, some of which were already mentioned here...litigation, decrease automony, insurance bureaucracy, less remuneration etc. It was also believed that the tech boom took some of the students who ordinarily would have applied to med school, and now that the tech boom is over..... You mentioned "flat enrollment or a drop in enrollment," but I think the changes in the number of applications might give a better picture of the interest of lack thereof in medicine. Enrollment will not give a true picture since schools like GW received 8000+ applications this year for 100+ seats, Jefferson got over 7500 for less than 250 seats, Drexel got almost 8000 for less than 230 seats (although most candidates have applied to several schools). The other thing is, many schools have a set number of students they will accept (regardless of the number of applicants) and have kept that number the same for decades. Therefore a flat enrollment doesn't really give good information. It is also rare for a school to have a drop in enrollment. They may have a drop in applications, but they usually have many candidates from which to choose, and when that fails, they they have a wait list to choose from. Some, such as the ones mentioned in the article have recently increase their numbers due to pressure (many many qualified candidates with Mcat >30 and science GPA >3.5 are in other professions since they didn't get into med school). What I am finding rather interesting though, is the number of people who have gotten into medicine and are getting out. Mommd (or is it Mdmom ?) website has so many dissatisfied doctors. I also have a personal friend who is an excellent surgeon, and at 42 has left medicine to write a book. Her husband was a family practice physician and he left the profession 10 years ago. My friend said she would encourage her daughter to become a PA instead of a physician.

Actually to the contrary, this year marks and upsurge in applications to med school. www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2005/051025.htm

If travelling to Philly is not too difficult for you, UPENN offers it as a part of a continuing ed program.

I definately agree with the need for more clinical hours. If you are fortunate enough to have your first position in a practice where your colleagues are very sharing and supportive, then great. But if your first job out of NP school requires you to sink or swim (so to speak), then if you are not fully prepared clinically, you may be in for some trouble. The type of trouble that could be prevented with more clinical exposure and greater confidence in your abilities.