CodeRed5

Hi all, I seemed to have missed a pen in my pocket when washing my scrubs that inevitably exploded in the washer/dryer and my ceil blue scrubs are resembling a rorschach test gone wrong. Unfortunately I have a manager who is very strict about dress code and wearing them as is is out of the question and I would very much prefer not to buy a full set of new scrubs. Thanks for any and all tips! Willing to try (almost) anything ?

I think it also comes down to clinical area. Because I work in open heart surgery, I would say anywhere between 30-60% of our patients will have PA catheters. We regularly use PA pressures, cardiac indices, and PA sats to help us tailor our treatments. Now would I say the numbers featured on the CCRN and other study materials match exactly to how we operate, no - but it does get the general idea of the physiology and nursing considerations. In terms of studying - know the "perfect world" numbers and then you can probably figure it out from there. Example: Textbook PA Pressures: "quarters over dimes" 25/10 Cardiac Index below 2.5? Too Low, need to do something about that There's also some helpful youtube videos out there if you like to study that way

Congrats, three years ago I also started in the CVICU as a new grad nurse. My approach was to try to be a sponge as much as possible. By being fresh out of school, I was already in the habit of absorbing information and had figured out my best learning styles. If you can find a way to apply the techniques you used to be successful in school to your job, that might help you the way it did for me. My orientation was very organized, we had classes once a week for 8 weeks, were required to make drug flash cards for all the high risk medications we would work with (highly recommend doing this if its not required), and online modules from the AACN. I also recommend the book "Cardiac Surgery Essentials for Critical Care Nursing" by Sonya Hardin. I think I've read it from front to back 3-4 times by now and always learn something - and its not as hard of a read as many textbooks can be. After I had my CCRN, it was my main resource to study for and pass my CSC. So I found useful both in the beginning and recently. Good Luck!

@teens89 I interviewed January 10th and my friend January 15th. I was invited for interview on January 3rd - and that was my first communication from them. Have you checked your application status? Does it say "Committee Ready"? They mentioned during my interview there were more applicants this year than in years prior - I'm wondering if that's impacting their whole process. From the people that I know who are currently in the program, the leadership of the ACNP-CNS program is with a temporary director at the moment and possibly a bit more disorganized than usual.

For Acute Care applicants, my application status and my friends application status both changed to "admit institution" this morning. I have yet to receive an email or call or anything, but heard that SURFS is pretty reliable and official notification then follows. After my interview, I was also told I would not hear back until end of February and possibly beginning of March - I think the program is just slow at this stuff. Good Luck everyone!

I would go with the Littman classic III. I work in a CVSICU and have tried both - no noticeable difference in quality. The classic III is what almost everyone, including attendings and AGNPs are using, and it will last forever.

Funny moment, I'm a new grad currently on 2NW, started in July - good luck and welcome to 2NW! If you have any questions most of the nurses are really good about teaching and wanting to be helpful! The bridge modules can be a little ...eh, but you'lll gain a lot of skills really quickly on the unit. Good luck and see y'all around!

Sibley Memorial in DC and INOVA Fairfax in Va are both really good for labor and delivery and both recently opened up new mother baby units

I just accepted a rotating shift job at WHC, in the interview they explained to me that I would be scheduled 3 weeks straight day shift/ 3 weeks straight night shift. I can add extra shifts on either day or night, but the original schedule is 50/50 and they try to give at least 3 days to transition schedules.

Kayseadeecee, If you click on it, it will send me a request to access and I can give you access. A few people have clicked on it and I've given them access. Let me know if it still is not working.

Here are some notes from my preparation to precept on an Cardiac/Surgical ICU: Hopefully they help! Redirecting...

So I totally forgot to update here, but I heard back a couple of weeks ago and was offered a couple interviews that I ended up turning down. Good luck everyone!

Hi, Kdeeds16. My application is still under consideration as well. I'm not too worried about not hearing back yet as they still have their winter application still up. I called them last week about adding an update to my application and they mentioned they were still very busy with the most recent winter graduates

Hi, bkop! I'm a nursing student but, I currently work at Sibley Memorial Hospital and have clinical at Inova Fairfax. The two hospitals are both very good but they are different. Sibley is more of a community hospital, its smaller than Fairfax (Fairfax campus is HUGE), is part of the Johns Hopkins Health System and located near Chevy Chase and Georgetown. Sibley has the most births in Washington DC and is opening up a new hospital this summer where the women's/postpartum/FCCU will be expanded. They also have a cute little "ding" that goes off throughout the hospital everytime a new baby is born. One thing I have heard is that they don't like to hire new grads into the WIS (women's and infants services) or FCCU. So you may need experience to get in there. Fairfax is a massive hospital, like three hospitals in one. They have a brand new women's and childrens hospital that is opening right now. I have a friend who works in the NICU and says the new hospital is beautiful. I do know of a couple of new grads who were hired at Fairfax. Also, with their expanded womens and childrens hospital they may be looking for more nurses. I really like both hospitals, so if you pursue both I think you will end up happy! Good Luck!

tcvnurse, that is so great to hear. Thanks for your input! Hi Grateful Murse!! I haven't heard anything either, but when a UVA recruiter visited my school last month they said they had to finish hiring the December New Grads before they were going to start looking at our applications. She said that they keep the applications open as long as they have a spot to fill. I just checked the website and the "Winter residency" app is still open. So I'm guessing as long as that app is open, we won't hear anything. If I do hear anything, I will definitely let you know!