J Friday

SO... through talking with staff that has been working this ICU for over a decade, it turns out the hospital does have a negotiation with the state to open up tele room for ICU overflow patients. It's a very underserved community and many hospitals will not accept transfers being that most patients have no insurance. That being said, the state has allowed this because they do not want ICU patients sitting in the ER for countless days and they know we have problems transferring out. It's a really loose negotiation--meaning there was no hard limit on number of overflow beds. I can hardly imagine they would allow limitless ICU paitents, however there is no hard limit. I suppose I have to either acceot these terms or find another job.

These are real ICU patients....If it was just an insulin or heparin drip on a stable patient, I wouldnt' be concerned. These are septic, ventilted, hypo/hyperthermic, unstable patients on multiple vasopressors, propofol and other titrated meds...

I am worried that denying the assignment is going to get me fired. I wouldn't be worried if I knew I had a legal leg to stand on. Has anyone else experienced this? Putting a piece of paper that says "ICU" on the door and now a certified 4-bed ICU hospital is now a 10-bed ICU? I think they have certain guidelines that certify areas as an ICU. I just can't find any information on the issue.

My hospitals has a 4-bed ICU. We are constanly admitting up to 9-10 ICU patinets at a time, and using completely underequipped mulitbed tele rooms as an ICU "Overflow". Nurses are put in those rooms alone with no remote monitoring or in-room support. This forces the RN to stay in the room the entire shift and leave the patients unattended if we need to get supplies or call doctors, use the bathroom, get water, etc. My question: Is this illegal? and can I refuse to take patients without fear of employment reprimand? I don't think that putting a piece of paper on the door that says "ICU" makes it an ICU. Often we take ER monitors just to get cardiac monitoring for these patients, because the tele rooms dont even have wall monitors. These rooms don't even have wall-suction set-ups... I started in ER and often float to ER on extra shifts. The hospital management refuses to transfer patients and will even tell us up front that there is to be NO transferring from the ER.... ADMIT EVERYONE!! I don't feel right about this and patients are receiving substandard care while putting our RN licences at risk... what can I do?

My coworker said, last night, that she is still waiting to hear from Santa Monica ER. I don't know about RR. That's SM ER. Don't know about RR ER. I'm still waiting for RR NTICU. ABCDEFG...lol. (Sorry couldn't help myself.. long night in the ER...lol. I get a little ALOC...)

Mine was December 2nd...lol. I think the answer is.....yes But it seems that each department is on a slightly different timeline...

Still haven't heard from Neuro ICU.... For those that got selected, or anyone that can answer, Did the status change on your UCLA application page? Mine still says, "Routed to Interviewing Supervisor" I interviewed December 2nd. SO.. there has really been only like 4 business days since then... Guess I'm a little impatient....lol

It would make sense about no second interview being that the first was listed as a single person interview, but turned out to be three people--including two floor nurses... well. I do hate the waiting game, but at least I have a current job to keep my mind busy. Thank you, and best of luck to you and everyone else as well !!! I'll post something as soon as I get any update.... :)

@ anybody that can answer..... I was a trying to remember everything in the interview but the exact structure of the residency program kind of flew over my head. How is it again? 2 days at the bedside for 12-hour shifts + 1 or 2 days in class? is that right? How may class days/hours in class per week?

@ M2912 and Ashcho Did they ask you to do a live-scan or tour the unit when your interview was over? and have you heard anything back yet? I did mine today and was asked to tour the NTICU. They said the same day live-scan was for out of town applicants and I am a local so they held off.

Hello all!! Just wanted to chime in here. I haven't read the whole thread so I do not know if anyone else interviewed for Neuro-Trauma ICU, but I had my first interview today. It went really well. I do have experience in acute care and with various drips and procedures that they really liked. Luckily for me, my preceptorship was done in a Level 1 trauma/neuro/burn center and I have been employed as an ER nurse for 2 months--I think that helped a lot. The interview lasted about 20 minutes with the director and 2 other RNs. They all took notes, went over my rec letters/resume/cover letter and transcripts. They asked a lot of questions, and I asked quite a few as well. I was immediately told to go take a tour of the ICU, which was AMAZING !!! robot doctors running around and all....lol So apparently, in Neuro-trauma they are "interviewing 35 and accepting 10 new grads"--from the directors lips to this forum...verbatim. But every unit is different. The RN that showed me around the ICU said it was a good sign that I had been offered the tour, but she didn't know that it was a sure thing.. I concurred. I am now hoping to hear back for the second interview, but the director left the timeline open-ended.. saying that I will not here back from them directly, but I will be contacted after a week...or 5....lol They also said the program should start in March, but may be pushed to April. Anyhoo.... good luck everyone... just getting the interview was monumental and shows that you have something they like....

The BSN spent years more time, effort and money in their education. They also boost the reputation/status of the hospital and have been statistically proven to have better patient outcomes.... bottom line, they deserve some form of premium. Just as an MSN or NP deserves more than a BSN..... and a DNP more than that....

"In other words, Allina took a segment of its business and paid to outsource it to a for-profit company. The conflicts of interest abound. For starters, Allina CEO Penny Wheeler is on the Health Catalyst Board of Directors..." WOW !!!!! non-profits are SUCH SCAM ARTISTS !!!! STRIKE ON BROTHERS and SISTERS !!!!

WITHDRAW NOW !!!!!! BATTLESHIP SUNK !!!! BATTLESHIP SUNK !!!! Most schools will not count W's against you because they do NOT factor into GPA (main scoring criteria for apps). My university did not count W's against you or even inquire why I dropped a previous class... The masters program I'm applying for does NOT count W's either. In some rare instances, you may have to explain what happened--at which point you can use a myriad of heartfelt excuses or explain difficulties in your life at that point. However, a D will likely be IMPOSSIBLE to recover from in terms of overall and science core GPA.... repeated classes are typically counted against you or schools only factor your first attempted grade anyway--and they will lower your GPA regardless...

walk now... run later... trust you will be running soon enough and before you feel confident in doing so.... That being said... There are many boring and uninteresting (and sometimes seemingly useless) parts of nursing school. Get over it, cause you'll soon have an amazing, dependable, stable, growing, and not boring career...