Question for recent grads!

brunclex129 · Jul 12, 2008

Hello, I am a new grad, and in the process of participating in an orientation/intern program. To answer your questions....

1. The program is part of new employee orientation. The only competition was interviewing and getting hired. I was offered a position on the spot, at an open house. It was ideal for obtaining a job as a new grad. I don't know how many others applied, but 3 others were accepted on my unit, and there are at least 8 orients on 4 other units within the same floor.

2. The training is great. It may just be my unit, but not only is my preceptor helpful, there are several other nurses I know I can rely on, if I need help.

3. Med Surg? Forget Med Surg. Do what you want to do...YOU DO NOT NEED MED SURG!!!! I was hired into the Cardiothoracic ICU...with no prior experience except for clinicals. And trust me clinicals were no help, either. Med Surg is boring and lame "experience" if you ask me. Don't listen to the people that deem it the standard for "experience." You don't need med surg before you move on to the unit you really want to work in. You'll gain all the experience you need during the intern program designed for the unit you want to work on.

4. Absolutely the right choice.

5. Cardiothoracic ICU.

Hope that helps.

jla623 · Jul 12, 2008

Hello, I am a new grad, and in the process of participating in an orientation/intern program. To answer your questions....
1. The program is part of new employee orientation. The only competition was interviewing and getting hired. I was offered a position on the spot, at an open house. It was ideal for obtaining a job as a new grad. I don't know how many others applied, but 3 others were accepted on my unit, and there are at least 8 orients on 4 other units within the same floor.
2. The training is great. It may just be my unit, but not only is my preceptor helpful, there are several other nurses I know I can rely on, if I need help.
3. Med Surg? Forget Med Surg. Do what you want to do...YOU DO NOT NEED MED SURG!!!! I was hired into the Cardiothoracic ICU...with no prior experience except for clinicals. And trust me clinicals were no help, either. Med Surg is boring and lame "experience" if you ask me. Don't listen to the people that deem it the standard for "experience." You don't need med surg before you move on to the unit you really want to work in. You'll gain all the experience you need during the intern program designed for the unit you want to work on.
4. Absolutely the right choice.
5. Cardiothoracic ICU.
Hope that helps.

Thank you so much for your help!

I agree with you about the med/surg thing. I know myself and I know FOR A FACT that I would be bored with it and dislike it a great deal. I want to do something challenging.

betty boo · Jul 12, 2008

Hi there, glad to see that there are some strong willed people and I am also glad that you have the opportunity to get what you are looking for in this career. I also got into one such orientation programme, problem is, I studied in English and had to work in a Finnish speaking environment. The orientation was given in form of a lecture that lasted three days. It was given by the respective surgeons. So you can already guess that I work in a surgical ward. Its not as bad as you think it is although if I was in an english speaking environment, I would have gone straight to a neurological ICU, so pls, dont waste your time going through deartments that you dont like, dive into what u like and I am sure after the orientation you will be fine. :nurse: :up:

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2008

1. Was it competitive for the spot? How many other people applied?

I am in a new nurse/GN residency program. It's not really competitive per say, anyone hired starting during the summer months participates. However it is hard to get a job at this particular hospital.

2. Do you find the training to be adequate enough to feel atleast somewhat comfortable in your skills as a new nurse?

I start my residency in a couple weeks, so we'll see. However, from what I've heard, it sounds like they'll do their best to prepare me. I'll have 2 weeks of lectures and classroom instruction, ie IV/phlebotomy class, childhood diseases, etc. Then I'll spend 8-10 weeks on my floor working one-on-one with my preceptor, while still attending classes every now and then for 6 months.

3. Do you get a lot of nonsense from people telling you that you should have started in med/surg and that you don't belong there (assuming that you chose a specialty other than med/surg)?

Not really, the majority of my class did not go into med-surg. The experienced nurses I know have advised me to my skills on the floor first, either med-surg, pediatric, etc. Before going somewhere like the IC or ER, which is what I'm doing. I would like to someday be in the ER, but I personally don't see how myself as a new grad has enough assessment skills right out of school to make it there.

4. Do you think that you made the right choice?

Absolutely. All through nursing school when I'd see the different specialties and areas I'd do clinicals in, I could never really imagine doing any of them for a career until I started looking into pediatrics. I love working with kids, and all the stuff I'll learn that we didn't get in nursing school, where the focus was med-surg.

5. What specialty was the internship for?

Pediatrics. I'll be working on an adolesent/edocrine floor.

MzKGoRN · Jul 12, 2008

I graduate next Spring and I just have a few questions for those of you that have or are currently going through a new grad internship program.
1. Was it competitive for the spot? How many other people applied?
2. Do you find the training to be adequate enough to feel atleast somewhat comfortable in your skills as a new nurse?
3. Do you get a lot of nonsense from people telling you that you should have started in med/surg and that you don't belong there (assuming that you chose a specialty other than med/surg)?
4. Do you think that you made the right choice?
5. What specialty was the internship for?
Thanks in advance to everyone that answers any of my questions! I know it's a lot!

1. I guess you can say the hire process was competitive. The Nurse Managers said they had over 100 apps. for the critical care internship only 16 were hired. I am glad to say i was one of the 16

2. The internship is 4 months, there are 3 units ICU, CVCU, and PCU, we rotate through all of them. Plus we have classes also, so I will say the training is pretty intensive.

3. Actually I got the totally opposite. i received alot of encouragement to go into critical care. BTW hats off to med surg nurses they work very hard.

4. Yeah I,m def. sure I made the right choice.

5. The internship is in critical care