Re-entering Hospital Setting

txpixiedust · Oct 30, 2007

I don't live in Austin....so I'm not sure which hospitals/specialty would be best there. But I'd say L&D!

I have a question for you though.....I just graduated in May, and I'm pretty sure we were told you only have to take a refresher course if you've gone a year or more without working as a nurse. Did you decide to take this refresher on your own or was it required?

Also, I think I'd like to be a school nurse someday - did you like it?

Hope you enjoy your clinicals & the move to Austin!

God Bless,

txpixiedust:balloons:

kymaja · Oct 30, 2007

Since I've been out of the hospital for awhile, I wanted to brush up on my technical skills. Also, after contacting a few nurse recruiters for area hospitals, this was also their suggestion. School nursing is fun and I really like the autonomy and working with the kids. There are alot of extra requirements and demands though, which people don't hear about.

RN1989 · Oct 30, 2007

My friends swear that they prefer L&D above all else. I've done it but it wasn't my cup of tea. For floor nursing I prefer Tele. Ratios are usually better than med-surg and even if you don't see your pts for a while, someone is watching to see that their heart is still beating (doesn't work if they go into PEA but it's they best you can get sometimes when staffing is bad)

As far as hospitals - Seton. I had issues with them but they were far fewer and less horrible than St. David's facilities. Unless things have changed, Seton and St.David's splits ownership of all the hospitals in Austin area. Also, I heard that there is a new small hospital in North Austin - Cedar Park area that is a partnership with Seton and a for-profit. I know about their CNO - useless and cruel. Would not advise working under her.

kymaja · Oct 31, 2007

Thanks for the advice! About Seton vs. St. Davids, I'd appreciate any comments re: nursing staff support, ease of communication, scheduling, learning potential, pay, etc. I've been out of the hospital loop for quite a while, so I miss out on all the "hospital talk".

RN1989 · Oct 31, 2007

For starts - St. David's network is for-profit. Having worked for both non and for profit, for profit is always gonna cut corners the worst and the staff and patients are always the ones to suffer. Seton got their Magnet status just after I left there. Granted, Magnet can be a joke, but nurses there did have much more autonomy and support than other places in TX that I have been at. They had a nursing congress that met monthly. Nurses were very involved in policy making. They always had con ed classes to attend or would pay for you to go. Don't know about pay but their float pool at the time gave me more money than what the other guys were paying theirs. If i wasn't scheduled to work and they needed someone, they called once. They usually didn't call continuously and bug me like other places. Staff varied from nice to snotty, I pretty much worked everywhere at several of their hospitals and didn't have a problem with staff being ugly to me like some places. The directors of the units were always accessible, even though I wasn't their regular staff. I had fewer problems getting meds from Pharmacy than most places I've been. They have WOCNs to help out with skin/ostomy issues. There were things I didn't like about them, but overall, they were the best IMO. I joined a nursing association chapter there and mingled with the nurses from the "other guys". They were great and nice but the stories about staffing and support they told me were WAY scarier than my own from working for Momma Seton.

kymaja · Oct 31, 2007

Great info... it all makes sense! I was hoping I could get feedback from someone who had worked at both places. Being away from the hospital setting is making me a little nervous..... I'm up to the challenge though. Another question... is it best to go through a recruiter?

Thanks!