Reflection of accepting a job offer for North Dakota

[DatMurse]

This review is for St. Alexius in Bismarck, ND.

IF YOU APPLY FOR A POSITION AND YOU ARE AN RN PLEASE APPLY FOR AN RN POSITION. NOT GRADUATE NURSE! PLEASE CONTACT ME or WHATSMYUSERNAME_RN BEFORE YOUR APP FOR REFERRAL(HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US IN APP) AND I CAN HELP POINT YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!

Hello,

I would like to say I am a new grad BSN-RN who applied to every place but my home state. I moved from Hawaii to any place that would take me other than Texas. Texas is known for taking their own new grads.

Why you ask? I wanted experience of living somewhere else. I applied to 15 hospitals across the US and even in small towns. I had a generic cover letter and resume for the ones that were "Whatever" applications.

I applied to 3 in North Dakota and they all called me.

There is a true nursing shortage in ND along with a shortage on every possible job you can think. Many people do not want to think about relocating for their first new job, but if you have no ties and are losing more and more time away from the hospital, then I would highly recommend you consider this decision for your career. I am currently located in Bismarck and there are some upsides and downsides to my experience at my hospital/area.

Pros

1. This place is booming, many new jobs.

2. Other transplants are here

3. Progressing my career and being trained in WHAT I WANT

4. Small town, easy to get to work

5. My housing is cheap for what I am paying.(Although you have to really look)

6. Best nurse aides I have seen yet!

7. Compact state, I have a Texas nursing license.

8. Even though pay is low they are in need and you can rack in quite a bit of overtime and incentives.

9. People here are very friendly

10. Some LPNs are still active in the hospital, and they are a great asset to have. These are old school LPNs who will help any new grad that comes across their path. I have had 5 shifts so far and am grateful they are there for me.

Cons

1. I wish food was cheaper(Texas food is dirt cheap)

2. Small town

3. Not very multicultural

4. I don't like my hospitals charting system

5. Cold weather(It snowed yesterday)

6. I moved here not knowing anybody.

7. I wish pay was better

ND Has a true nursing shortage and if your career progression means anything to you, you should send an application out here.

I would also like to add even though I get paid 22.79 an hour.

I am still making 44k+ a year before overtime. Every week you do not work you are losing your grip on your skills, experience(whatever we do have), and about 1k a week.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/st+alexius+street+view+bismarck/@46.806396,-100.777594,3a,75y,247.44h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sQjBrez-Q1Iskm03jiHNlfA!2e0

Street view of the hospital.

Talent Specialists Help Keep Bismarck Hospital Staffed on Vimeo - This is a video online that was posted on the local news in regards to needing nurses

8/7/2014 so I am reaching 4 months soon. My experience here has been fun, Learning everyday and the doctors, lpns, and experienced nurses have been pretty helpful in teaching me. I deal with hospitalists and oncologists frequently. I picked up a 12 hour today. which is actually 2x my hourly wage.(OT+pick up incentive).

My Personal life? There are more transplants than expected. My coworkers invite me out for a beer after a long chain of shifts. So I have been having a good time out here.

I have 0 regrets

8/11/2014 I was told that ER does not take new grads, ICU does in some situations.

9/16/2014- Today is the 5 month mark since I have came to North Dakota. I am currently in Houston visiting family and am always amazed by the Houston Medical Center. However... I hate the weather here and the traffic.

I sometimes wish I could see different procedures/get into ER, but I am not in any place to request such a thing.... atleast for now... I do not miss the humidity of Houston, nor do I miss the traffic. I have friends already giving chemo after 6 months of training but they follow particular protocols and standing orders which I noticed my hospital lacks. She does work in a top 10 pediatric hospital though... So there are differences. My cousin has also said she could get me a job in Oncology ICU(MD Anderson), however I do not think I am ready to come back to Texas anytime soon. As I have said in the past. If I wanted just a job, I would have stayed in Texas. I have had many personal hardships of why I moved to ND to try to escape some of my past problems(I had 3 family members that have died).(2x cancer 1x Suicide). The world is such a big place and it would be an insult to limit it. I had a long talk with my cousin and my friends who participated in formal residency programs versus mine. one is a nurse for 4+ years and the other is a nurse of 8 months. You learn on the job, regardless of how much learning you have. Especially in specialization like Oncology. Entering medical oncology has not been anything I have regret. If anything, their talk has reinforced my outlook on this experience of medical(jack of all trades) and being able to take care of oncology patients which is the core reason of why I became a nurse. The point of this thread was to help people get a job, and to show my appreciation of the hospital and their staff.

To sum it up. Month: 5.... No regrets... although... Winter is coming....

10/10/14

So a little update. My competence has been rising and I feel much better about my job. There are always things I am going to feel uneasy about but that is normal for everything. So I Just ask my TL or coworkers for help. I never ever feel uneasy to ask them about anything, regardless of how minor or major it is.

I am moving into my 6th month. The nursing direction of my unit and dialysis walked up to me and said my name was mentioned in a survey from patients. So That made my day. I try to have great bedside manner and make sure the patients are well up to date with their care and knowing what meds they are taking, rather than blindly sitting in the hospital room. We currently have 8 people on orientation on my floor. This is a huge wave and it seems like it will be much better for the local nurses here. The hospital is trying to expand but they do not have the staff # to make up for it. Chemo training starts in a week and a half. I took my provider card. Time flies and I feel like I am gaining a skill that finally separates me as a specialized nurse vs my friends in other floors such as Tele(cardiac drips), ER,& icu(Critical care)

11/23/2014

So it does feel weird moving into my 7th month, I really do enjoy my floor. I do have an awesome workplace and am very happy about it. We had a huge wave of transplant new grads that just came in where there were about 9 people that started on my floor. Some of the other local new grads were a little shocked about being assigned to areas where you go when you are "ready to fly on your own". I do enjoy my job as days go on, but I feel burned out when I bust out 60+ hours in a week. I start getting aching pain on my back. I do pick up quite a bit of shifts still. I have worked maybe about 160+ extra hours over the past 4 months. Everytime I pick up an additional shift I feel that I still do learn even more.

I honestly think the fact I enjoy my job, makes it easy to pick up additional hours.

I do have the standard "Monitor patients" days, but the ones that keep me busy are the ones when we are forming the plan of care and whats wrong with the patient. Diagnosis is the hardest time of treating the patient.

Sometimes I ask the attendingwhat the plan is? and he responds.... "I dont know, I am getting some consults". Thats when I know it will be alot of work.

We have other times when I ask him what the plan is. He may say "Standard pneumonia patient" which is usually easy. I feel that I am very easily able to function on my own. However, there are still many things that I need to learn.

Example: I was wondering where all the COPD patients have been, but when the cold dry air comes... The COPD patients come out and play.

2/9/2015

I am approaching my 10 months.

I have grown tired of taking care of medical. It isn't for me, I do like the oncology side and I have been doing chemotherapy administration for nearly 3 months. I am happy with my decision of coming to North Dakota still, but I am ready to move on. My floor is still short on staff and they need people. It gives us a lot of opportunities to pick up and make extra money. I have made 45k over 7 months last year granted I did work a lot.

I have traveled to Houston, Fargo, Seattle, and New York since I have been here. I plan on going to Denver in maybe a month.

I have already have 2 phone interviews for Seattle. They called within a week, I am honestly kind of shocked. I didn't think I would get a call back that fast and decided to apply a little early. I am excited about the move but a little sad about all leaving all the people I have met here.

However North Dakota is not for me, it has never been for me, but this has been a great learning experience. I know that my learning is still not over. I am getting a little ancy and feel that I need to look into my Master's or become a CNS.

03/04/2015

I am in my 11th month now. I have put in my verbal notice that I will be leaving in mid April. I told her I would still continue and try to pull more people for the hospital. I have applied for countless places. Many people are surprised that I would be taking care of septic patients, chemotherapy administration, and the fact I went out of my way and on my own terms took my ONS Chemotherapy/Biotherapy course. I have had a number of call backs with atleast 50%+ call back for interviews. It is truly amazing to be getting all these calls.

I am leaning toward more of a travel position but this BMT unit in Denver sounds amazing.

I have had a total of 6 interviews(another in a few hours) I have turned down 2 reference checks parts of the app because I wanted oncology. I have also turned down an interview with the VA hospital, it sounds sweet but I still want oncology.

Acute stroke intervention, Chemotherapy, sepsis, Oncology are big things to take care of. You start realizing how crazy your experience is when you start to leave.

3/7/2015

I have now accepted a travel job in University of Iowa in a BMT unit. I will be there for the next 3 months. It seems like a solid facility and really amazing. I will have to do quite a bit of reading on BMT patients.

It was pretty much an instajob offer. I am looking forward to it. I am glad I came out here for this job experience.

For any more information I can answer it. There is another biography thread about the hospital being continued on from whatsmyusername at https://allnurses.com/nursing-first-job/new-grad-at-977856.html

3/14/2015

Iowa fell through, which I am glad about... because I signed a contract for a travel position at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, CA in Oncology which I am going to pursue as a perm. I never thought a hospital such as that would consider me. The contract has been signed, I have been flown out there to obtain my CA License. It is kind of shocking that all of this is falling into place for me.

[DatMurse]

What is housing like out there for rentals? From what I can find, looks like housing costs are really high. Combining that with low pay doesnt sound like such a good idea. 3 bedroom places seem to be 1200+ minimum.

Thats about how much it costs. its a first time job. Can't complain tbh. Better than not progressing your career at all.

[livelifeloveRN]

Wow, I really appreciate your post Delgadido. I'm currently almost 10 months post BSN graduation with 2+ years CNA experience and can't get an RN position anywhere. I am extremely lucky to live in Southern California, but the job market here is close to impossible. Even if I did get an offer, I pretty much can guarantee it won't be in the speciality I desire. I know the cost of living here in CA is high but it's hard to wrap my brain around working the same amount of hours for half the pay. I just applied to a posting in ND, and would have to think really hard about relocating there - but I'm getting close to desperate...

[knnyz]

That was a brilliant move! It's only a few years, and after that you can apply anywhere with a few years of hospital experience on your belt. I always say that there is no shortage for new grads, but there is one for experienced nurses! So flexibility for relocation is key if you want to move forward with your career. Congratulations! :)

[AmyRN303, BSN, RN]

A three bedroom for $1200 is impossible to find where I live in the Northeast....I think that's a steal! That being said, I'd have to find a really good reason to uproot four children and a husband who has worked 10 years in a high level management position to relocate to North Dakota at this point in my life. Yes, I'm a new grad, and I care greatly about my career. I just don't have the flexibility I did when I was 22. Doesn't mean I'm not searching real estate and potential positions for M in the area though

[krisiepoo]

Yes, I'm a new grad, and I care greatly about my career. I just don't have the flexibility I did when I was 22.

Don't make the assumption that all of us who relocated are 22. I am 35, yes I'm single, but I own a home in the area I relocated from and left everything behind (friends, family) for 2-3 years to gain experience. Not saying relocating is right for you, but don't assume we're all carefree with no roots

[AmyRN303, BSN, RN]

Don't make the assumption that all of us who relocated are 22. I am 35, yes I'm single, but I own a home in the area I relocated from and left everything behind (friends, family) for 2-3 years to gain experience. Not saying relocating is right for you, but don't assume we're all carefree with no roots

I meant for me, that was the last time I had any flexibility of that sort. I didn't mean to offend. I graduated with many people who are relocating for employment, of many ages. I had my oldest child very young....I probably should have said, say, 28 for me, as that would have been prior to my children getting established in a school system and my husband working for his current employer.

I'm actually considering the possibility of relocating should my upcoming interviews not pan out. My family lives in NC, 700+ miles away, and my main concern would be uprooting the kids and husband from a very stable situation. I don't feel especially tied to our state even though we have lived here our entire lives. I'm trying to think outside of the box and my comfort zone and "see" the possibility in my head before I talk to M about the possibility. He has had experience in management of a large auto dealership for ten years, with ten years in another location prior to that. He's the kind of employee who would be easily able to find a position, and he's so good at what he does that I doubt this would be a concern for him.

Again, I was more musing out loud about my situation, and I apologize for coming across as assuming. It wasn't my intent to do so. Having read many of your posts about obtaining a job as a new grad has actually been the catalyst for me thinking about relocating.

[DatMurse]

Wow, I really appreciate your post Delgadido. I'm currently almost 10 months post BSN graduation with 2+ years CNA experience and can't get an RN position anywhere. I am extremely lucky to live in Southern California, but the job market here is close to impossible. Even if I did get an offer, I pretty much can guarantee it won't be in the speciality I desire. I know the cost of living here in CA is high but it's hard to wrap my brain around working the same amount of hours for half the pay. I just applied to a posting in ND, and would have to think really hard about relocating there - but I'm getting close to desperate...

Many new grads here came from Cali. I have met 2 from SF, 2 from LA, and one from SD.

You could be making twice there, but are you getting the job? Thats the question. I know it seems harsh but its better than nothing at all. Cost of living is lower.

[Nonetheless]

If I knew I may have had to go to North Dakota to be underpaid and underworked as a new nurse, I probably would have done biology and tried for medical school.

I naively applied to nursing BSN programs in 2009, in high school, because the job market was good at the time back then and I thought I would be able to find a good job close to home.

If I knew that living alone in some cold, rural area where I know nobody to gain experience was a very real possibility, and that in this awful job market, the overall chance of getting a job in my area within 12 months of graduation is as competitive as general admission to medical school (50%) I would have just done biology and taken the gamble.

[sadiemae1123]

You could always try the southeast. The pay is about the same plus the weather isn't nearly so cold in the winter. Of course, the heat and humidity are a different story in the summertime. The cost of living is pretty reasonable in most areas too.

[DatMurse]

If I knew I may have had to go to North Dakota to be underpaid and underworked as a new nurse, I probably would have done biology and tried for medical school.

I naively applied to nursing BSN programs in 2009, in high school, because the job market was good at the time back then and I thought I would be able to find a good job close to home.

If I knew that living alone in some cold, rural area where I know nobody to gain experience was a very real possibility, and that in this awful job market, the overall chance of getting a job in my area within 12 months of graduation is as competitive as general admission to medical school (50%) I would have just done biology and taken the gamble.

What makes you think I am working in a rural area? My hospital has top notch patient satisfaction. being "underpaid" will vary from area to area and this are not underpaid. I am living quite comfortable and just relaxing. My Hospital is partnered with Mayo. While it is not part of it, it still works with the doctors part of that hospital system. We have to have modern equipment and statistics for them to want to invest their name into our hospital.

Done biology for what? There is no "pre-degree" for medical school.

You must be very bitter about something, and I am not sure of what your problem is. You also seem to have picked your degree for a poor reason if you was just thinking about applying to medical school instead of nursing.

lol @ 50%. if you are in Cali, its much less than that.

Don't get me wrong. its cold over here, not international. I wish I was still in Texas or Hawaii sometimes. But I wanted to enter an oncology position right away. I picked oncology over an ICU position in Texas because I wanted to focus on the specialization that got me into nursing.

Everyday that I leave my job I feel fulfilled and happy about what I am doing. I Wouldn't be able to say this is I was still unemployed.

[Nonetheless]

What makes you think I am working in a rural area? My hospital has top notch patient satisfaction. being "underpaid" will vary from area to area and this are not underpaid. I am living quite comfortable and just relaxing. My Hospital is partnered with Mayo. While it is not part of it, it still works with the doctors part of that hospital system. We have to have modern equipment and statistics for them to want to invest their name into our hospital.

Done biology for what? There is no "pre-degree" for medical school.

You must be very bitter about something, and I am not sure of what your problem is. You also seem to have picked your degree for a poor reason if you was just thinking about applying to medical school instead of nursing.

lol @ 50%. if you are in Cali, its much less than that.

Don't get me wrong. its cold over here, not international. I wish I was still in Texas or Hawaii sometimes. But I wanted to enter an oncology position right away. I picked oncology over an ICU position in Texas because I wanted to focus on the specialization that got me into nursing.

Everyday that I leave my job I feel fulfilled and happy about what I am doing. I Wouldn't be able to say this is I was still unemployed.

I went into nursing for 3 reasons: 1) It's a job where you are doing good and bettering humanity 2) I thought I could easily stay in CA, and 3) I wanted to work in public health and eventually run a clinic and help the very very poor. I wanted to be a nurse for those 3 reasons. I don't care if they aren't "passionate" or "profound" enough reasons, so judge me all you want about them.

I was thinking of doing biology pre-med in high school, but chose not to because my heart wasn't in it. Most of us thought about a variety of different careers before choosing nursing. Does that make us "not passionate enough"?

I am doubting my decision to go into nursing because I am so nervous about finding a job that I enjoy. Some of you are fine in the Midwest, but I know I will be miserable outside California. I'll take it if I need to, but I will do so with a lot of stress and doubts about whether or not I should have studied something that would allow me to stay close to home. Life is more than just a job, and I have many other "passions" outside nursing like my family, and having access to a ton of beautiful and safe natural walkways.

The rates are around 50% here. Looking at the class of 2013 grads, 50% managed to somehow stay in California. I don't need a "glamour job" at the hospital, just ANY job.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I am proud of you. I did the same thing - moved to an area where I didn't know anyone or anything, a small town when I am a city girl at heart, and I broke and finally got a new job after 10 months. I couldn't stick it out for even a full year. I was about to lose it. Granted, I could have started antidepressants, anti-anxiety pills, or a combination of both, but I decided it was healthier for me just to leave. Props to you for sticking it out!