SCVMC Clinical Nurse I

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Has anyone applied to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Clinical Nurse I role? I received an email with ranking and percentage. However, I don't know what any of that means and I cannot find anything online. 

SoCaltoNorCal said:

Aww, thank you! I have quite a bit LOL:

Were the classes held on zoom or an actual classroom? Was it 8hours for 5 days (full time)? Did it feel enough for you?

What unit are you on?

How were the preceptors?

Did they train you on all shifts or just mainly one?

If you're on your own now, did they give you much less critical patients or less patients to start with?

Where you will start depends on wha hospital and what unit you got hired into and how much experience you have. I was hired into O'Connor hospital oncology /telemetry. The whole program is 40hrs per week and 13 weeks. I did my new employee orientation over Microsoft teams and some in their education locations which are scattered near VMC. After my new employee, orientation which was like a week, I began my new grad orientation in their designated classroom which is a building called the MOB (medical office buildings) there we did about one to one and a half month classroom time going over hospital policy, refresher of skills and bundles specific to the hospital (sepsis bundle, surgery bundled etc) 

 

after that for about 2 weeks we "looped" into other units which was basically doing one shift in every unit in the hospital and visiting pharmacy and other facets of the hospital.

then we for the rest of the time we went to class AND precepted on the units ON THE SHIFT YOU WERE HIRED INTO. For example I was hired on nights so I was going to class in the day about two days a week and also precepting at night 12 hour shifts. They TRY to take into account your sleep and shifts but it's still tiring. 
 

I like their program because instead of starting with one pt and then moving to five they start with five but gradually adding tasks. For example the first day I just shadowed my preceptor. Then the next shift I gave meds to all pts. Then the next shift I gave meds and assessed, then the next I did meds, charted and assessed. I like this style versus the usual practice of adding the whole workload of a patient every week. 

At the beginning they give you relatively "easy" patients or a "light assignment " then they gradually expose you to things on the unit. Like certain skills, or certain disease processes and acuity. 
 

I am now in their critical care program at valley medical center which is similar to their new grad program. 

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Hello, 

 

The New Grad Training Program/Specialty Training program is comprised of various clinical nurses. You may have Clinical Nurse I-IVs in the same cohort. Additionally, there will be various coded nurses. Coded staff are either full-time or Part-Time benefited nurse.  Non-coded nurses receive no benefits and are required to work several shifts a month with one weekend.  The training you receive is the same regardless of your code or clinical nurse status.

O'Connor and St Louis offer mostly Coded Positions where as at Santa Clara Valley Medical 98% of their training programs seek Extra Help Nurses. With that being said, SCVMC is well known for their strong training programs and have experienced coordinators teaching the classes additionally if you plan to work in a Trauma/Critical Care setting they get the trauma patients, more complex patients, and have more ICU specialties. Lastly, their hospital is very large and you'll get to learn how to function as a RN within a very large and expanding facility. 

Coded staff:  Full-Time/Part-Time

  • Regularly Staffed 
  • Can join the RNPA nurses union and hospital committees 
  • Health Insurance 
  • Paid Sick Leave/ Paid Vacation / Paid Educational Leave/ Family Leave
  • Pension 
  • Ect 

Non-Coded Staff: Per Diem/Extra Help 

  • Per Diem have no benefits, In Mid-Feb 2023 they will be making 20% more pay than coded nurses 
  • Extra Help have no benefits, and make significantly less than coded nurses who are in the same clinical ladder as them I think like 10% less 

So within each cohort you may have staff who say the have been hired as ( Extra Help Clinical Nurse I which is a non-benefited position and some who are Coded.  I personally think the extra-help positions are still worth accepting because the training here is good and is more traditional. I've been in another Residency where they don't teach your anything, but the county will teach you and go over the skills you need.  

Each hospital has different training requirements , but in general they are

5 days a week (40) hours

The weeks alternate between Didatic in-person training  and being assigned to a preceptor 

Preceptor ( primary and secondary as a back up). How well this is Enforced depends on the unit. I was mostly with my primary 80% of the time but my secondary was never the same person I was assigned to. Sometimes the preceptors are experienced and sometimes it is their first time ever precepting. Some are very good at teaching others just show you how to be successful and how to function on the unit only, but don't have really good "Teaching skills" but thats universal among all preceptors 

The hospitals may vary but Usually you training only on Day shift and once your 10-13 weeks approaches you will be given a few days to orient to the assigned shift you were hired for. Extra Help can usually work any shift I believe. 

The acuity of the patients you get will vary from charge nurse to charge nurse. Some will totally take into account that you are a new nurse and will be cognizant of the patients you get ,and they may want you to see various patients to gain certain experience . Others will assign you like every other nurse but will encourage you to do your best and just ask for help if you need it from your peers  or resource nurses. Why, because their are rules around nurses getting their patients back if they had those patients the day before so they may not always be able to give you patients based on your clinical readiness. This is why doing your best in the training program is so important. It's important that you know how to look up videos on YouTube , read Uptodate, and look up their policies. 

Extra Help nurses are a special case because many, eventually, will want a benefited and regular position. While Extra Help RNs ,in theory should get priority being hired for a coded clinical nurse position, compared to external candidates,  the reality is Extra Help Nurses and Per Diem nurses are considered to be external hires and not internal hires. Never the less, most extra help go ,eventually, get hired with a code, but it can take time and it depends on your specialty also.  Inpatient positions may take less time to get than an ambulatory setting RN.  Also the hospital will matter, again SVMC doesn't hire many Coded Clinical Nurse I's , so this can make it harder to get a coded position their .

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I also want to share I went to O'Connor and trained in a program with both O'Connor and SVMC nurses together. The newer cohorts had a different experience than I did when I began in Nov 2021. 

O'Connor changes their way of doing things often, while SVMC does not and is more similar to what I mentioned in my posting earlier. 

Only things is at SVMC you train on the floor 5 days a week ( 8 hour shifts) for the full length of the training program regardless of your code status. Their ED folks may have an exception because they work 12 hour shifts sometimes.  I think a few other units such as their PCU might also be transitioning the length of their shifts.

. At O'Connor and St Louis you do 12 hour shift and your schedule is usually 3 days a week on the floor. 

Both hospital may training you to do tele-monitoring as well if you request. 

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Thank you both so much for all the information, it gives me so much insight and excitement to join the program this coming march. I am gonna be starting in the TICU and am looking forward to lots of learning. 

Thank you for also mentioning the differences with the extra help position because that is what I was offered and do think it'll be worth a shot (plus the training seems really well). Seems intense with so much classes but I know it'll definitely pay off!! 

 

Last question: Is there any specific uniform regulations on the units? Like any color scrub we have to adhere by? 

Thank you guys again so much for helping such a baby nurse like me!!

 

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Is this paid training? 

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Specializes in NEW GRAD RN.
pearjuice0101 said:

@Heaven27 I think rankings only matter to receive the interview. what was your ranking and how soon did you receive the invite to interview afterwards? I'm on the 70th percentile with a ranking of 100...

hahahh , im on 116! LOL!

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QING ZHU said:

hahahh , im on 116! LOL!

It was awhile ago that I applied, but I was fairly high ranking at 19,18,17,16 depending on the application. It didn't take long for me to get a response but I think I heard back no later than 2 months. This was during a time where all hospitals were desperately looking for nurses ,New graduates especially, since Covid-19 pandemic was still going on and many nurses were not returning to bedside. Presently, hiring for acute care facilities have returned to pre pandemic demands or are on hiring freezes. At the county they are required to post a Clinical Nurse I position for, but they may actually be looking for a nurse with experience who meets criteria for Clinical Nurse II or III. This can make getting in much harder.  If they don't see enough Clinical Nurse I with experience, they often go to administration and file claims to then open an official posting for Clinical Nurse II and III.  If you have no acute care nursing experience at all, its important to apply to the "Training Program" that is designed to hire nurses with little to no experience in the specialty area. If you apply to the Clinical Nurse I position they are mostly seeking someone with 9months to 1 year in the specialty area who won't need a whole lot of training on the floor.

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