Vandy Nurse Residency ?s

mythreegirls · Jan 14, 2009

Hi, I hope that I can provide you with some info. I am starting the Vanderbilt Nurse Residency on January 26th, having just graduated in December. I will be in the Adult Medicine tract which was my second choice. I was hesitant to take it because I did not get my first choice, but I know that Vanderbilt is a fabulous hospital and hope that beginning my nursing career is the right thing to do.

To answer your question about the interview - just do some research on nursing interviews. I will admit that I was completely unprepared for the interview as it was. Being that it was my first nursing interview ever, it was a little scary. They asked me questions about specific clinicals, i.e, naming your best and worst and why, how I organize my clincal days, they may ask about specific signs and symptoms you have noticed and the interventions done for your patient, etc. Of course, they ask why you want to work at Vandy which was certainly the easiest question they asked.

You are right about lots of people volleying for the jobs . . . I heard that in the first group hired (May 08), they had over 400 applications and hired 192. This past time, they had 290 applications, interviewed 188 and I think they hired somewhere around 100 or so.

Also, I came from an AD program as well. I was told that Vanderbilt would overlook the ADs for the BSNs, but I knew of a few other people from my graduating class that applied and we all got into the Nurse Residency. There are also people moving here from many different states to work in the Nurse Residency which is really amazing to me. I'm originally from here so it is pretty unbelievable that people are moving here from all over to work at Vanderbilt. I guess it just shows what a reputation they have.

I hope that this maybe helps you some. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask and I will try to answer as best I can.

jones.ah · Jan 15, 2009

thanks so much, mythreegirls- it's encouraging to hear from someone in the know :) congratulations on getting into the program, and good luck! i'll post back on how things turn out. :yeah:

ICUgeek · Jan 20, 2009

Just wanted to say that I will also be starting the Residency on the 26th. I'm also an ADN student from out of state and had the same worries, but it wasn't an issue. I have heard from more and more hospitals that it doesn't matter what degree (ADN or BSN) and in fact many hospitals like ADNs because most of those schools have more hands on clinical time. The Residency interview was scary in my mind, but the 3 people who interviewed me were sooo nice so it was not nearly as bad as I feared.

Mythreegirls- I will look forward to seeing you in a few days at the luncheon! I had no idea that so many people applied-I'm still amazed I was one of the people they picked!

mythreegirls · Jan 21, 2009

Hey, ICU Geek, I totally agree. The panel that interviewed were very nice. My only wish was that I had gone to at least one or two other nursing interviews before I went to the Vanderbilt one. I worked as an Executive Assistant and Legal Secretary for over 15 years before I went back to nursing school. Being that those were the only kinds of interviews I had ever been on, boy was a nursing interview different. However, I will say that I know some people from my graduating class that took jobs at other hospitals and they said their interview was nothing like the one at Vanderbilt. I just think that there were so many applicants for the Nurse Residency that they had to make it a more competitive process. I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity and look forward to it.

I'm also looking forward to the reception and finding out more about this opportunity we have been given.

jones.ah · Jan 21, 2009

Thanks ICUgeek, and congratulations to you, also! I can't tell you both how encouraging this is for me, and I'm getting so excited to send my application in. I just hope it's good enough for an interview! If you two don't mind, could you post on here every once in a while to say how your experience is going? I'd sure appreciate it and I'll be sure to let you all know how things turn out for me. Take care :)

taralyon2004 · Jan 22, 2009

Thanks for the info on the residency! I am an out of state ADN student also, and I've applied for the program beginning in July. I really hope to get in! Can you tell me what the pay is during the residency? I will have to relocate and I need to know before I go apartment hunting! Thanks!

mythreegirls · Jan 22, 2009

The pay is $18.25 per hour for all areas except critical care areas. If you are in a critical care area the pay is $19.50, I think. Hope this helps. Of course, it could change before July, but this is what it is now.

boykinm · Jan 23, 2009

I too am starting Jan 26 and am coming from out of state. I was really interested in working somewhere with the new grad residency program. I interviewed at UVA, NY presbyterian, Georgetown and Vandy. While the pay was the lowest at Vandy- the thing I liked the most was that it allowed you to have a track in mind, but rotate through different floors before committing to work. Ex: I am a critical care resident so I will rotate for 6 or 8 weeks through Burn, Trauma, Surgical, PACU, CVICU, Neuro etc... and then match to where I want to work. I think this is so helpful because one thing I have learned throughout nursing school is that your interests change. It will be nice to be exposed to a floor before committing to work. Big selling point for me.

The interview style was behavioral questioning. it's an E-A-R question interview.

E-Event: tell them what happend

A- Action: tell them what action you took in response to the event

R- Results: what happened as a result of your intervention.

My class was heavily instructed on these interviews so that's the only reason I was prepared. For ex a question type would be: Tell me about a noncompliant patient and what you did to promote compliance.

There are about a million questions online about behavioral interview questions.. Google them.

Hope this helps :)

jones.ah · Feb 11, 2009

Ok mythreegirls, ICUgeek and boykinm, I got an invitation for an interview yesterday- hooray! Just wanted to share the good news, and also check in on you all and see how the program is going for you so far. Please post when you get a chance to let me know, and congrats again! (And if anyone has further interview advice or happens to remember any specifics, it would be greatly appreciated) Take care

Kris529 · Feb 22, 2009

I am glad I found this thread! I am also applying to the nurse residency program at Vanderbilt and have an interview set up March 10. I am very nervous as I have never gone through this process before. Jones.ah, did you find out about transfering your license to TN? What track are you interested in? :nurse:

Kris529 · Feb 22, 2009

I was wondering if anyone got any moving expenses paid when they relocated to Nashville for the Vandy program? I am curious as I'm coming out of state, but it's not something I really want to ask during the interview. I don't want to seem greedy. Haha