Washington Hospital Center Fellowship

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Hello everyone! I am a senior nursing student and will be graduating in May. I am interested in relocating to DC from Ohio and I am interested in WHC. How is the fellowship for new grads? Is it very competitive to get in to? Also what is the starting pay for new grads?

Also what are some other good programs for new grads? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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Specializes in SICU.

The fellowship lasts for several weeks (months). Orientation time does not include classroom time. One week of orientation is 40 hours. If you are going to classes it could take 2 or 3 weeks actual time to finish a week of orientation. I say this because if you go to med/surg and have 8 weeks orientation, it truly means 8 weeks on the floor. Where the true learning occurs. You have tests during orientation that need to be passed. But they are not too hard.

WHC is a union hospital with a contract. The new grad pay for next summer will be either $27.34 or $27.673. Contract year ends in April. So the pay rate changes then from whatever they are saying right now. It pays one of the highest wages in this area.

It is competitive to get in. Sign up for a dream day (when you can travel to D.C.). You need to sign up for two areas that you possibly like to work in. You get a breakfast provided. You need to be in scubs. Spend around an 1 1/2 hrs on each unit shadowing a nurse on that unit. This way you can see the flow, give and take and atmosphere of that floor/unit. You then get to interview with your preferred floor/unit. In the interview they will ask you several patient care questions. Your answers are scored and depending on how you critically think they will either offer you a job (in a couple of days) for that floor/unit or possibly on another one.

They offer new grad programs in almost all departments apart from the OR and Peds. They don't have a Ped's department as Children's is right next door.

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Thank you so much for your response! It was very informative. I would really like to attend Dream Day. However you said it was competitive. Are the majority of people not offered a job? Do you think it would be worth the drive down there?

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Specializes in SICU.

I think that most get offered jobs. Of the 6 or 7 from my class that applied at least 5 were offered jobs and 3 of us accepted. It's competitive in the way they do the interviews. You might apply for say the PACU but after they look at your answers they might offer you a med-surg tele position.

I originally applied for the ER but they had already given all positions out. 3 days later I was offered a SICU fellowship. Went back to check it out and accepted it. A week later I was also offered the ER fellowship but decided to stay in the SICU.

It is worth the drive. It was the only hospital that let you go onto the floors/units without a manager next to you. The nurses could talk freely about how they felt about their job and what occurs on it. I even got to do some things on my dream day, thats the reason you go in scrubs!

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"You then get to interview with your preferred floor/unit. In the interview they will ask you several patient care questions. Your answers are scored and depending on how you critically"

Could you give an example of the types of patient care questions they typically ask? I realize that you don't know what they'll be asking this year, but anything would be useful :) Thanks...

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Specializes in SICU.

I'm not going to go into specifics because I really like the idea that they offer positions based on, how you as a nurse would respond to pt problems. If you have perfect test scores but can't critically think, they wont hire you.

I will say, they give you a pt scenario. They will then ask you, what do you think is happening?, what do you think should be the first thing that you do?, what orders would you expect to get? The scenario's are not hard or complicated, they are things that as a graduate nurse that can pass the nclex should be able to answer.

They also do the regular interview questions, such as why do you want to work here?, where to you see yourself in 5 years?, tell me a time that you had an ethical problem and what did you do?, have you ever had a problem with a co-worker and what did you do?

Don't stress about. It was the most upfront , this is what we are like, come and look at us, interview that I had. No hospital is perfect, but during dream day you can get to find out the reality of nursing at WHC. It is why I took the job here and not any of the other offers that I had.

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Hi there!

I have an interview at Washington Hospital Center for an ICU position in 2 weeks. Is the "critical thinking" test written or oral exam? And how long exact is the orientation?

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Specializes in SICU.

The critical thinking part is oral. ICU orientation is 12 weeks. They have several different ICU's. 2 MICU's and 4 SICU's plus CVRR and PACU. Have fun during dream day.

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

Can I ask if anyone knows what the union dues are? The salary sounds good, but if the dues are high.....

Also, I have heard that parking is a problem/expensive there. Do staff have to pay?

Thanks for all the info. It's great to have someone lay it all out for us.

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I live in the area and did a student clinical there. I never talked to a happy nurse. They were mostly new and just trying to get experience before moving on.

Traffic in and out of DC is the worst in the country - I have lived and worked in many large metro areas, and the only place that comes close to this bad is LA. It is also very expensive to live in a decent place close by.

Two people in my class did the fellowship and quit at the end of orientation, d/t the extremely high acuity, difficult population, multiple preceptors, unclear expectations, the commute being worse than expected, etc.

Check it out with eyes wide open. Especially consider where you will live and what it will cost.

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Specializes in L&D, QI, Public Health.
I live in the area and did a student clinical there. I never talked to a happy nurse. They were mostly new and just trying to get experience before moving on.

Traffic in and out of DC is the worst in the country - I have lived and worked in many large metro areas, and the only place that comes close to this bad is LA. It is also very expensive to live in a decent place close by.

Two people in my class did the fellowship and quit at the end of orientation, d/t the extremely high acuity, difficult population, multiple preceptors, unclear expectations, the commute being worse than expected, etc.

Check it out with eyes wide open. Especially consider where you will live and what it will cost.

Ac, what specialities did your friends work in?

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Specializes in L&D, QI, Public Health.
Can I ask if anyone knows what the union dues are? The salary sounds good, but if the dues are high.....

Also, I have heard that parking is a problem/expensive there. Do staff have to pay?

Thanks for all the info. It's great to have someone lay it all out for us.

I think the dues are roughly $100 a month and the parking is only $25 a month.

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