Friday, March 29, 2013

Nurse Residency Programs for new grads: my journey

I am done (in 6 weeks) however I am done with all in classroom time, lectures, labs, and exams. I only have 6 weeks of senior placement/precepting in the hospital, which by the way I will be going to a level 3 NICU, and I will be graduating in May!! I've known since before I started nursing school I wanted to work with children especially babies and toddlers so when I got into nursing school I knew I had to be a NICU nurse no questions. Well its incredibly difficult for new graduates to get hired on a high level NICU or any pediatric unit, however my dreams are bigger than just a unit, I want to work in the NICU at a children's hospital (not exactly the place most new graduates start out). Even for experienced nurses it's not easy getting into a children's hospital but once your there most don't leave.

So how do you beat the odds and give yourself a fighting chance at working in a children's hospital? I started my very first semester in nursing school by discovering nurse residency programs for new graduate nurses. Most children's hospitals offer them as do most hospitals in general (not all though) and the trick to this is research. I know I groaned myself when I wrote that but it is true, I can't tell you how many hours I've spent on my computer researching programs. Twitter has become my best friend in this process and all the programs I've selected to apply to have a twitter page, I even discovered some programs through twitter. I knew from the beginning that these programs only have your nursing school history to go off of and your work experience so I knew I needed to keep working with children as long as possible and make the most out of my 4 semesters in nursing school.

Now the work part wasn't that hard for me, I have been working with children for years and I was currently working with children when I started nursing school. As for making the most of nursing school well keeping my grades up was one thing, don't get me wrong I by no means got strait A's but I never failed a course and I worked hard to keep my grades high which isn't easy when you are involved as much as I was. I ran for vice president of my local Student Nurses Association chapter at my university my second semester in the program, I become the unofficially elected class representative for my class, I am a volunteer teaching assistant for the first semester labs, and I worked for Americorps for the first year of school. The teachers knew me very well and have all been very willing to write me letters of recommendation for these programs. I did some other volunteer work over the past few years that relates to children and health care. I pretty much did everything possible to make me appealing to the hiring department.

So my tips for any student who wants to apply for a nurse residency program regardless if it's an ICU position at a regional medical center or a NICU position at a children's hospital.
~Research, research, research: Find out where appeals to you (both which unit/specialty you enjoy and what region of the country) and research the hospitals that appeal to you, what type of program do they offer if they offer one, do they have an application process or is is a program for all new nurses, what are their requirements to apply, when are their important dates.
~Talk to your instructors early if you need a letter of recommendation. I asked my instructors in late January and provided them with the same list I made for myself so that they were able to see exactly what I was looking at and planning. Pick instructors that will benefit you, I asked my pediatric clinical instructor and then everyone else were instructors who have worked with me in some way and know what I am capable of.
~Start early, I had my lists ready in January and I still missed about 3 deadlines for hospitals I found in late January/early February. I made so many phone calls, sent so many emails, and spent hours online. It takes time to find these programs.

~Create an amazing outstanding resume and cover letter, every hospital is going to ask for these two things and if they are good and sell you well it makes all the difference. Include whatever you think helps you, for me it was all my work with children, my involvement in school, my senior placement, my HESI Exit scores, ect. 
~Create a list with all the information you can gather from each hospital. This keeps you organized with important dates, requirements, contact people, ect. This is especially helpful if you are like me and applying to 12 or more programs. 

Here is an example of what mine looks like:
-->
*Children’s Hospital Los Angeles*

-Position is open: March 11th-14th online application, packet due March 29th 4pm in the HR department.

-Contact Person: Nurse recruiter, call (323) 361-2193

-Website: http://www.chla.org

-Requirements: California State License, CPR certification, Application submitted online, Packet to include: Resume, cover letter, current (official or unofficial) transcripts, 2 letters of recommendation, and letter of intent.
(packets received following submission of on application)

A lot of these programs have packets you submit which usually include letters of recommendation usually 2, letters of intent or essays, supplemental information forms, and preference letters. Each hospital is different but all of them have a fairly lengthy application process that takes more than a day to complete, so give yourself enough time to complete everything. Don't rush through your essays or letters of intent (I spent 2 weeks writing one), ask instructors or family to read it and see where you can improve. I always try and submit everything at least 24 hours before the deadline (I'm not a last minute type of person). Remember to be open to new possibilities, I was dead set on staying around the 4 corner states and now I'll have an application going all the way to Tennessee, keep in mind that you will more than likely need to travel for interviews and you need to be willing to just go if your given the opportunity. I hope these tips help someone out there with their search for a job after graduation. 
Here is my list of hospitals I will have applications in at (in no order):
~ Children's Hospital of Los Angeles
~Children's Hospital of Orange County
~Rady Childrens in San Diego
~Phoenix Children's Hospital
~Colorado Children's Hospital
~University of Colorado Hospital 
~University of New Mexico Hospitals
~Dallas Children's Hospital
~Cook Children's Hospital in Ft. Worth
~University of Tennessee Hospitals
~University of Kentucky Hospitals
~St. Jude's Hospital in Tennessee
~I am still debating on a few hospitals in Ohio (it is so cold there in the winter brrr)         




Sunday, March 17, 2013

One can never go wrong with cookies and coffee

I know I have gone status MIA for a month if not longer, this was not my intention but senior semester kept me way busier than I expected. It wasn't even being over whelmed with homework but all this random busy work that kept me occupied. But I am 3 class days away from being done with in class work and will only be spending time in the hospital in precepting and working on my evidence based practice project (we won't go into that).

Any way I have been a pretty busy bee today between cleaning, crafting, and group meeting but i did manage to get some time in to make some AMAZING cookies and your getting the recipe. Now I did not come up with these cookies in fact I found them on pinterest (go figures right). I pinned the recipe a really long time ago and never got around to actually making them. But while searching through pinterest and my cookbooks for a yummy new cookie recipe & in a sense re-discovered this recipe in my own board.

There is a story behind my reason for baking I needed to give my instructor something nice for helping me to get the preceptor placement I really wanted and needed! Needless to say I haven't the easiest student in the past 4-6 weeks, mostly because I have been in her office weekly and emailing her daily trying to get my placement. I originally has requested to be in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a hospital about 45 minutes away and I had spoken with her a week before classes started to let me know that my preceptor placement was very important because I was applying to a nurse residency program in a Children's Hospital for after graduation. It ended up becoming this huge bundle of insanity as I was bounced from ER, L&D, Peds, Research/baby friendly initiative before finally receiving the good news they had officially gotten me into the NICU at the hospital I requested. Probably the happiest moment in my life and a huge relief to know I was getting exactly what I wanted and needed.

So after my teacher had been so nice to me and put up with my craziness I needed to do something nice for her. Hence these wonderful amazing soft chewy cookies!!! Everyone ready (drum roll please) Cookies & Cream pudding cookies!!! Simply amazing! I used the recipe posted here:
 http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/05/oreo-pudding-cookies.html

However I didn't have semi-sweet chocolate chips so I used a 4 oz cookie and cream candy bar and omitted the chocolate chips, they still taste amazing! Also I had to bake my cookies for about 10-12 minutes roatating the pan half way through, I think 8 minutes just wasn't long enough for my oven. I started with 8 and after 8 minutes I added 2 minutes till they were ready (I watched them very closely).

So for my teacher I found this adorable purple coffee much at Target on clearance for $0.98 (remember I'm still a broke college nursing student) and I had these little sample coffee packs from starbucks laying around. so I stacked some cookies in a bag, added my coffee, tied it with a bow, and a little homemade thank you note to top it off. One can never go wrong with cookies and coffee!