Acute Care and then some

So I had two interviews today. Both were for acute care hospitals. 1 is the sister company of the one I work with, the other the large corporate hospital that spans the entire valley. Peds and the other Neuro/Rehab

Interview #1. PRO: AWESOME! Great staff, great managers, a lot of acuity, with potential for overtime, although potential for getting low censused as well in the off seasons, but she said if I train for Charge then I would not get low censused first. They also do have some LPNs on staff so of course they get low censused first but they are currently 60% RN staffed as with any facility. NO tech though so it's total care. but they are mostly babies. Anyway, It's Peds of course with the average age under 3 but can be up to 18. Lots of NICU step-down, drug withdrawal, RSV, and antibiotic therapy, as well as cardiology step-down. 5:1 ratio. Small hospital no loss of seniority or benefits, more pay, harder job of course than my homecare case, but so much more to learn and it counts towards that oh so important acute hospital experience that is a make or break right now.

CON: Can not do my homecare case anymore. Despite the bond we have and desire to maintain the relationship and such, the bitches at the office were like, "Oh you are going there, well we will just reassign your case." I told them I was only going to do part-time at the hospital and could still work 16 ours or 2 days to give me the 40 and they were like, "No we will use you somewhere else because they may have an issue staffing if the hours are less than that.. Of course you KNOW the only reason I have put up with these people for this long is because of the case so there is no way I would stay if they reassigned me to another case.

So anyway, I have to talk to the Mom and see what she says and everything, maybe she can insist that I do 2 8 hour shifts and whoever they get work there the other 4 days = 32 hours for them? I KNOW that they split cases all the time, heck that is how I started. The Mom and I had a talk about it yesterday a little, because we knew they were going to pitch a fit, but yeah... maybe we can can rearrange some things, or at the very least I will just see them in a non-nursing way... after all we are buying their other house from them, and the Mom may come and work for me if we get cases with nursing hours, which I am determined to do!

The key to this whole mess is that as a new RN I really need to get acute care experience or I am going to be stuck in homecare forever and well.. what if something happens to my only reason for staying in Homecare to begin with?



Interview #2 Neuro/Rehab. What else can I say. It is also considered acute care, the interview was mostly situation type of personality questions. I probably blew it, mainly because I was a tad disenchanted with the unit as I walked through it. But either way I still answered the questions the best way I could, but well... bleck. Of course I expressed interest, beyond what I actually had, and asked about training and whatnot. She said they were interviewing next week as well, and if I made the next cut it would be a peer panel interview. So yeah I would not turn it down, because of the opportunity, but really, Neuro/Rehab? It's like a Nursing Home on steroids! These pts are too unstable to go to facilities and too stable to be on the floors. The acuity changes but the majority of the until consists of -No vents but there are trachs, burns, LVADs, TBI, Stroke and Cardiac(non-monitored) beds. (Technically the designation could be termed Med/Surg)

So stay tuned I guess...


So anyway... I have not slept yet, I have to work tonight, I have not been able to eat anything, my band is so damn tight because of the stress, so maybe I will try and get a few hours of a nap before work.