The Details

The floor I will be working on is the pulmonary/endocrine/family medicine unit. So what that means is I will be taken care of mostly people that have problems with their lungs, but also people that have issues with their hormones, and some people that are in the hospital because their regular doctor wants them in the hospital for some reason. Basically it is your general run of the mill medical floor. It should be a great place to start my career.

No one left the floor for 5 years. The only reason that they are hiring is because they moved to a new floor and needed more nurses. Several of the new hires are new graduates, but there are a lot of really experienced nurses on the floor as well. I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet people my own age and learn from the older nurses. There is even a mentorship program that I can take part in to help my transition from nursing student to nurse.

I am starting out on the night shift. They gave me the option of what shift I would like to work. All the nursing shifts are 12 hour shifts. So, since I am working night shift I will be working from 7pm to 7:30am. I did both days and nights in my internship and I liked nights because the hospital was quieter. And I get 15% more to work nights. That makes a big difference over the year.

Speaking of money, the money is good. It is better than any of the other places that I interviewed. But that is not a big deal, because they all tend to adjust to each other, because if there was a big difference then all the nurses would leave one hospital to go to the other. On that note, one of the hospitals that I interviewed at called me today disappointed that I had taken this job. They asked if they gave me more money if I would consider going to their hospital. I had no idea that kind of stuff really happened.

I am not sure what I wear. I think that I just wear scrubs. I think I can wear whatever I want, even different color pants. At UIHC I think all the nurses and NA's have to wear white pants. I just have to make sure about that. I have to buy my own scrubs though. No big deal. I bought a special new first day of work outfit today. I bought white pants just in case. I will post picture later.

My first day will be on April 24th. I have two days of general hospital orientation. I would start earlier, but I am still waiting on my nursing license. I will start on that day anyway if I still don't have my license, I will start anyway. I would official start as a nurse extern, but that basically just extends my orientation.

I have to sign papers and stuff tomorrow. I might get my name tag that day. Perhaps I will make sure it says Miss Holly RN.