Looking for a Nursing Job (Pediatric Medical Surgical)

I think part of the problem with not getting a job (even in applicant friendly field) is that she is limiting herself to a specific geographic region/city. Not everyone gets to pick and choose where they want to work and actually enjoy it. I'm sure she can find a job if she looks in other areas.

 

Those are great fields. I was thinking about going the Rad Therapy or dosimetrist route in my xray days, and was actually accepted to the MD Anderson Rad Therapy program, but decided not to go after thinking about nursing anesthesia(that and they wanted me to go to Tyler, Tx for 3 months of the year long program ><). Anyways, those are both good pay increases over a regular RT salary.(In 1999 it was 50k-55k, and 70k for the manager...dosimetrists make about 70k I think..but you have to take some advanced physics courses...they're not too tough though)

The only thing is that there isn't really much overtime available in those fields as they are usually all day shift positions and no on-call (not any 'emergency' radiation therapies to be done ) , so you would probably have to get another PRN job if there were any times you wanted to make a little extra money for whatever reason.

If you really wanted to make good money in the shortest possible time the CRNA is no doubt the quickest route to go. Get your BSN in 3 years, get trained in an ICU for 1-2 years out of school, then get admitted to CRNA school 2.5-3 years. You'd be making around 150k (I've heard of some in the 300k range with experience, private practices and such) with possibly just 6.5 years of school. If you make good grades in school it should be very attainable...it was my goal for awhile, but I recently lost a taste for healthcare all together (burnout I suppose) and decided to go back to school for another career...but I'd highly recommend anyone to go for it if they don't want the physician route.

Oh, regarding the RA's, I've heard of some hospitals hiring them, but for the most part it's really tough for them to find jobs...there's even some piece of legislation that is currently being decided on that would make it even tougher for them to get a job...not good.

 

Dayum! My wife just got accepted into UT Nursing for their BSN/MSN program and she wants to be an NP. Maybe I should push her towards CRNA. lol

 

It's almost the same amount of schooling, but much greater pay...

 

Yeah, but I heard it's boring. I was kidding about pushing my wife into it mainly because NPs make good money too (though not like CRNAs) and I want her to be happy with what she's doing.
Then again she's always wanted to make more money than me so she might be able to do it if she's a CRNA. lol

 

NP - summarized as "over worked, under payed"

and dr.s treat you like crap. so unless she has a passion to be an NP..i wouldnt do it.

i just graduated with my BSN and about to take state boards tomorrow morning (pray for me).

still looking for a job. i mean my gpa is 3.3 but i guess there's just a lot of better qualified applicants.

 

$110k is underpaid?

 

Lol. I just figured I would respond to this.


I live in a horrible market right now, and work at a very poor hospital, where I get treated pretty much like crap, yet do everything they ask of me. Raises are on hold for at lead a year, meaning I'm stuck making about 34K for at least another year.

Granted, I only have 1 year of experience. I'm not even offered call time. If I was offered call time or overtime, I would be closer to 50K a year.

35K is not bad for 21, but raises come slowly in this field, and I can see that in the long run, I'll want something more distinguishable that pays better.

 

Where I live, they make like 70 to 80 k (but like I said, the market I live in pays very low compared to other areas of the country (the median home price here is 80K....very low cost of living).

I have heard that about doctors despising NP's, though, and to another lesser extent PA's. The reason is because doctors spend all that time in school, and from what I gather, are jealous that NP's get almost all the power, and some of the glory...

 

From what I understand, NPs don't work in the hospitals so they don't run into doctors in those situations. They work at clinics, usually for the doctors, so I don't see the tension there.
My pediatrician has an NP working for her and both of their names are on the doors and I never see any issues. But then again why would I be privy to any beef.
But yeah, in Houston the NPs start at $100-110k or so I believe.

 

Yeah. I think it just depends on what doctor you work for mostly. I know someone who is a NP that has never had any issues before.

Even though you work with a doctor, in an office, they catch criticism every now and then for things like ordering exams, etc. But like I said, I think it depends on who you work with.

The Practitioner field is a good one though. If I were a nurse, I would probably have to choose between being a NP or a CRNA. Like you said, the practitioner field would be more attractive because it would be more interesting, etc.

 

Wow...70s and 80s....hmm where is your current place of residence? There are also people that still think pharmacists only make that much.

There are plenty of NPs in the hospitals. There were quite a few at Children's in Dallas. Most hospitals also have their own clinics, and it's always cheaper to just let a couple of shifts, while there's one primary doctor on site.

 

I have a friend that's interested in going to nursing school and becoming a NP or CRNA. I've had this explained to me numerous times, but I always seem to forget. Now tell me if this is correct....

1) About 60 hours of college credit for pre-reqs in order to get in (2 years)
2) Nursing school - LVN (2 years)
3) Nursing school - RN (1 more year)
4) Nursing school - NP (2 more years)

For some reason, I thought it was 5 or 6 years total to become a NP....

 

1) Correct, 2 years
2) Didn't get LVN
3) 2 for RN (for my wife.. who went to Cy-Fair)
4) 1 for BSN
5) 1 for MSN

So yeah, that would make it 6 years total. But you can work (it's actually expected) while getting BSN and MSN and have the hospital pay for it.