Wanna move to Tulsa?

I got a call from a recruiter and I told her that I would pass this information on. In part, she said:

We have some great prospects in Tulsa if you have any interest, or know someone who might be, and the hospital offers fantastic opportunities. The hospital will pay up to $5,000 for relocation, a $1,000 incentive, $7,000 sign on bonus, competitive salary and benefits, tuition reimbursement, etc.

If you are interested in contacting her, her contact information is here:

Lauren Paoli

Healthcare Recruiter

Adkore Healthcare Group

12880 Metcalf Avenue

Overland Park, KS 66213

913.402.8031 x 310

Toll free 1.866.606.5828

A GREAT, free email service for RNs

Some time ago I registered the domain "imnrn.com" and in all of my copious free time now, I have gotten it set up to use Google's email system as the email host. For those who don't know, Google's email (gmail) system is the most solid, powerful, easy-to-use email system on the planet. I could go into a serious sales pitch, but I won't. If you need such a pitch, let me know. I'd love to convince you.

Having said that, the email account described above is not for sale. It's free to my fellow students and my RN friends that I am quickly accumulating. If you want a simple, cool email address for your professional (or personal) use, just let me know and I'll set it up. The cost to me is minimal, so I'm not too worried about that. Well, I'm assuming I'll be working shortly, so I'm not worried so far.

This offer, of course, goes to our illustrious past instructors as well!

Note: This email address can also be set up for retrieving with whatever email client you already use, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. but you also access it via the web with Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. To the best of my knowledge, there are no downsides to getting this email address!

Flaw in my system

I just realized that some people who may have gotten their licenses already may not actually show up here. I'm only checking the Washington State DOH credentials database, and some people in our class may be getting their license in a different state. If I hear of any, will post the congratulations all the same.

Heads up: Pinning boxes

Remember, tomorrow is the last day to pick your pinning boxes up from Denise. Missy picked mine up for me, and it wasn't what I expected, but it is the actual original box that your pin came in, if you're interested. It is just a little maroon cardboard box with your name on a label.

Am I the only one that was disappointed to find that our pin didn't actually say "RN" on it?

New RN List at Top Right

I've added a running list of who I see on the WA DOH website that you might want to drop a note to and congratulate :)

Gardasil looking suspicious

The bloom is off the Gardasil rose. It isn't the peaches and cream vaccine darling that they made it out to be. I suspect that this is only the beginning...

Seriously unofficial RN reports

I've been checking the WA State DOH website to see who has their RN now, and it looks like the July 4th holiday may be the culprit for sluggish results. But when I went to take my NCLEX-RN today, I saw Danielle and she said that after talking to Heather, she learned that these folks have taken their NCLEX-RN as well:

Heather
Kristi (B.)
Carla
Cara
Kellie
Both Amandas

If I understood her correctly, they got their results already (they paid the $8) and they all passed. I may have misunderstood, though, and that might only apply to Heather.

Danielle and I went in together, and when I came out, Sharon was going in, and Ranae was supposed to go in at 2pm today as well.

First known RN's from our class

I'm still digging through the state's database, but so far I see that Missy and Albina are both RNs as of today. Congratulations!

... And Anne and Adrianna as well!

Grace Clinic hat tip to CBC

From an email to all volunteer nurses at Grace Clinic:

I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the CBC students who have already graduated from the RN program and will be getting pinned Saturday afternoon. They are Jeff Jewell, Missy Fargher, Gulmira Shelton, Albina Pace, Sharon Shaw, Carla Schultz, Ranae McCullough, and Kristie Bond. Grace Clinic is a better place for each of you taking the time to volunteer here and we are thankful for the continuing relationship with CBC that you help us maintain. Congratulations and we are all proud of your achievement.

I heard a number of great comments from Grace Clinic regular volunteers about CBC students. I hope next year there will be even more CBC volunteers.

No NCLEX authorization yet? You have a problem!

Disclaimer: This is "unofficial word", but from my experience:

If you have not gotten your authorization to test, THERE IS A PROBLEM. You need to check into it. The dates are filling up horribly. I was just able to scheduled today, due to a problem on my application to the state board, and the earliest date that I could get at either Spokane or Yakima was July 7th at 8am. Also, it didn't look like there were any times other than 8am.

Here is what I did to track down the problem, and both at the state level, and PearsonVue, they worked quickly to get it fixed. The outcome was just very disappointing, because I got such a late test date:

I called PearsonVue first:
United States - 1-866-496-2539 (toll free) Monday - Friday 7am - 7pm US CT

They told me that they hadn't received the go-ahead from the nursing board, and they gave me the number to call there, which is: 360-236-4700 (not toll free). You get a voice menu, and the choices don't seem to fit any of the situations, so I selected "6", for "other problem". Also note that I tried at least one of the other options yesterday, and it gave me a recording saying that they were too busy, call back another day and disconnected me--no chance to leave a message--nothing. So "6" is your best bet.

Good luck!

Come on, nurses, you shouldn't mind an extra tax!

Did you realize that in 2005, our governor decided that there needed to be a nursing center in the state for the benefit of all Washington residents? (click document at left for the full PDF file) Who could argue with that, especially since we're nurses, right? Some of the benefits of this center are:

1. Maintain information on the current and projected supply and demand of nurses;
2. Monitor and validate trends in the applicant pool for programs in nursing;
3. Facilitate partnerships between the nursing community and other health care providers, licensing authority, business and industry, consumers, legislators, and educators;
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of nursing education and articulation among programs to increase access to nursing education;
5. Provide consultation, technical assistance, data and information related to Washington state and national nursing resources;
6. Promote strategies to enhance patient safety and quality patient care; and,
7. Educate the public including students in grades K-12 about opportunities and
careers in nursing.

Well, this center that they set up, "to contribute to the health and wellness of Washington state residents," is paid for by us, as nurses, every year. To fund this, they raised the cost of annual nursing license renewal fees.

Is it just me, or does this seem a little unfair? Let's say that the governor thought we should have a new law enforcement resource center set up in Washington state. Clearly, we would want to charge each police officer a $5 per year fee, right? I don't think it would fly. Someone show me what I'm missing here...

Congratulations Sophomores!

We're done, guys! I don't know that anyone sees this other than me, but I had to write something somewhere, since I have no mountaintop close by to shout it from. It sure is a relief, isn't it? Not much else to say about it, but I can't stop thinking about the fact that I don't have anything due...well, except that at some point soon I'll be taking NCLEX-RN and should probably be getting ready for that. But that can always wait until tomorrow, right?

Breakthrough to Nursing

I'm still trying to get schools lined up. There are two or three schools that have called me back and expressed interest. I will followup more today with the other schools and hope to get more lined up.

I didn't expect that we'd have an abundance of student volunteers, and a lack of schools, but if today doesn't produce more interest, that may be the way the chips fall. Thank you for those who have volunteered. I will get back to you to see if you're off the hook or on.

Nurses Week

Happy Nurses week-- I know I'm actually a little late, but just came across this neat little spot on the internet that you may be interested in. Martha Stewart had a day dedicated to nurses. You might want to check out the videos there. I found the video about nurses uniforms and equipment of the early days to be particularly interesting.

Spring 2008 calendar seems stabilized

There didn't seem to be many changes to the calendar after the quarter started on Monday. I made the few updates that there were. I am also in the process of putting in the Professional Issues deadlines as well, now that we have that.

Sophomore Spring calendar added

I'm sure it will change, but I entered the calendar as it exists so far. It is only for the sophomore dates, but since so far, I think I'm the only one who sees it, it doesn't much matter ;) If you see this, pass the word that it's here. Anyone who has a Google account should be able to just add this calendar to their own. Any changes, additions, deletions, etc. will automatically show up on your calendar then.

Calendar added

I added a calendar. Please note that it is "unofficial", so that nobody complains to CBC staff about this, then having them yell at me. Having said that, this is as up-to-date as the information we have, and to the best of how I understand it. So take it with a grain of salt. Having said that, if you see something that you don't think is right, let me know, and I will investigate, as I believe that this calendar is a true picture of what we have going on. I intend to try to keep it up Spring quarter as well.

There is one date on it that I'm still confused about. It's probably just me. But between staff referring to us "Group 1/Group 2" and "1st Group/2nd Group", which apparently are not the same thing, I am still a little confused. But that seems to affect only March 13th, so I will get it clarified for myself and update it.

Pin orders due a day earlier

I had in my notes that we were supposed to get our pin orders in by April 1st. There is an email yesterday from Denise saying that we have to have them in by March 31st. FYI.

Cardiac group - Test changed to March 3rd, 2008

Check out WebCT. Look under ADN 221.

It seems that Shirley changed the first cardiac test date. Whew...!

For your convenience, it says:

Shirley's 2nd Cardiac Group will have the exam over Diagnostic tests, Emergency Drugs and Rhythms on 3/3/08 at 0930. This will give you more time to finish lectures over basic arrhythmias . I have attached a new grid but the second exam will be at the same time. Good luck! Thanks for your understanding.