Nurse Residency Programs

 

     So it's definitely been some time since my last post. Since then I've had papers, tests, quizzes, posts, and a really interesting nursing conference. So to say the least, I've definitely been kept pretty busy. These days I have been spending a lot of my time looking up information on nurse residency programs. As you may or may not know, I am in my last semester of nursing school so I have been trying to figure out just what to do with myself once I graduate. Obviously I plan to take my NCLEX exam as soon as I can but after that I need a plan as to what to do. And here is where the nurse residency programs come in to play. In my head, I look at nurse residency programs like an extended externship or extended orientation is probably a better way to describe it. Pretty much they are geared toward new graduate nurses or experienced nurses looking to try a new area of nursing. How it works is you have an aspect in which you have class time and then you have an experienced nurse preceptor who gives you one-on-one training to transition you into the full-time nurse lifestyle. These programs can be 6 months-2 years long depending on the hospital, which consequently means that you have to give a 1-2 (possibly even 3) year commitment to the place in which you decide to do the program, again depending on the hospital. The beauty of these residencies is that when you accept them you are accepting a full-time position (that means money and benefits!) so once you finish the residency time period you stay on at the hospital as a part of the staff which is why you are given the commitment period. The residencies are offered in a number of areas, such as critical care, med/surg, emergency, maternity, neurology, orthopedics, and many more. They have these programs in many hospitals and different states as well. These residencies are a blessing in my opinion because you basically get the nurturing and learning feel of an orientation over an extended period of time to better transition you into being a nurse. I think my biggest fear once I graduate and get a job is realizing that I know nothing and actually suck at being a nurse. I think programs like this will really help to hone your skills and build your confidence which is exactly what I need. The best thing to do is to research, research, and research some more. Search on Google, go on hospital websites, call nursing education departments, pretty much just find as much information as you can to help you. Allnurses.com is a great website to read about how other people in the past applied, what sources they used, how their experience was, how their interviews were, when to apply, and pretty much everything you really need to know from different people's perspectives. Most people may be thinking that their goal after graduation is finding the perfect job but my goal is going to be more so focused on finding a good residency program for myself. ( http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-nursing/students/resources/upload/Guide-to-Hospital-Nursing-Residency-and-New-Graduate-Programs.pdf ) This is a link to a list of a bunch of hospitals in all the different states that offer residency programs in which you can click on them and be redirected to their pages to get more info about them. Just like externships, I definitely recommend looking into and doing a residency program if you can.