Mikey finished the Associates part of his nursing program at the end of July and took the NCLEX (nursing boards) in September. The national computerized licensing exam gives anywhere from 75 to 265 questions and shuts off when it determines whether you are above the passing line or below the failing line. Mikey passed with the minimum number of questions, that smart guy! He had hoped to work at IMC on the Surgical Transplant unit where he had done his capstone rotation, but though the manager fought with HR to hire him, IMC said they are required to hire internal candidates or students who took scholarships under a contract to work after graduation.
Mikey was bummed about that and quickly found that it is quite difficult to even get an interview in Salt Lake hospitals as a new grad nurse with no previous healthcare experience. Luckily, a few weeks after getting his license, the same manager called him back and asked if he still wanted a job. She had been very unimpressed with the internal candidates and had written the CNO to be able to hire Mikey, whom she was very impressed with during his clinical rotation. So, Mikey, as an inexperienced new grad started working at IMC in October on a high acuity unit! He has been enjoying the challenges of his new career and really loving the 3 day work week! He'll be off orientation the first week of December and working night shifts from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
He is continuing on to get his Bachelors of Science in Nursing (his second Bachelors to his International Business degree) during the spring and fall semesters at Weber. Most of his classes will be online and there are no more clinicals! I am a very proud girlfriend and happy to finally be a two nurse family!
Watching Mikey learn so much and start a new career made me a little jealous. I have been working at St. Mark's Labor and Delivery for almost 7 years and this year especially, I've been ready for some sort of change. I had been eyeing positions as an OB team flight nurse with AirMed, a position in the Maternal Fetal Medicine office and... the ER. Several positions opened up recently in the ER and my friend Tiff, who used to work in L&D and is now in the ER, started recruiting a couple of us L&D nurses. I shadowed her for a day and felt like it was something I would enjoy. The fast pace of the ER and the required skills of prioritization and staying calm under pressure are very similar to what we do in L&D.
The ER was planning to hire within a week of the day I shadowed, so without too much further thought, I interviewed, was offered a position and decided to work part time on both units. I started orientation 2 weeks ago and it has been... fun, interesting, crazy, a lot to learn, and new. It was a huge change to take care of the elderly and men, in general. I like my coworkers over there and people have been friendly and helpful so far. I'm looking forward to figuring out the meds, protocols and charting over there so I can feel more comfortable. I have been in L&D so long that even on crazy busy, stressful days, I'm still in my comfort zone. And now, I have stepped WAY out of it.
The ultimate career goal for Mikey and me has been to eventually travel nurse together. Usually 1-2 years of experience is required before a hospital will hire a traveller in their department of expertise. The length of travel positions is usually 4-26 weeks, but most are 13 weeks. What we'd like to do is talk with a travel nurse agency (or a few), tell them our experience, our preferred locations (Seattle, northern California, New York, Hawaii, Alaska, Montana), and our needs (dog friendly housing, we couldn't leave Stanley behind!), and then see what is available and take the best offers.
Travel nurse agencies get paid to find experienced nurses by hospitals who have short term nursing needs. From my research, once you've signed the contract, they pay for your travel to get there, housing or a stipend if you want to find it yourself, day one health insurance and 401K, a completion bonus, and an hourly wage of anywhere from $10-$25 an hour more than what I make now! One of us could take the provided housing and the other take the stipend and we could still keep our place in SLC to have a home base between contracts. Ideally, we'd ask a friend or family to live in our upstairs guest room and help manage the basement rental.
I think it would be fun for us to take turns picking where we go for 13 weeks at a time. That is just enough time to be able to explore a new place, find our favorite hikes, paragliding sites, yoga studios, bars and restaurants. We could invite friends to come visit, and my nieces and nephews could come hang out when they are off track or on summer vacation. I would love that!
The whole travel nurse plan has been talked about for so long, it felt like a pipe dream. But now that Mikey is an employed nurse, the plan could be made into reality, and soon! For a few months, I got worried when I realized how soon we might actually travel nurse, wondering if I'd really like it and thinking of all of the "What ifs?" But, I'm back on board with the plan now and truly looking forward to some travel nurse adventures with my cute boys.
In other news, we've done a lot of trips this year. We went to Florida with Mikey's family over his 30th birthday (yep, he turned the big three-oh). Mikey did one Westwater river trip without me and I went on the Yampa river and the Main fork of the Salmon river without him. I went to Germany recently for two weeks with Mikey's mom, Diane, to visit his sister, Annie, and her fiance, Kyle (pictures and blog coming soon!). And we are currently up at the Bear Lake cabin for the long Thanksgiving weekend with his parents.
Life is good. We know how lucky we are to have good jobs, a nice house, half of which is an income property, the same great tenants for 2.5 years, supportive and loving family close by, to both enjoy our in-law families so much, and to have completely amazing and fun friends. And, I know it might be cheesy, but Mikey and I both feel so lucky to have each other, to be each others support, counterpart, and balance. We've been together for 6.5 years now and though we've grown and changed over the years we are committed to each other and going strong. There might've been a couple of "quarter-life-crises" thrown in there, but we've made it through and are a stronger couple because of them.
Upcoming plans: to redo and organize the garage, paint walls and install new baseboards upstairs, enjoy our new hot tub bought off KSL for $400 (!), host another New Year's Eve party with friends at Bear Lake, Annie and Kyle's wedding in January (I'm the maid of honor!), an eastern Caribbean cruise with my family in March, and a three week long Grand Canyon river rafting trip in October! 2013 is already looking to be another amazing year.
Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! This concludes the Habermeier State of Affairs. Signing out.
Yeah for updates! Congrats on Mikey getting a job at IMC! And you in the E.R.? I'd love to be there working with you! I am sure you are great in both places. Sure love you.
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