The News:

Per popular demand of all the moms I have, I make a posting. Only because I don't want to deal with the current tornado in the living room/bedroom/bathroom/hallway/closet/cupboard...

Katie and I moved. We're hanging out with the parents in the basement apartment. If you need directions, ask. We officially check out of Wymount Saturday, but we had to move earlier because Katie and I work. I worked today, and I'm working tomorrow. So right now, we're living out of boxes. We're probably 50% unpacked. We're having difficulties trying to figure out where we're going to put everything, but it'll probably come together.

I got into the UVRMC RN Residency program. They told me a couple of days ago. This is a HUGE relief for me. I really don't know what I would have done for a job without getting in. Nursing home?? Ug!<

Explanation of what it is:

• In order to work for Intermountain Healthcare as a newly graduated RN, you have to go through their RN residency program -- the one I just got accepted into.
  

• It's a 9(ish) week program where you have classes once a week and they let you choose a couple of areas in the hospital you want to go work in for a while, to see what it's like. You get to work in those areas as if you were a regular employee there for a couple/few weeks, but the patient load is not as high while you figure things out. My two initial areas: UVRMC IMC (Intermediate Care) -- a midway between ICU and a med-surg floor -- and the American Fork Hospital ER, which will be nice seeing how close I am to it now.
  

• They pay almost what a beginning RN makes -- which is much less than the national average because it's Utah, but that's an "oh well" for now -- it feels good to me as it's much more than I'm currently making. As soon as I get my official license (which I'll be testing for soon), they bump my pay up the rest of the way to a beginning RN pay.

• It's full-time benefits with all the goodies that comes along with that -- which will make our costs for insurance etc. be much less expensive than my currently part-time position can offer. Plus one more benefit: Paid Time Off -- a much more real amount that accrues this time.
  

• From the RN residency, we get hired officially onto a real department, wherever there is openings. I've already got my sights set on the floor where I currently work -- 7th floor medical/oncology, and from the looks of it, I likely have a position there. I want to work there for a goodly amount of time, even though it's known throughout the hospital as a very busy and sometims stressful place to work. Many people avoid it because of how busy it gets, but I want the med-surg experience as a good solid foundation for the future. They get a lot of different diagnoses up there and deal with a lot of issues. I think I'll learn a lot up there, and can more easily move somewhere else in the future.

• With the economic situations of the country right now, even the jobs for nurses have become slim around here, because the RN's who haven't worked for years are all trying to come back to work because their husbands lost their jobs -- or some similar story. It used to be that I'd look at the online job board and there were seriously pages and pages of RN positions open. Not any more. There were 15 positions for this RN residency and 115 applicants. I got in. Boooyeah!
  

• As an added bonus, because I get to stay with Intermountain Healthcare, I can continue to get tuition reimbursement from them (which ha$ been very nice) and I don't have to pay back my tuition reimbursement I've already received which I would have to if I left them right now.
  

And that is my awesome news. And now I'm going to bed to work my last shift tomorrow before the RN residency starts next week. Goodnight.