Six Specialty Areas Offered for Transitional Nurses
Melina Sanchez worked her way up from patient care technician to registered nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, but her dream job — in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) — seemed out of reach.
“It’s hard to get into the NICU without experience,” said Sanchez, who had been a Texas Health graduate nurse resident in the mother-baby unit. As it turned out, an early version of Texas Health’s new pilot training, the Transitional Registered Nurse Program, came to the rescue.
After 12 weeks of training, Sanchez began working in the NICU.
As Stephanie Lampman, manager, Talent Acquisition, explained, “This is a training that had already been in process, but we’re making it programmatic with this pilot.”
Making the training a program also gives managers a better chance to plan for transition nurses, said Kimberly Hickman, M.S.N., R.N., ONC, program manager, Clinical Learning.
Positions in the Critical Care (intensive care unit) portion of the program, for internal candidates only, are posted now. See below for details.
“This program contributes to our continuing clinical excellence and enabling employees to continue to grow their careers at Texas Health,” said Mark Morales, vice president and chief learning officer. “Both our patients and our nurses will realize the benefit.”
The Transitional Registered Nurse Program will provide training in five specialty areas besides the NICU: emergency, intensive care, cardiovascular intensive care, mother-baby and postoperative care.
Classes begin in September with fundamental specialty lessons, web-based training and, later, clinical time on the unit with a preceptor.
Sanchez said she loves the NICU.
“It’s a lot more intense than what I realized, but I like the intensity. I like seeing every small change in babies and then seeing them go home,” she said. “It’s really special.”
She’s also glad to hear that the training she received has progressed to a pilot program.
“I’m just very excited to know other people will have the same opportunity I had.”
Transitional Nurse Opportunities
Critical care (ICU)
- For internal candidates only (nurses who already work at Texas Health)
- Positions posted now
- Training starts Sept. 12
Medical-surgical, telemetry, post-acute, women and infants (includes neonatal intensive care), emergency and behavioral health
- For internal and external candidates
- Tentatively, positions posted by Aug. 25
- Training starts Oct. 10. This training for experienced nurses will be taken with new nurses in the Graduate Nurse Residency Program.
Critical care (ICU)
- For internal and external candidates
- Posting date to be determined
- Training starts Dec. 5 for nurses who already work at Texas Health; nurses newly hired at Texas Health begin Nov. 28, with orientation.
Emergency Department
- For internal and external candidates
- Posting date to be determined
- Training starts Dec. 7 for nurses who already work at Texas Health; nurses newly hired at Texas Health begin Nov. 28, with orientation.
To apply
For nurses already working at Texas Health: Search for the jobs by going to MyTHR.org, clicking the Texas Health Links tile and then selecting the MyJobsTHR tab in the left navigation bar. This will be the internal job search section. Search using the keyword “transitional.”
If you are a nurse outside the system who is interested in the program, click here to learn more and view our current Transitional RN openings.
Published August 19, 2022
