CT Post Article - May 23, 2005 Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
May 23, 2005
Section: Local/Regional News
Graduation arrives, nursing career beckons
By Linda Conner Lambeck
Finals are done. Kara Rovelli has a new pin, a new diploma and a new job.
The 22-year-old Rovelli, who graduated Sunday from Fairfield University, spent her last month as an undergraduate knowing she will report for work on Aug. 15 as a nurse on the hematology and oncology floor of Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.
It is a dream job in pediatric nursing - something Rovelli has worked toward for years, and something she almost turned down because of timing.
 Since fall, and probably well before, Rovelli had it all planned out.
She would line up a job, graduate, and then spend the summer retooling and studying for a required board exam that will give her a nursing license.
It's what people advised her to do. This past semester there was no time to study for the National Council Licensing Exam, or NCLEX.
The computerized assessment spits out 100 questions or so to determine if the candidate is a safe practitioner. Senior nursing students at Fairfield get a one-week refresher course to help them prepare in April.
Beyond that, Rovelli decided she'd wait until summer to focus on that last hurdle to becoming a registered nurse.
The offer from Connecticut Children's Medical Center to start right after graduation - before she passed the exam - wasn't in the plan. She found herself jotting down pros and cons and debating her future.
"I thought it would be too stressful for me to study for my board exam and orient to a new job at the same time. I was really apprehensive about that. In the beginning, I didn't even know if I would accept that position," Rovelli said.
On top of that, before Rovelli got the offer at CCMC, she was offered a job at Hartford Hospital. She liked Hartford a lot.
It was a nice unit. She liked the nurse manager and was impressed by the staff. It was adult medicine, a job on a medical/surgical floor, but she thought it would be an OK place to start out.
"They had a really high retention rate," she said. Plus, it's designated as a "magnet" hospital. A designation given to 100 hospitals nationwide by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, magnets are the gold standard by which hospitals are measured in terms of nurse treatment and performance. All that and she wouldn't have to start until August.
Rovelli got the verbal offer on the spot at her interview at Hartford Hospital. She told them she had to think it over.
She had two more interviews lined up - one, later that day, across the street at Connecticut Children's Hospital and a second a few days later at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.
She'd also applied to Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, where she spent the semester on a clinical rotation, but in the end didn't interview there.
With one offer in the bag, Rovelli felt confident going into the CCMC interview. She thinks it showed, but she was still nervous - this was the job she thought she wanted.
There, she met with human-resources people, a nurse manager, then spent time in the unit where she'd be working.
She can't remember all she was asked, but knows they had her talk about her clinical rotations and why she wanted to be a nurse and work with children. All three hospitals had her relate a scenario during her clinical rotations as a student where conflict arose and how she worked through it.
She spent well over an hour at the hospital, but didn't leave with an offer.
At Bay State, Rovelli interviewed for a job in the respiratory unit. Of all the hospitals, she was most familiar with Bay State, having worked the past three summers there.
Bay State called to offer her a job the next day. She turned it down. It took a week or two for CCMC to call. It seemed like an eternity.
"I kept talking in my head. I was almost ready to accept the job in Hartford because I didn't want to start in June," Rovelli said.
Finally, they called with a job offer. "I was really excited. But I told them I wanted time to study for my boards," Rovelli said.
The human-resources person consulted with the nursing manager, then got back to Rovelli. "They said, 'Fine,' I could start in August. I accepted right on the spot. I didn't even think about it. I was very happy," she said, smiling broadly.
The CCMC job didn't pay as much as the Hartford Hospital job, but Rovelli didn't care. "I went for the position," she said. CCMC is about a half-hour's drive south on Interstate 91 from her parents' home in Wilbraham, Mass., where she'll move back after graduation.
Starting salaries for new nurses are in the $40,000 range, according to Jeanne Novotny, Fairfield U's dean of nursing.
Lynne Kelleher, a nurse and human resources consultant at CCMC, called the hospital's wages competitive. "We make our very best offer going out to people. Beyond that, there are other satisfiers that tend to be more important: the work, co-workers, staffing (levels). Those are the things that will make it or break it for people. Every hospital is not for every person, and that's OK," she said.
Kelleher encourages nursing candidates to learn as much as they can about units before they apply. She also suggests they ask about vacancy and turnover rates.
While pediatric nursing may appeal to some, it can be a turn-off for people who find it sad dealing with sick children. Especially for intensive-care positions, Kelleher asks candidates to pen an essay about why they are interested in pediatric critical care.
Kelleher said CCMC has mentoring for new nurses. It hires 10 to 20 grads each year. The hospital has nearly 400 nurses.
Kelleher looks for 3.0 grade-point averages or better in new nursing candidates, but has some discretion as long as the candidates are solid in science and math. In the world of pediatrics, medicines are calculated based on weight and body surface area.
On a Friday soon after she accepted the job, Rovelli woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to CCMC for a 7 a.m. appointment to shadow a nurse on the floor where she'll be working. She also took a physical, got a picture ID and a medication exam to make sure she could correctly calculate dosages for children.
Although she was done with her transition at Yale-New Haven by mid-April, Rovelli was still busy in the final weeks of school, finishing papers and studying. Senior week there were dances, a trip to Mohegan Sun, a brunch, a picnic and a nurse pinning ceremony on Saturday, the day before graduation.
In all, 58 new nurses received gold pins, a triangle set in a circle that says "Understanding, Communication, Knowledge." Rovelli also received a top prize at the ceremony, the Elizabeth K. Dolan Award for the senior with a 3.25 GPA or better, who exhibits the professional attributes of caring, sensibility, leadership and clinical proficiency. "I don't think I deserve this," she said later, holding the award.
Rovelli's boyfriend, Rudy Pino, a Fairfield U. finance major from New Canaan, landed a job too, at RBS Greenwich Capital. His search took longer. Landing a job in business is harder these days than nursing. Someday, Rovelli wants to go back to school for a master's degree. "I'd love to be a nurse practitioner. I think that would be great," Rovelli said.
In high school, Rovelli toyed with the idea of being a doctor. Nurse practitioners are more autonomous than nurses and sometimes have their own client base. For now, however, she'll be studying for her boards beachside.
Linda Conner Lambeck, who covers regional education issues, can be reached at 330-6218. | 
