Craven Regional Medical Center Employs Newly Nursing Grads

Dustin Grimes is one of the 54 new nursing graduates recently hired by Craven Regional Medical Center. The hospital recruits largest class to encourage nurses since it step-up efforts about eight years ago. According to Grimes, Craven was persistent and he saw them a lot more than he saw anybody else. Dustin Grimes was a strongly built Marine once posted at Cherry Point. After a four-year shift in the military, he's not certain of what he wish to do next. He had to find a decision; his mother is working as a nurse in Concord which made him decided with the idea of pursuing medicine. But he stated that it was the recruiters from Craven Regional Medical Center who eventually influenced him that he should change his combat boots with scrub suits.

According to Rosanne Leahy, vice president of nursing services, Grimes looks good as a new-nurse model which is being practiced by the hospital. The hospital wants to invest for those students who call their area home. They plan to retain nurses who are already familiar with the region and those who preferred to reside there. These reasons will help the patient to feel better because the person taking care of them is one of their neighbors. There were more than 500 registered nurses in the hospital. Some nurses are young enough to have their cards checked at the bar but one nurse in her 70s is still working.

The hospital gives scholarship grant which covers student's books and tuition fee. Also, a fulfilment or sign-on bonuses are also offered which range from $8,000 to $15,000, relocation expenses that can be up to $3,000. These grants are offered to those who plan to be a nurse but financial resources is lacking. The first people who benefited these scholarships were those who already worked in the hospital to become nurses.

Hospital staffers said that their key to successful recruitment is not about money but about having an "always on" mentality. The student coordinator of the hospital Keila Thompson lately recruited a would-be nurse while she was spending her vacation at Ocracoke. A waitress at the bagel shop was also persuaded to become a nurse. And after three long effort years, she was convinced by a hospital staff.

The extent of recruitment isn't completely regional according to employment manager Lesley Hunter. She thinks that job postings on a Web site called Campus RN got the interest of the hospital's new nurses outside the state. New nurses came from Florida, Tennessee, Ohio and Minnesota, among other states. The success of the increasing number of recruitment doesn’t denote that the hospital has loosened its standards. The hospital staff is still selective and they want a nurse to fit with their mission.