At UK HealthCare we are proud of our great nursing services. Our creative leadership and quality initiatives in care, education and research are dedicated to the well-being of patients and their families.
Joining the show to discuss nurse recruitment at UK Health and to learn more about Nursing at UK HealthCare including our benefits, educational opportunities, patient care areas and our care delivery model is Graig Casada. He is a registered nurse, certified nurse manager and the nurse recruitment manager at UK HealthCare.
Selected Podcast
Nurse Recruitment at UK Health
Featured Speaker:
Graig Casada, RN, MSN
Graig Casada is a registered nurse and certified nurse manager and leader with his Masters of Science in Nursing. Also the nurse recruitment manager at UK HealthCare, Graig is responsible for recruiting nurses who provide leading-edge patient care while advancing professional nursing practices. Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): At UK Healthcare, we are proud of our great nursing services, our creative leadership and quality initiatives and care education and research are dedicated to the wellbeing of patients and their families. Joining the show with me today to discuss nurse recruitment at UK Healthcare is Graig Casada. He is a registered nurse, certified nurse manager and the nurse recruitment manager at UK Healthcare. Welcome to the show Graig. So, what are the main areas that nursing is recruiting for at UK Healthcare?
Graig Casada, RN, MSN, CNML (Guest): Melanie, we are recruiting registered nurses in all areas, not only in the adult arena, but also in the children’s hospital, all over UK Healthcare, at our UK Chandler Medical Center as well as Good Samaritan and our Eastern State Hospital.
Melanie: Graig, what qualities are you looking for in a nurse and are there different qualities for adult healthcare and pediatrics?
Graig: Absolutely. The main differences between the qualities of a nurse in the adult arena versus the pediatric arena is obviously, in the pediatric arena you need to love children, you have to not only care for them, but you have to care for their family members and their significant others and recognize that their needs are quite different from your adult population.
Melanie: And what about for adults and then there is also the geriatric population which again, requires a specific set of skills?
Graig: Absolutely. Some of the same skill sets that are for your pediatric and your adolescents are the same skill sets that you would need for the geriatric population because you know, quite frankly, sometimes the geriatric patients will exhibit some of the same signs and symptoms and as an adult, they may have had a larger statue, more weight and as they progressively get old; their weight tends to decline so you have to really be in tune with that and be able to assess those needs and know about weight and height and proportion especially with dosing and those kinds of things. Same things as well with the support systems and extended family and caregivers in the later onset of life and how to deal with that. For the adult patients, you just have to have good critical assessment skills. You need to be looking at the total body systems because patients present with one symptom, but they have a host of comorbidities that also have to be managed during their stay.
Melanie: And I think that’s a great point that you brought up in that the geriatric population, their support system could be very similar to parents for pediatric population because parents are so worried about their kids and the nurse is there to help support and reassure as well as for the elder population that support system might be in the similar age group there, you know the younger children of the elderly parents and they need that reassurance as well, yes?
Graig: Absolutely, because you know, what often happens these pediatric patients grow up and they become the caregivers to those parents that took care of them 30 and 40 years ago, so that’s a hard transition too to see your aged parents, once were so strong and had lots of vitality. It’s hard to become that caregiver role to somebody who you were so dependent on. So, the nurses at UK Healthcare and I’m hopeful nurses everywhere recognize that and support that family member through their efforts and while still preserving the dignity and the self esteem of the patient.
Melanie: So, tell us about the January 22nd open house and what’s going to happen there?
Graig: We have an annual open house that is enterprise wide, it’s not just for nursing services; but nursing services is the primary focus. We will have probably 30-40 vendor tables set up. All of the nursing services, patient care managers and hiring managers will be available. You will come through the registration. You will go around, and you will meet all of the hiring managers and the decision makers at UK Healthcare and it is a nice informal way to cover a lot of territory and meet lots of patient care managers from pediatrics to geriatrics to the operating room to behavioral health to the emergency department. All of the specialties in nursing will be represented. We will also have representatives from radiology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, as well as respiratory therapy. So, any of those professionals that would like to consider UK Healthcare as an employer are welcome to come here and meet with those people as well.
Melanie: And what would you like the applicants to bring with them?
Graig: I’d like for the applicants to come dressed appropriately for an interview, have some updated resumes available to hand out and come with some thoughtful questions and be thinking about where and what area you might want to be working in and have some questions for the patient care managers so that it’s not just a one-way street where we are doing all the talking. We want the candidate to probe the managers and ask specific questions as well about those units and I think that there is just a greater understanding when you can do that.
Melanie: And since you have many different service lines that will be at the open house; if they were to print out a bunch of copies of their resume, how many should they be prepared to come with?
Graig: I would probably suggest that they come with at least 30.
Melanie: Wow, that’s a lot. So, that’s really great that they can hand out so many of them and what would you like them to be prepared to speak about themselves and about references? Should they bring those with them as well?
Graig: They don’t actually need to bring a reference list. We will get that at the time of application if they make application. So, I wouldn’t want them to – that to be laborious. I would just prefer they bring a resume and be prepared to talk about themselves on why they are interested in working as a nurse or a healthcare professional at UK Healthcare, what sets them apart, what attributes would they bring to the table to make UK Healthcare and the particular service line more better and better patient outcomes. What can they do that sets them apart from all of the other applicants?
Melanie: Graig, do you feel that nurses are appreciated enough yet these days or are we still kind of working towards that? Tell us what you feel the nursing role is these days and where it’s going.
Graig: Well absolutely. The nurse will always be the patient advocate and we often work behind the scenes and coordinate the care between all of the multi-disciplines from the physicians to the physical therapists to the pharmacists to the occupational therapists. The nurse is actually with the patient all day every day. So, coordination of that care and coordinating those care teams to get the best outcomes for our patient is always the primary focus of our nurses. And I will tell you, nursing has changed just 100%. No longer is the nurse only female. We have a huge, huge demographic of male nurses here at UK Healthcare and into the states so nursing used to be a second degree for some males; now it’s a first degree. We have males coming out of high school now going directly into nursing services. So, that’s definitely changed. The need is great. We have an aging population. We have lots of nurses who are baby boomers who are going to retire soon. So, the nursing shortage is very much real. We are feeling it at UK Healthcare and everybody else is feeling it as well. All of our surrounding hospitals across the commonwealth have a need for well-qualified nurses and that’s why in the nurse recruitment office, we are pretty aggressive and assertive in getting out there and finding those candidates to serve our patients.
Melanie: And are there educational opportunities if someone has been a nurse in a particular area and they want to learn more about other areas and do continuing education? Is that an option as well?
Graig: Oh, we absolutely have a wonderful example of that is a perioperative internship. We run a perioperative internship twice a year and basically, that is for a registered nurse or a new graduate who has no experience in the operating room. If they are selected to participate in that; it’s a six month on the job training program to learn how to circulate through our major operating room. You agree to stay for 18 months after that six-month initial training in the operating room. That is a wonderful opportunity for people to learn and grow and do something different in nursing. We also have an incredible rich tuition reimbursement program here at UK Healthcare. Every regular fulltime employee nurse or otherwise gets six credit hours to go back to school per semester. You could work on a continuing your education in your current degree or you can go back and take classes for fun. We are all about learning and we are all about absolutely promoting the profession of nursing through advanced learning and at UK Healthcare, we are going to help you pay for that. So, I’m a great testament of that. I started here some 25 years ago as a nursing care tech. I got an associate degree and I went to work as a nurse here at UK Healthcare. UK Healthcare paid for my Bachelor’s degree in nursing and 12 years later; UK Healthcare paid for my Master’s degree in nursing. I have never paid a penny for that. So, I’m very, very thankful and if I can do it, anybody can do it. And that opportunity is for everyone who wants to come to work here. It’s yours for the asking.
Melanie: What an amazing care delivery model that you are offering up there Graig. So, wrap it up for us what you want nurses to know about hiring at UK Healthcare and the open house. Just kind of wrap it up for us.
Graig: Sure. Well again, we would like to invite everybody to our open house. We normally have 250 to 300 attendees. It’s a great way to cover a lot of ground, meet a lot of key hiring officials. People can always contact me directly as well if you have any questions about nurse recruitment at UK Healthcare, I’m always available. You can always apply online 24-7 at our nurse recruitment or UK Healthcare jobs page and we would just like to encourage everybody to give us a look. We are a great competitor. We have wonderful pay, wonderful benefits and a structure of caring and support for our caregivers here at UK Healthcare. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today Graig. This is UK Health Cast with the University of Kentucky Healthcare. For more information on nurse recruitment at UK Healthcare, you can go to www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu , that’s www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): At UK Healthcare, we are proud of our great nursing services, our creative leadership and quality initiatives and care education and research are dedicated to the wellbeing of patients and their families. Joining the show with me today to discuss nurse recruitment at UK Healthcare is Graig Casada. He is a registered nurse, certified nurse manager and the nurse recruitment manager at UK Healthcare. Welcome to the show Graig. So, what are the main areas that nursing is recruiting for at UK Healthcare?
Graig Casada, RN, MSN, CNML (Guest): Melanie, we are recruiting registered nurses in all areas, not only in the adult arena, but also in the children’s hospital, all over UK Healthcare, at our UK Chandler Medical Center as well as Good Samaritan and our Eastern State Hospital.
Melanie: Graig, what qualities are you looking for in a nurse and are there different qualities for adult healthcare and pediatrics?
Graig: Absolutely. The main differences between the qualities of a nurse in the adult arena versus the pediatric arena is obviously, in the pediatric arena you need to love children, you have to not only care for them, but you have to care for their family members and their significant others and recognize that their needs are quite different from your adult population.
Melanie: And what about for adults and then there is also the geriatric population which again, requires a specific set of skills?
Graig: Absolutely. Some of the same skill sets that are for your pediatric and your adolescents are the same skill sets that you would need for the geriatric population because you know, quite frankly, sometimes the geriatric patients will exhibit some of the same signs and symptoms and as an adult, they may have had a larger statue, more weight and as they progressively get old; their weight tends to decline so you have to really be in tune with that and be able to assess those needs and know about weight and height and proportion especially with dosing and those kinds of things. Same things as well with the support systems and extended family and caregivers in the later onset of life and how to deal with that. For the adult patients, you just have to have good critical assessment skills. You need to be looking at the total body systems because patients present with one symptom, but they have a host of comorbidities that also have to be managed during their stay.
Melanie: And I think that’s a great point that you brought up in that the geriatric population, their support system could be very similar to parents for pediatric population because parents are so worried about their kids and the nurse is there to help support and reassure as well as for the elder population that support system might be in the similar age group there, you know the younger children of the elderly parents and they need that reassurance as well, yes?
Graig: Absolutely, because you know, what often happens these pediatric patients grow up and they become the caregivers to those parents that took care of them 30 and 40 years ago, so that’s a hard transition too to see your aged parents, once were so strong and had lots of vitality. It’s hard to become that caregiver role to somebody who you were so dependent on. So, the nurses at UK Healthcare and I’m hopeful nurses everywhere recognize that and support that family member through their efforts and while still preserving the dignity and the self esteem of the patient.
Melanie: So, tell us about the January 22nd open house and what’s going to happen there?
Graig: We have an annual open house that is enterprise wide, it’s not just for nursing services; but nursing services is the primary focus. We will have probably 30-40 vendor tables set up. All of the nursing services, patient care managers and hiring managers will be available. You will come through the registration. You will go around, and you will meet all of the hiring managers and the decision makers at UK Healthcare and it is a nice informal way to cover a lot of territory and meet lots of patient care managers from pediatrics to geriatrics to the operating room to behavioral health to the emergency department. All of the specialties in nursing will be represented. We will also have representatives from radiology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, as well as respiratory therapy. So, any of those professionals that would like to consider UK Healthcare as an employer are welcome to come here and meet with those people as well.
Melanie: And what would you like the applicants to bring with them?
Graig: I’d like for the applicants to come dressed appropriately for an interview, have some updated resumes available to hand out and come with some thoughtful questions and be thinking about where and what area you might want to be working in and have some questions for the patient care managers so that it’s not just a one-way street where we are doing all the talking. We want the candidate to probe the managers and ask specific questions as well about those units and I think that there is just a greater understanding when you can do that.
Melanie: And since you have many different service lines that will be at the open house; if they were to print out a bunch of copies of their resume, how many should they be prepared to come with?
Graig: I would probably suggest that they come with at least 30.
Melanie: Wow, that’s a lot. So, that’s really great that they can hand out so many of them and what would you like them to be prepared to speak about themselves and about references? Should they bring those with them as well?
Graig: They don’t actually need to bring a reference list. We will get that at the time of application if they make application. So, I wouldn’t want them to – that to be laborious. I would just prefer they bring a resume and be prepared to talk about themselves on why they are interested in working as a nurse or a healthcare professional at UK Healthcare, what sets them apart, what attributes would they bring to the table to make UK Healthcare and the particular service line more better and better patient outcomes. What can they do that sets them apart from all of the other applicants?
Melanie: Graig, do you feel that nurses are appreciated enough yet these days or are we still kind of working towards that? Tell us what you feel the nursing role is these days and where it’s going.
Graig: Well absolutely. The nurse will always be the patient advocate and we often work behind the scenes and coordinate the care between all of the multi-disciplines from the physicians to the physical therapists to the pharmacists to the occupational therapists. The nurse is actually with the patient all day every day. So, coordination of that care and coordinating those care teams to get the best outcomes for our patient is always the primary focus of our nurses. And I will tell you, nursing has changed just 100%. No longer is the nurse only female. We have a huge, huge demographic of male nurses here at UK Healthcare and into the states so nursing used to be a second degree for some males; now it’s a first degree. We have males coming out of high school now going directly into nursing services. So, that’s definitely changed. The need is great. We have an aging population. We have lots of nurses who are baby boomers who are going to retire soon. So, the nursing shortage is very much real. We are feeling it at UK Healthcare and everybody else is feeling it as well. All of our surrounding hospitals across the commonwealth have a need for well-qualified nurses and that’s why in the nurse recruitment office, we are pretty aggressive and assertive in getting out there and finding those candidates to serve our patients.
Melanie: And are there educational opportunities if someone has been a nurse in a particular area and they want to learn more about other areas and do continuing education? Is that an option as well?
Graig: Oh, we absolutely have a wonderful example of that is a perioperative internship. We run a perioperative internship twice a year and basically, that is for a registered nurse or a new graduate who has no experience in the operating room. If they are selected to participate in that; it’s a six month on the job training program to learn how to circulate through our major operating room. You agree to stay for 18 months after that six-month initial training in the operating room. That is a wonderful opportunity for people to learn and grow and do something different in nursing. We also have an incredible rich tuition reimbursement program here at UK Healthcare. Every regular fulltime employee nurse or otherwise gets six credit hours to go back to school per semester. You could work on a continuing your education in your current degree or you can go back and take classes for fun. We are all about learning and we are all about absolutely promoting the profession of nursing through advanced learning and at UK Healthcare, we are going to help you pay for that. So, I’m a great testament of that. I started here some 25 years ago as a nursing care tech. I got an associate degree and I went to work as a nurse here at UK Healthcare. UK Healthcare paid for my Bachelor’s degree in nursing and 12 years later; UK Healthcare paid for my Master’s degree in nursing. I have never paid a penny for that. So, I’m very, very thankful and if I can do it, anybody can do it. And that opportunity is for everyone who wants to come to work here. It’s yours for the asking.
Melanie: What an amazing care delivery model that you are offering up there Graig. So, wrap it up for us what you want nurses to know about hiring at UK Healthcare and the open house. Just kind of wrap it up for us.
Graig: Sure. Well again, we would like to invite everybody to our open house. We normally have 250 to 300 attendees. It’s a great way to cover a lot of ground, meet a lot of key hiring officials. People can always contact me directly as well if you have any questions about nurse recruitment at UK Healthcare, I’m always available. You can always apply online 24-7 at our nurse recruitment or UK Healthcare jobs page and we would just like to encourage everybody to give us a look. We are a great competitor. We have wonderful pay, wonderful benefits and a structure of caring and support for our caregivers here at UK Healthcare. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today Graig. This is UK Health Cast with the University of Kentucky Healthcare. For more information on nurse recruitment at UK Healthcare, you can go to www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu , that’s www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.