Anyone else tired of this?

I don't think the lay public realizes that health care is actually a business that relies on 'paying customers' to stay afloat. All they understand is that illness remains a constant - people need healthcare, so healthcare should not suffer the same problems as other industries.

The fourth estate hasn't done real journalism in at least 8 years. Lazy access driven, profit driven media. They also haven't told the public the true numbers on unemployment numbers. Leaving out those who gave up, those having to take part time work because nothing else was available. All those people would drive up the unemployed numbers substantially and give a better idea of those who no longer see a doctor due to loss of health care. The media also seldom talks about the 18,000 or so who die in this country yearly for the same. The people seeing this are in the ER's. Hospitals are being forced to close or cut services in many places and one big reason is the unreimbursed costs of the uninsured from the state. Community hospitals and their ER's can't cover the losses for long. In California an ER doctors group is suing the state for millions in treatment costs the state has never paid them for. (article appeard recently in LATimes)This is a last ditch effort to save the ER's in that area of the state.

Right now I am trying to decide if its worth returning to nursing after a long absence. I am finding next to nothing for indepth refresher training. I called the BRN to let them know a bit about the ones they list(one is no longer available due to funding, one is too short a time or too shallow a program so many won't hire nurses finishing that program, and then no programs in my area unless I can drive 70 miles one way every day for 11 weeks but its full).Then there is the issue of getting hired with a large gap in work experience. So I am about to throw in the towel on returning. I don't have much time(RN to BSN is something I considered, but I don't have 15 months right now. I would consider some other job for now while I get the BSN, but after reading many threads here about the attitudes toward older returning nurses I'm thinking screw it. I could invest time and money and still not beable to work. May as well go for something new and less stressful. The stuff I read about from nurses on this blog is the same stuff I experienced in the '80's. Possibly worse to dangerously worse than back then.

Rant over. How do nurses get their skills up even for non acute care/ no hands on patient care without a refresher course? The person I spoke to at the BRN said to tailor my 30 CEU's toward refreshing, no brainer, but that hardly seems adequate. For someone basically starting over there are few avenues and little career support to make the transition of coming back palatable.

Is anyone else tired of hearing in the news that Registered Nurses are in high demand? In light of what I am reading here that simply does not appear to be the case. What I am reading on this forum is new grads unable to find jobs, hiring and wage freezes and hospital closings. Why does the news keep trumpeting that healthcare is recession proof?

I'm tired of people who when I tell them I will be RN look tell me and say I will make a lot of money,have marvelous job-the occupation is not glamorous nor will I get rich from it,so it gets old when people associate nursing with prestige.

I am tired of hearing how I have an abundance of employment opportunities. Sure I do, if I want to take some of the worst schedules, toxic work environments, and more stressful situations. All I can say is, walk in the shoes of a nurse sometime, then you may have a more realistic idea of what our profession demands.

Get this one, I was told by a nurse recently the maintance department had their hours cut at her facility, so now the nurses are required to do some sort of battery check, a maintance alarm check, and some other duty regarding the alarm system. No nurse knows what or how to do this, no training given just assigned by TPTB. The only reason for this could be the nurses are there 24/7. No other department has so much dumped onto their shoulders just for be present.

20 RN openings at our local hospital......I think it depends on where you are.

I am tired of hearing how I have an abundance of employment opportunities. Sure I do, if I want to take some of the worst schedules, toxic work environments, and more stressful situations. All I can say is, walk in the shoes of a nurse sometime, then you may have a more realistic idea of what our profession demands.

Get this one, I was told by a nurse recently the maintance department had their hours cut at her facility, so now the nurses are required to do some sort of battery check, a maintance alarm check, and some other duty regarding the alarm system. No nurse knows what or how to do this, no training given just assigned by TPTB. The only reason for this could be the nurses are there 24/7. No other department has so much dumped onto their shoulders just for be present.

Abundance of jobs doesn't mean abundance of perfect jobs where everything is just so and no one ever has to step outside their job description. It just means that there are a lot of jobs. Ten years ago there were a lot of computer jobs - most of them were crappy jobs - but the point is that there were a lot of them.

It is true that nursing is not living up to its hype right now. And nobody knows that better than nurses. That's why forums like this one is so important.

There are an abundance of jobs in my area. I'm a new grad & got several job offers within a week

All of the major hospitals in my area (Oklahoma City) have multiple openings for RNs. And I'm noticing more openings for LPNs lately.

The fourth estate hasn't done real journalism in at least 8 years. Lazy access driven, profit driven media. They also haven't told the public the true numbers on unemployment numbers. Leaving out those who gave up, those having to take part time work because nothing else was available. All those people would drive up the unemployed numbers substantially and give a better idea of those who no longer see a doctor due to loss of health care. The media also seldom talks about the 18,000 or so who die in this country yearly for the same. The people seeing this are in the ER's. Hospitals are being forced to close or cut services in many places and one big reason is the unreimbursed costs of the uninsured from the state. Community hospitals and their ER's can't cover the losses for long. In California an ER doctors group is suing the state for millions in treatment costs the state has never paid them for. (article appeard recently in LATimes)This is a last ditch effort to save the ER's in that area of the state.

Right now I am trying to decide if its worth returning to nursing after a long absence. I am finding next to nothing for indepth refresher training. I called the BRN to let them know a bit about the ones they list(one is no longer available due to funding, one is too short a time or too shallow a program so many won't hire nurses finishing that program, and then no programs in my area unless I can drive 70 miles one way every day for 11 weeks but its full).Then there is the issue of getting hired with a large gap in work experience. So I am about to throw in the towel on returning. I don't have much time(RN to BSN is something I considered, but I don't have 15 months right now. I would consider some other job for now while I get the BSN, but after reading many threads here about the attitudes toward older returning nurses I'm thinking screw it. I could invest time and money and still not beable to work. May as well go for something new and less stressful. The stuff I read about from nurses on this blog is the same stuff I experienced in the '80's. Possibly worse to dangerously worse than back then.

Rant over. How do nurses get their skills up even for non acute care/ no hands on patient care without a refresher course? The person I spoke to at the BRN said to tailor my 30 CEU's toward refreshing, no brainer, but that hardly seems adequate. For someone basically starting over there are few avenues and little career support to make the transition of coming back palatable.

Hi there,

I am sorry your attempt to come back to nursing is so frustrating! I don't have much to offer advice wise, but maybe just a few ideas (that you may have already explored?).

First off: what does the board of nursing of the state you reside in has to offer? Don't they have those kind of refresher courses, or at list a good network to provide support to returning nurses?

Then, there is the AACN online courses. For example, they have this very in depth online module called ECCO (Essentials of Critical Care Orientation).I took it once upon a time as part of an orientation provided by my hospital and although very interesting, it was LONG!

Here is the description of the program: " includes 10 learning modules, organized using a body systems approach. Modules are comprised of multiple lessons that provide in-depth, interactive content with rich graphics and illustrations that keep learners engaged. Each module addresses the anatomy and physiology of the body system, relevant diagnostic information, and the clinical presentation and management of common disorders for each of the body systems. ECCO provides a total of 69 hours of CNE credit."

They might have other options and modules as well...(oh, and it is not cheap either!)

The last idea I have to share with you is "Ed4Nurses" . The guy at the head of the company is a nurse that has specialized in education for nurses after many years of experience at the bedside (ER and ICU I believe). He actually is really good and motivating! I went to his CCRN prep workshop and loved it (and I am difficult to please and get bored very easily!) I know that he offers the many different programs, for all fields of nursing, both in person or online/CDs/manuals. As I said earlier, I do not know what is officially recognized to be a "refresher course" but since you mentioned using CEUs toward it, Ed4Nurses does provide the validation of those CEs for each module/program you take with him.

I hope you will find "something" you can use amongst those suggestions....Don't give up just yet!

Good luck and keep in touch, depending on what you find, I'm sure other nurses could use the information.

B-