Wheaties

I know this is an old topic, but I'm going trough something similar right now. I switched and left my hospital bedside nursing job for something completely different after being a hospital nurse for a long time. I am doing something that is not hospital related. I was so good at my old job, not the best, but I knew what I was doing and how to get the job done even if I wasn't the fastest at it. Now I work somewhere else. I work for County Jail doing a variety of things as a nurse. I'm only 4 months in, off orientation, but I'm still adjusting learning the protocols, documentation. I didn't think I would have a hard time adjusting, but amount of charting I have to do, the details I have to put into my charting just in case it goes to the court of law is so much. Like the topic creator posted, my current job has so much protocols and rules, and this is not even a hospital setting. Some say it takes 6 months to a year to click. I know I'm still early. But what makes me so nervous is what if it doesnt click at 6 months, 8 months, 12 months? am I better off just leaving. I already know this job is not something I want to do for past 12 month mark. anyways, I apologize if I hi-jacked this thread. But if anyone here can help guide on what to do, I would appreciate it. I didn't I would say this, but I kinda miss the hospital compared to working for the Jail.

I work for CDCR in southern california, the inmates are manipulative, they lie, and they get upset if they don't get what they want. the work culture is also really bad, everyone that works there are afraid of being sued by inmates. there are so many cases where the state has been sued already and there are very strict protocols and policies that needs to be adhered to as far as documentation and notification of complaints. inmates in the prison have more rights than people outside the prison setting. shocking, but it's true. they might be inmates, but they still have rights. Nurses don't deal with the psychiatric aspect too much since CDCR has psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers that deal with those stuff. nurses just deal with the medical side of things. word of advice, you gotta have a lot of independence, autonomy, you gotta have good nursing educational skills to convince these inmates that they are okay and their problem is not critical. there's also a lot of seniority, so if you're a new nurse, you are the bottom feeder who has to help the nurses with the most seniority. did I mention there are so many bosses to deal with. you have to work 8 hour shift 5x a week, sometimes you get mandated to work 16 hours if there are no coverage. and you won't get weekends off if you're brand new. It's all about seniority. but who knows, you might end up liking correctional nursing, some people love it. but it's not for me.

I applied to two places in California, for CDCR and also a State hospital. I got a job interview date for both but had to cancel because I couldn’t find anyone to switch days with me. I was told I had to reapply again. I re-applied for CDCR 90 days ago, haven’t heard back. I’m still waiting for a job opening to show up for the State hospital. I’ll call CDCR to follow up since it’s been over 90 day’s since my application. The job listing is still showing up on calcareers. The first time I applied, I got the interview date 2 weeks later.

I currently work in a hospital doing bedside nursing. I do notice we are sometimes short staffed. But there are also more nursing schools now compared to a decade ago just in my area. Used to be only 2-3 nursing schools where I live. Now that’s ballooned to maybe 7-8. But even then, it just seems like it’s hard to find nursing jobs especially for new grads. Yes there’s a shortage but seems like not enough job openings. I don’t know I’d like to give corrections a try. How common is it for nurses in the California state prison to get laid off or be part of the job cut? i would love to apply but I fear that in the next recession, my job will be axed coz of the state budget if I do manage to get in.

I work 12 hour shifts during the Day 7 am-730 pm on a busy medical tele floor. I spend a lot of time on my feet walking back and Forth between patient rooms. I often wonder how much I walk per shift my schedule in a 2 week pay period is 2 on, 2 off, 3 on , 2 off, and 2 on and 3 off for a 3 day weekend So I work 7 days per pay period. On my days off I go to the gym so 30 minutes of cardio and another 30 minutes of doing weight machines my question is, do I even need to work because I walk so much at work. Does it count as exercise? I'm always on the move. I've read nurses in hospitals walk around 3-5 miles a day depending

So what will it take for the USA to have some sort of national health coverage to all citizens just like in canada, United, most western European countries, nordic european countries just as an example? what's keeping the USA from doing it? it would surely be beneficial. i dont know much about the politics of it all and why the USA, one of the richest countries developed countries in the world, doesn't have it.

i went back to my old nursing skills checklist, it says measure up to the xiphoid process. but it's interesting. i googled it, and i figure i'd post about it here. any students here should ask the teacher though for clarification just like the above post suggested, and tell me your findings.

Okay, I'm a little conflicted. 1) Measuring NGT from the tip of the nose, to the earlobe to the end of the xiphoid process 2) Measuring NGT from the tip of the nose, to the earlobe, to the point between/halfway xiphoid process and umblicus (belly button) which is the proper way? i googled it, most said, measure up to the xiphoid process. another said between the xiphoid and bellybutton? which is right?

Apply to other positions in your area. It's disappointing, but just keep trying. But look into other places. I didn't get a job too coz I'm bad at interviews. My suggestion is to type out the question and answer and practice it out loud. Practicing the answers in your head won't help. I know.

You didn't have any risk whatsoever since your skin was intact. the skin is such an amazing barrier. Base on your description, you are safe. There wasn't anything contagious that you could have caught.

i used to work in the hospital, and the health insurance i had through the hospital was $250/month much more affordable than the what obamacare insurance companies offered through the marketplace. i dont know whats going to happen to be honest. i wish we had England's NHS or Canada's national health insurance. why cant we have that here in the usa?

If you work in Telemetry, see if you can transfer to another department, such as L&D/Maternity/Nursery and work there for a year or 2 and learn as much as you can. Then apply for a NICU position. i've seen NICU hire new grads, but of course its tougher now in todays economy, but thats how I would do it. Telemetry is hard, but L&D maternity would be less demanding

Thanks Davey. It's definitely something I might consider, relocating to another state. I live in California, but I live in the rural part of california hundreds of miles away from san francisco and los angeles. the cost of living is definitely much much more affordable here. it's a pretty sizeable area, i've seen hundredes of jobs listed, since we have 3 big hospitals, and another 3 smaller ones in a 20 miles radius but most openings are specialty areas like ICU. But I'll keep trying. I think just posting here in the forum really helps get this off my head. been anxious all week. but i'll contact my former coworkers and see if they can help me out as well. but for now i'll keep applying and just wait for it. not.done.yet- thats what i suspected, because i've seen new nurses who have barely 1 year experience get hired easily. i agree its easier to land a new job if a person is currently employed, especially in nursing.

Thanks. My very first job, I landed it because I applied for a student extern position ( I got lucky to be honest, it was hard to land a student nurse extern job). eventually when I graduated, I decided to stay on and I worked there for over 7 years. of course a lot has changed since then. mainly the economy tanking, and the lack of budget I have 5 applications out right now. I was sure I was going to land one of the first 2 that i put out, but apparently not. I sort of expected that being away from work despite the experience was going to bite me in the end. people always say, well you have experience, but to be honest, nowadays, it doesnt matter unless your experience lies in a specialty area like cadiovascular or ICU

I applied for a Pre-Op RN position at a local Surgery center mainly dealing with Outpatient surgery, but sometimes there's patients who stay overnight for observation. I've worked as a RN in a Med-Surg/Tele for over 7 years. I've been out of work for 2 years I've never worked as part of the Surgical department before. Is there anything I should I know or need to know as a pre-op Nurse since all my experience has been mainly on the floor? What about IVs? I know it varies from place to place. I'm not the most experienced IV nurse, my average is only 60%. Will I have to get good at it? any advice and tips is appreciated.