In it for the long run nurses:)

weetziebat · Jul 11, 2004

i've been a nurse forever!! first as an lpn, and then 15 years later got my rn. glad i went back to school but originally did it because we were told lpn's were being phased out. yeah, right.

have been working with mr/dd clients for four years now. without a doubt the easiest job i've ever had, but it certainly gets boring. it's all paperwork. shouldn't complain but have recently been thinking about returning to hospital nursing.

can't say i've always been happy being a nurse but it certainly gave me opportunities that i never could have gotten otherwise. and for that i am most grateful.

:balloons:

Gojo · Jul 11, 2004

I would like to start a topic for nurses who have been RN's for 25-30 years! Let me know what your doing? I am 55 and still working , I know a lot of you are too ! What are you doing?

In it 39 years this Sept and love it as much as I did the first day. First 4 years as staff and HN, the rest in nursing education. Love the students. Couldn't imagine doing anything else. Retired for 6 weeks and got right back into another education position.

gypsyangelrn · Jul 16, 2004

I graduated from Nursing School in 1976, all of 20 years old. When I think back through my career, I suprise myself. Done a bit of everything from ICU to mental health to home care. :imbar

Presently, I work night shift at a smaller hospital on the Telemetry/Intermediate Care Unit. I love cardiac nursing, but work with a wide range of pts.....medical and surgical. :nurse:

Still have a desire to go to school so I can become a nurse educator, but the math prereqs terrify me...plus the cost and time. :chair: Have been researching nursing's early history and have thought about becoming a novelist....historic nursing stories. :idea:

mattsmom81 · Jul 16, 2004

Hi there fellow 'battleaxe nurses'...glad to know ya. We seem to be the ones the young nurses hate for some reason

I've been a nurse for over 27 yrs and am now 'kissing 50'. I'm tired doing bedside care but ICU is my niche and it is easier physically than floor work for me so there i stay...probably will be doing it til I'm 70, God willing (part time) LOL.

So Weetzibat, MR DD nursing is fairly easy except for excessive paperwork? There are ads all the time in my area (Dallas Fort Worth) looking for nurses to supervise group homes, etc and I've always been intrigued by it. Tell us more please.

Hospital work is harder now than it was 30 yrs ago but there are definitely better places out there than others, as I find out when I do my agency shifts. Agency per diem work is great for me as I never have to go back if it's just awful...LOL!

How do ya'll cope as you age? I find I need to split up my shifts so I can rest up good between them...but then again I have some fairly severe arthritis and I need more rest to deal with it I find.

Good thread...we should try and keep it going and share tips. :)

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 16, 2004

Hello. I've been a nurse since 1977.

NICU staff nurse ... then grad school ... then NICU CNS .... then grad school ... then a little teaching ... then NICU CNS again ... Now I am in one of those odd positions that are hard to describe. I work on special projects for a children's hospital, coordinate the summer nursing student extern program, am liaison with the local schools of nursing, a little staff development, keep a lot of recruitment and retention statistics, etc. It's fun ... and not very stressful ... but I don't have much job securtiy.

You guys might be able to offer some insight to help me with an issue I am currently grappling with: I think I have gotten too old to be the "friend" of the younger nurses, new grads, etc. It seems to be working better when I allow them to treat me as more of a "superior" than an "equal." I'm not totally comfortable with that as I have always been a first-name, casual type of person. But I am finding more and more that my extensive experience and education (and age) has widened the gap between me and the younger ones to the point that it seems easier to let that gap exist -- better to build bridges over an acknowledge gap than to try to eliminate the gap or pretend it isn't there.

Are you other "oldsters" finding that to be the case?

llg

weetziebat · Jul 16, 2004

i agree that this is a great thread. so nice to chat with other "old timers".

as far as mr/dd nursing goes - i find it a secret almost too good to let out of the bag :chuckle i monitor the health care needs of mr/dd clients, considered medically fragile, who live in a group home. make my own hours/days, wear what i please, have my own office space, and basically do a lot of paperwork to show that we are really following the oar's. also supervise the caregivers and delegate them in some nursing tasks, such as tube feedings. i make sure the clients see who they are supposed to, when they are supposed to - p.t., physicians, dentist, orthotist, dietician, make sure equipment is kept in good condition etc. and have the enjoyable task of trying to convince insurance to pay for medications/equipment needed :chuckle

the clients are delightful, families grateful for what you are doing to help their loved ones, the staff are good natured and hardworking, i'm on my own and get to work closely with the physicians to do what i feel is in the clients best interests, and i even have enough energy left over at the end of the day to go home and mow the grass - not something that happened when i worked in the hospitals :rotfl:

as far as the age gap goes - yeah, the caregivers i work with are mostly in their early twenties. i have always been a casual person and find i enjoy their energy and enthusiasm. they tend to look at me as "mom" - which is fine with me. at times would like more "peers" to converse with at work, but as llg pointed out, you can't eliminate or pretend the gap doesn't exist, so we do the best we can, right??

oh, and gypsyangel - historic nursing stories sound wonderful.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 16, 2004

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i graduated in 1978 and after 5 years on the floors i went into icu. i'm still in icu -- a very busy cardiac sicu in a large, tertiary hospital. i love it, but probably won't be able to do it forever. the body is weary . . . .

i'm considering grad school so i can be a nurse educator.

mattsmom81 · Jul 16, 2004

There's a definite 'generation gap' with the younger nurses I work with too and I find my favorite shifts are spent with nurses in their 40's and older...all at the same points in our lives and educated with similar values.

I'm sure there are many different reasons for this. One night I found myself working with all 20 somethings and the conversation became quite profane and objectionable to me...this didn't happen when I was that age nurse so I don't know what has happened....but oh well. Maybe I'm just getting old and fuddy duddy' ish...LOL. In any case I decided to stay away from them which they noticed and apologized for later...I just shrugged and said "to each his/her own and this is your unit not mine'. (I'm agency and like this freedom...don't have to 'conform').

I too find my role adapting into mentor/teacher/mom to the younger nurses in many cases, and find it easier to relate to them on this level as well. I don't know if its me, them or a combination of both groups (probably the latter)I also avoid being in charge now whenever I can and prefer to be responsible for 'only' my own work...and I do set some limits in my agency work...I no longer will work agency shifts where nurses EMAR as its too time consuming as agency...keeps me sane...LOL!

How are the rest of you coping with all the changes today?

ragingmomster, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2004

Hi there fellow 'battleaxe nurses'...glad to know ya. We seem to be the ones the young nurses hate for some reason

Hope you ALLLLLL read this post. As a young nurse, I LOVE you guys. You know which docs are useful and which ones are useless, you know tricks that have fallen by the wayside, but still work, and for the most part, you are willing to share when we are willing to listen. THANKS!!!!

CardioTrans, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2004

I have only been a nurse for 10 yrs and am in my mid 30's, however, like the other poster, I love to work with nurses who have been doing it for 20+ years. You teach us so much, and have secrets that work when nothing else does. I work with a nurse now who I went to high school with her son, she has always been Ms S to me. I have been a nurse longer than she has, but she always knows what to do.

Some of the nursing students that I see come through my unit definitely make me wonder sometimes, but hey who knows, in 10 more yrs, maybe they will like working with me because I teach them something.

Thanks to all of you who have not left the profession and teach all of us youngsters something new everyday!!!!!

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jul 17, 2004

LPN 77, RN 82

Remember well glass IV bottles, counting iv drip rates, buratol drips, Glass chest tube drainage system, oxygen tents..........

Started homecare in 1985 when someone on IV Morphine drip at home had to have 24 hour nursing; By 1989, portable PCA infusion pumps available and you visited 1-2 x a week!

Still in homecare, now in management. Love NURSING and my job...most days.

One of those RN's who was always asking questions, pestering my elders...Glad to be seen as a resource now. Learning something new from this site almost daily.