Just a few quick questions

roser13, ASN, RN · Nov 3, 2010

Your questions are extremely facility-specific:

"What can I expect with this job?

What are the shifts like for anyone working on a floor like this?

Is it a busy floor?

Heavy medications?

These are questions that should have been asked at your interview, prior to acceptance of the position.

kcochrane · Nov 3, 2010

The fact that you have general medicine in that mix will mean you will have a mix of everything. I would think with the oncology part, you will get a lot of IV meds and pain meds.

But I agree with the above poster...it will be very facility specific.

simboka · Nov 3, 2010

The fact that you have general medicine in that mix will mean you will have a mix of everything. I would think with the oncology part, you will get a lot of IV meds and pain meds.
But I agree with the above poster...it will be very facility specific.

Don't forget unit size, hospital size, and phase of the moon affects things too! Your future coworkers would be better equiped to answer these things.

But since you're wanting specifics, I'm on a 24bed gen med/tele/onc floor, and have seen med loads from hanging an abx every 1-2 hrs, someone acutely dying getting morphine/ativan q1prn, to tonight, when I've got a self care walkie-talkie who literally had 1 abx pill and a prn she doesn't want (hence why I'm sitting and on all nurses ).

But I agree, that gen med is the wild card, never can tell who they'll stick under that label.

gemimi · Nov 3, 2010

As a cancer patient who is now 18 months post bone marrow transplant I can tell you that you will be VERY busy on your floor. Pain medication will be a large part of your med pass, you will become familiar with hospice, you will leave a part of you with everyone that you care for and they will leave a part of themselves with you. You will make or break their day, they will count on you to tell them they can make it, that they WILL make it, that they need to keep their head in the game and fight. It is a difficult unit ~ only take it on because you really care. In the facility I was cared for in they were not allowed to EVER speak of giving up hope to a patient. If they did not remain positive and accessible they were gone. They were also well staffed, well trained and oriented, worked together as a complete team and looked after each other and their over all moral...they needed to. How these angels returned day after day I will never know and I will be forever grateful for. When I didn't think I would make it, they convinced me I would. When I was terified, they calmed me. My old onocologist told me I would not make Christmas of 2008 and that I was not strong enough to survive the chemo ~ if I did, I would not make it through the bone marrow transplant and discharged me on hospice (which I refused). I had just come out of ICU where I had been septic, had pneumonia, kidney's shut down, slightly enlarged heart and CHF with a temp. of 105 and pulse of 238 on admission. It is amazing how God works, had that doctor not been so positive I would die within the next three months I would never have sought the cancer center I did (I wasn't aware it was there, he did not suggest it). They scheduled my first appointment the next day after I called ~ I had stage IV B non-hodgkins lymhoma when I was diagnosed. Not only did He get me to the hospital that saved my life, He pushed me kicking and screaming into a different job and they had insurance that was outstanding andn covered most of my million dollar doctor bills. I am digressing, I guess I needed to vent....I'm sorry :) Getting back to your original question, you will be well trained and watched over before going on your own ~ also expect to be certified in oncology (here it is a 2,000 hour certification). God bless you if you do go into this, expect to love what you do and to have your heart broken and pieced back together many, many times thorugh the years. I am alive because of the greatest group of nurses and doctors I will ever know.

sassyred_rn · Nov 3, 2010

Oh such a heartwarming story of your success! Bottom line, love what you do, and remember to project that to your patient's. We can "learn" procedures, and take direction....but it's the heart felt desire to make a difference that is not learned nor taught in a text book....if you have to "ask" if it's right for you, than maybe it isn't. :nurse: