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I would like some advice. I worked in nursing for 8 years in the 70's and early 80's before taking time off to stay home with my children. I am glad to have been able to have done this. I recently took an RN Refresher Course and reactivated my license. I have been applying for jobs in Middle Tennessee without success. My life/volunteer experience doesn't seem to count. It almost seems as if I am regarded as someone who has sat on the couch eating chocolate for all these years.
I feel that I could make a contribution again to nursing. Some have told me that I am too nice and employers are looking for very aggressive nurses these days. I realize that I would still need an orientation program and some agencies have no avenue for this. I have been substitute teaching in the local public schools and may apply to be the substitute school nurse. I am not eligible to work prn and there are not many part-time jobs it seems. I am not interested in full-time.
Does anyone have any advice, even if it's just to enlighten me about how I may be viewed? I have applied at one hospital for a new grad job, but figure they would rather have the new grad. I don't blame them. I would be a good parish nurse, but there is no position available in my area.
just wondering
Originally posted by Dancer3cheerfuldoer: Thanks for the encouragement. I am just a little nervous as my orientation is almost over. I hope I do alright without my preceptor. She thinks I will!
That's good about your friend back after 20 years. I hope your current position is going to work out for you as well.
Dancer3
Dancer3,
congrats on the job @ Southern Hills! I used to live quite close to that facility (in the neighborhood behind KMART - Elysian Fields, as I recall). I could see Southern Hills from my kitchen window...my, how the past 5 years have flown!
Best wishes as you grow into your new job! Let me share something I read many years ago: it takes 6 months in a new job to reach 50% of your capacity for efficiency in that job. I held onto this thought with all of my might some nights!
baskets of blessings,
eltrip
Good Luck Dancer3 with your new job. I don't envy you, I have been a nurse non stop for 33 years and was recently on leave due to my mothers illness for 3 months when I got back to work I was stressed, I can only imagine how you must feel. May I offer some suggestions? Get yourself into a routine and try to stay organized and caught up throughout your shift. This will keep the stress down when something unplanned happens with one of your patients like a big Code at shift change. This is what I do, I listen to report, get my medicines together, assess my patients thoroughly so that there won't be any little surprises(do a head to toe assessment), check all of your patients lab work, chart your assessments, round on your patients as often as you can while you can because you never know what may happen next. Get your next iv bags ready and in the room, give your medicines etc. If you have infusion pumps running use them to your advantage, don't set the things to alarm with just a few ml's remaining,I typically set mine to alarm when I have another hour or so left in the bag, then hang the other one if you have time, if not you have an hour to to spare if you are busy at the time. When I have multiple antibiotics that I have to hang one right after the other I set the primary bag at 0 then when the antibiotic runs in the pump will alarm reminding you to hang the next antibiotic. Explain to your coworkers that you have been out of nursing for awhile and that you are anxious about it and would appreciate their help and understanding . Some nurses are mean and look for reasons to talk about other nurses but if you appeal to their sympathetic side up front maybe you can head them off before they start on you. I would offer to do whatever needed to be done for other nurses patients , ie, catheterizations, iv starts, etc, whatever I felt insecure about I would try to do it often until I became proficient at it. Ask doctors about why they are ordering this and that, most of them love to teach, get you a good nursing book and read . I have written all of this in hopes that you can benefit from my years of nursing experience. I don't know it all and never will but have found out that being organized with a plan to follow, being interested in learning new things will help you survive in a difficult environment and being a nurse is very difficult as you will see. I have worked with nurses who have been out of nursing for a long time and its hard for them but if they stick with it it will get easier as I know that it will for you. The area that you are working in now may not be what you like but it will at least be a good knowledge base for you and will lead to something that perhaps you will like better.
Hi Eltrip, Thanks for taking the time to write this helpful reply. I am slowly adjusting. I think I need to write down some of the things that you have said. So far most people have been understanding. I sometimes forget to check the lab reports but am getting better. I recently worked 3 days in a row, had one off, then worked two more. I knew a lot more about the patients but I was fatigued. I work every third weekend and the weekend crew is different from the week day crew but I usually know at least one person. I feel more alone on the weekends but I will get used to things more and maybe won't feel that way.
Thanks again for sharing from your expertise!
Dancer3
Good Luck Dancer3 with your new job. I don't envy you, I have been a nurse non stop for 33 years and was recently on leave due to my mothers illness for 3 months when I got back to work I was stressed, I can only imagine how you must feel. May I offer some suggestions? Get yourself into a routine and try to stay organized and caught up throughout your shift. This will keep the stress down when something unplanned happens with one of your patients like a big Code at shift change. This is what I do, I listen to report, get my medicines together, assess my patients thoroughly so that there won't be any little surprises(do a head to toe assessment), check all of your patients lab work, chart your assessments, round on your patients as often as you can while you can because you never know what may happen next. Get your next iv bags ready and in the room, give your medicines etc. If you have infusion pumps running use them to your advantage, don't set the things to alarm with just a few ml's remaining,I typically set mine to alarm when I have another hour or so left in the bag, then hang the other one if you have time, if not you have an hour to to spare if you are busy at the time. When I have multiple antibiotics that I have to hang one right after the other I set the primary bag at 0 then when the antibiotic runs in the pump will alarm reminding you to hang the next antibiotic. Explain to your coworkers that you have been out of nursing for awhile and that you are anxious about it and would appreciate their help and understanding . Some nurses are mean and look for reasons to talk about other nurses but if you appeal to their sympathetic side up front maybe you can head them off before they start on you. I would offer to do whatever needed to be done for other nurses patients , ie, catheterizations, iv starts, etc, whatever I felt insecure about I would try to do it often until I became proficient at it. Ask doctors about why they are ordering this and that, most of them love to teach, get you a good nursing book and read . I have written all of this in hopes that you can benefit from my years of nursing experience. I don't know it all and never will but have found out that being organized with a plan to follow, being interested in learning new things will help you survive in a difficult environment and being a nurse is very difficult as you will see. I have worked with nurses who have been out of nursing for a long time and its hard for them but if they stick with it it will get easier as I know that it will for you. The area that you are working in now may not be what you like but it will at least be a good knowledge base for you and will lead to something that perhaps you will like better.
You are absolutly right about that! I have been a nurse for 10 years and have traveled all over the US working as a travel nurse. I am back home now because I grew exhausted from all the workplace violence,deception and down right liars and drug addicts that I worked with. It took me 8 months to stop throwing up everytime I walked into a hospital to apply for a position! I have been working in CCU for the past 3 months and finally thought I had found a work environment with a zero tolerance for violence, harrassment and backstabbbing. It even says that in the "associates handbook" Yesterday, after reporting an incident to my manager that occured last week, I was called in and suspended!!! yes that is correct, I followed hospital policy to the letter, and was told in this meeting of managers that my story was totally different from what they had gotten from my co workers, and get this, they were all float nurses. I am at a loss as to what to do. any suggestions?Are you being provided with a reason why these places won't hire you? If it's because you've been out of nursing too long, but yet you've fulfilled the requirement to complete the refresher course, and your license is now active--I'd say you might want to speak with an Attourney about whether you are being descriminated against. You have followed the legal procedure to have your license reactivated, so you've done all you can do to meet the TN requirements to practice as a nurse reentering the profession. Also, a doctor's offce might hire you. I see little difference between hiring you or a new grad, and lots of new grads are older people, they are not all under 30!! P.S. Aggressive nurses are not what medical facilities want. They want "nice" nurses who won't make waves and who will just take the abuse..... :)
Yesterday, after reporting an incident to my manager that occured last week, I was called in and suspended!!! yes that is correct, I followed hospital policy to the letter, and was told in this meeting of managers that my story was totally different from what they had gotten from my co workers, and get this, they were all float nurses. I am at a loss as to what to do. any suggestions?
I am really confused! You were suspended??? Was it over a "so-called" error in your nursing practice, or political? Being suspended is a pretty strong punishment.
If you followed hospital policy for whatever you were doing, then get all of your proof together and take it to a higher level. (DON maybe?)
Your confused? I am devistated!! I notified my nurse manager of an incident which required the security to be involved in and my co workers chose to cover up thier mistake by using "blame shifting". A patient was removing her monitor and I just happen to go see what the problem was since that patients nurse was busy. The patient attempted to assult me because I asked her to sit on the bed because her heart rate was 45. She was a drug seeker and had not been given any drugs that day I learned afterwards and she had been irrational and rude to entire staff. She was caught twice smoking in the CCU room and her nurse did nothing. This patient put all of us in danger and I have been suspended until the investigation is complete, however they took my badge at the end of the managers meeting. It just seems so impossible that things happened this way when I followed the policy for workplace violence and since the patient attempted to assult me, I felt security was warrented to defuse the situation. both coworkers told me that someone lied to me when I told them that this hospital has a zero tolerance to workplace violence. And they also told me that management would not be pleased that I called security. Guess they were right, but they also went a step further and just blatenly lied to management about the incident.I am really confused! You were suspended??? Was it over a "so-called" error in your nursing practice, or political? Being suspended is a pretty strong punishment.If you followed hospital policy for whatever you were doing, then get all of your proof together and take it to a higher level. (DON maybe?)
Dancer3
17 Posts
cheerfuldoer: Thanks for the encouragement. I am just a little nervous as my orientation is almost over. I hope I do alright without my preceptor. She thinks I will!
That's good about your friend back after 20 years. I hope your current position is going to work out for you as well.
Dancer3