Nursing conditions

Mary3010 · Feb 12, 2018

Thank you for your comments.

Workitinurfava: How would you compare your experiences working in the different areas of nursing?

Heynurse1996:

1. So do you also teach like a sports teacher would (the medical side of things)?

2. I've never come across a school nurse before. Are they only in larger schools or do you travel between schools?

Nature walker:

1. How long did you have to do swing shift times for?

2. Is that normally how it works (as in do you do swing shift times before you can choose day/night work?).

3. What would make nursing different to tv?

Thank you all again!!!

heynurse1996 · Feb 14, 2018

Thank you for your comments.
Workitinurfava: How would you compare your experiences working in the different areas of nursing?
Heynurse1996:
1. So do you also teach like a sports teacher would (the medical side of things)?
2. I've never come across a school nurse before. Are they only in larger schools or do you travel between schools?
Nature walker:
1. How long did you have to do swing shift times for?
2. Is that normally how it works (as in do you do swing shift times before you can choose day/night work?).
3. What would make nursing different to tv?
Thank you all again!!!

1. A little bit of teaching mostly to the paraeducators who take care of our medically fragile kiddos and lots of health education, not necessarily in a formal classroom environment mostly in my office. There is a ton of education with both students and parents (last week for example I had a student who's mom was confused why her kids temp had not gone down after giving him an 81mg asprin) sometimes there are a lot of families where you might be the only healthcare provider they see regularly so understanding available resources and being confident in your education is key.

2. School nurses are pretty common....We have a district RN with a BSN and school nursing credentials who oversees and travels between schools (Not as often to the schools with LPNs mostly to the ones with "health aides") My school is mandated by the state to have a licensed nurse in each school with "medically fragile" kiddos/ any "nurse assist" per IEP or MD orders.

Check out your local school district websites there a great resource

Mary3010 · Feb 25, 2018

Thank you for your help!!!!

Can you only combine nursing and education in schools or can you combine them in other areas such as:

-Doing nursing a couple of days in a week and teaching nursing at a university/other institution the other days

-Doing nursing some days and teaching people about health related things on other days (or during those nursing days).

-Do nursing in a hospital and teaching the patients as well (maybe a pediatric nurse could do that for school children).

I'm not even sure if you could do those combinations but they're just ideas I had.

Thank you so much!!!

BrandonLPN, LPN · Feb 25, 2018

If you're looking for an area of nursing with no holidays, no shift work, not a lot of standing and little chance of patients dying on you, the only place I can think of is a doctors's office or a clinic or maybe school nursing. Of course, the pay tends to be considerably lower. That's the trade-off.

Nature_walker, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2018

Nature walker:
1. How long did you have to do swing shift times for?
2. Is that normally how it works (as in do you do swing shift times before you can choose day/night work?).
3. What would make nursing different to tv?

From my experience, swing is the typical shift you get as a newbie in the hopsital. All our new nurses are on it and permanent shifts are a luxury. On my unit, you can request shifts, but it is not a guarantee that you will get them. We are short staffed, so holes need to be filled.

I had to work on my unit for about 9 months before I was able to request to come off swing. However, that's only because a permanent evening position opened up and no one else wanted it. I jumped on it and it's been mine ever since. Evenings are a bit chaotic to say the least, so it's a hard shift to be on, but I enjoy the fast pace.

How is my day different from tv? Well, I don't sit a lot. I'm on my feet all day. Comfy shoes are your best friend. My patients are not always sweet or thankful. The norm for my unit is they hate me, they hate that I'm locking them up, why am I so slow, why can't I get the doctor for them, they are not like the other "crazy" people here... however, I'm in a locked emergency psych unit, so it just rolls off my back. I can't take it personally. Other difference, tv doesn't show the amount of fluids one body can make, or patients who are in sever withdrawal. It is not pretty. I wouldn't trade it for tv life though. You can't make up the things that happen and when people are thankful, it makes all the other stuff worth it. :yes:

Mary3010 · Mar 6, 2018

Thank you for your reply!! Your job seems very rewarding. I guess if there were more staff you would be able to have more choice in your hours.

1. How often do nurses have night/afternoon shifts then?

2. Fluids as in vomit from their withdrawal?

3. So am I correct by saying that your unit is linked to accident and emergency? As in patients only go to your unit if they need a psychiatrist, are self-harming or who are in withdrawal etc?

Nature_walker, ASN, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2018

Thank you for your reply!! Your job seems very rewarding. I guess if there were more staff you would be able to have more choice in your hours.
1. How often do nurses have night/afternoon shifts then? Not really sure. We schedule ourselves for what we hope to have, but then management can move us around if they see holes or needs before the schedule publishes.
2. Fluids as in vomit from their withdrawal? Vomit, sweating, diarrhea. I see both alcohol and opioid withdrawal.
3. So am I correct by saying that your unit is linked to accident and emergency? As in patients only go to your unit if they need a psychiatrist, are self-harming or who are in withdrawal etc?

Correct, we are part of emergency, but a separate locked unit attached to emergency. If the pts are brought in by mental hygiene arrest they will come to us. If they are self harming, after medicine clears them, they come to us. We also have voluntary pts who are worried about harming themselves come in as well. We see all walks of life. I think it's interesting and really enjoy what I do.

Mary3010 · Mar 13, 2018

So basically you could be having night/afternoon shift every day in the week.

I suppose the body is trying to get rid of the toxins - that makes sense.

That sounds good! So does that mean you could also work in emergency? Like can any nurse jump from one ward to the next e.g from paediatrics to accident and emergency for instance or can they only have similarities e.g dealing with children with paediatrics to maternity or neonatal (in a way they are connected).

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2018

Thank you for your help!!!!
Can you only combine nursing and education in schools or can you combine them in other areas such as:
-Doing nursing a couple of days in a week and teaching nursing at a university/other institution the other days
-Doing nursing some days and teaching people about health related things on other days (or during those nursing days).
-Do nursing in a hospital and teaching the patients as well (maybe a pediatric nurse could do that for school children).
I'm not even sure if you could do those combinations but they're just ideas I had.
Thank you so much!!!

Teaching is a HUGE part of nursing. Not school-type teaching, though. Nurses in every field teach their patients. They teach about medications, about disease management, about follow-up needs, about symptoms to report, about well child care, etc. Teaching was the biggest part of my last job as a home infusion liaison. I taught parents things like how to administer tube feedings, IV antibiotics or TPN to their children.

In order to teach nursing at the university level, you generally need a PhD or some other form of doctorate.

I am guessing that you are not in the US, based on your use of the term "Accident and Emergency", but a nurse in pediatrics would not have time to teach her patients as if they were in school. Children who are hospitalized for a long time will get tutoring. This was arranged by the Child Life Specialist in the pediatric hospital I worked at.

When I worked in the hospital, I was expected to work 50% days and 50% nights as well as every third weekend.

There are positions that are day only, Mon-Fri- of my 5 nursing positions, 4 have been these types- but these positions require experience. Everyone needs to pay their dues first.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2018

So basically you could be having night/afternoon shift every day in the week.
I suppose the body is trying to get rid of the toxins - that makes sense.
That sounds good! So does that mean you could also work in emergency? Like can any nurse jump from one ward to the next e.g from paediatrics to accident and emergency for instance or can they only have similarities e.g dealing with children with paediatrics to maternity or neonatal (in a way they are connected).

I am not sure how it is in your country but in the US, nurses are educated and licensed as generalists. I have only ever worked in pediatrics but I could switch to geriatrics at any point in time if I so desired (I don't). A pediatric nurse can leave pediatrics and obtain a new job in the ER (one of my best nursing friends did this a few years back) but within a hospital, a pediatric nurse generally wouldn't be floated from inpatient peds to the ER. When I worked in the hospital, no one floated to the ER unless it was a float pool nurse who had been trained in the ER. The ER had on-call nurses for if they needed help.

Nature_walker, ASN, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2018

That sounds good! So does that mean you could also work in emergency? Like can any nurse jump from one ward to the next e.g from paediatrics to accident and emergency for instance or can they only have similarities e.g dealing with children with paediatrics to maternity or neonatal (in a way they are connected).

I'm the last person you would want to float to ED. My skills are talking and de-escalating. Not really gonna help if the pt is going into a code situation. :shy:

I'm not cross trained in emergency, only psych stuff so I'm not the most helpful person to have for too much outside of my psych bubble. I just learned that medical units that my friends work on let their pt's leave for walks. This was mind blowing to me as I'm on a locked unit and no one leaves until dr clears them! :bag:

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Mar 13, 2018

You have to consider that starting out in nursing, you may have to work in the hospital setting on your feet. I started out working 9 months on a surgical unit and then transferred to a clinic atmosphere. I still work through lunch most days, but my job is mostly sitting in front of a computer. I make a lot more in the oncology clinic setting than I did in the hospital. When I think back to the amount of responsibility I had in the hospital with lack of break, I realize I was way under paid! I have a lot of responsibility as a clinic oncology RN, now research nurse but I think I am paid appropriately. I will be a nurse for 2 years in May.

Shows on TV depict doctor's doing most of the work and I always think to myself, 90% of what they show the doc doing on television is what the nurse actually does in reality. It always makes me mad!