babychickens

As a new grad, I'm grateful for crusty old bats and battle axes (terms of endearment) such as yourselves. Please keep your eagle eyes and ears on me and my pts. With gratitude, Baby Chickens

If the RN you speak of were to tell on you, she'd be outing herself. Have you thought of that? Common sense tells me she wouldn't for those reasons. Regarding the detox, if they shared your info they'd be breaking the law. Is it possible somehow, someway someone might whisper about you? Sure. But remember...what people think of you is none of your business. You sound like a classic recovering person (I speak from experience) in that you assume people are sitting around thinking about you all the time. But remember they are not. You are not that important. And for God sake, do not change your school plan over this! It's hard enough to get into school these days. Please DO hold your head up high, move on, and gain some well-needed maturity on this issue. It's in your past.

A "license in good standing"... Doesn't that just mean it can't be revoked or in jeopardy of being revoked? Or perhaps not having any reports on an existing license?? From what I can infer, you don't have a license in bad standing because you don't have a license. And when you do it will perhaps be a RESTRICTED license. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea to get your license before applying. Furthermore, call the BRN and clarify EXACTLY what your restrictions entail. If I interviewed you, I wouldn't hire you either simply because you do not understand your limits. They are unclear of what additional resources they will need to have you on staff.

I feel like I can hear my mentors (in my head) saying "well some of them will just have to wait" or "are they symptomatic?" re: the pain meds and HRs respectively. Btw, I've done my share of freaking out over the same stuff. I've been told that comes with the territory as a new grad. Old pros see a wacked out HR and pt who LOOKS like they're fine and they walk away. I'm still standing there staring at the monitor, then back at their chest like...OMG, are they about to code? Lord knows they probably live in that wacky ventricular rhythm, ya' know? And during the time I stood there watching them NOT DIE I could have passed those pain meds! Easier said than done, but I would reach out to your fellow experienced RNs, as suggested because they can remind you of those things on the daily.

Hi AN community. "This RN" (haha: throwback from recent post) has noticed a recent uptick in ETOH withdrawal pts and hospitalizations r/t heroin. One, in particular, is really tugging at my heartstrings. To be clear, I am very good at compartmentalization so it's not the patients who are the challenge. I care for them quite clinically and without judgment. That's one of my nursing gifts, as we all have our different ones. For me, it's the families of these people. We all know the likelihood of reoccurrence is like, WAY UP THERE. How do you like that scientific stat? But I digress... So between SW, and my gentle nudging for the families to take care of themselves too during this time I end up just feeling powerless, which is precisely what the families are...POWERLESS. No amount of daily McDonald's runs for the pt newly downgraded from ICU is going to change the fact that when that person gets discharged they are more than likely going right back to their dealer. And we will see that same family again. Only this time the pt won't be as lucky, because as we know the clinical manifestations tend to get worse every time. I guess I'm just venting, but what experiences have you all had (good or bad) that have helped you get through cases like this? For reference, I'm a new nurse but have been in pt care for quite a while so I'm not new to family dynamics or hospitals. Thanks. Oh, and just to show I'm not a total softie cause you know those ETOHs be trying to drink their own pee on the regular.

Being a local, I'd recommend branching out to other counties. Have you networked? What I can tell you is there are so few actual job openings each cycle that they usually end up going to internal applicants. Just keep trying though. Good luck!

I'm always surprised at the automatic FNP goal too. When someone says that I hear, "I have someone financially supporting me into eternity and they expect me, as soon as I'm off their dime, to make the absolute most money possible". In other words, it's programmed into them. There's no passion, no WHY. Sure, some have a great reason. In fact I know a great psych NP whom I have a ton of respect for. She's always inspired me. Maybe if I want to ever get close to psychiatry I'll pursue that route. Or perhaps if I feel called to obstetrics in the future I could go there. I had a fabulous NP at a Planned Parenthood a million years ago who made an impact. My point is, this job can be so draining that I know I'll give the best care over time to my patients if I have a passion for the specialty. I've been in the trenches of the ED for awhile now. I've been in other trenches too. I don't love them as much. If I see fit to add letters to my name so I can advance once I have more experience under my belt then I'll do that. In the meantime, I'm not looking to be called a "master" or "practitioner" of anything until my horn is less green. That's my take.