slu_rn

I think that any piercing, as long as it isn't large and obnoxious is fine. (I have 13 total piercings, 10 of which are in my ears). I don't have a nose piercing, but I am debating about having my tongue done. I have only had one person at my facility make me take all but one pair out. I just wear studs or small hoops in them. I think self expression is a good thing.

In response to you question about debt, I am very lucky. Between scholarships and my family, I have no school debt. That is an amazing feeling. I can't imagine anyone in this area with school debt and trying to support themselves. The poster who spoke to a hospital in their area using the large output of students in the city for a year and burning them out feels like here. The low wages and benefits are attributed to a "large" number of nursing schools and hospitals in the area. No one has to be competitive. However, I can tell you that our unit runs short staffed almost on a daily basis. Don't ask what happens when someone calls in sick...

I have been a nurse for almost exactly a year now. I am also looking for a different path. I have reapplied to retail stores for work until I find something that suits me better. I am already burned out of the way that administration, physicians and other nurses treat the staff. My graduation present from a BSN program was that I moved back into my parents house. I don't know of anyone in my graduating class that supports themselves. Everyone either has a roommate or is a married. This is what I have to show for a bachelors degree and working OT?

I have a Palm LifeDrive and love it. It was expensive, but I asked for it for a Christmas present then purchased the software myself.

St. Louis MO, $18/hr and cost of living is fairly high. It's around $800 for a 1br apartment.

I graduated with my BSN in May of 2006 and I can say whole-heartedly that if I had it to do over, Nursing would be the last thing I chose. I have worked in 2 separate areas since graduation and have not found my place in either of them. That being said, I did look at changing my major my senior year, but I though that would be silly. Go ahead and get your degree then go back. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as I'd hoped it would be.

I really don't mind the admisstions and the work. I want to be confident. I guess my struggle is really with not being accepted. I talked to the person who called me and her response to everything was I guess you've just been targeted.

I have a friend who works nights on the same unit and I walked her out the other morning and she was almost in tears. The 3 nights she was there that week no one really talked to her. She tried to get in on conversation during slow periods but they turned their back on her. When I got back from walking her downstairs the nurses in the room immediatly stopped talking and just stared at me. It was really uncomfortable. :uhoh21: I don't mind the hard work or the sick kids. I like being challenged and learning. I'm just drowing. Gompers - that sounds like a great plan having a support person assigned to you. I really wish we had something like that!

I don't know about hazing. I know that I rarely get any help, and I often feel like I'm being "dumped" on. As far as getting better at admits, I can set up an isolette with the best of them, but I still am having trouble juggling the admit with my other kid(s). Is this all normal? Do older nurses just ignore/don't help/pick at new nurses so you get tougher? I know that I'm off for 2 days and I'm already dreading going back... again...

I graduated with my BSN in May and have been working on a Level III NICU since June. I got out of orientation about a month ago and I think I've already burned out. During orientaiton, my preceptor and I ended up with the sickest kids. Sometimes we'd have two babies that 5 min into our shift we would realize they should be 2 one-on-ones. Once orientation was over, our educator told us that while they wouldn't go "easy" on us, they would make an effort not to give us the really sick, really difficult kids to start with. In my first 6 shifts I got 5 bad admissions and 1 transfer. 5th admission, I got a call on my day off saying we're really sorry things have worked out like this. We don't want to lose you. We've talked about it and we're really going to make an effort not to do that to you again. My next shift, I got yet another admission. When I let the person who called me know, her answer was well I guess you've just been targeted huh. Even on days since that I have just had a difficult assignment, I can't get any help. I sometimes get lunch at 3p (I work 7a-7:30p) if I"m lucky. I had 3 SCREAMING kids yesterday and people just kept getting mad at me for them crying. I was standing in the middle of the room just wanting to join them and cry too. I always feel like I'm behind. I always feel like I give a crappy report. I hate leaving things for the next nurse to do. I like my beds to be neat and restocked so the oncomming night RN doesn't have to look for things, but I just don't feel like I'm able to do that. Is this burnout? I've honestly considering going to like Best Buy or something and applying. I just feel like I can't do this and that I made a huge mistake going into nursing. Is there anything I can do? Is this just part of my "first year get your feet under you"? I don't know that at this rate I"ll last a year...

I live in Shiloh and the area is really nice, quiet and safe. Other places to look would be O'Fallon, Millstadt, Lebanon, Troy, and Breese/Aviston but it also depends on where you want to work. Some of those towns, Breese for example, would be about an hour commute to the major hospitals in St. Louis.

In my dreams I am: * A veterinarian * A biomedical engineer * A genetic engineer * A professional softball player (yay for first knee surgery at age 15 )

I would love to leave the hospital. I just don't know where else to go. Working in a MD office just doesn't really sound any better.

The problem is getting someone to come in. Right now we're struggling with out patients. Our acuity is incredibly high, and work can be a very depressing place to be so who wants to exhaust themselves working an extra shift?

Being assertive, yes, is a good thing I think, but what I always get hung up on is who then will pick up that patient who needs care? It's wonderful for us to talk about how we all should just say no, but then what happens to that person who needs the help and no nurse will take them? I work in a Level III NICU, and while we dont' have anywhere close to 9 patients, 2-3 can get insane. My first day out of orientation (a 12 week orientation, which I really appreciated) I received a new admit. The one thing our educator told us is that in the first few weeks off of orientation, we wouldn't get a new admit. We blew that out of the water on day 1. I did, however, get 5 min to run and eat my sandwich and chips while the charge nurse did my 12p assessments and feedings so I wouldn't pass out. I do realize that I'm lucky in that respect. Now having said all of that. If I could go to college again, would I choose nursing? ABSOLUTELY NOT.