jules1326

Did you do any clinicals at either hospital? I did clinicals at Rex and hated every minute of it. The nurses were very anti-student, I figure if they could be that mean to students, they must have plenty of nursing help. This was about 9-10 years ago and UNC has since took over, so things could have changed. I worked at Wakemed from 94-06 and loved it. I worked in several areas including the pharmacy(while in school), the childrens ER (both as a CNA and RN), on the ortho/oncology floor and in the flex pool. The reason I left was because I had moved 2 hours away. I actually was still going back 2-3 times a month for extra money for the last 2 years. I know lots of people that have moved away from Raleigh and either worked in the float pool in case they move back or have moved back and came to work at wakemed. I also know many nurses who work at both places. Wakemed has a great weekend plan and depending what floor you end up on, you do not have to do many weekends. As a new grad I worked M-F 11p-7a. I hope this helps some. Julie

I totally agree with what everyone posted here. As a matter of fact I would not printing out this entire post and having my "experienced" nurses read it. All the medication information is very true. My biggest pet peave is nurses who go into a room and ask a patient what do you need and then the nurse spends the next 10 minutes looking for a CNA to do what would take less than 2 minutes, like getting water/ice, putting a patient on the bedpan or getting the patient a blanket. Ironically these are the same nurses who are always behind with their work and I am thinking, if you did not spend all day looking for CNA's you might not be behind. Always treat your patients like you would like your family to be treated and you will be fine.

sometime there are things that you need to finish up, usually it is paper work of some type. Best advice I have for students and/or new nurses--Do not leave your charting till the end of your shift. For a couple of reasons 1st it is harder to chart all you do and secondly other people can not chart for you, but they can do an accucheck or hang a piggy back medication. At the end of a shift co-workers will usually ask "are you almost finished" or "what can I do to help you out" if all you have left to is chart then they can not help you out and you will be there until 8,9,10 finishing up charting. This took me a few months to figure out. I believe that if your work is done and you have done everything you can in your 12 hours than once you have given report it is time to go and time for the next person to take over.

pain is subjective, it is what the patient says it is. I will try to re-explain the pain scale to my patients, especially if they say "10" and they are eating, laughing and watching tv. I ask them if I were to push on or hit the area that is hurting it can not get any worse? They usually say "oh it can get worse" then I remind them they must not be a 10. For my patients who tell me they still do not understand, I explain that the numbers are up to you, but the key is that after my intervention (pain med, repositioning or heat or cold) the number should go down. When I reevaluate pain I will ask them for a number and remind them of there number they told me before intervention. This usually works and I will document in the nurses notes behaviors for those patients that call for the medicine "just because it it time" and not because they are hurting and if it is time I will give them the medicine. We use a behavioral scale for non verbal adults and faces for pediatric patients also.

I started at a new hospital between greensboro and charlotte with 6 years of experience, not a trauma center, at around 22.50/hour with raises at 6mos and 1 year. sign on bonus of $2500. hope this helps

I learned a long time ago that going to work sick does no one any good. plus if you start to feel worse they wont let you leave. Ino longer feel guilty about calling out sick, but I do not call out sick unless I am sick and I do nothing except rest if I can not go to work.

I have worked at WakeMed for 11 years, I love it. I still travel about 2 hours every other week there to work casual. I will answer any questions you may have.