amusedRN750

My heart goes out to the family and to the poor child. Although on one hand I wonder how one could do this.... I do know that we are all not perfect and could easily make a mistake that unintentionally injures another. No sentence will equal the pain that this family endures every day for the rest of their lives.

Kids are only young once. I vote for taking as much time off as you can or working part-time. Good luck to you!

Maybe you haven't found the right type of nursing where the stress level is appropriate for you. I have felt the same in the past. I do not have the personality that thrives off of stressful emergent situations. I didn't know that about myself until during nursing school. Some nurses seem to just flow with things where I would always panic, second guess and judge myself even though I was always told positive things by my supervisors. I started with psych because I knew I would like it and I did! But then I felt that I needed to gain skills so off I went to Med/Surg, Home Health and Insurance Nursing. Now that I am back doing psych I feel so relaxed. I am sure some might find psych nursing stressful but it was my thing. I hope that you find your thing!!!

Oh I see! That makes more sense! Thanks for clarifying ?

Out of curiosity... what kind of jobs have you been applying for this past year? When I wanted to get hired by my local hospital ( I had applied multiple times before with no response or phone calls) I found any person that I knew who worked for them and had them put in a good word for me. This is what finally worked and I finally was employed by them. They receive tons of applications and you need to "stick out" some how. Even though I applied on-line, I took paper copies and tried to seek out the managers so that I could introduce myself. I am an introvert, so this was so difficult for me but I did it!

Wow! All they are offering is a 2 hour orientation before you start on your own? I would not work for anyone who is not going to give you a good orientation (at least a few weeks) because it is your license on the line. If you make an error, they won't stand behind you. Follow your gut.

You will find sicker patients, mentally/physically in-patient which will also give you more experience. I would start in-patient personally, so that you can build on your skills. But that's only my opinion. Good luck to you. I look forward to hearing about what you choose and how you like it.

Yes, definitely! I knew that I would love psych nursing and that's where I started after graduation at the age of 49. I did leave for six years and worked Med/Surg, Home Health and insurance nursing. Now I am back working in psych and this is were I belong.

I love psych as well, so I get it. Are you wondering if you should work in a psych in patient hospital to gain skills? I am from the other side of the country so can't recommend hospitals. I started with adult out-patient psych but then decided that I better gain skills so worked in a med/surg floor in a hospital. 6 years later I am back and working with adolescent out-patient psych and happy again. It is where I should have stayed the whole time.

The only chart I have ever been tempted to look into was.... my own!! LOL. And I was able to resist the temptation. ?. After becoming a nurse and reading some of the narrative written by doctors I wanted to know how charming they found me! On a serious note, I cannot understand how someone would risk their job and license over curiosity.

I am not a student RN but can remember how it feels to be one. I admire you because you told the students that you had made a mistake. Making mistakes, as much as we hate it, are NORMAL and we are all our own worst critics! You owned up to it. And as we all know.... things don't always get done like they did in SIM lab, as much as we would want it to.

Worked Home Health for some time. Due to the fact that you are working alone in HH, 6 months experience in Rehab may not be enough. I agree with the poster above, time on a med-surg unit would be good for you to gain the needed experience. Positives of working HH- meeting the patients in their homes, families, being able to see one patient at a time and giving them your undivided attention. The independence and some flexibility. The negatives; meeting some of the patients in their homes, some of the families and the long hours of charting. I wasn't notified when interviewing or accepting the job, that the state was investigating our HH. So 2 weeks into my manager was fired, lots of extra trainings and lots of State and Educators constantly meeting us randomly at our patients homes. Talk about stress! My first day off of orientation, the State arrived and wanted to observe me!! Was I a little shaky! Needless to say, it wasn't a fun place to work at all! I much preferred working Med/Surg...

I am sure that you can find many employment opportunities. Some organizations may hesitate but ,from my experience, most welcome the older, wiser RN who has some life experience and maturity. Plus some agencies have a hard time finding enough RNs to fill the vacancies. Good luck to you!

I worked nights for 3 years. What worked for me was to try to take a long nap before going to work on my first night. That seemed to help in getting prepared for that first night. Afterwards, I would come home, shower and crash. I would make sure all the curtains were closed, phones were turned off, and earplugs were in! After my last night I would take a long nap and then could enjoy part of the first day off. I was also able to switch back to normal hours on days off so I felt pretty fortunate. As far as eating, I would stick to dinner before I went to work, and at work I packed a few light snacks. When off in the morning I would eat a light breakfast before going to sleep and then a small lunch when I woke up in the afternoon. Good luck on working nights, I hope it works well for you! I would definitely try to do all the nightsl together so that you can get it over with!