jenOK9

Oh honey, stop. I am a hundred percent you, 10 years ago, but no more. What I realized as I saw so many nurses do so many less than best for pts and mistakes I have made, it will be OK. You will not be perfect, and it will be OK. Will you see this pt again? That will reassure you. In my past few positions' things were so sloppy, and the staffing was so bad, I got sloppier, and I am all about doing it the right way. I am not saying there is never a negative effect, but usually things like this are OK. You will do it right next time. Give yourself room to be human.

I believe if you care about your patients not just the task list, you will feel very stressed and anxious at times. The fact is, you will be handed assignments that you cannot do in the time allotted, and do it well, and keep the meds/treatments on time. That is one of the most stressful things for me. I rarely cry at work, in 30 years, but occasionally I will be given too many patients who are too complex for me to safely care for, and there are no other options. I am wondering if you are getting them out of bed and offering pain meds and teaching them, preparing them for discharge, and contacting the dietician to work on getting them high protein food they will eat? Things that are not on a daily task list but need to be done.

No you could not lose your license. Sometimes people say things like that to make you look or feel insecure because they are insecure and like to be a big deal. You did a great job. Did you talk to your nurse manager about this? The only thing I would have done differently is to contact the charge nurse or house supervisor and bring them in so they are responsible, too, since the md wasn't reachable.

I have 30 years of experience, all positive results. I moved back to WI suddenly 2 mo ago for an urgent family need and I will be staying here. However, 1 week after I arrived a large HSHS closed unexpectedly as well as several of its clinics, and another smaller affiliate hospital. That leaves a very different job market than I anticipated. My family matter is settled down, and I am ready to start applying, but now my resume needs to be polished because of the job competition. I want to list skills from some of my med surg experiences, but what do I list? "I can freaking do everything? LOL?" It seems silly to list the obvious skills like Ivs, like some resume samples do. These medical pts were large city, downtown, complex with a great variety of diagnosis, and I did not serve on committees or have any special roles or certifications. What do managers actually want to see? Thanks for any help you can give.

Well, I think there is a worthwhile trade-off for me. I am liking this job so far. The schools are such a different environment than the hospital, and I come home not exhausted. The schedule is so nice for my family! I can always pick up some hours in the Summer doing something else. Or maybe I will just live a little more frugally...yeah that one.

I am starting as a school nurse this August too. I will make $38000, half of my hospital income! I am doing this to be on the same schedule as my teen.