damarystx

I am planning on moving to az over the summer, around the beginning of aug. there were great relocation packages a couple of months ago but times are tough all over. I would prefer a direct hire position and don't need relocation package, and don't particularly want to sign a contract. I have 9 months med/surg experience and will have a year of L&D experience, as well as about a year of home health experience and have some dialysis exp. I guess my question is are there positions available, I am flexible with dept. and schedule. but I am seeing talks of hiring freezes and the like. So in the phoenix or tucson area are there jobs available???? I haven't started applying yet because times are so crazy and don't think anyone would hire for aug. right now. any comments or advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!

O.k. The NLN is a test to see if you can succeed in school, read carefully, take your time with the test and know that if nothing else you can always take it over. ECC does not have an actual wait list. They take the students with the best grades and NLN scores. If you do not get accepted to the program you are just added to the batch of the next applicants, you do not move up the list your grades and test scores have to be good enough to "beat" the other applicants. I went to find out which classes exactly got weighted in the equasion because not all classes are but I don't remember which classes are. Are you in -district ? if not it is harder because they only take 8 out of district students. If for some reason you do not get on the list the first time, look at where you can improve your chances, take the NLN over to raise your score, if there is a class (from the weighted list) that has a lower grade take it over again just do what you have to do to get in. ECC is a good school and they and they will absolutely prepare you to pass the nclex. they will also cut you form the program if they do not think you can hack it which is why they have such a high nclex pass rate. there are really strong teachers, the day program was much tighter, the evening classes which i took were much more laid back. and with as hard as the program was most of us managed to hold jobs while in school, some people worked full time. the majority of us passed the nclex with the minimum of questions so they definately give you a good education but you have to work hard. When you get in you can message me and i will give you some tips and tricks about getting through :) I don't know much about the NIU program other than that people that have gone there did not get as much clinical experience, someone who was further ahead in school than me had not done the things I had done in a clinical setting, that being said you absolutely should get a bachelors degree. My grades were good when I got accepted and I had a really HIGH NLN score when I got in but i had to because I was out of district, I lived in lake in the hills at the time and MCC did not yet have their nursing program so I had to do really well. The NLN exam itself is one of those tests where they give you a passage to read and then you have answer questions about the passage, and math. It is a long test and boring, but not impossible. I wish you luck ! hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions you have.

i was taught this in school but don't use it regularly in practice. I have used when I have had a hard time hearding a b/p.

in response to the Prestige, I think you are jumping to conclusions here, maybe he knows about the field of nursing and mom is just checking it out for her own sake. Just because she is on here asking questions doesn't mean that he asked her to do this or that he has any idea that she has done this. If he is done with most of his prereqs. I am guessing that he has some info on it. has talked to school counselor or other students. I know that at the school I went to the nursing students started banding together before we ever got into the program and all had conversations about job security, income, reasons for becoming a nurse etc. maybe she is just a concerned mom and if so good for her! being concerned about your kids doesn't stop just because they reach a certain age.

I agree you did the right thing, same things happen at my hosp. I had a woman the other night that was a multip. and progressing just fine, and had just srom'd it was about 4 am then her doc walked in and said start her on pit !?!?!?!?! I am beginning to wonder if the doc's have forgotten that women can deliver babies without starting pit. apparently the doc wanted to speed things up because she wanted to go home and go to bed! then there was the resident who wanted to rupture my G4P3 patient at 9cm.....which she did and then told me she was going to take a nap???the patient was progressing normally, needless to say her nap didn't last very long...sorry...getting off topic.....

That's funny, I am thinking that it is going to be a bit of a culture shock, because I work in a hospital that is located in one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in the country. I do want to learn spanish but haven't because where I work our patients are from all over the world, I can easily go through a couple of weeks without having a patient who speaks english but they are from somalia, burma, mongolia, afghanistan, korea, togo, turkey, poland etc. so spanish would have only been helpful for a small portion of patients. How culturally diverse is Phoenix? like I said before it's been awhile and I am sure LOTS has changed, and one of the things I love about where I am at is the diversity. In my dept. staff speaks I think over 30 different languages.

No she hasn't told me which locations have positions available, I think part of the reason is that I am not relocating until may-juneish. she has sent me a packet with benefit info and stuff like that, and some generic info on az. I have not been in az for 16 years so I am not really sure about where good and not so great neighborhoods are any more, so I figured a little research and then I would tell the recruiter where I was interested in working, so I appreciate all the comments!

The recruiter just said Abrazo she did not mention which site which is part of why I am here, I want to know if there is a location I should avoid, if they are all bad or if people enjoy it, if the benefits are good etc....

Hey I graduated from there in '07, I had a great time while there. They do have a good program and if you graduate passing the NCLEX is pretty much a given they really do prepare you to pass the test. Are you doing day program or night program? and how is it going? I wish you luck! And if you have any questions or anything feel free to pm me.

I see that your post is a few months old but was wondering how things were going with your business if you decided to go forward with it or not. As far as the "conflict of interest" thing, is there a stipulation in your employment agreement regarding this, I think I would have contacted a lawyer just to find out what the laws are regarding being terminated for that if there is not anything in your agreement. I work L&D too and think it is a good plan so I hope it is working out !

I hope to not ever be taken care of by a nurse who would stick me with a needle with out first waking me up, telling me what they are doing and what medication they are giving me! I am dumbfounded that anyone would do this or defend this! The 5 rights and 3 checks were created for a reason, MISTAKES HAPPEN. Beyond ID checks you are supposed to tell the patient what medication you are giving them and what the route is and HEPARIN!!!!!!!!!Seriously!with all of the media attention surrounding this medication and things that have gone wrong wouldn't you if for no other reason than self preservation want to make sure that you followed hospital policy regarding medication administration.what if there was a medication error and the patient wasn't supposed to get heparin? everybody makes mistakes Dr's, Nurses, Pharmacy what if there was an allergy or the myriad of other things that could go wrong in this situation. And the patient has the right to REFUSE the medication, you have just taken this right away from the patient. And to stick someone with a needle without their permission, or knowledge etc is illegal and unethical. Can anyone on this thread honestly say that they would be ok with this happening to them or a loved one? And what does this series of events say about this nurse? and what other short cuts is he/she taking? And as nurses we are the lucky ones that have knowledge that lay people don't have about the goings on in a hospital so if these things are happening it absolutely should be reported in an effort to prevent these things form happening to other people, people that don't have the benefit of our knowledge, and experience, and may not be able to advocate for themselves.

Advocating for patients Educating women and new parents Being part of bringing a new life into the world Ongoing learning Opportunity Being there for parents when things go horribly wrong, being able to comfort them, cry with them, and to provide the most respectful, compassionate care that I can, and preventing a horrible situation from being even worse. Comforting educating and encouraging women during the birthing process Being a part of a field that is ever evolving job security :heartbeatThere really is a lot to love about nursing:heartbeat

Thank you both for your responses! It's good to hear both sides.

I am currently talking to a recruiter about relocating to AZ. and she brought up this group of hospitals, the package sounds great and the pay for my experience is competitive with what I am making working in Chicago in a 300 + bed not for profit hospital, which surprised me. She mentioned that the hospital system had been reorganized, new managers etc. and that the hospital is focused on employee retention now. Was wondering if there were any nurses working there currently and what they thought of the working environment, staff morale, relationships with mgmt, and staff, patient ratios, specifically L&D, but med surg info would be good too. I want to know how people feel about working for this system before I sign a contract. Thank you your:twocents: is greatly appreciated!

I am new to L&D but came from a surgical/surgical ICU floor, learned in nursing school not to do homans, in the hospital I work at people do it so they can fill in the blank in meditech for homans, I never did it because I have read enough to defend myself in not doing it. But now that I am in L&D all of the nurses do it when they are checking for clonus, I was shown to check for clonus in the same way you perform homans.....if there is a chance of dislodging a clot with homans wouldn't there also be a risk when checking for clonus? or is there a different way to check for clonus?

As an L&D nurse I don't really care if the bed is broken down or not, it is up to the doc or cnm as to what their preference is and what is most comortable for mom and I think that most of my coworkers would agree that our top concern isn't how much of a mess there is rather that mom and baby are comfortable and most importantly safe, and I don't clean the floors housekeeping does so maybe housekeeping has a preference.

Say something, I have learned that not enough people stand up for what is right, not enough people are willing to rock the boat, but behavior like that CAN NOT be tolerated. Everyone has bad days, everyone gets an admission or transfer at the worst possible time but that should never be taken out on the patient. If the nurse felt in some way that she was getting "stuck" with a patient and that it was unfair to her because of her work load then she needed to take that up with her supervisor not voice it so that a patient is aware of her negative feelings. I know that being a new nurse is hard but don't let your desire to fit in cloud your judgement and compromise your morals and values. We work with people who are at their most vulnerable, people who are literally trusting us with their lives, by accepting this incredible responsibility we are obligating ourselves to advocate for our patients, they are trusting that we have their best interests in mind, that we care about them, and that we chose our job because we want to help people. Stand up for what you believe in, SAY SOMETHING ! she needs to be reprimanded for her behavior, go to her supervisor. I understand the desire to send an anonymous letter but a letter with a signature holds much more weight, and you should not be afraid to stand up for what is right. I have been in your situation and it's a hard one and it sucks, in my situation the person ended up losing her job because it was an ongoing problem, the things that were being said were harsh. I did not know that she was going to lose her job and when I found out that the person was told who brought it up I was scared to go back to work, she had friends there and we all worked in the same area. But I did it and in my situation it worked out for the better. The supervisor put a "gag order" on the situation so when it was done it was done and that was the end of it. Maybe she was just having a bad day and needs a reminder that venting is best done in private or maybe it is an ongoing problem and more information from more people is needed to handle the problem. I wish you luck.

I have strep throat...still went to clinical today knowing full well I was going to be sent home (we have a preconference so no patient contact)and let the instructor send me home....better to make the effort and be sent home than call in I think...

I worked as a dialysis tech before going to nursing school, it was a great experience I did not need to take a course for it though...they wanted cna's but since I had phlebotomy experience they hired me and all training was on the job....my phlebotomy training was all on the job as well...anyway...I learned a lot doing dialysis and the stuff I learned definitely helped when we covered that in nursing school...

I am a bereaved parent, and have also been trained in bereavement. I would not recommend going out with her. For the same reasons that your friend mentioned. Newly bereaved parents can be very needy, I was...we want the world to come to a screeching halt to morn the loss that we have suffered and it hurts when it doesn't...After losing my son I wanted to help other bereaved parents in some way so I went through training to do so, (and decided to become a nicu nurse) and started putting together bereavement packages for parents...I learned from personal experience working with parents that they really needed a support group to help explore what they are feeling ( her feelings are very common among bereaved parents) or to seek some type of professional counseling if they were headed toward complicated grieving. What type of support services does your hospital offer bereaved parents? I recieved support for one year from the hospital that I delivered at, they really had a great bereavement program and it helped me immensely....I think if the hospital has a really good bereavement program in place it can help parents with those feelings that you say she is experiencing....if you want more info/have any questions please feel free to PM me.

insubordination is to oppose or defy established authority...so I would think it would lay more in the realm of refusing to do something requested of you...I could be wrong though...

We use both....I prefer the concept map because I can finish it faster...

In my program we four weeks of mother baby and four weeks of peds and as far as I know a lot of programs are like that ADN or BSN. The rest of the classes are aimed at being a nurse "in general"....we had oncology, cardiac, neuro, psych etc. all of which are important when taking care of women because there may be coexisting conditions and you need to be monitoring mom for complications and that info comes from these other classes meaning your assessment skills, changes in LOC, bleeding, HTN, etc. so they all relate even if it doesn't seem like it while your in them...I want to be a NICU nurse or possibly L&D and while going through all of these other classes I would always be looking at the information and be translating it to what I want to specialize in....i.e. stroke,PE etc. in the later stages of pregnancy women can clot putting them at risk for these other conditions so I need to be well versed in s/s and interventions etc. So it's all important. And made those classes more tolerable for me:)

i used to do preemployment physicals including idot which is a state thing, illinois dept. of transportation...never asked for med list because it wasn't required, if people requested to list their meds they could do it on the back of the drug screen forms but it wasn't standard..

about 400 apps for 40 seats in spring and 80 seats in fall, they alternate because they have a night program in fall..the district I am in does not have a nursing school but they have an agreement with another district that does have one and they have 8 spots for those of us that are out of district..I have a question regarding wait lists..our school doesn't have an ongoing wait list..example: you did not get accepted in Aug. so you are put on the wait list....and you are fifth on the wait lisd... you are left hoping that people will drop or get dropped so you can get in...if you don't get in you are thrown back into the mix with the applicant pool which may move you further down the list for the next semester....so basically the wait list starts all over each semster.....any other schools do that?