Queakous

I have been in corrections for about 1.5 years in both medical and psych. I do like the autonomy and the fact that most patients/inmates do respond to being treated with sincere gratitude. Yes, they do lie, but no more so than folks I have encountered on a regular med-surg floor. The key thing is to realize that letting them get you angry or insulted is a form of "intimacy". That is strictly forbidden and many corrections nurses seem to forget that that aspect exists. They are my patients, they have few choices of their own autonomy they can take. The worst is refusal of meds, it harms them but I have to understand that is one of the only ways they feel they have "control" over their prison experience and work from there. Most times you can reason with them but often, not. I just do the best I can within the scope of my practice and give the best care I can, just as I would in ANY nursing situation. I love my job, it has been the most fulfilling one I have had yet, including, mom-baby, ante-partum, surgical, med-surg, and clinic. I have worked for private, public, state, and federal institutions and have loved them all but this is the best fit for me.

I now work for Corizon and must say not so happy with their training and orientation. I work where I did prior to Corizon's entry but haven't had any success with new PC ID and PC access, particularly where labs are concerned and I do a lotta labs. One of my colleagues has been entering labs for me but I am somewhat frustrated that I am not able to do it myself. Other than that it has been good. At least having a time clock means you will get off work on time! LOL. That was an issue before.

I am a correctional nurse and have been so for almost a year and a half. Started in corrections as medical but have ended up in the psych unit. Both are good but medical is open population (open pop) and psych is CM (Close management). They are both very different. I must say I like the psych better and even though I work 11p-7a I have a good rapport with my inmates and have often (oh, shucks, and kicking a piece of crap around modestly) have had many compliments from my correctional staff that things go very smooth when I am on shift. Hey, I treat my inmates like anyone else, I guess, giving them "respect" and they give it back. I will not say this job is for everyone but it can be very rewarding. I love what I do.

One year inpatient surgery/ Mama-baby (small hospital) 4 years med-surg in a fast paced high census hospital. 6 months in Hawaii as ante-partum in an Army hosp. and triage at an Army Post. Now have been in male corrections for 10 months and have found my home!

Heck, I work in a prison and I have a CCL and a 9 mm in my car at all times. What worries me is the GOV wants to limit our access to rifles which would be our best defense in any conflict.

Hell, I got the best commendation from our CEO for doing just that. The MD kept telling me to DC the telemetry because the pt kept showing RVR and had NO hx of heart probs. Over and over I refused his orders and the RVR reports kept coming in. Told my charge RN and my floor manager. Put the dude off until another MD from the group came on and the person went straight to ICU! Cheers for me, they lived! First time I felt like a REAL nurse! Sometimes we just know.

Was accused of this last year needlessly and a month later accused of diversion and fired even though every drug test,etc. I had was negative. Now am in investigation and after several post job random DT negative am STILL at the mercy of my state and ridiculous accusation. GET A LAWYER! I did and was best thing i did. EVEREYONE should have RN Insurabce. I will beat this because I am innocent but I cannot begin to tell you the damage the false accusation has had.

Sorry to say but ALL the patients I have had that passed had a yellow tint it to their faces etc. That is how I have NO doubt they have passed. I have wondered about this phenomena. I have watched this happen w/DNR pt passing and would really like an explanantion.

It all depends on where you live and work. I am in NW FL and the pay here is dismal. Base is 17-19.00. We were told upon graduating(4 yrs ago) we could expect to make 30-35k a year. I lucked out and was hired right out of school for a PRN weekend position, work about 136 days a year and average 60K. Cost of living here is not too bad. I don't work so much I get burned out and am fortunate I can provide for my family with what I do make. My best friend works full time in NC and averages about 35k. Another works travel and get 45-50 hourly. It depends on what you do and where you do it. Just as long as you do it wholeheartedly it is always worth it.

Hey, I graduated PJC in 2006 and had many of the problems you guys have mentioned. Yes, they were way off base in many grading and testing skills but still the stuff they gave me allowed me to pass the NCLEX in 75. I did a lot of my off time studying with the Davis RNCLEX guide. That in itself helped me surpass the teaching I got at PJC.

I dunno. I used Davis Inclex w/CD( got it at Books-a-Million) and it was exactly like the Inclex I took in 2006. Granted, I used the thing for a good year prior. It was my video game. I am a quiz kinda gal, I guess. I liked it because it let me choose areas of testing and gave rationals for all answers. Hey, I got cut off at 75 and was really pleased.

Lucky me, I guess, with my previous hit and miss Special Ed degree forays I only had one semester of pre-reqs before ADN school and after graduation went straight to work as a PRN surgical floor nurse. I am now a med-surg PRN and have been doing it for two years. I am often charge and and have had numerous situations where my BSN grads don't know what to do in a potentially crisis situation, mostly because they have not had the hands on experience I had a ADN student. IMHO, I think BSN programs should focus more on patient care then management. ADN's have some management training as part of the course work. For true managers those skills come naturally after being in the workforce for a while. At least that has been the case for me and those I work with. The hospital I work for does not really seem to discriminate between ADN and BSN except when hiring outside for some management positions and some nursing administration positions.

My preceptor experience was similar but kind of covert. I had no idea how much this person had it in for me until I got a call from my instructor during a hospital day saying "We've got to get you out of there!" I had no idea there was a problem. Turns out this two-faced witch of a preceptor was telling me I was doing fine but basically stalking my instructor and program director with trumped up accusations about my work. Fortunately for me they were both able to see what was going on and I was able to change preceptor and finish my program.

They can tell time - clock watching drug seeker

I am a Florida native and raised here. I lived in several other places during my younger days of wanderlust. I chose to come back here because it offers everything but mountains and snow. Fantastic beaches, gorgeous rivers, you can motorcycle almost year round, the seafood is always fresh, and everykind of fishing you can think of are attractions to me. My kids are in accelerated classes in their high school and my taxes and insurance are reasonable. I do NOT like hurricanes though. As for nursing I really think it depends on where you work. I am employed by one of the 100 best places to work in the US and it is a very decent place to work, paywise and staffingwise even though when I mention the floor I work on everyone either or grimaces or makes the sign of the cross. I have to say the hospital I worked at previously in Santa Rosa County was a good example of how bad it can be. No UTC, no PCTs, all private rooms so you ran your butt off and never more than 3 nurses on the floor and the charge had as many patients as everyone else. I believe how you do in any area is what you make of it. Negative attitudes usually envoke negative atmospheres.

Yes, I agree. Hospital policies of "pleasing the customer" are too often ridiculous. What gets me is that I am such a BS artist I seem to ALWAYS get the " service recovery" patients. I find out what the problem is first then ask the patient to help me devise a way to solve it that is beneficial to both of us. I always explain I have x number of other patients and that if I am with someone else I have to finish that job first. I also use the "Who does that for you at home?" question, with a 95% success rate. It is the families I find most annoying and demanding, especially when they start telling me when meds need to be given and or that treatments are or are not working. Then you have to explain to them that you cannot stay in the room with Mom while they go smoke, eat, or drink (she doesn't need a sitter anyway) and they get ticked off. Then it's document, document, document!

Waitress, construction worker, gas station manager, thug, truck driver, office manager, plant nursery manager, auto parts counter person, special ed teacher, algerbra tutor, SAHM, and now an RN. Have to say I like the latter the best.

When I was orienting to my new job my mentor checked my charting. I had charted that a patient refused Flu and Pneumonia vaccines due having been previously inoculated with both vaccines. The mentor had a fit. She did not know what "inoculated" meant. She asked several other RNs and LPNs on the floor and they did not know either. Isn't that scary?

I am a new nurse, graduated in May. I have been working since August and I am always asking questions. I had a small problem with my orienter because I had NEVER done paper charting because all my clinicals and preceptorship had been in a "paperless" hospital. We both became frustrated because it seemed to be taking so long for me to catch all the charting areas that needed covering. It was a big transition for me and hard for her because she had to literally teach me how to interpret and fill out a paper chart. Poor her! It was funny because when I worked several days in a row I screw up charting a lot. When I had a few days off I would come back and be much better than when I was there more often. She and I later talked and she was astounded that I remembered everything after having been gone. She was sure she was going to have to reteach me. I guess we all need to aware of different learning styles people have. I know that everyone is different. Some of the other nurses a tough but I refuse to have a bad attitude. I just know I can't be too careful and that I am dealing with people's lives. As for the "dirty" work, I may not like it but the title RN doesn't give me the right to ignore it or shove it off on someone else. I have a hospital experience every day but my patients may only have one or two in their lifetime and I need to remain aware of that and be as pleasant for them as possible.