dukeRN

I would suggest getting some experience as a RN (and by experience, I do mean more than 1 year) doing something that interests you, and then see which direction you are pulled in. The worst nurse to work with is one who comes out of the gate talking about how they are only a nurse to become a CRNA, NP, PA, etc. Not only that, but you don't want to invest a lot of effort precepting them b/c they are telling you that they won't be around long enough for your investment to mature. Be a nurse first. Then, if you want to go back, go back. But don't do it for money. Money is nice, but does it guarantee happiness if it having it is dependent on doing something that you don't enjoy?

But, as a side note, I will say that I am personally excited at all of the men joining our field, b/c I believe that it will raise our salaries, and maybe even have our COOs start treating us as more than second class citizens, i.e., they don't need more money, their husbands all work... still burns me up inside that the old traditional female dominated fields (teaching, nursing, child care providers) are often some of the lowest paid professionals.

I have only worked ICUs, and have always worked with a good mix of males and females, but by far, my current CTICU has more males than my previous units. We are about 50/50, and they blend in fine. I typically think they get a bit more respect right out of the gate from the male docs though, and I don't know if it's just b/c of the whole male-bonding thing, or if it's something reminicent of the "boys club" that still haunts some areas of health care (read: CT surgery, not naming names). Most of them are strong too, so they are a big asset in helping with turns and ambulating pts. At least on my unit, it's not a big deal, but I admit, when I go to OB, I am always a little surprised, at least for a second, to see men. I guess old stereotypes sometimes die hard.

mosby's pocket cards baby. I put those in my pocket and studied them all of the time, in elevators, in line at the grocery store, sometimes at stop lights. They were easy to carry, so I'd just grab a stack and stick em in my pocket or my purse and off I'd go. It's been a few years, but I'm sure they still make them. And good luck to you all!

lovern, Don't sweat it. Everyone has their own opinion, and some people feel strongly on this issue one way or another. The important thing is that you want to learn, and that you are willing to make your experience what you want it to be, reading policies/procedures, becoming well versed in meds, protocols, etc, so that you feel comfortable, and not intimidated. And DON'T have an apologetic tone when people ask you where your experience is, I hear new people on my floor say "I only worked in step down" or "I just worked in a really small hospital" all of the time, don't do it, own your experience, you are a nurse, you know more than you think you do and more than you are giving yourself credit for. Some people, not just nurses, but in all walks of life, look for reasons to bash others, or to downplay their knowledge, it sucks, but it sucks to walk through life pissed off and pessimistic, don't let them affect you. One last rant, don't let them discourage you from asking questions, b/c in my opinion, the scary nurses are not the one's who ask the questions, but the one's who don't and who assume they know it all. Work hard, study hard, and relax. As with anything, if you like it, you'll want to excell. If not, move on to something that you do like, no apologies. Life is too short to do anything you don't love.

I am getting ready to sit for my CCRN, and I am wondering if your hospitals offer incentives for taking it, such as reimbursement for the exam and a shift premium, etc. I need some general ideas to propose when I go for my semi-annual evaluation at work, maybe get some monetary recognition for my efforts! Has anyone ever been to Laura Gasparis Vonfolio's CCRN review course? This woman was amazing, a phenomenal educator and so funny, I just got back from a course this week, and I tell you I learned so much and really enjoyed myself, it was a blast, I thoroughly recommend it!

Just remembered something my grandmother asked when my aunt, who had severe endometriosis and was also infertile, was in the hospital recovering from a hysterectomy. We were visiting with her in the room, grandparents, my uncle, and my mom and I, and my grandmother says to my aunt and uncle "so, will you be able to have children now?". All of stared at her in silence, just stunned. I just started laughing (if you knew my grandma, you would understand, and come on guys, it's my family not a patient, it's gotta be allowed!) and my mother exclaimed "God Mom, do you even understand your own body, I mean you are a woman!" Grandma, offering no apologies, replied "No, I don't really understand it." My grandfather, who is a crabby old Sicilian man, sounding exasperated, stated sarcastically "Well, you know, she only had four children." So, of course, I calmed down, drew a little picture, and game grandma a little lesson on the female anatomy. She also didn't know that the lady parts and urethra were different "holes". Bless her heart, people just didn't know their bodies back them I guess, they just left it to the doctors, and did what they were told. But my mom and I still laugh about it, every time grandma says or does something noteable.

Most recently I heard a middle aged woman refer to her lady parts as her "flower"; Hoohah and cooter apparantly are very popular terms at my hospital, even among nurses! One of our HUCs circulated an email with hundreds of things to call it, the most memorable being the pink taco, boy in a canoo and fetus flaps. I tell you, people can think of some creative things! The funniest thing I have heard from a (twenty something) man was to call his genitals "big Jim and the twins" and when I stared at him like I was clueless, he motioned down at his groin and stated "You know, my boys". I just about bit my tongue off trying not to laugh. :chuckle

Oh, the idealistic "career" of the nursing student. Wait until you're a "real" nurse. Then come talk to us about it. :roll

Wow. This was the most informative hour I have ever spent reading. You guys are great. I actually feel like CRNA just became a more attainable goal, rather than a distant dream. Thanks a million, and good luck to you all!!!

My first few months in a burn center we had a twenty something man admitted with TENS (nasty condition where the epidermis sloughs off and the mucous membranes, including the mouth, inner eye lids,and lungs slough off, and bleed and bleed and bleed) who had a history of IVDA, HIV, hepatitis, syphillis and herpes, not to mention a real joyful personality(one the rare times a patient on our floor was not intubated). Pts with TENS with ocular involvement often need to have their eyes "swept" with cotton swabs as often as hourly to perserve their sight: not exactly a comfortable sensation. Anyway, this gentlemen was so enthusiastic about his care regimen that he would spit blood AT you: purposely trying to hit you. Luckily he didn't succeed at hitting me, but a few of the staff did get "up close and personal" with his blood and body fluids (even with a full gown, mask, hat gettup, it still is gross to be spit at, especially blood). Yikes. Then there was the time that a 60% burn victim who hadn't pooped in days had a code brown blow out that literally was dripping off of the bed and puddling on the floor almost immediately after his two hour bath and dressing change. Never mind the insanity, that unit was a blast to work on excellent people made it tolerable, and every shift was "a party in blue pajamas"!

Maybe one might consider more psychosocial diagnoses and the utilization of "therapeutic touch" if the powers that be would allow us more time at the bedside and less time spent doing random and repetitive paperwork. I feel like everytime JCAHO comes through they make us do some new useless bounty of paperwork, but yet they never recommend that we spend more time at the bedside actually providing nursing care, (and thus less time on the computer charting). I find that sad, but yet, typical. (my hands are on my hips right now!!)

Baby steps...small victories win the war. She deserved more, I agree. I believe that being a nurse is more than a profession, it becomes part of who we are, embedded in how we feel about ourselves and and, more importantly, how we identify ourselves. To try to take that away from someone unjustly, (and then claim that it's oversomething like flushing a line with saline, when we all know that there are nurses out there with their hands in the narc cabinet) is harassment, and she deserves compensation for pain and suffering in the millions. But, like I said, it's the small victories; A single spark can start a fire. Hospitals better heed that case as a warning. We aren't lying down and taking it anymore!

I started looking for jobs and calling organizations, turning in applications and setting up interviews in January, then I finished all of my interviews by the middle of March and made a decision by the end of the month. By planning early, you can even have organizations pay for you to travel to interviews, for instance, I interviewed in 4 different states, not including the one I lived in, and I planned all of my southeastern interviews during spring break so that I could combine travel time to the same part of the country. I got reimbursed for a lot of my expenses, plus, job searching is a tax write off: I stayed at 4 star hotels the entire time I interviewed, it was great. My friends who only interviewed locally couldn't believe it!! My advice to you is to keep a notebook where you write all of the details of each organization and unit that you are interviewing on and leave space on the same page to write data you collect during the interview itself: like pay, weeks of orientation, shift, whether you have to rotate or not, pt/RN ratio, educational reimbursements, sign on bonuses, if there is mandatory on-call, etc. Try to have a "skeleton" list of basic questions you want to ask every organization, that way it is easy to compare the different places when it is time to sit down and make a decision. Plus, you won't forget to ask something important that might make or break your decision to take a job. And look, look, look. There is a position everywhere. My first job out of school was at a top notch teaching institution, I was a state employee, I got a huge sign on bonus and they paid to move me out of state. Good luck to all of you! Welcome to "the real world" of nursing!!!! To err is human...to nurse: divine.

Same problem exists on my unit. Major power trip between some of the most experienced staff and the newbies. I have personally witnessed new graduates leaving the parking structure at the end of the day in tears, actually bawling in the car, it breaks my heart. We had one woman, the nurse educator for the floor, sadly, who was consistently rude and abrasive to anyone who was new to the floor, even if they had more or equal related experience to hers (not that that is even relevant, but it goes to the heart of her character I believe), and even with numerous complaints, management would send her to "communication" classes, which were a joke. She would say "they keep sending me to those classes and they just never work", with an "oh well" attitude. She worked on the floor for more than ten years. Phenomenal clinical skills...and the personality of a paper bag. If you didn't suck up to her, she would go out of her way to point out what she felt were flaws, and even "fix" your assignments when she was charge nurse. Finally, after enough complaints, she was essentially asked to step down from her roll as educator, and then, recently, her "reign of terror" ended when the organizatoin respectfully asked her to resign her position early in leiu of graduate school in the summer. While she is now gone, and a distant memory, some of her recruits who unfortunately were bred to believe that nursing = belittling your coworkers to build yourself up remain. Hopefully, with enough of the experienced staff banding together to build up, not tear down, our preceptees, our retention rate will stabilize and we will be a better unit. Whew. Why do we continue to have problems with "eating our own young"???

As if our profession is not fragmented enough, let's all examine the "accelerated" degree option program: that is those that allow holder's of a Bachelor's degree (be it of art or of science: even in fashion, and I am not kidding) to "earn" not only a Bachelor's degreein Nursing, but also a Master's degree, in 24 months. That being said, they graduate an NP without ever having laid hands on a patient as a professional RN. While I work along side several nurses who have chosen this "track" to becoming a nurse, and value their skill and input to our profession, my battle is not with them, it is with those who feel that the solution to the shortage is to essentially eliminate qualifications and time spent learning to be a nurse and just get people graduated and into the field. My fear is that they will eventually feel that 2 or 4 years is not fast enough, and then the general public will be at risk. Think back to the physician shortage of decades past: The AMA didn't get worked up and loosen requirements for medical school/residency: they just sat back and said to themselves and each other "wait it out, and eventually, supply and demand will work in our favor and they will pay us more. Guess what: They were right: they made a killing, and qualifications and skill of new graduate physicians did not decline, nor did the respect that the public has for their profession. Our profession continues to be self limiting and self defeating. And the "powers that be" continue to come out on top when we divide into alliances amongst ourselves to determine who of us is better, rather than how to make our profession better from this point forward. The fact that the people who take the chest x-rays in the morning make more than we do is appalling, but it is because they come by one route, no detours allowed. My hope is that our profession will be able to come to some agreement about the entry level point for an RN, grandfather the existing professionals in if relevant, and hold strong as the profession we all know we are. Cleaning up poop or not...

Ummm...this is strange. In my experience, your agency should give you a packet of educational resources and tests that are hospital specific(pharm, general nursing knowledge, etc: the same ones that are provided in hospital orientation to their permanent new hires) to work through prior to being placed. Occasionally, an organization/hospital will then allow you to staff there based on these written tests/pamphlets only. You usually will them be required to go to a short (1/2 day or full day) class at the hospital to review equipment, major policy/procedures, etc and get "checked off" on your understanding. Regardless, the agency is suppossed to be YOUR source of information, telling you what needs to be done for a specific organization, finding out when these mandatory sessions are to be held, and getting you signed up with the agency to attend. For you to show up there without having met all of the requirements to staff is ridiculous. Sorry that happened to you. Get with your agency and tell them to get on the ball: or find another agency. Chicago ought to have plenty of other places that will be glad to put you to work. Good luck!!