Maevish

If I can do it, anyone can. It seemed like I had to work harder to retain things in nursing school and had to practice the skills multiple times before I felt comfortable doing them correctly. To this day, if I don't do something over and over again I have a tough time with it. I haven't had a Swan or a balloon pump in about a year so I would want a bit of a review before having either one again! The key, however, is speak up if you're not comfortable doing something. You don't want to be that jerk who acted like they could do more than they could and then injured a patient :) I think you can do it if you want to, but you have to overcome yourself first. Needing repetition doesn't make you unable or "not quick enough" to work in any unit. xo

OOOOH comments like that make me so mad!! I sometimes hear the same things in ICU. Sure, a new grad isn't ideal for ANY nursing position in reality, but everyone has to start somewhere and even the best nurses knew nothing at one point! You can't rightly compare yourself to someone who has 10 years of experience and if other nurses are making you feel this way (and you think there might actually be a learning delay), GO TO YOUR MANAGER. Good managers and Clinical Nurse Specialists want you to go to them when you have a problem. Maybe the other nurses are right, but they could be very wrong. I know first hand that ICU is tough (and I was a nurse for a year before I switched) and I've heard good OR orientations are 6 month minimums and stretch to a year-and-a-half at some places! It's an odd, wonderful world in OR and things don't come overnight, no matter what other nurses there might say. If there's an issue, you want to know about it so you can try to fix it, but if you're just normal...they should be able to tell you that as well. When I first graduated, I was sick to my stomach for the first 6 months on the floor... you feel like you don't know enough for a reason: you don't lol xoxo

It's the most obnoxious/stressful thing ever. There are jobs "everywhere" including cities I'd love to work in near me, but they either don't seem to look at my file or they have enough nurses (even though there are pages of jobs open and each hospital and I also apply for staff positions). I'm in the same boat as you. I have to stay in a certain area for family reasons and there are TONS of hospitals in this 45-50 mile radius, but even with all the jobs that are open at each one, I don't have any luck until JUST before my funds run out. I'm out of work for 2-3 months every 3 months, partially because of the hospitals not hiring and partially because my last 2 recruiters have dropped off the face of the earth after the first few weeks of a contract. I'm applying to at least 20 jobs a day, so I know how you feel. We've just gotta keep it up until we make it lol -xo

Is that a rhetorical questions? Of course they're not allowed to be mean at work! There ARE, however, nurses who get away with it because they're amazing nurses and other people say, "Oh, that's just so-and-so" and let them get away with it. There was a nurse like that at a hospital I worked at for about 6 years. People said that about her and she's still working there (and hasn't gotten better). I don't know how people are allowed to be like that, but of course it shouldn't happen and it's not right. xo

Haha!! I do the same thing most of the time (I still have to use my nursing brain sometimes, though) cause it's just not worth it!! They're going to get the meds anyways, after they go home, (legally or otherwise) and if it's not gonna hurt them and it's ordered? Not a hill I want to die on most nights. xo

All that you say is true, but I also know very obnoxiously holier-than-thou people in other walks of life as well. I don't ever preach about my chosen career (because honestly, I feel like if I can do it, anyone can, and my job doesn't make me). I've never encountered anyone in my professional life who has thought that way either, or or expressed it so that I could see it from the outside. There were people like that in school though, so maybe it's just because I spent more time with them than I ever would my coworkers! On the other hand, I have people (one friend on a semi daily basis, probably because her mom's an ER nurse and she knows what we go through more than the average person) who tell me I'm a rock star. I'm uncomfortable with that because there are hundreds of thousands of nurses WAY better and more qualified than I'll ever be! If I did encounter a person like that I'd probably deal with him/her as little as humanly possible because I have a low tolerance for that blowhard (*cough* Trumpish *cough*) attitude. I have PLENTY of other faults, but being overly cocky isn't one of them (and it's genetic cause my mom goes around thinking she's stupid too, which she isn't! lol). I DO think nursing is special in the way that we (the techs, CNAs, RTs, doctors, and all the other healthcare staff) take care of people who are sometimes unwilling, physically abusive, confused, sometimes threatening, and rude in a way that wouldn't be tolerated by most out in public. However, we also get to be part of some pretty amazing moments too, so it evens out, even for someone like me who hasn't found her DREAM career! haha xo

I learned that I'll actually miss the assignment I'm on now, even though I'm going back to a place I also loved for the next 13 weeks. This place makes me do minimal real ICU work (which, sometimes, is annoying), but I get paid better than I'd ever get paid on staff! I'll have to do some real work at the other place (but they don't do heart caths, hearts, trauma, etc) and get paid about $10 more an hour lol Should have done more OT here when I had the chance, but since it's my last night, it's a no go. I've also learned that the precious little old man I've been caring for all night is precious and made me miss my grandpa (so I got a bit misty for a sec early on). Love 'em while you have 'em, folks! xo

Is that for LVN or RN? My mom's going to challenge the NCLEX-LPN (or whatever it's called) and she was asking me about a good course for that and I had no clue what to tell her, but we looked some up. Just wondering. Thanks! xo

OMG the Lucas device!!!! #heaven:saint:

Good grief! That does seem stupid (I was gonna say "silly", but no, it's stupid). That's how codes are run at a lot of places, but most of the time, when that happens, the house super will dismiss people after awhile (leaving 1-2 extra people for compression relief). It's the natural thing to do, when a code is called, to run in the room, especially if the hospital doesn't have a set routine/procedure in place. Once you've found out that you're not needed though, you should move on without someone having to tell you (like you did in your example). Some hospitals I've been to assign certain people to certain tasks, on the off chance someone codes, during the shift assignment and that's really nice (although if someone else's pt crumps it has to be rearranged a bit). It makes for less chaos, but lets other people run for them (outside the room!) if necessary. That's all I did for two codes at that facility: mix levo, mix vaso, communicate with pharmacy, prime CVP, ART, and PAP lines, label the tubing, get orders, etc. Hopefully they'll figure that out where you work and it never hurts to mention it to the director/manager because, even if it's not something that you do very often, there should be a protocol in place that actually gets followed. xo

It also depends on where you live and the cost of living. The Bay Area nurses (and other nurses in expensive cities like Manhattan) make a TON more money than us regular folk, but the cost of living in those cities is INSANE. I had a friend who was a teacher (I know, different career) in Missouri and she made next to nothing compared to what she would have made here in California, but her rent was also $400/month. It's supposed to even out and if it doesn't, then you have a problem. xo

That seems about right. Right out of school, I was making about $75,000 a year in Northern California. If I just did one contract after another as a travel nurse instead of having 1-4 weeks off in between assignments (sometimes unwillingly), it would be much more. xo

If you didn't get anything from the hospital, which is likely, check the website to see if there are any form on there. Maybe she, like the other posters have said, forgot to attach them in an email. That happens often. Otherwise, bring everything you possibly can, ID, resume, etc and get there early in case you can fill out the forms there beforehand. xo

Your agency should back you up if you want to quit (I mean, don't just not show up for work one day, but you know...do it the right way). They may have even had other people who didn't like that particular place too, for all you know. If you don't like it and are feeling some kind of way every time you go in to work, that's not good for anybody. Just do it! xo

PACU is great! Wake 'em up, pack 'em out! Or plastic surgery...that's the dream. Worked part time at one office for years and it was the best!! xo

Honestly, you might do better in school after being out of it for awhile. If I went back now, I'd take it WAY more seriously, knowing what's at stake without mom and dad to fall back on like I had as a teenager. Working and doing nursing school will be tough and you'll have to get good at making a schedule and sticking to it, but it's doable. In my graduating class we had a single mom of 6 so I know it's possible (though I don't know how she did it! lol). good luck! xo

I agree with the Pro/Con list idea and then figure out what's more important to you. There's NO shame right now in saying that's money, by-the-way! However, as a new nurse, you want to find the hospital that will give you the best experience as a nurse. That may be the L&D job. Even if it's not where you want to end up, you can switch areas later, if you want to. Right out of school you want to go somewhere that is supportive of new grads because it's a tough time for most people. As for the bad area of Grady, I heard the same thing about Highland in Oakland, which, admittedly, is in a scary part of town (gang violence, random shootings, etc). I never had a bad experience. Of course, I was careful and didn't go back out to my car in the middle of the night as I'm prone to do at most assignments, etc. It was also a great experience because I'd heard numerous times that "If you can work ICU/ER there, you can work anywhere" and they were right. It was a madhouse, cause it's a large county hospital that also does trauma, but you get experience there that you don't find just anywhere. Do the list, see what's up, and try to look out for yourself at first, especially. You don't want to sour yourself too soon (j/k?) before you've had a chance to get your motor running. xo

Same story gets repeated so many times...they holler at us for calling in sick, but if we come to work sick, people get irritated that we're not performing at our best and upset that they may catch something from us. I don't know what to tell you, but the advice you got originally seems the soundest: You tried your best to make arrangements and jack nothing was done about it. I would think that would come back on the HOSPITAL for not finding your replacement despite ample notice! Hope you find something else soon!

While I would agree that there's a nursing shortage, I will also say that there's no REAL nursing shortage. What I mean by that is that hospitals, recruiters, and schools tell you that there's a shortage, but yet there are thousands of us trying to get the jobs that are there on paper, at places where there's no BSN requirement. No one told me in nursing school how hard it can be to get a job. Until they start hiring nurses who want to fill all those empty spots (causing the OT and extra shifts for their existing staff), we won't know when the real shortage occurs. xo

I feel that the title of the post isn't misleading at all. I've been able to work as a traveler in one hospital (a big teaching hospital in Sacramento) as an ASN, but would need my BSN if I were to work there on staff. It IS necessary to be competitive in general, but thankfully not all hospitals are going with those standards because that would take out a huge portion of the nurses working today. I do want my BSN, but I can't go back to school while I'm still paying for the loans I have now. If, god forbid, one of my parents bites it early, I would have the money to pay back my current loans and pay to go back to school. I don't wish that to happen and it probably won't, so I'm going to have to do it when I can (providing I don't win the LOTTO any time soon). People do tend to look down on ASNs as a whole, though usually unnecessarily. The BSN won't advance my personal practice much as a beside nurse and I could get the same information from similar classes (and get CEs for them!), I'd just be doing it so that I could work in more places. It will take me longer than just the length of the program to complete because I need the algebras before I can even take statistics and my math skills are severely lacking. I might not even pass the classes needed to take a class I won't use after the program is finished! I couldn't give two hoots about getting it for any other reason than increasing job availability, meanwhile I have a friend who just got accepted as a doctoral candidate. Let the ones who WANT the higher learning do it and leave those of us who don't, to just do our thing.

I'm highly sensitive to BS. xo

Honestly, the best shoes I've ever had for the longest period of time were the knock off Crocs. Literally, they're about $9.00 at Big 5 or another sporting/shoe store (or online). In nursing school I wanted to get the Danskos because they were everything and looked SO good. However, I saved up for them (cause I had a below minimum wage job at the time with the massive course load I had), got them, and they made my feet miserable. Ended up giving them to someone else so that was $100 gone. The Danskos I CAN wear are the clogs with the strap because my feet are too wide for the conventional clogs. The Crocs look silly (even though there are newer ones with better colors and designs now), but they do the job for WAY less. xo

I just read through all the posts since my last one and wow! I've gotta say, even the things I hate the most (and that I have in common with a lot of other nurses) are just one more thing on the list of grievances by healthcare providers, social workers, etc. I know a doctor (a hospitalist) who's thinking of going to trade school to be a plumber with his brother-in-law because the pay would be at least as good and he wouldn't have all the grief of being a doctor. There is so much wrong with the system from insurance companies, to the new "customer satisfaction" model, staffing, charting, etc and I don't know how anyone will go about fixing these issues in my life time. I know what irritates me (both rationally and irrationally:wacky:), but, especially in reading through these posts, I know there are always people who have it worse. I've never worked in a place where there was mandatory on-call, mandatory OT, etc so I can't even imagine that and I feel for those of you who do. However, I do identify with the posts where people talk about the lack of training (which, especially as a traveler is nearly and sometimes completely, non-existant), the computer charting nightmares, poor management, and people treating us unfairly in general, etc. This thread has been good for me because, even though I've always "known" it, I don't feel like I'm the only one with these annoying issues. Sometimes it has made me feel grateful for the problems I DO have because some of you have issues I've never had to deal with. While things like short staffing and what people think about how much we get paid (I have people tell me frequently that nurses get paid a lot for what they do) will always be an issue, at least we can virtually lean on each other/vent and that's a beautiful thing. Now to go about changing things..... xo

I like what the one poster said about how the ADD probably makes us good nurses cause that's why I feel like I like ICU (even though I am tiring of the actual unit nowadays). There's almost always, with the exception of the hospital I'm at now, something going on and even if your patients are fine, someone else needs help with something and that bodes well for someone like me. xo

Lol I realize now that sounds odd, but yeah, I've (knock on wood) made one mistake that didn't hurt the patient, but I was written up for it. Now that I've said that, I'm probably set to make one tonight... xo