danaheil

Right on, I totally agree with you, anne74. I worked for this company in my first year of nursing and they did the same thing to me. It was a big part of why I left. Yesterday when my DH went to work they once again told him that he would be charging that shift. He refused and people were shifted around by staffing to fill the needs. Why didn't staffing just do this in the first place? He has e-mailed his supervisor to say that he would not be charging and to tell staffing to stop placing him in this position. I guess we'll see what happens tonight and what is to happen with the supervisor later.

Thanks guys, We appreciate all your responses. Dana and Harlan

It is more like an ICU step down for trauma pts. Occasionally a post op from the OR is admitted when space is unavailable elsewhere. Most of the admissions come from the ICU.

NO, he was not offered the job with more pay. He just went to work one day and the staffing office said that he would be charging now. He works the night shift, and the charge nurses at this facility are required to take full assignments as well as perform charge duties. He was also recently told that he would eventually be the only RN on the floor with either 2 LVNs or one LVN and a tech for a 16 bed orthopedic intermediate care unit or orthopedic step down unit. I don't work in a unit like this, so I don't know if this is reasonable staffing. However, it sounds as if the unit is understaffed to me. And placing a new nurse in charge of a unit that is not sufficiently staffed has a potential for undesirable outcomes for everyone involved.

My husband is a new nurse. He has been on a medsurg unit for less than 6 months. He has already been asked to assume charge nurse role, and feel unprepared to do so. He has had no training or orientation to charge. His organization is short staffed and is just looking for a warm body to fill this spot. We feel that this is unsafe to everyone involved. Can he reasonably refuse this assignment? Also worried about retaliatory actions by management. please advise. thanks, Dana and Harlan

my husband just started in med surg less than 6 months ago. He is already being asked to charge, and he feels unprepared for this. He has received no orientation to charge, and has no desire to do so. Can he refuse this assignment. Advise??? Thanks in advance.:thankya:

absolutely. I brought my husband to the facility where i work after he had a terrible experience with a VA systems hospital. He was much happier, better cared for and his exact words were "I feel much safer here."

Does anyone know the incidence of secondary cancers after radiation? Pelvic radiation specifically. How much time goes by before this becomes a distinct possibility for patients? I know that pelvic radiation can cause bone density problems for many patients as well as decreased immune function from altered white cell counts. I was recently told that pelvic radiation can cause secondary dense tumors as little as 6 months from completion of therapy. I guess I was under the impression that this was a risk several years after treatment. Thanks for the info ahead of time.

My BSN class started with around 40. 2 had to drop to part time for personal reasons and finished school in the next graduationg semester. All of the class graduated and we had a 100% pass rate for the NCLEX.

I agree with prvious posters, that you need to look around in the forums and also contact the schools you are interested in. As for the difference in associates and bachelors, there isn't really much difference. By the time you count all pre-requisite course work they take about the same amount of time (at least where I am), the starting pay is the same, you work the same hours, ect... The difference is that BSN prepared nurses have more opportunity to go into management. There are higher degrees in nursing than a BSN. There is also a Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN), and you could get your PhD in nursing. Many advanced practice nusing options out there. You have aparently already considered a CRNA program as an option. Some Masters degree programs offer transition form ADN to MSN. General consensus among my group of nursing friends is that it is easier to have a BSN before making the Transition to MSN or higher, although it is not impossible to make the transition from ADN. Hope this information is helpful. Also hope I didn't stir up the hornets.

I am pretty sure i was excused a couple times when I was in college because i was a full time student. I don't know if the same rules apply in your state.

Teamwork is absolutely important. It makes everyone's life easier. That is why many places call it a treatment team. And besides, no one person is expected to know everything. It is important to patient care and safety for us to work together. If there is simething I am unsure of on my unit, I ask someone else who I think will know the answer, and vice versa. It is to everyone's benefit for us to "put our heads together" for the best outcome possible.

You have to do what is best for you. If you feel it is important to you to be in this orientation program, (if it is the only new nurse orientation program in your area for OR) and this is the area of nursing you are interested in, you might decide to go through orientation and then look for work at one of the other hospitals in your area that may not have orientation for newbies. Lots of the ORs in my area employ people like what you describe. If you decide that OR is the area for you, grow some thick skin, maybe even some armor, for your own protection. OR seems to have a common theme. And once you have some experience, make it a point not to behave in this manner towar new orientees. This could help to change the standard of behavior. But, if the palce is making you miserable, move on. A hostile emvironment is a sure fire way to burn out. One of the great things about nursing is that there are lots of other areas to try. I'm sure you will figure out what plan of action fits best for you. Good luck. (Had a rotten day in the OR this morning myself. My sympathies)

I really like the idea of computer charting. I can type about 4 times faster than i can write anything out by hand. The problem is that our particular unit is caught in the "in between" stage. We have the ability to do all charting in the computer, but that does not happen yet. The rest of the hospital does not have computer charting so some paperwork is still required there. Also, there are some doctors that refuse to learn the computer system, so we are double charting the information they want to still be able to look at on the paper chart. I think the VA system of charting works efficiently, having recently been with DH in that particular health system. It appears to work with relatively few flaws. Some of the other VA systems and policies leave something to be desired, but the charting is top notch.

i think that nurses fall into two classes regarding germs...the paranoid and the blase I suppose this is somewhat true. Although, I have been known to switch from one group to the other dependant on my situation at the time. My unit usually does not launder scrubs unless they have become grossly soiled. We have hospital srubs we can wear for surgery if we choose, but are otherwise requered to provide own scrubs and wear to and from work. I usually launder scrubs in the same fashion I launder my other clothes (seperate load for scrubs). I switched to the paranoid group when DH was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. I started using hospital scrubs exclusively and even showered in our employee bathroom before going home each morning. Maybe I freaked out a littlt too much, but better safe than sorry. We already had too many problems as it was without worrying about whatever infection i could have brought home on my clothes. SOOO glad that particular crisis has resolved. Now I'm back to laundry as usual. DH is now working as an RN in ICU. We now launder all scrubs together. Who knows, maybe we'll breed some new germs in the washing machine (j/k). sorry for any typos