nursedani08

Thank you Libby those look perfect for wearing with black pants or khakis. After working my first week I have now seen that most of the nurses wear scrubs and practical winter boots. I think I can just wear any winter boot so I'm relieved not to have to worry about finding something that looks "dressy."

Hi everyone, I'm starting a new job in home health on Monday. The dress code is business casual and we wear a company (blue) coat over the top. I live in a cold climate so I'm thinking of sweaters with black pants or Khakis. I have no idea what kind of shoes to wear though. There is already 2 feet of snow where I live so it would be more convenient to be in boots, however I'm not sure how these will really look with black pants and other "business casual" attire. Changing shoes is not really something I want to do considering I'll be in and out of homes all day. Any one else dress like this for work? What do you wear on your feet?

I realize it has been over a month since this was posted, how is it going? I have a daughter that was born in august with a cleft lip and palate. We live in upper michigan so we travel to U of M in Ann Arbor for her care.I have found a lot of helpful information on this website: http://www.cleftline.org/ there is also information you can print off on them. There is all kinds of info and personal stories on that site, there is good information on feeding options (which can be a struggle with cleft palate.) If the baby has any trouble with feeding I would recommend th mead johson cleft nurser https://www.enfamil.com/app/iwp/consumer/productCategory.do?id=/Consumer_Home2/Enf_Shop/Enf_All_Products&currentSubCatPath=/B2C/Accessories This bottle has been a lifesaver for us, cut our daughters feeding time down from 1hr to 10min. I would recommend the Nuk nipples or an orthodontic nipple to go with it. Most of the parents I know who have a kid with a cleft, travel to a major medical facility for the surgeries and often other aspects of care as well because they have cleft teams which usually consist of pediatric plastic surgery, otolaryngology, social work, psychology, speech pathology. watch the ears closely as fluid can build up with cleft palate babies and they are very prone to ear infections. Usually an ENT will put tubes in at the time of the first surgery. I'm glad we did, my daughter never acted sick but when she had her lip surgery in january, the ENT said she had fluid in both ears and puss in the right ear. The built up fluid could lead to hearing loss so it's important she is followed closely by an ENT. I am part of a group of parents of kids with clefts on http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a56125/cleft_lipcleft_palate It has really been helpful for me to be able to get advice from other parents and it really helped us through our daughters first surgery.

I could have posted this myself. I also work night shift on a medical floor with a heavy patient load and we rarely have a CNA to help. To top this off I am 6 months pregnant, and night shift is just about killing me! I have that terrible feeling that nursing isn't for me and I picked the wrong career all the time. It made me feel so good to hear many of you say you've had that feeling. I especially appreciated hearing about those of you who stuck it out and it got better because that is what I am trying to do for at least a year. However in July (right before my baby's due) I will be switching to an afternoon position on oncology, which I hope will be much better for me. I never thought of being so understaffed and overwhelmed as a learning opportunity to help me adapt and handle anything... Thanks for helping me look at it that way!

well I realized part of what I hate about nursing is being treated as a waitress/servant which I think is in part because I work on the medical unit and we are not always staffed with a care aide. It's not that I think I'm too good to do those things, it's just that I don't have time to do those things AND do what I'm trained to do. I realize that going to a nursing home would just make things worse... I would be doing those things all the time. I'm just going to stick it out for a year (hey I already have 3 months down and I should get a 7 week leave of abscense to have my baby.) plus I'm only part time so I have to think... it could be worse! But basically I try to remind myself that I'm lucky to have a job at all in our economy, and this is pretty much as bad as it's gonna get.. I'm not going to work the medical unit forever. (hopefully not much longer than one year) But please don't try to say my baby was a bad career move. Because she wasn't a career move at all. She is a blessing and I'm so excited to meet her.

I agree that patient acuity needs to dictate the nurse to patient ratio. I always feel like I'm behind, and if I have a patient who suddenly requires more attention, I have a difficult time finishing the rest of my assessments and documentation. I would like my hospital to go to electronic charting, so that charting can be quicker and more convenient. However, I realize that I'm a child of the computer generation and electronic use can be difficult to use. I've heard of some other uses of technology that I think would make our jobs easier, like to have PDAs with drug guides and nursing care plans on them. A great support staff is a must. Having good a good LPN work with me makes all the difference. Not only a good nursing team, but curteous and hard working staff such as RTs, PTs, social workers, transporters, care aides, you get the picture. I'd like to have a unit clerk on my shift. I work nights and there is only one unit clerk for the whole hospital, we have to page them if we get an admit so they can help us with the enormous amount of paperwork and orders to enter. I guess put simply, less patients, less paperwork, less distractions so I can focus on what I'm trained to do. Now I don't get what's so great about being union either. I have to pay the fee even if I choose not to take part, it's not optional. I have to wait a year for paid time off which the non-union employees wait 3 months, I have to wait 12months to post for another department, when non-union employees can do it in 6. I don't think our benefits package is all that great. I'm not happy with the nurse to patient ratios... I just don't really get what this union is doing for me. Now this may be a bit skewed because I'm a new nurse, but that's my beef so far. rbezemek: I agree with you completely. You are lucky you have the option to not take a break. I am mandated to take a break because If I don't punch out for a half-hour, I get overtime and which they do not want. I often punch-out and work on my charting during that time. It's also a big deal that we get out of report on time or we get paid for 15 min of overtime... heaven forbid.

Hi, I'm a new RN and I pretty much hate working nights on the medical floor at my local hospital. I always knew I didn't really want to be a floor nurse. I have a hard time dealing with anxiety and I'd much prefer a nice dr. office job or a job in education or maybe home health. However I always was told I need to put my time in on a med/surg floor and get my experience. Well I'm miserable, not to mention pregnant and worried my stress and screwy sleep schedule is affecting my baby. A friend's dad told me to apply at our local veteran's home which I think I might like but don't think I'd want to do forever. Would this be a bad career move? I'd like to move some time or another and don't want to have a hard time getting a job. I'd apply for another unit, but our hospital has a policy that RNs can't post for a job outside their unit for 12 months. I'm just so miserable and a year seems like forever. Part of it is the shift, it's hard on me and the pregnancy has got me even more tired and emotional. It takes me a couple days to recover from working a night shift and by that time it's time to go back to work. I can post for another shift on my unit soon, but there are no openings as of yet and when there is one I will for sure be competeing with another new night shift RN who is seemingly favored over me. sorry this is long.. had to do a little venting too.

Oh my god I passed! Hooray! Time for a little Hapy dance

I feel so much better now that I saw a few people posting that they passed with 75 and actually felt good about it after taking the exam. I took my test this morning and it shut off at 75. I felt pretty good about it leaving the exam, especially since I knew that 75 questions means you bombed it or did really well. I thought to myself that there is no way I could have bombed it. I've done well in school and my school consistantly has a 95-100% pass rate. I felt good about it, that is, until I came on here. Eveyone was saying how they had such hard questions and felt like they failed. Someone even said if you do come out feeling like you passed after 75 questions, you probably didn't. I agree that it wasn't the easiest exam I've ever had, like another poster stated, but I also didn't think it was a whole bunch of questions out of left field, like I expected. I didn't feel like I got a lot of REALLY hard questions. Now I'm worried and I'm going to worry until those results come in. I'll let you guys know.

Things are looking up now at least. I've now had a full week of nights down on our Oncology unit.. which got me comfortable with primary nursing for five patients (meaning I am the only nurse for 5 patients) This week I am on the medical unit (still orienting) and I am team nursing for 12 patients. (meaning I have an LPN to give all meds but IV pushes and take vitals and blood sugars) we even have a care aide this week. Last night was my first night actually assessing and charting on all 12 patients and it went okay. Okay is enough to give me hope! I think the reason I was able to get it all done is because my patients were pretty easy last night. The nurse I was with says I'm doing good (but I keep thinking she's saying that to be nice.) Everyone admits that it's difficult with 12 patients.. you don't have time to get everything done and know everything about every patient which is frustrating. I much prefer primary nursing and I hope to get a position on oncology at some point. (after the pregnancy). Thanks for all your encouragement it really helped me through that rough time. I still feel like I suck at this job, but I have a little glimmer of hope.

So my stupid hospital has a policy that you need to wait 3 months to apply for a different shift in your department and 12 months to apply for another department. That makes no sense whatsoever. A person off the street can apply for any job but an employee can't? I am at the end of my rope. Everyone's saying to get lots of rest and treat myself well... but I can't sleep more than 2 or 3 hours after getting home from night shift, and eating well/ staying hydrated is just damn near impossible while I'm on the job. I guess I just have to stick it out for now and I was looking for an easier way out. I will be down to 48 hours every two weeks at the beginning of March. About not taking my boards right away... I really don't have a choice if I want to keep this job, and if I quit I'm afraid I'll never get hired there again. This hospital is the big employer in this town... the Dr.'s offices are affiliated and everything. At least in 2 more months I can post for another shift. But I still have 10 months before I can post for another department. (why did I jump the gun and take this godforsaken job?) Thanks to the above poster... so glad to have someone relate. I definitley can relate about second guessing your career choice. I have an anxiety disorder and panic attacks... why did I want to go into the most stressful job in the world? Why couldn't I just have become a teacher like I was originally going to? If I had done that I'm sure right now would be an exciting time, not the worst time of my life. And I'm sure I'd have been good at it. I'd even consider going back to school, but we need me to work, I need to save up for this baby. I obviously am in no position to give advice to the above poster either, but hang in there! I really appreciate you relating to me. It's good to hear I'm not the only one.

Trouble is so far my colleagues don't seem to understand. I get one half-hour punch out break (and usually feel guilty for taking that) and never really have time for the two paid 15 min breaks I'm supposed to get (even though I'm extra staff). I always feel like I'm dissappointing them. The RN I've been with for the last two days is demanding and rude. Yes the staffing sucks, especially on nights, but its not my job to make up for it. I'm supposed to be learning. So yeah theres that. Some staff are better than others but I totally feel like busting out balling when they bark orders at me and look at me like 'you didn't get that done yet?'

Yes, I'm a soon to be RN. Actually I'm a graduate nurse at the moment and I'm taking my boards in Feb. (My assistant NM is pushing me to take my boards asap which means less than a month from now when I'm working full time overnights and stressed to the max! but that's besides the point) I was saying that pretty much the RN's only do assessments and IV push meds because the LPNs are not allowed to do these things in our state and the RN needs to focus on the enourmous amount of paperwork that has to be completed per shift. That being said I had a full out panic attack leaving the hospital today I felt like I couldn't breathe and all I can think of is this isn't right. I should be taking care of myself.. The only thing in the world I care about is my husband and this baby. I have an anxiety disorder which I'm off meds for at the moment due to the pregnancy. so.. I'm thinking about moving departments or jobs altogether. I feel horrible my NM is so nice and helpful and i've only been on the floor for a week and a half. Plus not sure which budget it comes from but they've invested time in training me and money in a Tele and Vent class, but so far it's just not a good fit. I'm not a good time manager I'm high anxiety and throw the hormones and lack of anxiety med in there and I'm just a mess right now.. there's always time to work med/surg later right? So as far as other jobs go I'm thinking of applying for OR.. I did a rotation down there and school and their job seemed well... boring... which would be a welcome change for me, trust me! I'm also looking at home health (not sure I love the idea of being in other people's homes... creepy old men, dogs that bite.. those are some issues that come to mind). There is a posting for one of each of those jobs. And possibly looking at local nursing homes. (but have not seen any advertisements yet). Are these good ideas? Should I just put in my app and not mention to my NM that I am thinking of leaving the position? Thanks for the encouragement. It's nice to talk to people who understand.

Ok, so maybe it's a little early to say... I have only been on the floor for 6 shifts total. I'm a graduate nurse (will be RN) and I work nights on a medical floor. Actually last night was my first night. I had one day shift and four afternoons. I feel like an idiot and I will never remember all the things I need to do or be fast enough to get everything done. The LPN does most of the patient care besides assessments and IV push meds. So I hardly even see my patients and honostly don't really have time to anyway. My school had VERY little clinical time and now I'm thrust into this job I feel like I know virtually nothing about. To top it off I am just finishing my first trimester of pregnancy and am tired and absent minded all the time. All I can think is I should have been a teacher or something. At least then this would have been an exciting time... not an extremely stressful/ depressing one. I know there might be an avenue of nursing for me... working in a clinic or teaching or something. But to do that I have to put in my time on a 'med/surg' floor and I am completely miserable. I pretty much cry on the way home every day ( yes I am a tad hormonal). I don't want to be stressed I don't think it's good for the baby and I have read recently how women who work night shift have a higher chance of miscarriage. (http://www.womenfitness.net/news/fertility_pregnancy/sw_night_sift_linked.htm, http://www.kaisernetwork.org/Daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=34239). So I worry about that too. Didn't know I was prego when I interviewed... or that'd it be this hard (and potentially bad for the baby) when I accepted. Lets face it, I'm not a fast-paced nurse or a future critical care nurse... I'm okay with that. I don't like feeling pressured or behind. How long do I have to spend at this job to do something else? I'm done with orientation at the end of february and I'm trying to stick it out. Everyone says it will get better.. but all I can think is yeah right you probably weren't half the idiot I am. I even have thoughts of leaving the field altogether. But I just started and I worked so hard to get here. I know there's some area I will be happy. Any words of wisdom?

I'm right there with you guys. Only I'm 3 weeks from graduation and I hated my last clinical. I was on the stepdown unit and hated it! I dreaded dealing with mean nurses and doctors and always feeling like I'm not good enough. I currently work at an adult foster care home and I love it. I'm thinking of going on for my masters in social work so I can be a counselor but you need two years of experience in a human service field to do that apparently. So now I'm thinking of applying for a job on child psych where I live. I'm worried about giving up med/surg stuff forever too. If you want to switch into an area that's not psych or psych-related in the future it might be difficult. I would suggest getting that experience if you think it's a possibility. I just have to decide if that's a possibility for me or not. good luck to you!