fakebee

I don’t see anywhere in these articles that he divulged any protected information...what am I missing?

What I find interesting is the concept that completing the RN to BSN transition has to be enormously expensive. Several schools offer online programs for less than $10,000. An enormous amount of debt you say- well consider that the average new car costs 32,000 dollars yet millions of 50 and 60 year olds sign up for as long as 10 years of monthly payments for that new car smell. But 30 year olds won't invest in something that pays them back in the long run, unlike a car that depreciates the minute you buy it.

Unless management just sprung this on you they are not forcing you to work overtime they are making you meet the work hours you agreed to in your employment contract when you were hired. Surely you reviewed your work schedule prior to signing your contract. 84 hours a pay period is standard in many hospitals in the USA. When you signed your contract you agreed to these hours, they are not mandating you do so. If you wish to work fewer hours look into part time or pen gigs. Hope it works out for you.

If you're not meeting your minimum requirements to remain per diem at that facility I don't understand why you are upset about the manager calling you on it. She has a limited number of per diem slots available and she might have people willing to meet or exceed those shift requirements.

Most employers aren't interested in your motivation for working, just that you do a good job and meet their job standards. Nursing should be no different. The problem in nursing is the Martyr Mary types who want you to believe as they do that caring for the sick is a privilege and can only be done well by those that have the caring calling and that we should overlook safe working conditions, adequate compensation, and respect from patients and management for this privilege, something intelligent adults do not accept as logical. I believe that every person with a healthy mental attitude derives satisfaction from helping other people regardless of profession. Nursing is not special in that regard. Again, the source of irritation is not that you became a nurse because you care, it's the inevitable backlash when others tell thousands of competent professionals they're not as good as those who have a calling for something. We would all like to be the total package of caring, compassion, and competence but genetics rules... You are who you are and you adapt to be successful.

"I should have known better than to come here and think any thick skulls could be cracked"-you certainly have a way with words. I predict you will be on the management fast track based on your inability to listen and consider input from seasoned professionals who have experience with the problem you describe and have given you several credible and practical solutions to solve said problem. Good luck with your career.

I learned I am no longer emotionally invested in my workplace. At. All. Good for me.

That my ICU does not have a good skills mix. Of the 12 nurses working my last shift, nine had less than one years experience. Flu season will be an absolute nightmare.

Have to agree with Rose Queen that the ANA is completely out of touch with the bedside nurse. Not saying that bullying doesn't occur buT I feel nurse/patient ratios are 10,000 times more important to the success of nursing.

Phoenoryker are you sure your name isn't really Mindlor?

I can promise you that if your patient's bicarbonate is 7, there's a 99 percent chance he's not in respiratory acidosis. Please provide the rest of the ABG values.

It's not about making anyone a better nurse, it's about the fact that it's an employers market. With job seekers outstripping jobs available employers can ask whatever qualifications they wish. As a BSN prepared nurse with almost 20 years experience I know that I might wake up in the morning with an email from my boss saying the hospital is requiring a masters for all bedside nurses. Why? Because they can. And since I have another 10-15 years left to work, I will be doing their bidding or work elsewhere if possible. The old cliche that the golden rule is now he who has the gold makes the rules has never been truer than now. I can only take comfort in knowing karma is a b.... And will eventually bite some people in the butt. Wishing you and all of us the best, we're going to need it.

Please do not suggest teaching to someone with the smallest sliver of experience and who wants to leave bedside nursing at the earliest opportunity- students deserve to have someone who enjoys the bedside role and who can help them navigate the many pitfalls of nursing by having actually experienced most of them. There's a lot of good advice on this post but I don't think this is some of it since 99.9 percent of new nurses will have a first job that involves direct patient care. I'm not saying the OP should never teach, I just don't think that should be her short term plan.

RN Dynamic, The new graduate nurses role is exactly the same as every other nurse working that floor, no more no less. I do find it interesting that so many recent grads feel they are the only ones fully versed on current evidence based practice. In today's hypercompetitive health care environment, any new EBP is pretty much mandated by Medicare or adopted to help save money.

If you have been working full time hours for 10 months on your floor and the full time jobs are going to new grads and the only fault in your practice is you take too long in report per your managers feedback, that should tell you all you need to know about your chances for advancement on said floor. Most managers would kill to have nurses whose sole fault was being a little slow on the floor. No one is ever ready to take on another entire new learning curve in a different specialty but most people adapt and learn. If you're worried about looking stupid because you don't know something and you find it hard to learn when you're nervous I have bad news for you- you will feel nervous and stupid a lot of the time because you are in a new environment as a novice. The good news is guess what- everybody else feels that way in that situation. Most of them succeed. If you are confident in your assessment skills and trust your critical thinking abilities, I say take the chance. Everything else can be learned. Good luck regardless of your decision, trust in yourself, and by all means make use of the knowledge available here to help you succeed. God bless.

Doing away with 12 hour shifts would increase the number of nurses needed by 33% in a 24 hour period. I can't speak for anyone else but my health system has continually sought to decrease wages, benefits, and retirements since 2007. I don't think they are willing to pay the costs of health insurance, unemployment, and training costs for the necessary numbers of RNs needed dor 8 hour shifts. I would like to see how they could spin hiring 33% more nurses when they are constantly telling us we have no money for anything, much less more staff.

I must truly be one of the blessed. My first year as a nurse was almost everything I could hope for-challenging, rewarding, fast paced and interesting. After 19 years of nursing I can look back and see that I encountered a perfect storm of circumstances- a great preceptor, supportive management, patient and understanding coworkers, and the motivation of knowing that I needed to reward my wife's trust in me by supporting me when I left a secure job for the unknown. While I have had my share of ups and downs in this profession, I have never once uttered the phrase Why did I ever become a nurse, something I muttered on a daily basis the last years of my previous profession. Ask my wife if you find that hard to believe. After reading all the stories in this and other threads about the first year I got out the scrap book my first unit gave me when I left and relived some of the best personal and professional memories of my life. Wishing all new grads the joy and happiness I found in my first year. Good luck!

Hope you don't fall off your high horse and crack your cranium, some useless BSN might take care of you- the point being that we have all followed nurses regardless of degree or experience whose performance has been less than stellar and if we're around long enough it will eventually be us who is less than perfect. happens to everybody- hope you had the stones to point this out in report to the offending nurse and didn't just run around the unit proclaiming what crappy nurses they are and how much better your care and skills are. remember no one is perfect.

If joint commission was serious about safety they would not give hospitals a potential window for visits. They wou ld arrive unannounced and on night shift. I don't think a hospital in America would pass an unannounced inspection.

All kidding aside, I'm beginning to think your tinfoil hat might be a little too tight.

The thing about entitled patients and family members, chronic pain management problems, understaffing and overworked nurses is that it is rampant everywhere, not just LTC, SNF, and AL facilities-everyone everywhere has too many problems to deal with. Don't kid yourself that going to a hospital or clinic setting will change any aspect of what you're experiencing. The best advice you've been given is to develop some new coping skills, that it's not about you or your perceived failings, and that you need to leave work at work. If you're looking for the perfect work environment you'll never last anywhere. You are going to have to set some realistic standards about what is acceptable and what is not in your work setting. I agree that rude people suck and mean people never seem to die, but there are more of both in today's health care world. I hope you find what you're looking for soon. Best of luck!

Decrease the clinical spots for the ADN programs.

Get rid of the current moratorium on BSN expansion, allow your ADN programs to provide any additional clinicals needed for the BSN degree, and allow students to take higher level electives online at an affiliated state university.

Cutting the supply of new nurses by 50% is exactly what nursing needs at this juncture. There has never been a nursing shortage, only a shortage of nurses willing to work under the prevailing work conditions and wages offered. No patient in America would go uncared for if you shut every nursing school down for 5 years. We have way too many nurses now, we need fewer not more.

The last time I checked 60% of all RNs were ADNs. Since you have a majority why don't you use that to your advantage? Get all ADNs to join the ANA, elect leaders sympathetic to your position that there is no difference in nursing outcomes based on education levels, and finance the research to prove it. Use your newfound political influence to get Congress to recognize ADN as the entry point for nursing and lobby state boards to provide a different NCLEX for BSNs. Don't think you can get employers to change their mind as long as this over saturation exists but you can make a start. Or you can continue to bemoan changes that you may have some control over if you exert the effort now. I am not being sarcastic when I wish you good luck, it's going to take a ton of effort and work.