cowboyRN

I am pretty anti-union myself traveler, if you want them go for it. I would rather negotiate on my own terms. There is only one union hospital I know of here in Albuquerque and it is the lowest paid with the worst patient/staff ratios. You pay them your dues for what would appear to be nothing, what I would call legalized extortion. Just my dos centavos.

Last year a $25.00 gift certificate for the grocery store, this year nothing, administration stated we might use it to buy booze or cigarettes.

I use to autoclave glass syringes and needles, as well as other non disposable equipment for a Doc. as an after school job while in high school. He actually carried a doctor bag and made regular house calls after office hours. I started nursing a few years after that. CVP's were measured from a graduated cylinder taped to an IV pole at the bedside. Glass CT bottles and IV bottles were standard equipment. Hand cranks to elevate the head of the bed, unless you were using an old bed, then you propped pt's up using pillows. Trendelenburg was acheived placing bricks under the the bed legs at the foot of the bed. We used an osciliscope for monitoring heart rythms, little round screen with the boxes etched in the glass.

I have had compliants due to being a male nurse. I always figure it's their loss, I'm good at what I do, and my patients get excellent care.

If getting dumped on really bothers you, you might want to rethink going agency. As an agency nurse you can count on the worst assignments.

Just relax and enjoy the docs. There is no reason to go head to head with them. If you are easily intimidated, maybe research is a better direction for you to be heading. No reason to put doctors on a pedistal and think they need to be "handled". 99% of the time if you are confident in what you are doing, and can hold an inteligible conversation, they will leave you alone. Most the docs I know are happy to have a nurse taking care of their patients that is confident and can handle a situaiton without stressing out. If you tend to your skill levels and expertise, you will command the respect of those around you without having to resort to silly one liners and antics.

If you are working in PACU, you should probably be proficient in ACLS, read monitors/know your rythms, have a good working understanding of different airways and how to use them, knowledgable in conscience sedation, some experience with pressure lines and reading wave forms. If that is the case, find a good preceptor program and go for it.

I started at $7.10 an hour in 1984. I think pay has improved a bit.

In the last 6yrs, I have floated out once. I have picked up extra shifts on other units. I work a small unit, 6 bed with a mix of ICU/SAC patients and we are always full.

I work with a RT in the ICU that can run a sub 3 hour marathon, and I have never been able to finish in faster than 3:30. He's a wiz and rebuilding a vent in a pinch too.

There are many websites that cater to the ACLS provider, most I have seen are free. Just google ACLS. If you want a good study guide, follow the review questions at the end of each chapter. They cover the test questions verbatum.

Personnally I prefer it when the bosses are not around. Makes life a lot more enjoyable. I guess I work nights for a reason.

Nothing special about male nurses. A lot more of them now than years ago too.

No intention to be an internet bully Night, maybe I didn't word my post so well. Mainly was trying to comment on the bad press that Lovelace gets. I do find it interesting that students are coming out of the nursing schools jumping on this band wagon. I don't mean that in a bad way, and am not trying to support Lovelace. The Journal is all over every scoop they get their hands on, and the Mayor and Govenor seem to have an axe to grind in regards to the Lovelace issue. Anybody who has been in Albuquerque for any length of time at all remembers the huge layoffs, and hospital closing of another institution, but the attention has now moved to the new employer in town. Just a courious issue for me. Sorry for the thread jack.

Interesting to hear you badmouthing Lovelace tencat, and not even working in the field yet. Actually Lovelace has had a pretty bad rep. in the community due to being the new kid on the block since their purchase a few years ago. There are drawbacks to all the hospitals in town. UNM is union, which doesn't interest me. Pres. has a long history of being anti-employee in the community, for more than 20 years or so, they haven't been in the spot light so much since Ardent moved in. Truth be told, they are all pretty much the same. I couldn't tell you a thing about pay scales though, been nursing over 20 years, and the pay is a hell of a lot better than the $7.10 per hour that I started with in '82.