serenity1

Banner used to have a program that you had to apply to and be accepted into before you started classes. You were under contract to work for them for 3 years upon graduation. They did away with that program about 5-6 years ago. I have worked for Dignity and Banner, and you have to be an employee to receive tuition reimbursement and it is for classes you are currently taking. I do not know of any that pay for loans you already had before becoming an employee. Good luck, I will be interested in the answers you find.

On my unit we have assigned holidays in order to make sure there are enough staff on those days--usually we are overstaffed due to the holiday obligations. So, unless they are understaffed all the time, it makes no sense that they would already be understaffed that day, especially since they scheduled you and it is not your holiday. Did they let someone else out of their holiday obligation? I would not work it. It is not your problem that the scheduler messed up. It seems like they already know you prefer Tuesdays and are taking advantage. Sorry, I'm jaded at this point. And I do not feel obligated to fix someone else's mistakes/oversights.

Had this problem. The same RN always asked me to take her holidays because she had to go to church. She had already run through the other staff when I came to the unit. I did it a few times, but then told her I make my schedule based on my needs and cannot switch anymore. She still texted me, but I stopped replying. I figured I had already told her I was done covering her holidays, if she didn't get the message, oh well. Eventually she stopped asking, and we are still great co-workers. Set your limits.

I'm a former labor & delivery RN, and I am almost finished with my FNP. I can tell you from my family clinical experiences, I am not interested in taking a family position because of all the reasons you list. I thought I would be so over women's health, but I find that I enjoy my OB clinicals more than any others so far. There is still a lot to know and do, but it is more focused than family. Most of the OB offices in my area hire FNP's as well as WHNP's. Labor and delivery burned me out in about 2 years. Very high stress at my facility. Maybe you could shadow a nurse practitioner in an OB office? Or any other type of NP? I agree that you probably need a vacation/break to catch your breath. With your FNP, there are many other areas you can try. Hang in there. :)

Our C-sections get the 1 gram of Ofirmev and 30 mg of Toradol in the pacu. They usually get Toradol every 6 hours and Percocet every 4 hours for the first 24 hours and then switch over to Norco and Motrin until discharge. The only time our mom's get a PCA is if they have general anesthesia or are opioid dependent, and they usually only have it 12-24 hours.

A patient came in through triage for her scheduled 7am c-section and could not believe we bumped her surgery because her hubby stopped at McDonalds on the way in so she could eat breakfast....her response was "they told me not to eat anything at home before surgery but I ate it in the car". You seriously cannot make these stories up.

You did everything you could have to make this patient/family happy and provided excellent care. At the end of the day, that is all we can do. We cannot control other people. Thankfully, your manager knows you did your best and that the mom was lying. It just sucks because that mom is going on with her miserable life thinking nothing of what could have happened to you and your career, and you are dreading going back to work. It has been my experience that when I bend over backwards for someone like that, the outcome is positive. Now and then there are just those people that cannot be pleased and want to make everyone suffer. I hope you feel better. I would love to have you as my child's nurse. :)

We get mag pp patients all the time.....like we are running a special on hypertension. We get them from L&D on it, and we also start mag on our unit. We do q4 vitals, reflexes, clonus, loc, i&o on our mag moms. And they do not care about acquity...we can have 2 moms on mag or 1 mag mom and 3 couplets. It's all about productivity. It must be a regional thing. I'm in AZ and all the hospitals I have worked at sends mag moms to PP.

This is crazy. I am beginning my final rotation in my FNP program. I get nervous if my preceptor leaves earlier than scheduled because I have to figure out how to make up that time. Yet this person could care less if he is completing the required amount. Unbelievable. I have to log all my patient encounters into a system, but the only thing that counts is my total hours with patients--not the amount of patients I see. My program requires site visits where they observe us with patients and talk to our preceptors. I find it sad that his preceptors are passing him if they are doing site visits. If he cannot finish/understand his homework, how is he passing exams? Hopefully, it catches up to him before graduation.

I work mother-baby and we just had this exact thing happen. We were terribly short on night shift and hired a few nurses. One of the new nurses that was hired for full-time nights asked/demanded to go days, part-time, or prn as the full-time, night shift did not work for her family. She was 2 shifts from being off orientation. She was let go half way through her shift that night. The manager reasoned that if she was already not happy with the position she was hired for, she would be a difficult employee or quit as soon as she found something else. It was all in her presentation, though. Had she waited until orientation was over and just asked to be put on the list (we have a list for days and part-time), she would have been fine. And it would not have taken long to get what she wanted. I would wait until orientation was over, too. Just my 2 cents, though. :)

Ditto on payday. And 3 shifts per week. Only joys I get from nursing.

Labor and delivery is fast-paced and stressful, too. The 3 different units I worked in have all been crazy busy and, at times, unsafe. I left L&D for that reason. Felt my license was always on the line. We have had several tele nurses transfer to L&D, and they were shocked that it was as busy and stressful as it is. I'm back in mother-baby which can be busy, but much more manageable and less stressful. I did a stint with the work-from-home case management which was absolutely not for me. I hope you find an area that you like. It's not a good feeling when you dread every shift. Best wishes!

Sending prayers your way, Esme, for a speedy recovery.

When I was labor & delivery, I always had "push it" in my head.....go figure :)

I agree with previous posters....if you do not love labor and delivery, get out. If you do love it but not the high risk, try to find another job in a lower risk unit. L&D is rough. I did it and left then went back because I wanted to give it another try. I left again. It is not for me. I am in post partum and like it much better. Still busy and have stressful situations, just not the same. I no longer have knots in my stomach walking into work. Case management, health department, school nurse....those are all good options to consider as well. I feel for you. Wishing you the best. :)

Dignity has recently hired new grads into L&D. But the market for jobs here is extremely competitive. Most Banner facilities want a BSN so that may help you with them in general. Good luck, there are many new grads looking for jobs for months after passing NCLEX. :)

I feel for you. Banner is getting very picky about the BSN and even staff that has worked there for years in a different role have a hard time getting hired with an ADN, even if they are enrolled in a BSN bridge program. I can see how you would feel betrayed because this change in BSN preference/requirement is recent. I agree with the poster that recommended Dignity. They currently prefer BSN but will hire new grads with ADN. Unfortunately, the Phoenix area is saturated with new grads. I agree with Klone, too, about looking in the rural areas. Take what you can until you are finished with your BSN. Time management is something they do not teach in school but is so important, as well as prioritization. Only you can decide if it is worth continuing on. I wish you all the best. :)

Emphasize how important educating your patients is. We do a ton of teaching in post-partum. You will be educating mom and dad on self-care and infant care. You will be there to help the new family get off to a good start and bond. It will be part of your responsibility to help mom get off to a good start with breastfeeding, if that is what she chooses. Talk about how you would like to be part of all of this. It worked for me :). Good luck. I, too, left labor and delivery and went to post-partum. Much less stressful, but just as busy.

Actually, I was hired (pp/nursery) for Noc and oriented on days. Although I was able to meet more of the docs working on days, when I went off orientation to nights, it was a completely different flow. We did things differently, had different/fewer resources and it was hard the first couple of weeks even though I felt fine with everything on days. I actually let management know that it was a disadvantage to orient to days when hired for nights. They have since divided the orientation between days and nights. Good luck!

Don't feel bad about not loving labor and delivery. I started in couplet care and begged to be cross-trained to labor. Guess what? Hated it. Thought maybe it was the facility so when I moved I stayed with labor and delivery. After 6 more months at a new facility, I realized I still did not like it. Went back to couplet care. Thought I missed it and went back to labor and delivery to "try" again (I, too, felt like less of a nurse for not liking L&D), and am now in the process of transferring back to couplet care. I dread the "what's coming next". I prefer the controlled chaos of couplet care to the absolute chaos of labor and delivery. When someone says that couplet care is not real nursing I tell them I earn a "real" check that says it is. I wish you all the best in deciding what to do. :)

Thank you all for these hilarious posts! Made me laugh and put me in a good mood just before I head in to help all the new Christmas babies be born tonight! Merry Christmas!

It shouldn't have to be this way....makes me sad. I tell myself it's only 3 nights a week and that it isn't forever. I tell myself I make good money and that my family counts on me. I tell myself that someday I will find a job I enjoy going to. Whatever works. I visualize clocking out and walking to my car in the morning. I love being a nurse, I do not love the hospital system.

It's great that you are receiving a 9-month orientation. There is a lot to learn and we have been losing new orientees due to minimal orientation. I have known a few labor & delivery nurses and post-partum nurses that have gone to the NICU. The maternity unit is difficult to get into right out of school, but not impossible. Starting there, I think, is a good decision if that is the area you hope to end up in some day. You may even find that you enjoy another part of the unit. You will be able to let management know your desire to go to the NICU at some point and that experience may land you the job at a level 3 NICU. Just my 2 cents. Best wishes to you whatever you decide.

It is good that you are questioning your decision and weighing your options. We all have to take our lifestyles and circumstances into account before moving forward with major decisions such as school/career. Just because you question it does not mean you are not meant to be a nurse or that you will be a bad one. Even while in the program, many question if it is still "right" for them. Nursing was my second choice. Does that make me a bad nurse? Nope. I am a damn good nurse. Do I love nursing. Nope. Can't wait to move on from the bedside. I left the bedside only to return due to not loving case management from home even more than bedside nursing. That is the beauty of nursing. You do not have to be a bedside nurse. Wishing you the best in whichever decision you make.

Maryville offers an online Acute Care program, says it is 100% online. Hope you find what you are looking for. :)