chocokitten

Yes, that is true. Under the benefits section of the job posting, it will say if it is eligible for EDRP. I got this for a year at my old VA (MI) but lost it when I moved to Utah. By the way, it's a small world: I'm at the ABQ VAMC teaching instructors for the Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior class that you'll get with your employee education :) Beautiful campus!

go to http://usajobs.gov/ There you can find jobs with the Veterans Affairs hospital (where I work and love it) or as a civilian with the military. I worked at the VA hospital in MI then transferred to UT :) One bonus of working for the VA is because you can transfer to any VA in the US (Alaska and Hawaii included)

upper management is supportive :) Union is not involved, and since this is SUPPORTING staff safety, I don't think they'd have much bad to say about it. Thanks for the input though!

liberal or conservative, that's how media works lol. Anyways, we already have policies in place to do contraband searches, I'm just asking for input on adjusting it and to get some advice :)

Hello, I just started working in an inpatient acute psychiatric facility a few months ago. I work at a VA hospital and we have a 21 bed unit. A few weeks before I started working here the ward was shut down because a patient pulled a knife on a nurse. Since then there have been some changes to safety policies: we now have a enclosed nurses station (the ironic thing is they put up the windows then took down the doors and said they would replace them in "2 weeks"... right, we've been without doors for at least a month now), we do q15 minute "safety" checks or the floor, qhour checks where we check of that each patient is safe/visualized, belongings have been limited to none for level 1 patients and level 2 patients get 2 sets of clothes, no belts etc, and shoes without laces. However, we still have a huge issue with contraband. Last week nurses responded to a room after smelling cigarette smoke. A patient was in the bathroom, flushed the toilet, and no contraband was found.. (I think he flushed it). I suggested, along with some other nurses and aides, that we have qday THOROUGH safety checks of the floor, and pointed out to my nurse manager that the q15 checks are inadequate and are too rushed to do a thorough check. When doing 15 minute checks one often finishes just in time to start the next round... My nurse manager an I did a trial thorough check, checking under mattresses, in pillow cases, in tissue boxes etc. In 45 minutes we checked the entire floor. We found a light, tobacco "crumbs", 3 wallets (not allowed on floor), 2 plastic patient belongings bags, one duffle bag (not allowed), and lots of garbage. We also discovered many other, non-contraband related, safety issues just by looking around the floor. I'm working on making this a daily thing and I wanted to get some input. What does your hospital do as far as contraband checks? What have you found during your checks that wouldn't have found otherwise? Any stories, suggestions, etc would be very helpful :)

Hello, I just started working in an inpatient acute psychiatric facility a few months ago. I work at a VA hospital and we have a 21 bed unit. A few weeks before I started working here the ward was shut down because a patient pulled a knife on a nurse. Since then there have been some changes to safety policies: we now have a enclosed nurses station (the ironic thing is they put up the windows then took down the doors and said they would replace them in "2 weeks"... right, we've been without doors for at least a month now), we do q15 minute "safety" checks or the floor, qhour checks where we check of that each patient is safe/visualized, belongings have been limited to none for level 1 patients and level 2 patients get 2 sets of clothes, no belts etc, and shoes without laces. However, we still have a huge issue with contraband. Last week nurses responded to a room after smelling cigarette smoke. A patient was in the bathroom, flushed the toilet, and no contraband was found.. (I think he flushed it). I suggested, along with some other nurses and aides, that we have qday THOROUGH safety checks of the floor, and pointed out to my nurse manager that the q15 checks are inadequate and are too rushed to do a thorough check. When doing 15 minute checks one often finishes just in time to start the next round... My nurse manager an I did a trial thorough check, checking under mattresses, in pillow cases, in tissue boxes etc. In 45 minutes we checked the entire floor. We found a light, tobacco "crumbs", 3 wallets (not allowed on floor), 2 plastic patient belongings bags, one duffle bag (not allowed), and lots of garbage. We also discovered many other, non-contraband related, safety issues just by looking around the floor. I'm working on making this a daily thing and I wanted to get some input. What does your hospital do as far as contraband checks? What have you found during your checks that wouldn't have found otherwise? Any stories, suggestions, etc would be very helpful :)

1. Does anyone know the March OBLC dates? I don't, but you will know when the email is sent from your unit to the place you are having OBLC, in which they request that your space be reserved. That's how I found out mine. 2. Exactly how long is OBLC, from the day to arrive to the day you leave? I though 10 weeks but then I read 9. Mine was 26 days this Feb. But at that time they were discussing changing it back to 2 weeks and putting the classroom crap online for you to do before coming. But I'm reserves. Active duty folks were there before us and we left before them. 3. When does the graduation take place? Is it after the whole course or is it after the first 7 weeks before going into your specific track? After the whole course. The reserves side graduated once the field work was done. Active graduated after their track training. 4. Is the graduation a big event, like something your family(husband and kids) should fly in town to see? Yes, if you can afford it, as an active duty person. As reserves, there wasn't time. :\ 5. As a vegetarian/vegan, is there any advice fro me getting through OBLC and eating the MRE? Bring pokey-bait. They have tons of Vegetarian MRE's. However, they are blah IMO (I used to grab vegetarian ones because they were more likely to have peanut butter, cheese, and other non-meat proteins that tasted better than the meat MRE's) I usually brought a ton of snacks with me to the field. 6. Finally last but not least as this is a very important question, when you leave San An how long before you have to report to your 1st Duty station,?I am confused about the timing of this but I will have to have time to get back to Missouri, pack up my family, get to Georgia and find a place to live. I don't know, since I'm not active duty :\

thanks, that's what I was thinking. I'm new to the reserves so I just wanted to be sure that this wouldn't be a concern

Hello, Odd question but I don't know where else to go besides to my unit and it's kind of a personal matter IMO. Before I get to the question let me provide some background and such to prevent any misunderstanding. I have my own insurance, not tricare, and I'm not asking the military to pay for anything. I'm 25 and I had a baby 8 years ago. since then I've exercised, dieted, and done tons of sit ups. My daughter was 10lbs 8oz and I'm only 5 feet tall, so there was a lot of streching going on during pregnancy. I got down to 128 (120 pre-pregnancy) and still had a lot of skin/fat on my abdomen and still got "Oh, are you pregnant?" comments. I'm interested in getting a tummy tuck since I don't want any more children and I'm sick of feeling fat and getting pregnancy comments even when I've lost weight. My question is this: Are there any rules in the army reserves in regards to elective surgery? Do I have to get some kind of permission or pre-approval in order to have this surgery done? Has anyone had an experience with something like this, or any ideas where I could get an answer? I hate to ask anyone in my unit because it's a very personal decision and I don't feel it's anyone's business but my own unless there is some rule or regulation regarding this. I'm also curious because I worry that if I might need to get a temporary profile for sit-ups it would be an issue and I don't want to break any "rules".

A month after my phone interview I was hired ^_^ I transfer to the SLC VA on July 20th Took a lot less time than expected. Either they were very desperate or I impressed them :) Either way, I'm happy it went quickly lol Can't wait to move to Utah and get away from Michigan. I'm going from Telemetry to Psychiatry. Wish me luck!

Yep! I think it's 15ish... Not bad ^_^

p.s. I work for the VA and I took over annual leave and military leave to cover all the time I was gone... so I got paid as if I were working full time PLUS my reserve pay ^_^ I love working for the VA as a reservist

I googled this and the page is down Does anyone have these questions saved or anything?

I am a reservist so I'm not sure if my experience will be the same as yours, unless you are a reservist. I went for 26 days to fort sam. I drove my own car there, and yes, this is allowed (I got 1400 in travel pay afterwards, too ) and it was WONDERFUL to have my car. We were in class pretty much every day, then we had 2 weeks on m-f in the field (overnight too), and one week of m-wed because of a holiday. I have a dependent and did not get any BHA, as a reservist. My room was paid for while at fort sam, and I only had to pay for my meals while not in the field. I had a great time, despite the hard work :) I've compiled a suggested packing list, based on my experience, if you're interested?

I believe you are, and no this would not be double dipping as far as I know. I work for both. I leave for officer's basic course in a week and a half and I took enough leave that I am getting paid from the VA as well as the reserves and the office of personnel management says that this is acceptable... so I don't see why that wouldn't be