funnynurse

I replied to this thread back in March of 08! I wasn't happy so I made a change. I now have a job that is about 90% phone work, 10% interaction with patients. I love what I do and am still a nurse. SO don't give up on nursing, as I said before there is a nursing job out there for you. Good Luck!

I have seen posters on this site worried that they won't be able to find jobs once they graduate and you all have persistent recruiters after you??? What do you stand to lose if you go to the interview?? Who knows, maybe they have a day position for you? You could always work on a contingent basis, keeping your nursing home job until something opens up. Good luck!

I feel sorry for the kids involved. Unfortunately in our society this is happening more frequently. I am disturbed by some of the judgemental comments on this post. Do we know that these women are on welfare? I can only hope that these women will wake up and have better respect for themselves. Those of you who are OB nurses, do you ever give encouraging comments to the mothers or just roll your eyes in disgust? I hope that you are setting good examples for us nurses out there! We have to be professional in everything that we do. I know that some of you are very busy on your sometimes understaffed units, burnedout or what ever, but who knows, you may have a positve effect on these young ladies. You guys are strong women and role models! Please think about that the next time one of these ladies comes across your way. Girl Power!

I think every nurse who has worked in LTC has had days like this, I know I have. They only bring you closer to burnout:banghead:. I just finished a 5 year stint of LTC craziness. I swore I would never work as a LTC floor nurse ever again. All I did was complain about my job. Do yourself a favor and find a nursing job less stressful that you can actually enjoy. Your family will love you for it! :wink2:

Okay, you blew up. Yes, there were other ways to handle it. But, the burning question is......?Did she really leave you as the only nurse in the whole building???? If she did, thank God nothing went wrong. I would not have jeapordized my license like that!

I get a kick out this every time I work. I have one resident who is a retired nurse with dementia and I swear she is on me like white on rice! She follows me around as I do my med pass until I tell her she is "off the clock now" and to go "home and rest!" I will probably be just like her. She makes my shift!

Wow. And I thought I was the only one who felt this way.....Just this week! I have been in my LTC position for about 6 years..... 6 Looooong years and I am actively looking for another nursing position. I have come to the conclusion that no matter what specialty we work in, we are under appreciated, under paid and over worked! I know that there is something better out there. Thought about going back to school for a teaching degree.....but teacher's are probably complaining about the same things us nurses are, LOL. The beauty of nursing is, we can switch between the different specialties! I am actively pursuing a position at my other job that is totally non patient care. Praying to God I get it. For all of you nurses out there who want to leave nursing completely, please don't! You worked too hard for your degree. There is a nursing job out there that you will love. Just takes trial and error sometimes! Good luck!

Ironically, I couldn't stand coffee until I started working as a nurse......I can even drink the stuff while driving home from work and go straight to sleep! Several Tim Horton's restaurant workers in my area know exactly what I want when I pull up! As someone in one of their commercials stated, "you don't even want to see me until I've had my first cup!" Coffee is just about the only thing that keeps my coworkers and I from falling asleep on our long shifts! It gives me the extra kick in the butt to get my job done! I will admit though, that I have had dreaded palpitations from drinking too much of it:o.

When I come across nurses, or anyone in the medical field, I treat them the same as I would anyone else! When I go to appointments I don't tell people I'm a nurse, unless they think I don't know anything, then I'll mention it! My pet peeve is family members telling anyone who will listen that "my so and so is a nurse" as if it will get them better treatment! Another pet peeve is nurses who think they know it all and try to tell you how to do your job, like they are waiting for you to screw up or something! One nurse wouldn't let me draw her blood (it was my job that I did day in and out) because "my coworkers upstairs are really good, they can do it!" Give me a break! Most nurses don't walk around telling people that they are nurses unless they are being treated without respect. Usually, medical professionals figure it out because of the terminology we use anyway!

My first job was on a busy tele unit ( I swore in school that I would Neverever work tele!). Once orientation was over, it finally hit me that I am nurse, responsible for a group of sick patients! I was so stressed out my first year of nursing. I used to have to psych myself up to even get out of my car and walk into the hospital. Any nursing students reading this, Please, Please, Please read as much as you can of your nursing books and really understand them inside and out. That is the only thing that saved me, having the knowledge base and skill set ready to apply quickly. When a patient is crashing, you don't have the time to look every little thing up. I worked with a group of wonderful nurses who always pitched in to help me out when I needed it. If you don't have that support, it will make your work day a living hell. I was one of 5 new grads who started on that unit and after one year, only 2 of us was left. The other nurse decreased down to only one day a week. I stayed on that unit for 4 years and would not trade that experience in for anything, I learned so much. After about a year and a half, I finally started feeling competent on that unit. I no longer work bedside nursing in the hospital, but am in LTC. LTC has its stress, but it is nowhere near that of the hospital. Please try to stick it out atleast for a year if you can. If you can't, there are numerous nursing specialties out there to go into. Good Luck!

My 2 year old was hospitalized with pneumonia and being the nurse that I am, would try to help out by "fixing" the alarms after they would beep forever because the nurses were busy. Some nurses didn't have a problem with me doing this. One nurse told me out right, "don't touch my IV". I respected her wishes because I would of said the same thing.

I definately agree with Rapheal..... Yall gone make lose my mind, up in here, up in here yall gone make me act a fool, up in here , up in here.......(DMX)

No, it is not stress free, contrary to popular belief. I had a Dr. tell me one day that I was "just playing nurse". IT is a different type of stress

I only had about 2 years experience when I started, due to job burnout! Thank God I found it, it helped me not to leave the nursing profession

We have a lot of standing orders from surgeon's which makes our job easier, but even though we have these, we still call about 2-3 offices a day for orders on patients we will see where the office staff is to fax over orders. These surgeon's offices are very busy and sometimes the staff forgets about us! Usually one call is all it takes, but there are a few we have to call atleast twice. Some offices tell us the patient will bring orders with them, but of course they never do, or tell us they never received orders from the offices! Any way, this is just another comment: All acute care nurses at my hospital recently received a raise, but we did not get one because we are not considered "acute care". We work very hard at our jobs but are very underappreciated!

The one on one with patients is the best part of the job. I give them 100% during the appointment and this really helps with how they view the hospital. We are the first nurses these patients see in the hospital and it is our job to make them feel at ease. I have different pamphlets I give out during the appointment (je: smoking cessation, BSE, diet info etc.) and really try to do as much teaching as possible during the session. I really love what I do and it is unfortunate that other nurses are in jobs that they hate. Again, thanks for the reply. ;)

I only have experience as a floor nurse receiving pt's from the er, and yes, we can be rude at times. My pet peeves are: 1. Receiving er's left and right before shift change 2. Receiving er's left and right after shift change 3. Receiving an er who has been down there for > 24hours and no one bother's to sign off orders before the patient has transferred 4. Receiving an er whose orders are messed up and having to call the er doc to clarify..... 5. Receiving a **%%$$ up report from the er nurse....."I don't know what the labs, vs, assessment is....I just took over and am only transferring the pt!" 6. Finally starting off with a half decent team of patients, only to receive a train wreck from the er! I know you all are busy and we are busy and there really is no excuse to be mean, but nursing is really stressful and most times we give others a hard time because we are having a %%&&$$ day. :( So if you ever get any crap from me, just tell me to chill out because the daysoon will be a memory...........

I've heard our same day nurses aren't interested in doing pat, while I'm not interested in working sameday preop, so just doing pat is fine with me. As for pacu, those nurses just do that only. I'm glad I don't have to float. Thanks for the reply.:)

If you don't get along with your unit coordinator, your day can and will be hell. I have been fortunate to have wonderful unit coordinators who always help me out tremendously! When I was a new grad, they saved my but plenty of times(you need this, that etc.) God bless them when they are good. One day we did not have a unit coordinator and I had to do it for four hours, well you can guess how that situation turned out, I refused future requests!!! When you are the coordinator, you are right there in the line of fire of everyone(nurses, md's, tech, families!) No where to hide you are just stuck:imbar

I swear to God....in 98 first rn job on tele, you sure you don't work at my facility??? Nursing has many wonderful oppurtunities, I finally found an area I love! You need to seriously find a job that is right for you. I like going to the human resources idea, you could shadow nurses on other units to see if it would be right for you. Floor nursing was not for me and I happened to be lucky and find a nursing job that I love. Honestly, I was about to leave the profession

Okay, no one has responded since 2001??? Am I the only nurse on this website doing this type of work????

I just had to add my 2 cents worth! I feel most ADN programs prepare nurses better for the hospital because they don't have to worry about all the other extra classes BSN students have to take(more clinical time)That is not to say that BSN nurses are "useless" as someone mentioned above. I felt I was well prepared when I started on a cardiac stepdown unit as a new grad. It just depends on the nurse and the experiences he/she has and if they make the best of it. Anyone can learn how to do nursing skills (we see that with techs, paramedics etc{they do more than us} ) Critical thinking is the most important skill to learn, the rest will come with practice!

what about tympanic temperatures? Any one know if it is a degree higher or lower than oral temps?

I thought I heard from my acls instructor that with the new guidelines, they won't be teaching nurses to intubate anymore???

if you work every weekend for 4months, you get paid $33.00/hr plus weekend shift differential. The nurses working night shift are really cleaning up!