kate1114

If you change that to an instrumentalist, then you have my story I absolutely loved music and wanted to have a music career, but always had this nagging doubt in the back of my mind that it wasn't for me. I also kept wondering about nursing, but kept doubting the reasons that I was interested (the nursing campus was nearer to my boyfriend, there were more job opportunities for nurses than musicians, I could get a job earlier as a nurse than as a music academic, etc.). I would advise you to look for a way to see what nurses do, hopefully by shadowing one at a local hospital or clinic. By the time I was in college, the only actual nurses I'd interacted with were my school nurses. I had no clear idea of what nursing did outside of that setting. I wound up doing a lot of ICU settings, so the fact that school nursing didn't appeal to me wasn't a good indicator of whether or not I'd like it. Depending on your musical goals, it is certainly possible to do both. I've played in community and church groups and sung in the church choir. Sometimes it can be a challenge depending on your schedule, but usually you can make it work. I would basically just carefully weigh your personal reasons for wanting to change. Just as a personal note, I know of many many people who have their bachelor's degrees in music who are doing things totally unrelated to music. Either they didn't like it (?), couldn't find a job, or wanted to make more money. They are lawyers, computer analysts, teachers, and secretaries. The funny thing is, many of them thought I was a little silly for "giving up my dream" but I have a steady job that I enjoy, and that's very important to me Good luck!

I think you're doing the right thing. It's not worth putting your licensure at risk!

I am fairly new to the adult world, and in my NICU experience, we used duoderm mostly for beginning stages of skin breakdown or for facial protection to anchor OG tubes and such. Recently I've seen a few patients come to the ICU with duoderm on heel blisters. When the duoderm is removed, typically the blister has burst at some point, leaving the moisture trapped in the duoderm causing greater skin breakdown with macerated skin. Typically I try to just keep the extremity elevated with no pressure on the heel? What else do you do for heel blisters? Thanks!

Well obviously it was a tremendous priority since she waited almost 12 hours to give the med (sorry, can't find the "rolling eyes" smiley!). There are rude people in every profession. I think we just take it to heart more than most. It sounds like you did a great job of prioritizing. Also, I would advise you to NOT apologize repeatedly. If you feel badly for something, apologize once. Some people see it as a sign of weakness and will pounce on it. Not saying that's right, just saying that it happens sometimes. You say you used to work with this nurse as CNAs, and she now has more experience as a nurse. It sounds to me like she's trying to establish some sort of power structure with you. Don't let her get to you. Hold your ground, make sure to double check your work, and try to gain confidence. The people who try to hold you down are the ones who are worried about your abilities. Good luck!

I say you should focus on your primary area, but be very open minded about others. I thought I would love L&D, but it wasn't a great experience and I found that I liked other areas more, particularly NICU and peds. I thought I would never work with adults until my former NICU started having some real problems and the peds area wasn't desirable either. I'm now working in adult ICU and surprisingly, I'm enjoying it! You never know what is ahead in your life, so always stay open to new possibilities. Good luck!

I love this quiz! Pinpointed me exactly, as I'm a "Midlander", which explains why all my Midwestern colleagues keep telling me I don't sound like I'm from Texas Gave the quiz to my husband.... pegged my Texas boy as a Northerner! But he explained that he had a sixth grade teacher that drilled them on pronunciation (particularly pen and pin which is sometimes the same in Texas!)

I also lived in the Dallas area for quite some time, but spent my childhood in Illinois. I was always asked where I was from because my vowels were "different". And I am caucasian. I think it has more to do with the Texas-centric attitude than anything else. I worked with plenty of African-Americans in Dallas who didn't have the above-mentioned "African-American English Vernacular" or a "deep Texas drawl. At one point in college, I used to be able to pinpoint the Texas accent, as there are variations between East Texas, Dallas area, San Antonio, and Houston. Can't do that anymore! As someone else has mentioned, EVERYONE speaks with an accent. It's only noticable if you are around people with different accents. And as health care practitioners we should all be as clear as possible when we speak. An aside, I had a friend in college who was almost totally deaf, but who had a hearing aid which helped and was spectacular at reading lips. Many people didn't know she had a hearing problem but they often asked where she was from as she had an unusual "accent"

IMHO, this sounds like a bit of an abusive situation, since your husband is effectively controlling your environment. If he controls your ability to work, then he also controls your ability to care for yourself and your children. I have a somewhat supportive (but lazy) husband, but I am the full income-earner in the family at this time (family of 5). It has been eye-opening and empowering to see that I can make the family work by myself (he is in school and thankfully the end is in sight!) at least when it comes to finances. I still struggle with getting help around the house, but at least he helps with the kids. Have you thought about trying to find an 11-7 position? That way you could put the kids to bed, work while they're asleep, and get home in time to take the kids to school. Yes, it's far from ideal, but if you could do this for a year then you could do just about anything else. Also, look into some sort of carpool situation. Are they in private school? If not, are there buses? There's a lot of ways to work around this situation, but I get the impression that the logistics (how and when to manage the kids' activities) aren't really the problem as much as the fact that your husband really doesn't want you working. Good luck!

Generational Differences 1. What generation do you belong to? Traditionalist (born between 1925-1945) Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1960) Generation X (born between 1961-1980) 1971 Millenials (born between 1981-present) 2. How long have you been a nurse? 11 years 3. In your opinion what is your generation's strongest & weakest points (in terms of work ethics, problem-solving strategies, etc.) Strongest: appreciation of diversity, hard-working (yes this goes against what half of the boomer nurses have said), willing to work together to solve a problem, good at balancing work and home - making family a priority. Weakest: Willing to change jobs if conditions are poor (but I see that as a positive - sort of like voting with our feet), probably more likely to leave nursing than the earlier generations due to more opportunities or desire to leave a poor environment. 4. Can you cite an experience/incident when you were in conflict with a co-worker mainly because of generational difference? How did you solve the conflict? I had an older nurse (either boomer or traditionalist - kind of on the cusp) who always seemed to be in attack mode. She was rude and tried to "set me up" several times. One time in particular, she had information about a patient of mine that she did not share with me until it was time for rounds and she told the docs about it, implying that I should have known. It was about a baby who was apneic when I was out of the room, and she declined to tell me about it when I returned (I had been doing patient care in a different pod). I had a one on one discussion with her, in which I discovered that she thought I didn't "respect" her as an older, more experienced nurse. I lied, told her I "respected" her but that she needed to tell me things that were pertinent for my patient. As soon as the "respect" issue was settled, she behaved much better. I think that she just needed to test me in some perverse way and I guess I passed Good luck - please pm me if you need personal info as I don't share that on the boards.

I'm a little conflicted on this one. I would be supportive of a policy for small (30 minutes or less) naps as long as the patient load is assigned to another nurse (like it should be at lunch also) and as long as only one person goes at a time. OTOH, I could see this leading to all sorts of problems and abuses. I've seen nurses who've come to work either low on sleep or not feeling well (but not feeling poorly enough to call in sick). In a couple of cases, they've negotiated a brief nap while others watch their patients, and they've come back refreshed. I've seen this done sparingly and it's worked well. OTOH, I've seen people get fired for falling asleep on the job. These are cases when the nurses are in direct patient care or didn't negotiate a break. Someone found them napping. Hopefully they weren't holding a baby at the time (I've seen this in NICU quite a few times). If you can't stay awake, and routinely fall asleep on night shift, it should be a sign to change to another shift. I worked with one nurse who routinely fell asleep holding babies! Pretty scary! I was really upset because everyone knew about it but nothing was done, and that could have had dangerous consequences. But eventually she moved to day shift and didn't have that problem. I know for myself that a small nap does nothing to renew me personally. I can't imagine taking a nap and waking up more groggy and going out to take care of my patients. Also, I tend to stay busy enough that I don't have the opportunity to go sleep. On the nights when I'm running and barely have time to sit, I usually don't even feel tired LOL

How frustrating! I see two major problems with his logic: 1. A lot of larger hospitals in larger areas have problems with running out of beds (or staff to work the beds). Many ICUs in large cities go on diversion because of these reasons. It wasn't unusual in the large city I used to live in, but they tried everything they could to NOT go on diversion because of potential lost revenue and bad PR for not accepting patients. 2. Um... transfers are usually a source of revenue? Also it's really bad PR for them to not accept. I've never worked in a rural hospital, but I've worked in many hospitals that took patients from more rural areas. Many of them had contracts to try our hospital first. It helped us staff beds and it helped them to become more familiar with what they offered. Sounds like the doc you dealt with had a personality issue and possibly a laziness issue. If they were too full (like the others), they'd tell you. It seems like a very strange situation.

I completely agree. Also, to the OP, I don't think it looked like you were trying to "make excuses" for your med error, just showing that you had really thought this through and pinpointed where the system went down. I would discuss the issue with the dangerous MARs and see what can be put into place. It looks like a rather dangerous idea. It's been years since I've dealt with a handwritten MAR - I've grown accustomed to computerized MARS or charting meds on computer. That way the meds also go through a verification process with pharmacy (since they enter the orders into the computer system and we double check the entered orders for accuracy). Good luck!

:balloons: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: Congrats on your excellent comeback! That is so incredible! You and your kids should definitely be proud!

My favorite thing has to be making a difference in people's lives. I know it's cliched, but if I can ease their pain, help them find peace, and advocate for their needs, then I really feel like I have made a difference and that helps me feel good. Least favorite has to be some of the people I've worked with over the years. I have worked with some terribly negative hateful people in some toxic environments. If I cannot help change these environments, then I leave. It's just not worth the aggravation to deal with people who are lazy, complain all the time (but never try to help the situation), or incompetent. Also, I'm fairly new to working with resident doctors, and find them either a delight or a challenge. We have some really interesting ones on this rotation . I wonder how some of them even got into med school!!! Overall I enjoy being a nurse. At several points in my career I've decided I wanted to leave nursing. At those times, I gave myself a time frame in which to leave in case I couldn't alleviate the situation, and in each case I've stayed. My ways to alleviate the situation have included talking to staff/management to improve the situation, taking on additional challenges to stay motivated, and changing to a new area of nursing. I know that there are some areas of nursing that do not fit my personality, so I stay away from them. If you hate nursing and hate your job, that will filter into other areas of your life, also. My best friend's mother was a nurse when I was growing up and told me repeatedly that she hated being a nurse and that we should all do something different with our lives. I love her to death, but I can't imagine why she is STILL working on the same unit, 20 years later . I just think that's setting yourself up for failure and stress.

Do you have the opportunity to shadow another nurse for a while? I've done this before in an ER setting and I am currently arranging this for a friend who is considering a move from NICU to an adult ICU. I chose this adult ICU because it has a good reputation throughout the hospital for being a place with great teamwork and support, and it has turned out to be a wonderful place. I really enjoy my job, even though I'd never planned on working with adults;) So you never really know what might suit you. I know that I don't like to have multiple patients, so I never tried med-surg. If you enjoy a challenge with fewer patients who are sicker, then a step-down unit or ICU might be a way to go. In our hospital, step-down units typically have 3 patients and ICU has 1-2 depending on acuity. Good luck! I am sure there is a place for you!

I can totally relate to that. My husband graduates in May and if he gets a job in this immediate area (smaller town, not a huge job market) he'll probably be making around $35-40,000 a year. Last year I cleared $48,000. At least he's not doing it for the money :roll :roll OTOH, it somewhat limits my career choices at this point, since I'd really like to get into something with research, teaching, and writing, and those really don't pay and the job prospects aren't huge. And I totally agree, Running, we would be able to have a lot more options if we wanted to move out of Mayberry, but we just got here from the big city 2.5 years ago and we're totally loving it

Definitely look at the NCLEX pass rates, you should be able to find these on the website for your state's board of nursing. That's one of the most important criteria. I would also look at your comfort level (big vs. small, close vs. far). Visit both campuses and look at both programs. See if you can schedule an interview and tour with each campus. Also look into the clinical opportunities available. Sometimes schools in smaller communities have to do clinicals further away or have clinicals in smaller facilities with fewer opportunities. I went to a school in a big city and my OR rotation was with a nurse on the transplant team. I saw a lot more than some of my coworkers did, and it was a good match for me personally. A local school has most of their clinicals in our larger town, but the school is 30 miles away, so the students have a bit of a commute. Nursing school is definitely what you make it. It's a lot of hard work, but if you have good grades and pass the NCLEX, you should be in a very good position to get the job you want. Good luck!

Hey hon, never said I had all the answers. Just wanted to see if the OP had even tried to find a way to go to work, or just decided she didn't want to try. I never advocated even driving in the snow. If you actually read any of my posts I advocated getting there ahead of time. And when the OP stated that even the libraries were closed (heaven forbid) and that she had no idea what the repercussions were for missing work (remember there's no "policy") then I suggested that she talk to someone to find out what would happen to her if she had to call in repeatedly. Yes, Virginia, there is snow in Michigan. I've been surprised at how many people are astonished that they might be needed at the hospital. How many of you work day shift? Ever worked a 15 hour night with no end in sight because day shift couldn't make it in? What about working hours on end because some people on days, knowing that there was a massive storm coming in, knowing that the roads were totally clear when they went to bed, chose to stay home and drink cocoa? When we had our 16 inch snowfall, the snow didn't even start until 11pm. The highways closed at around 2am, and were opened around 9am. There were a few people who called in later than they would have left on a normal day, leaving us high and dry. So just remember, the next time that you don't even try to make arrangements, that you are leaving the previous shift in a precarious position. And we have kids, too. You're right I know nothing about the OP, and my questions to her went unanswered. She never said if she had anyone else to help with kids (outside of the babysitter), or if she ever talked to her manager or HR or anything. I know that if I had a problem getting to work, I'd want to make sure that I wasn't jeopardizing my career that I've worked so hard for. But that's just me. So I apologize if I've offended anyone for advocating that we take a little personal responsibility. We all knew what we signed up for, and it should be no surprise that hospitals don't close for the weather. I know that I'd hate to know that my loved one was in a hospital being cared for by a skeleton crew or by an entire shift of people who were exhausted with no relief in sight. And for the record, my concern is NOT for the employer, but for the many nurses who had to pull together to work her precious shift, and for the patients who were left in the lurch. Obviously, they don't matter in this "it's all about me" atmosphere.

I moved to Missouri 2004 and received my license through transfer (sorry, can't think of the official name for it). It took a very long time. One thing that I learned is that I had to stay in fairly constant contact with them to get things moving. I called, and had no problem with calling, but something else to realize is that they renew RN licences once every 2 years, and the license renewal forms just went out a couple of weeks ago, so that might be part of the delay with the phones. Anyway, I would make sure to keep in contact with them. I started the process a few months before I moved and was worried about getting my temp license in time to earn a living :uhoh21: . Each time I called they mentioned it was on a different desk... I hope things have gotten better in recent years, but you might want to keep in fairly frequent contact with them. Good luck!

I think a lot has to do with the culture of the unit and the leadership of the unit (both formal and informal). I just started working adult ICU in September, and I asked around to find which unit would be the most accommodating. There are 3 ICUs in our hospital, and the vote was unanimous for the medical/neuro ICU. I've found the staff to be pretty great. They are supportive and the unit's culture is one of mutual helpfulness. I floated to the surgical ICU last week and was dismayed at the staff attitudes there. I was laughed at when I asked where certain items were, and one nurse even thought it was "funny" that I did a cardiac workup for a particular patient who was complaining of chest pain. Yes, I know she had a history of anxiety, but she also had a history of an MI! Her enzymes and EKG were normal, and I would do the same thing tomorrow. Just amazed me that someone would react that way! Anyway, the NICU I came from had a lot of problem people (attitude wise) and a lot of disparate practices. The current manager was new, and the previous manager was apparently a shrew, but the previous manager was well respected. I talked to several like-minded RNs who had been through all 3 managers, and stated that the earliest manager really set the tone for the unit, which then deteriorated with the next 2 managers. Also, there was an informal leader who was one of the charge nurses, who was really running the show. So (long post coming to a close;) ) I really think that there are many reasons why we see these toxic environments, but it's just so sad that we can't all work together for the benefit of the patients

That was lovely. It is so wonderful when we can connect with others like that. You are in my thoughts.

Lots of people do it. In fact lots of hospitals either provide beds or pay for hotel rooms for staff. They'd rather be out that money than paying for travelers or dealing with the repercussions of night shift nurses working several hours over. All it would take would be one malpractice suit (due to inadequate staffing or errors from sleep deprivation) to bring the hospital to paying for nights at the Ritz;) Also, some people stay with coworkers. There are tons of ways to make this work. Since the OP has come up with so many reasons why it wouldn't work for her, then it's best for her to discuss options with management. For others reading this post, and looking for ideas, we're trying to provide some options for those who really want to make it to work. Just a thought... BTW, where do you you work that you are paid so poorly and hotels cost so much that you couldn't find a place for less than 2-3 hours' pay? I'd renegotiate my salary if I were you

Yes, it does seem ridiculous, doesn't it? You haven't mentioned if you've discussed this situation with your boss, but it seems like that would be a logical step. All I've heard so far is why you can't go to work and that there isn't a plan. Have you asked what the repercussions are? Have you talked to more than one person? I can think of a few: manager, HR, hell go to nursing administration. Might be worth a few points on the old clinical ladder if you are willing to help find a solution! If I were in your situation I'd be very concerned about the consequences. Yes, if you can't get to work, you can't get to work. But there are a limited number of absences that we all get. How many until you lose your job? Have you talked about the repercussions with your family? You're the one asking for a "plan" - it might be a good idea to start with your employer??? Meanwhile, I hope it doesn't snow any more in Michigan :uhoh21:

Here's a couple from my time in the PICU: When I first started, one of my first patients was a child who had been in a horrific car wreck which killed most of his family. His survival was due solely to his seating in the vehicle. He arrived with multiple fractures and an extensive abdominal wound. During his first surgery, he began to crash so they stopped the procedure with sponges in his abdomen to help staunch bleeding, and left the abdomen open (covered with a sterile dressing). When he was more stable they actually completed the surgery in the unit. Since I was on orientation, I was able to watch it all. I really thought he didn't have much of a chance, and he was unstable for weeks, but he slowly got better. A couple of months later, he came to the unit on his way to be discharged home. He walked out the doors on his own. There was not a dry eye in the unit :) Another story: a girl was riding horseback with her grandmother, and the girl was thrown off the horse and kicked in the chest. Luckily, the grandmother was a retired doc, so she gave rescue breaths until EMS came (also, the girl was wearing a helmet - yeah!!!!!!). She came in for surgery, wound up losing a small part of her lung. Was extubated and went to the floor within a couple of days after her chest tubes were out. She healed SO quickly compared to adults. I think the key is the resilience of the kids and the thankfulness of the families. Certainly not all of them, but many of the PICU families I worked with really seemed to be thankful for our work and were such a joy to work with. Good luck! Sounds like you have a great orientation set up!

Wow... I'd be glad that she's gone, too!!! There were so many major mistakes, and you did the unit and the patients a service by reporting her errors. The manager was out of line letting you know about her getting fired. I'm glad that the patient had someone careful and competent to take over care on the following shift. I doubt that person would have survived a second incompetent shift. Also, as a night shift nurse, I've never understood why people DON'T call for things like labs, crappy blood pressure, etc. To me it makes my life easier getting interventions done when a problem starts rather than waiting for the magical nursing fairy to come take the problem away