gagirl1124

Ive been an LPN for five years and I just got my RN. I've worked med/surg/peds for four years and pediatric home health for the last year. I plan on staying at this job for a while because I know that Hospital jobs are hard to come by for new grads. I live in Charlotte, NC and I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on what to ask for as a raise now that I'm an RN. I don't want I ask for too much but I don't want to lowball either and not make enough. I've been working tons of OT to make ends meet and it would be really nice to have a 40 hour week again!

I've worked both nights and days. When I first graduated I worked a mix and it almost killed me. I worked 12s and often only had one day to get my clock reset so to speak when going from a day to night or vice versa. Days to nights isn't as bad but nights to days can be brutal. For example you work Sunday night from 7p-7a. You're off Monday and then have to work tuesday 7a-7p. So you try not to sleep Monday or only a few hours and then you can't sleep that night and then you're exhausted all day Tuesday. I would ask the recruiter if it would be a whole rotation of each for several weeks at a time or a few days of each per pay period. You can do a mix but it's just hard. Especially if you have a family and responsibilities that can't work around a mix easily. Good luck and I hope you get a great job!

Just spent 15 minutes reading all of these and am laughing so hard I can barely type. Here are a few of mine: -No, you don't need a bag of popcorn, soda, chips etc.. You just got Phenergan five minutes ago. -Just because you can have your pain meds every hour doesn't mean you need them and no I won't just bring them to you so you don't have to call. I have better things to do than support your drug habit. and to some of the people I work with: -I appreciate that you have opinons on everything but I don't care. Shut up and go do something productive. -Maybe if you got off your cell phone, it might be easier to get those vital signs. -I don't care about your personal issues, beliefs, etc. The entire nurses' station doesn't care either. Take it somewhere else. That being said, I realize that everyone has a bad day.God knows, I have had some of my own. But the difference is, I don't make my bad day everyone elses' problem. If it's that bad, take a personal day. If you come to work, work. Don't spend 12 hours moaning and carrying on about it. It makes those that have to work with you feel less sorry for you and more annoyed with you.

"I have spoken to many RN's about this and most are happy that they were phased out and the number one reason being that it was too much of a hassle having an LPN and a CNA to worry about and delegating was a major issue." I guess all that "delegating" just got ot be too much...LPN's in my hospital and in the majority of the state are treated the same as RN's, given the same patient loads, and outnumber the RN's 4:1. We respect the RN's and there "expierence" and I sure as hell wish that some RN's would respect ours. We delegate the CNA's just like the RN's and guess what??? We do just fine. LPN's will not be phased out. It just won't happen. BTW, I am in RN school because I'm tired of doing an RN job and not getting paid for it.

Wow, I didn't even finish reading the whole thing before I posted. My mistake. I'm glad there was a good outcome for the whole situation. I hope all goes well with your decision and you can maintain for this child the life she deserves.

DO NOT tell this girl your story. I worked in a legal office before nursing. If you tell this girl your story she now has a story besides her own. By doing so, the rapists' laywer now has a case for dismissal because he can say you fed her the story. Case dismissed and the *^*($#% evil person gets to go free. If it is her father, DCFS now has no case to remove the child from the home because the charges were dropped and now she may be subject to more abuse. I agree that this child is hurting and needs love. Be there for her but don't overstep your boundaries as a nurse. We have them to save ourselves as much as our patients.

Not on purpose. Sometimes after working 4-5 shifts in a row (12's at night) and signing my name on the mountains of paperwork I don't even think about it and when I'm writing out bills I do it. I always laugh when I realize I've done it and know it's time to take a nap!

Always. I was in an accident a couple of years ago from falling asleep at the wheel. I flipped my car and landed on theother side of the highway and the paramedics and doctors both told the seatbelt saved my life. I was a casual eawearere until then but not anymore.

Just an update, I went to the DON and ADON and told them how the nurses felt. I told them we really wanted a policy to be made to protect us. They both agreed that would be something worth doing and will work on it. Thanks for the info and advice.

"If they are down smoking, inject something interesting in thier IV, it interacts with thier PCA med, or potentiates it, and they die, whose fault do you think it is?" This is exactly the reason that we are trying to fight the issue. Our licenses are at risk when a patient goes off the floor without us. We have too mant addicts in our community and it's a bigger issue than this doctor wants to believe. I really want to find the legal documentation to back me up on this. I want to show it to the doctor here so that policy can be made.

I can't even begin to count the number of times the wrong med has been in the wrong place. We spend at least an extra 30 minutes having to get meds together because we have to double check everything! We have a new pxyis system and it is causing more hassle than we ever anticipated. I also don't appreciate calling the pharmacy during off hours and being told to call the doctor to get a med changed to another form so they don't have to come in.

I am a nurse in a small hospital with two hospitalists that rotate weekly. One is an MD, the other a DO. They clash all the time and the nurses get stuck in the middle. My current issue is with PCA pumps. One doctor writes orders for patients not to leave the floor while connected to PCA pumps. The other doctor says it's illegal to keep them on the floor and says we can't keep them from going downstairs "to smoke or to the vending machines." The problem is the area that this hospital is in has drug problems. Many patients that come in to our facility are known drug abusers. The nurses on the floor feel there is a liability issue here with letting them wander when they are connected to PCA pumps. If they are feeling good enough to wander, do they really need the PCA pump? Does anyone know of any legal websites I can use to resolve this issue?