JaneyW

Thanks Ashkins--I am doing well. I have had outstanding medical care and was lucky to find it early. Get your mammos ladies!

I am faculty at a public ADN program in CA. It's a unionized position. I pay nothing for my medical, but pay 100% of the premium for my family (about $800 a month!) for an HMO. That does not include vision and dental. That is another $200 a month or so. Unionized public employee unions really vary and mine is expensive. Last year my son was hospitalized for a spontaneous pneumo. That was about $60,000 in bills 100% covered. This year I found out in my yearly mammo that I had breast cancer. I am 44, healthy with no family history. The bills for that have already topped $100,000 almost fully covered except for a few $15 co-pays. It seems so expensive when you are paying the premiums, but when things come up unexpectedly it seems like a bargain! My husband is self-employed. If we went through him it would be about $1,000 a month just for our medical and that would be a PPO with a $2500 deductible and 80/20 coverage.

My original thought process in reaction to the OP was that I disagreed with the idea that education is the answer. That may not have been what the OP was saying, but what I thought was that it came down to educating about the LGBT communityand nurses would all understand and accept. Being tolerant and being able to care for someone without showing your biases is very different from accepting an LGBT patient and their lifestyle. I live in California and we just had a proposition voted in making it illegal for gay people to get married. So, even after all the education we have had about LGBT people, they are not accepted by most--even here. And you better believe that churches were the main ones behind it. If you believe it is wrong, education won't change that. However, it may help nurses to care for this community with the compassion and feeling they deserve. I hope that helps clear this up. I never said anything about religious nurses not being able to care for others with compassion.

Exactly--thank you!

Wow! Thanks for the personal attack! I was basing my answer on the nurses quoted in the OP's post and not out of some deep personal bias against people of any particular religion. And to answer all of your questions about my ability to give compassionate care: Yes, yes and yes! I also teach my students with the same level of care regardless of their personal or spiritual beliefs. If you had read my post carefully, I was saying exactly what you are advocating. We are not out to use education to change people's beliefs, we need to help nurses to care for all the same regardless of those beliefs. I'm sorry I kicked your hornets nest, but please try to take a pause and breathe before you attack me.

I agree that this needs to be addressed and encourage you in your research. I have to say, though, that I don't agree that it is always a matter of education. A nurse's religion may make it impossible for them to see this population in any other terms than those you quoted in your original post. Where the education needs to be is in reminding nurses to leave their personal biases at the door when providing caring and competent patient care. I don't have those biases and am appalled by that nurse, but I don't think it is unusual depending on the culture/religious persuasion of the region where you practice. I teach both fundamentals and maternal child and I start them thinking about this sort of thing in fundamentals and revisit it in maternal child when speaking about providing care to those you may not agree with/feel comfortable with. Everyone deserves our best regardless of how we feel about their religion, sexual orientation, skin color, drug habit, whatever. What I would like is more resources on how to provide sensitive care to this population, about what sort of special needs they may have and also about how I can educate my students toward that. I'm glad you are going to contribute to the body of knowledge!

Pathophys is sooo cool! I am constantly telling my students that if you understand the physiology and pathophysiology on your patient you will not make mistakes because you will have a deeper understanding of why you are doing what you are doing. How can that not be important? And here I am a lowly ADN instructor when the hospitals are starting to decide they only want BSN new grads with all the better knowledge---AGH!!!

Unless you are hiring pediatric employees, it is the Tdap. Do some homework. These vaccinations are really important for people working in healthcare. In CA, RNs can give immunizations independently--no MD order needed in the community setting. This is well within your scope I am sure.

Michigan- I can see where you might feels this way. I have no problem with male L&D nurses, but there is another reason for having maternal child training for all nurses. You will sometimes have pregnant and newly delivered women on other floors and all nurses should know how to care for them. As an L&D nurse, I have spent shifts in ICU and in the ER when these ladies are brought in for other issues. That was at a big hospital that had the staffing for that--what if your hospital doesn't have those services? Do you know to check a fundus and lochia when your 5 day postpartum woman shows up for acute appendicitis? What if she is still breastfeeding? What if she is still pregnant? You may not (probably not, we all don't) remember everything from school, but perhaps you will!

There is a reason those classes are prereqs--you will build on the knowledge gained from those courses from day one in nursing school. I teach nursing fundamentals and beginning pharmacology and you better believe that I have an expectation that my students are already well versed in anatomy, physiology and microbiology before they reach me. I also need to know that they can communicate in writing and orally (English and speech). The responses to your post have been very insightful and helpful. From the reality that nursing school is overwhelming--even for those who have been very successful academically in the past--and taking courses concurrently is almost impossible to the reality that there may be more jobs in your current field. I am not discouraging you from entering nursing--it is a wonderful field--just know that there are reasons for the rules. Good luck to you!!

I have had a pinched nerve in my neck (C5-6) that gave my weakness and loss of function in my arm for a while, but my leg was not affected. I have another issue in my lower bag where my leg is affected, but it is a different origin out of my spine. I don't know if your entire side can be affected by one space.

I am hearing from my students--current and former--that the 'foot in the door' of being a CNA or lab tech or unit secretary or whatever is extremely helpful in today's new grad job market.

I think I've said this before here, but I would like to repeat a big thank you to all you staff nurses out there who work with student nurses sometimes. I know we invade your units and you have no real choice, but you are so very appreciated!! I am an instructor with 10 students and I cannot tell you how much help you can be and what a very positive impact you can have on these students. There are so many negative posts about staff and nursing students, but I see far more positive interactions when I have my students on the floors. You are training the next generation--those who may be caring for you someday! I just finished two days with great staff and happy students. Thanks!!

I started in L&D--it can be done! Be ready for a steep learning curve and a lot of fear and anxiety, but I don't think that is much different from other areas!

I am an instructor in CA and the students don't fall under my license. They are responsible for their own behavior. I am responsible to supervise them adequately. So, if I know a particular student needs more supervision, I should be spending more time with them. Also, the patients they care for are not my patients. They are the staff nurse's patients. I try to get to see every patient (There are 10 students with 1-2 patients each), but I cannot be responsible to co-sign every student's assessment because I can't do an assessment with every student. I am good, but I am not magic. It is the responsibility of the staff nurse to assess their own patients or somehow do it with the student and document appropriately. That being said, the instructor you are discussing is out of line on the piggy back issue. I agree that it sounds like a med error and that is indeed her responsibility if she hung the med with her. I definitely co-sign on meds I give with students, because that is an RN function. Our students are also required to sign with their credentials of student nurse and school. I agree that you should follow up with your manager. I make sure I check in with managers and charge nurses constantly so I know what is going on and what I or my students need to change or keep doing. We are guests at your facilities and I want to keep my clinical sites. They are the best!

I can't speak to what they are doing now. When you apply is really up to you. Do they have a prereq about work experience? Are you licensed? I know you have to be licensed. I think it would depend on which track you are taking. Personally, I would recommend working for a while before going to more school. Your brain will be full enough with new grad stuff.

Well, it worked pretty quickly for me at the time (Fall 2005). I started that spring. It took me until spring of 2009 to graduate going part time three semesters a year except for the summer of 2008. Took that one off! I graduated with the education emphasis and was well prepared for my current position as full time faculty at the ADN level. I was able to attend the meeting in person and it was very informative. Good look!

Thanks so much, RNINWCH, for the links to the articles. That is very helpful!

The only time I have taken med tests for employment, I was given a drug book for reference. I would think, as others have said, that the important skill is to know how to find what you need in a timely manner. Paper or hi tech!

There is a tightness to the skin--and maybe a shiny appearance that you don't have with obesity. I try to teach that to students, but i think it takes some time and experience to get good at it.

Enough supplies and linens restocked regularly. A breakroom that has enough room to actually sit in. Enough chairs for visitors and staff. Enough pillows. Clean floors and rooms.

I once had 4 working as registry where they had me do the deliveries and someone else came in to recover--exhausting!!

I had the same thoughts back in my ADN program and am now teaching. Yes, as the other posters said, first you need some experience. You also need to love nursing because I think that comes through in your teaching. It helps you to inspire your students if you are inspired. My specialty is OB and I worked L&D, postpartum and well-baby nursery in a community hospital (low risk), a teaching hospital (high risk), and also as registry (many different levels and places!). I purposefully changed places so that I could have many different experiences to share with my students. This has been a plus. I also got an MSN with an emphasis on education so I could have a student-teaching experience. This was invaluable. My mentor was one of my ADN instructors and she was awesome. She made my transition to teaching so much easier. Some of the best advice I received was to do my student teaching in a different area than my specialty. I did med/surg fundamentals and that helped me get back my basic med/surg skills and allowed me to teach students in fundamentals and OB. I LOVE it! Good luck to you--study hard!

I have worked per diem nights (1-2 12s a week) and liked it very much. My husband didn't love it but got used to it. My kids really didn't notice. The key is that your family must respect your sleep time and not interrupt you or make it difficult for you. You must also respect your sleep time and get childcare if need be to get the sleep you will need. I had no trouble getting sleep. I would do it again!

The student's school should have definite guidelines that either the student or the instructor will give you. If you have the instructor's contact info, I would contact them and address your questions to them so everyone is on the same page. That will make it easier for you. Thank you for being willing to precept and for approaching it with a good attitude!