flyakite80

Before becoming a nurse, I was an Administrative Secretary for 15 years - 6 years in a nursing home and 9 years in a hospital. While I was in nursing school, I worked as a Unit Secretary at a hospital part time. I am now in my 6th year of nursing and I am really struggling to write a resume. I don't know how much information to include on my past life as a secretary - or if I should include it all. I am 44 years old so I feel like just including my 6 years of nursing experience and nothing else would seem incomplete. I also feel like since my secretarial experience was in the medical field that it would even be further justified to include it. What do you think? Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

You do NOT have to take that kind of abuse from a patient. Just because you're the nurse doesn't mean you are someone's personal doormat. If someone were treating you that way in any other situation, would you tolerate it? You have rights too. There are ways of communicating to a patient (without being nasty) that you won't tolerate that type of treatment. You simply tell them you are sorry they are unhappy with the care you are giving them, that you are doing the best you can but you will not tolerate being spoken to in that way. If they continue to do so then you get the supervisor/manager involved. I don't think accepting verbal abuse is part of your job description.

I work nights 7p-7a and sometimes I don't sit down to chart until 4 AM. It all depends on what's going on with your patients. I have many more hard nights than I do easy ones. And it's just like any other job that is 24 hours - of course there are going to be certain things that you only do on nights vs. days, it doesn't mean you're better or worse than another shift. That's silly.

I'm glad to see you have an offer, good luck!!

I am also about to hit the 6-month mark and things are only going to get more complicated, since after 6 months you can be pulled and you have to take charge. Talk about adding more chaos... I'd like to do something else but I wouldn't leave unless I had another position lined up. And this is one of the many reasons I chose nursing, for the flexibility and the wide variety of positions you can have as a nurse. I am thinking I'll stick it out until the one-year mark (after all, the first 6 months did fly by) and then look at my options.

Congratulations! It's nice to see at least some people are finding positions. I am not really crazy about my job but I don't take it for granted for one second... I know I'm lucky to even have one. Good luck!

That is totally irresponsible of your facility to put you on your own after just 15 days of orienting!! I'm sorry but if I were you, I'd be getting out of there ASAP. It's not safe for you or your patients. They are jeapordizing your new license!!

I have to laugh seeing what I posted back in September. I am in my 3rd month of doing nights and it's really not so bad after all. At first I felt nauseous when waking up in the afternoon, but I learned what I could and couldn't eat at 3 a.m. and now it's much better. For example - don't eat spicy pasta or pizza in the middle of the night! Also, I never schedule myself for 3 nights in a row, that would be insane for me. I do 1 on, 1 off, then 2 on and 3 off. Or vice versa - 2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 3 off. The 2 in a row is rough for me, so I couldn't fathom doing 3 in a row, I'd feel horrible. I know people that do it, though. Long story short, I have adjusted really well, these past few weeks have been good. It's hard in the beginning, but don't give up to quickly, it takes time.

I can't stress enough to my friends who are still in school to get in somewhere NOW, doing something, anything, just get your foot in the door! I worked as a secretary for 3 years (while going to school) at the hospital where I now work as a nurse, and the fact that I already worked there and knew the managers was a huge advantage for me. Our whole health system just experienced a rash of lay-offs, now a hiring freeze and OT is being cut out. I know some new nurses who got laid off, I am lucky to still have a job. As rough as it is there sometimes, I can't complain with things being the way they are.

If I am contagious or sick enough that I simply cannot function, I will call out. I don't get sick that much. However, I've only been on my own a few months and had to call out on New Year's Eve. I had an acute case of laryngitis and sinusitis, it came on overnight the night before while I was working. By the A.M. I had no voice and I was fading fast. When I opened my mouth to give report to the dayshift nurses, they all jumped back and said WHAT is wrong with you?? :chuckle. So by the time my next shift to work came around, I was twice as bad and had been to the doctor. I knew if I went in, my patients would be wondering what the hell I was doing sounding and looking like death warmed over, coming in to take care of them. So yes, I stayed home. It was for the best.

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I would imagine it would, most of the patients on our telemetry floor would be med/surg patients if they didn't have some type of cardiac history or new cardiac issue. We also get med/surg overflow patients. And I agree that you don't necessarily have to get med/surg experience. I started out on the telemetry floor fresh out of school, even as a graduate nurse before I got my license. I've been told by some of my co-workers that it's a good thing to start out in cardiac because alot of people that start out on med/surg get very comfortable and are intimidated by cardiac units. So if you are already working on a cardiac unit, I don't see the reason for going backwards...?

I graduated in May and have been working on a telemetry unit since July 08. Originally I wanted to work on med-surg because that's the area I was most familiar with. But there was nothing available that would fit my life at the time, so I went for the tele position. At first I was scared...we have to watch our own monitors (what I wouldn't give for a monitor tech!!!) and I was so intimidated by that. But after doing it for a while I actually came to appreciate the monitors for the simple fact that they alert you immediately to changes. Yes, there are a lot of false alarms but as long as you always check your patient, you can't go wrong. We also carry beepers that alarm with certain rhythm changes and my god they can be SO annoying but there have been times where they have been helpful. They are just more annoying than helpful and you have to make sure you don't become immune to the beeping and buzzing and just silence it without looking. I've seen people do that and that's not a habit I want to get into. Good luck!

I used the Saunders book and also took the Kaplan review course which included a weekly 3 hour long review session, a book and online access to review videos. I passed my boards the first time, and I really feel the review course was the key to passing. They showed us what the questions were really going to be like and taught us strategies in answering them. It was worth every cent, especially since my job reimbursed me for the course when I passed the boards, lol.

I feel your pain... my own sister wasn't interested in coming to my pinning ceremony or my graduation and I was heartbroken. I just couldn't believe she wouldn't want to be there to share such a huge accomplishment in my life. But then again, nursing school is something that is understood best by those in it and hardly understood at all by those on the outside, lol. I knew I would miss my classmates terribly too. But now, 8 months later, a bunch of them all work at the same hospital with me and 4 of them work on the same unit as me and the same shift! Maybe you will run into some of your classmates along the way too. It's comforting seeing familiar faces and knowing we are all still in the same boat.

I am also a new nurse who works on a telemetry unit. I work 12 hour night shifts and I'm supposed to be leaving at 0715 every morning. I have been on my own for 2 months and haven't left on time once! I usually leave around 0800 if I'm lucky, that's a good day. Some of the reasons I am late leaving are charting, 0700 accuchecks, and making my last rounds. I usually grab the tech before she leaves at 0630 and ask her if she can help me check on my complete care patients to make sure I'm not leaving any messes for the oncoming shift. Even the incontinent patients that I check on all night long are usually in need of another change before I go. I think getting out late is par for the course when you're new. I know that when I leave by 0730 (which is rare) I feel like I must have forgotten to do something! :uhoh21: I thought when I went onto nights it would be easier to get done charting but somehow I still never have enough time. My patients keep me busy overnight! As for acceptable reasons for staying, I think anything that can't be passed on like meds due during your shift or charting, for example, is something that you need to do yourself. I think with time you will know what can and can't be passed on.

Some of the night nurses do eat at the desk, and I have on occasion... but I'm trying to get better about taking my break to the back room. Sometimes it does feel like it's impossible but you have to make the time if you can.

Great words of encouragement! I can't wait until I can say I don't feel like I'm drowning. I've been off orientation for about 2 months now, I just want to make it to the 6 month mark without having a nervous breakdown!

This is HUGE! I couldn't agree with you more. I can't tell you how many times I didn't get very vital information in report. Thankfully I learned while I was on orientation to check the orders and the chart before treating the patient.

Do you work at my hospital? :chuckle Sounds so familiar. The only difference is we are never overstaffed, always understaffed. Nobody gets sent home. I am new too and I'm learning quickly that this is the nature of the profession, there are a lot of difficult circumstances to deal with. I'm hoping it gets better with time.

Don't forget about past medical history, allergies, and precautions (isolation, fall, seizure, etc.).

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This is one of the biggest things I hate about working over night - deciding what's important enough to call the doctor for and what can wait till morning. I had my first experience with a doctor who I apparently upset because I called him shortly after midnight. My patient had a foley and was putting out bloody urine. He was having spasms and was in a lot of pain. He needed his foley irrigated, and we need a doctor's order to do that. The doctor was so condescending when I called him, talking to me like I was an idiot. He said "You called me at midnight for this??" Then proceeded to give me step by step instructions on what to do in a very condesending tone. I just bit my tongue and answered him without emotion. I don't have the greatest tolerance for people like that, but I refused to let him get me riled up. I did complain to my co-workers after I hung up. :icon_roll

I have been on nights since the last two weeks of my orientation - a total of about 6 weeks now. When I was on days during orientation, yes it was very crazy - lots of visitors, doctors, management, social workers, etc. etc. to deal with. Patients are usually awake all day and are constantly going for tests, procedures, etc. I assumed nights would be more peaceful and less intense - I was VERY wrong! Nights on my floor (a telemetry floor) are crazy in their own way. We get the most admissions - the ER is relentless - if there are open beds, you can bet you'll be filling them before the night is over. And God forbid if you have to call a doc after midnight! We have the hospitalists in the hospital 24/7 but they aren't considered house doctors. They are really only there for codes, RRT's, and the patients that were admitted under their service. There is still so much to do and not enough time to do it - and I work 12 hours. Granted, I'm a brand new nurse and that's a huge part of why I feel like I'm always running in circles, but I have yet to see a "quiet" or slow night on my floor! I think every shift has it's advantages and disadvantages, but I wouldn't go to nights assuming it's going to be less stressful. I found out the hard way it's not at my hospital.

I tend to stress over even the smallest mistakes, I'm really trying to work on that. But like everyone said, life goes on, no one was harmed at the end of the day. I just wish I could take my own advice!!