aquarius11

I have recently graduated from nursing school and was in a situation where a student was expelled from college and not allowed to attend any other state schools d/t cheating. This student had good intentions that backfired terribly. The student sent out information to other students who thought she was just emailing notes from the previous semester, but this student actually had a copy of the answers to the test. Anyone who received the email was tracked down and was interigated. Other people were mad because they had put in many hours of their time studying and did not realize that the email they received was actually all of the answers to the test until they started taking the test. After that the nursing department went to great lengths to thwart cheating (no water bottles or and drink containers allowed at desks during tests b/c some people were writing the answers on the inside of the labels, no hats, no electronic devices, no coats, assigned seating for tests, etc.) Anyway I personally always felt that it would be ridiculous to cheat since you are dealing with patient's lives for a living and this info. that u are learning will probably help u in the long run. Just a thought-Many nurses wish to have the same experience as doctors, such as how they stick up for one another rather than eating their own, what would happen to a med student if they were caught cheating?

I heard that it is very difficult to get a job at Jackson Memorial, but they do pay better than other hospitals in the Ft.Lauderdale/Miami area. I pay 1045 a month for a 1bed/1bath apart. I make about 1400 every two weeks after taxes.

I have just come off of orientation and already I am considering going back to school to purue a new career. They have started team nursing on my unit, in which there is a team leader who is supposed to hang all IV meds and fluids, discharge and admit all patients for a team of 16 patients. In addition they are also expected to transcribe all new orders, scan them to pharmacy, write down all pt. labs and call doctors if any are out of range. The whole team consists of 3 nurses, the team leader, and 2 nurses, or a nurse and an LPN. This means that each nurse is getting 8 patients. If the team leader were able to actually do everything like hang the IV meds and all admits and discharges this system would work wonderfully, but often there are two admits at once and possibly many discharges at the same time. In addition the team leader needs to be trusted to inform the other two nurses of any abnormal labs. What is happening is that the team leader is doing things here and there which help, but it boils down to each nursing taking atleast 8 patients and looking up labs and speaking with doctors (we were told 16 would be the max but as you guessed they did not stick to what they said and sometimes we are getting 18 or 19 patients to a group, giving each nurse 8-9 patients. It's crazy. I have been getting out of work so late! This truly is back breaking work! I feel that if I continue to work in nursing I will be aged beyond my years from mental and physical stress.

Thanks for the reply! Any advice on what type of massage to study in order to work in a spa setting, or any general advice about getting into massage as a career?

Halinja, I have not heard this but have heard snippets about those in the psychiatric nursing field with a masters degree ( i think some are called clinical specialists) possibly being phased out. This I heard from my psych. nursing instructor. I'm not exactly clear on this but have heard that there is a push for nurses to go straight from BSN to getting their doctorate, skipping a masters degree. This sounds confusing, sorry. Has anyone else heard about this? To answer your question though 2 people in my class (May 2006) have been hired as psych nurses.

CaliAlli, I have just graduated from nursing school in May and am working on a med-surg unit. It does seem like there is something missing when just doling out meds., which is a large part of the work day. There is usually not enough time between 10 am and 12pm or 2pm meds to stop and actually have a therapeutic conversation with a patient. Anyway I am feeling discouraged with nursing as well and am researching other areas such as massage therapy and alternative medicine, which I feel could help to complement modern medicine, or in certain cases, have more benefit to the patient. I think that it is worth it for you to look into alternative areas of nursing, if you are going to stick with nursing, but I do not recommend forcing yourself to do something that you do not like.

I am currently an RN working on a med-surg unit, but am interested in going back to school for some type of alternative medicine, such as massage therapy or getting a degree in holistic nursing. I have read many threads about the difficulty in finding full time work as a massage therapist, but was wondering if learning medical-massage is of any more value in the job market. Also does anyone know what type of job prospects I would have if I went back to get a degree in holistic nursing? Please let me know

I am a new nurse and am almost off of orientation to my horror. One of my concerns is speaking with the doctors and I am learning to be prepared with my patient's info. when they call. I have also found that in taking verbal orders you need to be able to clarify exactly what the doctors wants because sometimes they do not say exactly how they want an order. For example- Tylenol 1-2 tabs q 4-6 hrs. I always forget to ask if they want the patient to receive this from now on or as needed, which means that I am constantly calling doctors back to clarify something because I did not think to ask certain questions when they first gave the order.