Diaper

Hi Donnuh, I was originally from San Jose too but I moved to Central Coast (California) to look for work. Then I found a RN position in a local hospital in San Luis Obispo. My advice is that you should applied in Central Coast, CA (Templeton, San Luis Obispo). It's only few hours away from San Jose. I know that couple of places eg, prison, skilled nursing facilities (some hospitals) are still hiring. Good luck. :)

Hi there, I'm currently a RN and I'm teaching CNA as my part time job. No, you don't need to be a CNA/RN/LVN to teach but it'd be beneficial to have some CNA experiences so you can relate to the students about their role as a nurse assistant.

Hello there, I just wanted to tell you that when I had my first nursing job at a prestigious hospital, the similar thing happened to me. I almost made a med error. I had a meeting with the managers and so forth. People there were not very supportive so I quitted. At that time, it was the lowest point in my life, I was so depressed and questioned myself whether I was supposed to be a nurse. A month later, I found a RN position at a smaller hospital. The people over there're very supportive and I also received many compliments about my performance. (I'm still working there). So the moral of my story is that, don't give up. I always believe that God has a plan for everyone and I'm sure something better will come along ! Take care

First of all, you need to forget about your past bad experiences. Many people have had bad experience in their previous jobs but the only way you can move forward is to learn the mistakes from the past and move on. A lot of times, things don't go as well as we planned, eg, patient died during CPR. On the other hand, many patients are able to recover from their illnesses is due to the care that they received from the hospital. Instead of keep thinking about 'killing the patient', you should think more positive. Everyday before you go to work, you should tell yourself that you're going to help/make someone's life feels better. If you have faith to yourself, you can do it !

Hi MelbaToast007, I'm impressed by your research experiences. Just wanna let you know that with your background and degree, you can go for the 'accelerated bachelor route'. It's for those who have a bachelor degree in non-nursing degree. When I was an undergrad, I didn't have a good GPA and I decided to apply to a private nursing school for an accelerated bachelor and master degree. During my interview, I explained to my professors of the reason why I didn't do well in school (full time job and taking 6 classes at a time). They were glad that I was able to learn from my mistakes and willing to improve. Then I got into the nursing school... Right now, I'm a RN working in the critical care field. Please don't get discouraged with your GPA, you can retake some of the pre-req classes to boost up your resume. Apart from that, you can work as a volunteer in a hospital or community settings to boost up your chances of getting into nursing school. If I were you, I'd go for RN instead of LPN because most hospitals only hire RNs. Good luck.

Well I'm working in the step down ICU floor. Recently, my patient had colon resection and the physician ordered the wet-to-dry dressing to cover the suture. The wet-to-dry dressing seems to be a common practice in my unit.

I can totally hear you. Have you tried and applied to the state prison? I know couple of them are still hiring RNs. You can drive straight to the state prison and fill out the application. They'll call you for an interview within a month. Good luck and don't give up !

It's so sad to hear that. I'll pray for her tonight. Please give us an update about the case. Thanks.

For years, I've been wearing any watches from Swatch. They're water proof, durable and I received many compliments about my watch too ?

Well when I was a CNA, these things seem to be a 'big deal'. But when I'm finally working on the floor as a RN, I realized that there're more critical issues that we need to deal with such as life and death. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just take it as an advice to improve your performance. Good luck.

Well I think the biggest challenge in nursing is the amount of stress that we have. Apart from the long working hours, we have to be 100% alert all the time and make sure we do everything accurately. However, I still love nursing and I wouldn't trade for anything else :)

Please don't let anyone to put you down. I've seen many LPN/LVN are great nurses and I see them as 'real nurses' ! Please believe in yourself and I'm sure you can be a wonderful nurse :)

I've made similar errors in the past. The lesson that I learned is, ALWAYS check the original order and don't just listen to the nurse who gives you the report. When in doubt, always ask questions.

Oh my, I'm so sorry that it happened to you. It seems to me that the nurses were so unprofessional ! Do they know anything about HIPPA??? You should definitely talk to your manager about it.

Oh my gosh, I can't believe that you just said that. What a heartless thing to say to a patient ! I hope I won't be your patient one day. Just to give you a heads up, being a nurse is not easy and you have to prepare to change the diaper, clean up poop and so forth. I know that couple of my friends wanted to be a nurse because of the money but they didn't make it coz they realized it's not as easy as they thought. Good luck.

1) If a hospital reduces the wages for the nurses (just like what you said, getting paid $8-10 per hr) , who's gonna apply and work in that hospital? Even if a nurse decided to work in that hospital, the nurse will quit as soon as she finds a better job with better pay. As a result, it will increase the high turn-over rate and the hospital will end up spending more money on hiring, training and orientation. I nstead, you might as well give a moderate salary for the nurse in the first place and hopefully, it will increase the nurse's incentive to work in the hospital for a long period of time.

Even if you can't register for the class, just go there and wait. When I was studying for my pre-req, I signed up for my anatomy class but there're 200+ people are on the waiting list and I'm the no. 200 person on the list. On the first day of class, I went there and see if there're anyone who's willing to drop out. Suprisingly, only 5 students from the waiting list showed up so I was accepted into the class right away. I guess everyone thought they don't have a chance so nobody showed up. The moral of the story is that don't give up and just keep trying. If it's possible, can you work part-time and take the classes at the same time? It requires a lot of work but you'll get there eventually :)

I disagree. On my first day of nursing school, my professor told us that " nursing is a career, not a job". The definition of 'career' means that it's a profession and it requires special training. Everytime when I have doubt about my work, I'll remind myself about how much nursing is meant to me. I treat nursing as a career and it's something that I can progress and possibly grow old with (sorry, don't meant to be a cheese ball). The good thing about nursing is that it's flexible and there're so many things you can do such as teaching, research, NP, administration...etc. It seems like you're so bitter about your job.I don't know about you but in my hospital, the pay scale is based on individual's experiences. However, I don't recommend anyone to pursue nursing solely because of the salary. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time ahead of you...

Maybe you can be creative and go to the hospital/nursing homes and observe the patients with mood disorder. It'll be interesting to write about your experience.

I can't view the link, would you send us the link again please? Thanks.

I'm sorry, but most of the products that you buy in the US, are from China.

when i was a new grad in a prestigious hospital, i had a terrible preceptor. everytime when i asked him a question, he'll say: "i don't know, you tell me !" it was indeed very intimidating. when i answered the question incorrectly, he reported to the manager which made me even more nervous. i was extremely depressed at that point, thinking that i must have some problem with my critical thinking skills or maybe i have some kinds of learning disabilities. i had very low self-esteem and i even questioned myself about my ability to work as a nurse. after working there for few weeks, i quitted because of the tremendous stress that i was having. then i started working in the step down icu in another hospital. in contrary to my previous experience, my preceptor was extremely supportive ! instead of questioning me about the labs, she showed me how to used my critical thinking skills and what to look for before i administered the medications. since then, i've learned a lot and i also received many positive feedbacks from my coworkers and patients. the point that i'm trying to make is that being a new grad is indeed very overwhelming. what we learned from nursing school is nothing like the 'real nursing'. i seriously believe that everyone has different learning styles and everyone deserves a chance to learn and improve. before a new grad student administered coumaudin, we can give the student a hint of what lab that we should be looking for. it takes time to practice one's critical thinking skills. i don't think it's acceptable to underestimate anyone's ability and sometimes we just need to use some creativity skills and teach the new grads using different methods. i believe that both the preceptor and new grad has the same responsibility. if the new grad fails, it also means that the preceptor has failed to do his/her job properly.

I can totally relate to that because I used to work as a CNA in the nursing home. Here're my thoughts of being a CNA in the LTC: When I was a CNA, I didn't like the way how the nurses 'ordered' me to do things such as "Go and answer the call light"/ Did you check the urine output? ... I felt like I was a 'slave' and I wasn't treated with respect. Moreover, I didn't know anything about the patient (In terms of medical history wise) and I didn't know the importance of measuring the I&O accurately. I would be appreciated if the nurse tells me the importance of taking I&O and maybe a little bit history about CHF and edema...etc. My mom used to be a CNA and she's now a RN & manager in the LTC. I can proudly claim that she's the perfect leader and all the CNA loves her. My mom emphasised to the CNA about the importance of TEAMWORK and nurses and CNA are both working as a TEAM ! This shows that nurses appreciated CNA's hardwork and the CNA will also feel that they're part of the team. Apart from that, my mom's willing to help out and answer the call lights and cleaning up the patients. The CNA really appreciated for my mom's help because it showed that they're both equal. Last but not least, my mom created a fun working culture. For example, my mom & the CNA (her team) in her station would compete with the CNA from another station and see which station can get the patients ready first. My mom & the CNA also dressed up the patient and put their make up on. It was impressive to see all the elderly sitting at the wheelchair with their make ups and hats on :) * * * Right now, I'm working as a RN and I can totally relate myself into the CNA's shoe. That's why I'm planning to pursue to become an educator and teach CNA in the future :)

Apart from reading EKG, the patients in telemetry can be quite unstable. I took care of a patient few weeks ago, he was alert, oriented. Few weeks ago, he deterioated and died on the next night. My advice is, always do a thorough assessment and vitals. If there's a change in patient's condition, call the MD right away and always listen to the patient's concern as well. Good luck.

I'm not very good at reading strips but after taking PALS and ACLS, it helps me a lot ! I'd recommend to take PALS too.