Nurset1981

I'm 8 miles north of Boston and I make 24/hr on the day shift. My co offers a shift diff of 3$/hr after 3 and on weekends. If you go closer to the city you might make 26/27 an hour. I've made 26$/hr in the past but the money wasn't worth the hell hole I was in. Looks like I'm never moving to Oklahoma. 11 bucks an hour?!?!? Thats insane!

Thank God I'm not the only one with the same issues! I've been taking it for 6 years and even though its worked great for me what a PITA! For some stupid reason they only released the patent for the 75mgs and not the XR tabs. God forbid it be a little cheaper for me!! I get the worst migraines if I'm even an hour or so late taking it.

Don't let the actions of others derail your good intentions. Some nurses are just catty. Or lazy. Or any number of adjectives. I've done lots of LTC but found that there are other areas for LPN's. Tele-health, community health nursing, VNA's, pediatric homecare (which I am currently doing after all these years of geri and loving it). You sound like you have a good heart and want to help. You'll find your niche...we all do. Sometimes it just takes awhile. Good luck on your search and keep us posted on your progress.

That would not be cool. At all. Yikes.

4th of four girls. Father is a nurse and an alcoholic. Sister #3 is also a nurse. Grandfather was a nurse, no ETOH abuse with him.

I saved money when i was in school by buying the pants elsewhere. What kind of pants are they making you wear? We had plain white pants. I just bought them at my local Work 'N Gear. Our "lab coat" was just a ceil blue scrub jacket. I bought two, ordered the school patch and sewed it on myself. Hope you find something soo. Try looking up custom scrubs and see if there are any places that are cheaper. =)

www.scrubmed.com you can custom order them.

The 3 AM thing has something to do with it being half of 6 and 666 is the devil's mark. I'll do some poking around and find the exact answer. I'm with you on the black spirit Auntie...I freaked my sister out with the schroders_piano story too...but she's a nurse too.

Try uniform city, jasco, work 'n gear, allheart, uniform corner, scrubs gallery....good luck! I did see a snap button one on uniform corner...hope this helps!

Ah, it always comes back to poo doesn't it? As a long time LTC nurse, I hear what you're saying loud and clear! Keep tracking those BM'S! I'd want someone to make sure I'm pooing if I couldn't. Happy New Year!

LOL!! I only had to wear it the day I graduated. It looked like a dixie cup on top of my head. I hated it! I kept it though, and put it on every once in a while to make my Fiance laugh. I did do a rotation with a class from another LPN school and they had to wear the cap, the white dresses and navy blue CAPES. I'm all set with the capes.

I was daignosed in April of this year with Type II diabetes. I take Glucophage twice a day and watch what I eat. I was so sick for a while...I was up literally every 1/2 hour peeing all night. I felt like crap...sweaty, dizzy, blurred vision. I feel 100% better after starting the Glucophage and diet. I drink a lot of water, eat lots of fruits and veggies. I stick to low carbs and low sugar. I've learned to pay attention to my body. I feel gross when I over eat or eat something too sugary. I was practically in a coma after Christmas Dinner :) Anyway, if someone like me who has struggled with weight all her life can change her lifestyle anyone can! But I feel for you because I know the toll it can take on one's body. My father is a diabetic, and neither one of us does well on the night shift with it...or working 12-16 hour shifts. Wishing you all a healthy and happy New Year!

My father has been a cardiac/tele patient numerous times at Lahey and the staff is phenomenal. I also work with a nurse now who worked on their tele unit. She loved it. Good luck with your search! Welcome to Beantown!

I work just outside of Boston. When I started over 7 years ago I was making 19.75. I make almost 26$ an hour now. Depends on location, experience and facility.

I've run into this problem before as well. It's a royal pain. I had a meeting with the DON and Administrator at the LTC I was working at and asked that all potential patients have thier information faxed to us prior to thier acceptance. That way either myself, the DON or the other charge nurse could review the info and make a descision. I was naive enough at the time to believe that the hospitals and rehabs would actually fax us accurate info...they would convieniently leave off the notes about the patient being combative or sexually innapropriate or what have you. So we started physically going to the facilities and reading the charts ourselves. Naturally this was an issue for two major reasons. 1. Who had the time to do that? and 2. A lot of the hospitals won't give you access to the charts anymore. you can never win. And Daytonite is right...you have a private pay patient or medicare patient come along and the facility will just about brown their pants to get thier hands on that one.

Becareful with combative patients! Congrats!

I've been an LPN in MA for over 7 years now. While the majority of positions are in SNF's there are other options. Home/Community health, MD office, Clinics, Wound consultants, specialists offices,major insurance company's hire LPN's. Too bad you don't live on the south shore, I'd have had a job for you!

My nursing skills speak for themselves. I don't need to try to be impressive, nor do I lack basic nursing skills. I never said that CNA's were stupid, just that they lack the education and experience to pass meds. And as Dusktilldawn stated "The nurse is the most appropriate person to monitor patient responses to medication, provide education to the patient and family about medication, and inform the physician when medications are effective or ineffective or whether they are no longer necessary. Medication administration is more than just handing drugs to a patient and it should be more than just handing medication to another to administer." I think that was well put.

I'm at a loss. I work so hard to make sure that the needs of ALL my patients are met every shift I work. You don't get to pick and choose what is the most important. If you have a problem with certain meds or assessments or whatever then get on the horn and get it changed or d/c'd. You can't just not do it. I can't believe that I even have to say that. And by the way Goingnuts, I do think you are the worst thing to come into nursing since caps, but you said it I didn't. And just for your information, some nursing home patients can be very acute. Maybe some nursing home patients are of a hardier stock, they've been through alot, but does that mean that they should get half-assed care? I'd hate to have you standing over my bed with 100 of atenolol and you debating whether or not to check my pulse and BP. You're asking for a lawsuit.

I'm in Mass. in an LTC 16 patients to 1 nurse and 3 CNA's. Not bad compared to other places I've worked. In another LTC it was 42 to 1. That sucked.

I just recently became engaged about 6 months ago. I wear my engagement ring and another silver band on my right hand. I feel funny without them. I tried not wearing it and I'd notice that my ring was gone and my heart would leap into my throat thinking I'd lost it! I had enough of heart palps and decided to wear it. =)

I can't believe that this thread has gone on as long as it has. It shouldn't even be a question. Nurses are held accountable for all our actions, and the actions of those we supervise. Why in hell would you put your patients and yourself at risk? Do the job you were hired to do, that means all of it. Yes nursing is busy. Yes LTC's are understaffed. Yes there are people who divert narcs. Yes med passes are long and tedious and sometimes stupid, we have patients on meds they don't need to be on but the bottom line is, this is what nurses do. And delegation does not mean handing out meds to CNA's to pass. It means having a CNA put balmex on a patients rear, not giving a potentially dangerous med. I have worked LTC on a unit with 42 patients and two aides. Somehow they all got their meds and the CNA's had nothing to do with it and it certainly wasn't the medication fairy. Its called busting your hump every night. If you can't find the time to pass meds and do treatments and everything else we're supposed to do then take up forensic nursing. Those patients don't need meds! Sorry if I ranted, I am just irritated at some of the things people have said.

I was in charge about 2 months out of school. The only reason I took it was beacause I worked there for a year as CNA prior to taking over 3-11 harge. Looking back it would have been nice to wait a while.

Can I just say Cha-Ching! They make good money around here. I had an offer come my way a few months ago and it was upwards of 65k. I should have taken it but it was a lot of travelling. Its good if your single and don't have kids, or if you find a company that only requires local travel. They offer good mileage reimbursment, laptops, inservices in Florida, among other things..

The other nurse was actually waiting to see if it was ok to write them up for sleeping!??! I'd have done it right then and there, and made sure they were docked for the trips to the store and for the time they were sleeping. Write it up!!! The more you write up the more they have to do something about it. I worked it this craphole with the same situation and let me tell you..they waited and waited to fire this girl regardless of all the times I had written her up. So she's 1:1 with a patient who falls a cracks his head open..not on my shift thank god. And when the state came in to investigate they ripped them a new one when they looked at this girls record. There were at least 10 disciplinary actions in her file. So my advice, put it it writing,talk to your DON and administrator, and personally I wouldn't take the keys if that CNA was on the floor. If they don't do anything about it, I'd be looking for a new job, but I'd be sure to report them to the state first. Good Luck!