stripedsock

I work at St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor. The hospital is beautiful and the staff have been very nice, considering we are a new hospital and still have issues with supplies and procedures not being available to us at all times. The good thing is that our leadership is aware and working on these issues. As far as staffing goes, we are opening up another floor this month (medical/surgical) and I know they are hiring for both shifts. There are only 12 hour shifts available throughout the entire hospital for RNs, shifts are 7-730 on the floor and 6-630 in ED. St. Anthony is part of the Franciscan Health System (http://www.fhshealth.org), and this particular hospital is non-union. The nurse ratios are currently 2:1 in ICU/PCU (sometimes 3:1 if all PCU, no CNA), and 4:1 in med/surg (with a CNA). A lot of our staff came from Harrison in Bremerton and left because they didn't like the management of nurses and felt it was unsafe to work there. Then again, I know other people who enjoy working there because they can get a lot of OT. I used to work at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood. It's an older hospital but small, around 110 beds. The PCU floor is a very busy floor. It has 37 beds with a mix of PCU and telemetry patients. The ratio is usually 5:1 (with a CNA). You can go to the Franciscan Health System website to learn more about the hospitals and see pictures. Good luck with your search!

Ha ha! Me too!

We call them WOWs too. Funny thing is, whenever I try to use one, it never works and I end up using a non-mobile one anyway.

The system I work for (Franciscan Health System) is always hiring for nurses. There is such a nursing shortage on my unit that of the 10 RNs we're supposed to have each night, only about 3-4 are staff RNs, the rest are agency. They are hiring nurses from other countries to fill the void. I was a new grad last year and was offered interviews everywhere I applied. Because I was a nervous ninny, I accepted the first job I was offered (my first interview in critical care). My only previous experience was as a hemodialysis technician and an ICU residency in nursing school. I believe the new grad base rate with FHS is around $25.40, and shift differentials are $2.50-$4 more per hour depending on evenings or nights. Weekend pay is another $3/hr. They have residencies that are at least 3 months long in all areas. Check it out if you're interested!

You are required to pass PBDS in order to officially get out of orientation where I work. PBDS is one of those fill-in-the-blank and essay-type tests that takes the whole day to do. You watch a very brief video (and have only one chance to watch it), then are required to write what you think the problem is, interventions you would do, what you would report to the doctor, and what you think the doctor would order and why. The tests are then sent off and hand-graded by some group in Chicago. They DO take into account how many years of nursing experience you have, so the less experience you have, the less detailed they expect your answers to be. When I was in residency, they made us do practice PBDS every time we were in class. We'd watch five scenarios, write our answers down, and then the educator would go over the answers. We were scheduled to take the PBDS after a month or two of working on the floor with our preceptor so we'd have more exposure to situations and critical thinking. Where I am, they said that new grads often had to take the PBDS more than one time to pass, but I got it on my first try. :) Good luck!

We have the same problem with ampules too, but have also been getting injured by mucomyst vials. If you pop the cap off too quickly, it will leave a big snag in the metal that can catch on your thumb. Even if you get the cap off nicely, the metal ring around the top is sometimes tricky to take off and you can get cut on the edge of that too. We brought it up to the pharmacist who almost cut her finger opening up a vial. Their solution? Make RT do the mucomyst SVNs, so they can get their fingers sliced up instead of ours. Nice.

My hospital has color thing on the nametags - RNs are green, MDs are maroon, and everyone else is blue. Patients don't know the difference. Maybe we should go back to wearing nursing caps? (I kid.)

From what my parents tell me, the Philippines doesn't have extended years of elementary school (aka middle school/jr. high) like they do in the US. After six years of elementary school, straight to four years of high school. Hope that answers your question!

I'd try cargo pants, but I can never find them in a petite size. If I bought a pair and hemmed the length, the cargo pocket would be somewhere around my knee or shin, and that's not very handy. I wear a two-pocket scrub top and stuff the following into my pockets: - Left pocket: Report sheet, lip gloss, calculator, travel-sized lotion, and a small spiral notebook. - Right pocket: My nursey stuff -- a couple saline flushes, scissors, alcohol pads, sharpie, and my ultimate nursing pen (tricolor with highlighter). I usually keep tape on my stethoscope around my neck, but it irritates me because the tape always tries to fall off. I bought a hemostat a couple days ago for my tape to clip it to my scrub top; we'll see how that goes. I don't like how dirty the edges of the tape gets either. I was thinking of getting one of those tape guards that someone else mentioned on here. Has anyone tried the stethoscope "hip clip"? My neck is getting irritated/sore/strained from my stethoscope hanging off it all the time. I've tried curling it up and putting it in my left pocket, but it sticks out too much. I've seen the hip clip in the store but am afraid it will pull my pants down with it if I attach it to them.

I work in a PCU at a small hospital (around 100-beds) in a bad part of town. Our nurse:patient ratio is typically 1:5 if we have Med-Surg or Tele pts in our mix, but 1:4 if all pts are PCU status. We also have a CNAs on staff who help out with vitals, etc. Our CNAs take 10 pts each.