maire

Got mine Friday evening. Saturday, arm was sore (on par with the flu shot) had a headache, bit of a scratchy throat, and just felt tired. Went to bed at 8 and slept for 12 hours. Sunday, felt fine.

Came here to say this. Emerson and Heywood are both good, small hospitals and both are hiring!

With the N95, yes to the sore throat. It's super annoying. Some days it's worse than others and I wonder, Rona, is that you? Nope, just the mask.?

I work in geriatrics, so no ? And no, I'm too busy trying to land a surgeon.

Congratulations! I work on a TCU, but mine is actually in a hospital, so your mileage may vary. If you've done LTC, you will do fine in rehab. There may be some skills you will need to learn (dunno what sorts of patients you have in LTC, do you guys do trachs, etc?), but that's the facility's job to train you! I've done acute care (did pedi before I switched jobs), and after working rehab (Considered "sub acute" but anyone who works rehab knows that's BS LOL), I will never go back. This forum isn't as active as it used to be, but come back and let us know how you do. Good luck. ?

I am looking for headbands for work that will stay put. I have longish, thin hair, a weirdly-shaped head, and a huge fore(five)head and they all seem to just slip off. With this PPE I've totally given up on my hair. Anyone have any types/styles/brands that you particularly like?

Our scrubs aren't color-coded. What differentiates us is the "badge buddies." With our name badges, we all wear additional green badges that read "RN" or "PCT" or even "DOCTOR." When the badges flip over (as the often do), you can't tell who is who. Docs wear white coats, but so do dieticians. Nurses have their stethoscopes but so do the physical therapists. It's kinda a clusterfrick.

It's a couple months later, just curious, how do you like it?? I've done rehab for the past 10 years and I love it.

Best of luck with the new job!

I've worked at a SNF in a hospital for almost 9 years, and except for a brief period of time where my shift was staffed by 3 RNs and 2 PCTs/CNAs, it's always been a 6-10 patient assignment on the 3-1130p shift. I rarely leave on time, especially when there are admissions (I'm often there until 1am finishing up the "required" documentation). When there were 3 of us, it was glorious. Budget cuts killed us.

Came to say what IrishIzRN did, and I am pleased to hear that your co-workers are holding you up, rather than yanking you down. Keep your chin up!

I am teased constantly at work because I label my pens (actually, everything) with my name. 3 times around the pen with those printed out sticker thingies. They are difficult to remove, and I haven't lost a pen in years.

Amen.

Ditto with my unit.

Blerg. I am sitting here in front of my computer right now trying to fill out two of these stupid things. I loathe, hate, and despise them. One is relatively easy; the person is a good nurse and pleasant to work with and I have nothing but positive things to say about her. The other, while not a bad nurse and I have no issues with her personally, can be irritating and difficult to get along with and I have been the sounding board more than once for other members of the staff who can't stand her. I'm trying to come up with something tactful to put in the "Opportunities for Growth" box and I'm pulling my hair out here. Sigh.

First of all..."afraidofamericans"?? I have to question the screen name here! Anyway, onward... Paperwork and bureaucracy is the major headache of all nurses, IMHO. However, as a staff (floor) RN, I personally don't deal with insurance issues...I just care for my patient(s). There are nurses whose job it is to deal with the insurance paperwork and such, but they do not do that as well as take a patient assignment. I hope that helps to answer your question a little bit. The worst part of my job? Under-staffing is a biggie, as well as the oft-annoying mandated nurse : patient ratio. The state says I can handle this many patients, blah blah blah...well, the state needs to follow me during a shift once or twice when my assignment, while numbers-compliant, is on the verge of being utterly overwhelming. And being canceled due to low census and having to use saved vacation days to cover the time is a major PITA. Charting is the bane of my nursing existence, but it wouldn't be so bad if the department of redundancy department didn't have me charting the same information in 3 or 4 different places. I am darn good with my time management skills but I still have the occasional night when I am on the floor well past the end of my shift documenting a ton of information. And I don't get paid overtime for that. Stress. Nursing is stressful, plain and simple. You are responsible for someone's (many someones!) life. You just have to learn how to destress, hopefully in a healthy manner. Other than the above, the low points to my job are relatively minor. Catty co-workers, crappy bosses, annoying/rude patients (or "clients," if you prefer) and family members, etc...I think you find that in varying degrees no matter what job you work. Best of luck to you in school! Nursing can be a rough yet very rewarding career.

Thank you for your post. My 13 yr old daughter is currently going through this, and has been for the past 2-3 years. The poor child has no eyelashes... We've taken her to a pediatrician, a counselor, you name it. I think one person had ever heard of TTM, so it is good to get the word out.

1:6-8

I use Advance for Nurses, pay a yearly fee of I think 25 bucks for unlimited CEUs. They also offer a few freebies.

Every holiday there is something happening, and during nurse's week we get goodies as well. Also, every summer there is an employee appreciation barbecue, which is nice, and throughout the year there are raffles and whatnot going on. This is all in addition to what my unit does together (potlucks, etc.). I have no complaints. There is the odd duck who won't participate because "this hospital sucks" (find another job..? Just a thought.) or that they "don't want to socialize with coworkers outside of work," but for the most part we're an amiable, cohesive bunch that like to meet and greet and spend relaxing, non-work-related time together. I think for the most part, morale is pretty darn good where I work.

We just recently had a discussion about this at work. AFAIK my facility does not test when hiring nor are there random tests performed during employment. I recently had a needlestick and I wasn't tested then, either. I find this rather odd.

No. I have a very good relationship with my doctor, she knows what I do for a living, and she respects me for it. Same goes for my kids' pedi doc. I find that I get more information out of medical folks when they know what I do for a living. The talk is more direct and to the point.

The nurses and CNAs that work my shift, the majority of us get together every now and again for a "Girls Night Out." We all know each others' families (or at least their names), we know when someone is celebrating a birthday or a special occasion, a heartache or a bad experience. We've laughed together, cried together, vented together...yah, I'd say we're "friends." It's not like that with any of the other shifts, or so I've heard. Maybe it's the fact that we are all close to the same age? I dunno.

Oh I can so relate. I had a problem a while back with food disappearing out of my LOCKER. I had a huge bag of Lindt truffles in there, was off for 4 days, came back, and there were five left in the bag. Um, keep your mitts off my chocolate and stay the frig out of my locker. Thanks. Grrr. Jerks.

I've been perusing allnurses since 02, before I even started nursing school. I got a lot out of the site back then, and get even more now that I'm an established RN. I may not post a whole heck of a lot (let my premium membership go a year or so ago because of this), but I do read it every day. I do see what you see, Angelfire. I wish there was an easy 'ignore this user' button on here, because usually the people that start garbage in one thread start it in others as well and overall their posts aren't worth reading. I generally just roll my eyes at the ignorance and move on.