imenid37

Does anyone know if there was ever a hospital nursing school in Tifton, GA? Or has anyone ever heard of Coastal Plain Hospital?

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Dude you bring up some good points. I worked in OB for years. We did L/D, OB triage, nursery, GYNs. We even went on ambulance transports with patients. I was fine to take whatever type of those patients. There were nurses who only did labor or always wanted the nursery. If they did not get what they preferred, there was often a lot of complaining. My only real gripe about our assignments was when we got pulled to med surg. Our policy was to do NA type functions: VS, clean up, ambulation, blood sugars, I/O. We needed to be able to go back to OB ASAP. We did not take C. Diff patients. Every time, I was pulled to one particular unit, They attempted to assign me 8 med surg patients. One night, I even said I would be an NA and take the 4 GYN patients they had. No go. This charge RN insisted I take a team of 8 elderly patients. I said no way. Call the supervisor. She backed off. When the sup made rounds, she b——d about me to her. She got the same answer that OB nurses acted as an NA. I had not done M/S for about 20+ years. Mostly our GYN patients were not complex. No way in Hell would I risk my license charting on 8 older people with multiple conditions and unfamiliar meds. The kicker was they had the usual # of nurses, but were down for NAs. I don’t agree with entitlement. I also don’t agree with dumping or bullying. Though as I said above, our newest nurses, whatever their ages, may not have had the prep in school they usually get. They are going to be very green and possibly legitimately hesitant. The seasoned folks will need to define clear exceptions and provide intense mentoring. Many have a great attitude, but a select number are happy to do as little as possible. I suppose that is just some people’s nature. When you orient new nurses, teamwork needs to be part of the plan.

It is called dual enrollment. Our college has an agreement with several state and private universities to take some BSN classes while finishing their ADN. For some students, it is great. Others cannot handle it. They cannot get the BSN degree until they graduate with the ADN . They can take most of the BSN courses, with their ADN coursework. Many can graduate with the BSN 1-2 semesters after they finish the ADN. Others don’t finish either degree. The student complaining about the virtual sim, was taking a physical assessment course from a university, while she was barely squeeking through two 200 level ADN courses.

You are right. There are many students experiencing great stress right now. However, the expectation for all students should be the same. The reality is that whether you are 20 and living at home with your parents or a 40 year old single parent working full-time with three kids, your expected minimal performance on exams and in clinical is the same. There are some part-time programs or programs geographically closer which are better suited for some students. It is up to you to decide if you need a change.

There is a lot going on with new nurses. Those who just finished in December or June had their clinicals and in person classes impacted by Covid. Virtual Sims and Case studies are great but they do not cut it. Lots of the reality, prioritizing, and organizing that comes at the end of a program is lost. There have been a lot of student complaints about clinicals and EVERYTHING! Many are poor test takers. That is impacted by inability to study together in person and also impacts the emotional support they give each other. In the ADN program , we see a lot of students who not only have the massive task of their core nursing classes, Covid related self, family, and work concerns... often they are also taking BSN classes from another institution. The BSN school does not communicate with us, nor we with them. I get that students need to have the BSN as a goal. Some cannot handle the added load with their ADN courses, esp at this time. One student complained about our virtual sim product, comparing it to the one in her BSN course. This student received the absolute minimum passing grade in my course and the other ADN course she was taking. Of course, I had no idea that she was taking another course. School is getting them through the minimum academic and hopefully, NCLEX requirements. Esp now, it often isn’t teaching team work and enculturation them into the profession. This applies to many 20 somethings as well as 40 somethings. They have 1, 2, or 3 patients. They are not ready to walk on to a unit and take a full assignment. Part of it is normal. If your remember being a new nurse, it wasn’t a picnic. We also need to go back to some basics in education. As the Covid impacted new grads, enter the workforce, they need direction and support. It is hard because demands on everyone is increased. RN to BSN is great, but not all students can handle it. Students who flunk out of the ADN program will have no use for the courses, if they cannot get through the RN portion. Hospitals need to emphasize the expectation of teamwork. Everyone is tired. We aren’t giving you a finished product right out of school. Support and honesty about expectations and frequent feedback is what is most needed.

My daughter is in school for MSN/CNM. She started with an ADN. She got her BSN online after she had been a nurse for aabout 10 years. She could have gone back sooner, but she was happy with the ADN until the hospitals in our area, really started to push the BSN. I think Frontier has a bridge program for ADN prepared nurses, but I heard they may be discontinuing it. I cnnot say 100% for certain, though.

I guess it is a bunch of generic CRNA students who think they know it all and are better than others. I am a CNS in a DNP program. We have a lot of practicing CRNAs. They are smart, articulate, and well mannered people. We have been in groups together. As pre-APRN students, some people are very cocky about their ability. Humility is coming. It always does. Some people are -$$holes for life. Most, when kicked in -$$ realize we all need each other.

I have been so low, I have thought about it for months at a time. Right now, I am doing pretty well. I had a person who was my boss who was a liar and a narcissist. She violated our HR policy and interviewed and hired another outside person for a position, I had formerly held with outstanding evaluations. The CNO backed her up. She was “sure” that the policy was not violated. Where on Earth did I get that idea? Maybe from the back of the employment app and the policy manual? It said that any and all qualified current employees will be interviewed prior to accepting outside applications. This woman, my direct manager, was a total narcissist who made my life miserable. I quit because I could not stand her. She stabbed her BFF in the back who she had hired. Two of her multiple children have profound mental health issues. One committed suicide. I encountered her at another facility almost ten years later and quit when I had heard she was hired. I have never ever felt the same way about nursing after this experience. I keep to myself at work sharing few details. I am not a FB friend of any coworkers. I enjoy patient care and the work, but keep a self imposed isolation because I cannot bear this again. Being forced to provide elder care for my verbally abusive and distant mother has not helped me either. Sometimes, as a nurse, family and coworkers are very quick to dump on you with no thought of ever reciprocating even to the slightest degree. I enjoy activities such as traveling and caring for animals. I have a few close friends who are not nurses. I let nursing mean everything to me earlier in my life and it was a huge mistake.

So really why do you need to work an extra weekend when you take vacation? It is a 24/7/365 operation. I worked at a place where we got no weekend diff. We always had to cover our weekend off, even though we were paid on Sat like it was Tuesday! I get fake call outs. They are annoying. Truly you don’t always know why a person calls off. Do they have a sick kid and not get excused for that? Did their spouse beat them up? You really just don’t know. Many times a nurse gets no lunch or bathroom break while at work. That type of situation makes it easy to justify wanting off for some people. If the hospital and the coworkers are always just and considerate, you are right to be angry. Otherwise maybe you have to realize this is life and it happens in every job/ industry. For some nursing is a magnificent profession and for others it is simply a job. Most people fall somewhere in between. If people are consistently treated like professionals , then most will act that way. Does your unit not have prn people who can be scheduled to work on a weekend so regular staff can be off without having to make up time off that they have earned?

There used to be a lot of vo-tech high schools with an LPN track. I think accreditation rules pushed most of the LPN programs into trade schools and colleges. I just tried to look this up and I see Fairfax County VA still offers an LPN program for HS seniors and adult learners. https://www.fcps.edu/academics/high-school-academics-9-12/career-and-technical-education-cte/practical-nursing In my area, nursing homes and some hospitals are now hiring LPNs due to the shortage and salary cost of RNs. I don't know about the ASN for HS students. A lot of adults struggle with balancing their other life activities with nursing school. The responsibility of being an RN is pretty heavy for an 18 year old in my opinion. I say this as a person who became a nurse at 22. Bringing back the LPN to more high schools may be a better step. There again, it would take some time for many 18 year olds to be able to be responsible for a unit full of nursing home patients as LPNs often are.

So because she may have had a coag disorder, does that excuse this patient assaulting her? It is like a pregnant woman being hit in the abdomen and dying of an abruption. Does that mean the attacker should get a pass because the woman chose to be pregnant and she would not have died if she was not? I don't think so! Now coroner has ruled the nurse's death a homicide because of the blood clot related to the leg injury incurred during the assault.

Loved being a unit educator. Stupidest thing I did was to quit. Academia has a better schedule, but a few students can really make it or break it. They have a lot of "rights" even when obviously in the wrong!

I like the schedule and I like creating materials. Working with most of the students is great, but some are very challenging. Personally, I don't think the rigor of school prepares the students very well for practice. We entertain too much griping and whining. Questions must be worded so that they do not use "difficult" words. The students will see technical language in the clinical area, so hand holding will not help them in the long run. Math skills in simple operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are severely lacking for many students. There needs to be more clinical experiences, but resources are limited. It takes students, even in end of curriculum courses, significant time to perform relatively simple skills. Some are timid and many are over-confident. A select few do not accept criticism or suggestion appropriately. It is disheartening. Is some of this linked to safety issues we see with nurses in practice? Maybe? A few faculty favor increased rigor, but many continue the constant coaxing and hand holding. Very frustrating!

I wish you luck. Your passion is admirable. I would say if you get the CNS degree and don't practice as a CNS immediately, it could be an issue. There also may be issues finding a preceptor. Doing something like nursing professional development may keep your hand in the clinical area while allowing you to work on quality projects, serve on committees and represent your specialty at the institutional level. The CNS could be a very influential role right now, but it is "out of vogue." The other problem with many specialties is lack of a certification exam and lack of APRN designation depending on the state where you practice. It is like being a unicorn. Everyone agrees that you have many wonderful attributes, but you don't quite fit in anywhere.