agoodusername

Quick question: I'm trying to finish up my resume, and am having conflicting opinions on whether or not to include an "objective." Various business professionals that I've run into over the years have advised AGAINST the objective, saying it makes your resume look juvenile and inexperienced. However...my college's career services department is very PRO objective. I want to make a good first impression on all of the places I apply...any suggestions?

I'd call for sure. Also, did you submit online? Most applications are all through the internet...

I posted previously on this thread, having misread it at first. I said I'd talked with GEORGETOWN recruiters (which is true), but this thread is for George WASHINGTON. Sorry about that. Anyway, I've been trying to get information out of GWU and they've been really bad about getting back to me -- jennrn11, do you have any suggestions??

I'm interested in Chicago as a new-grad too...I've heard very few things as far as magnet hospitals, etc goes...but I do know that Swedish Cov doesn't get very high ratings from the locals. Keep us posted if you find anything!

A few things in response to my previous post: 1. I in no way want to get across the message that I am perfect and never judge. Clearly, when I said that my very FIRST patient was an example of following a judgment and making it my own, I was hoping to get across the point that it is easy to fall into and something that I have struggled with. You're right -- it is IMPOSSIBLE to get through a day without judging, and it is impossible not to want to spout off to your co-workers about frustrating patients, etc. I've done it, we've all done it and that's life. 2. Despite the fact that it happens, I don't think it has to. And despite the fact that I'm still a student, does not mean that I haven't felt the effects of the horrible situation nurses are in because of the shortage and the strain of working 40+ hours a week on the unit. I may be just beginning my journey, but in nursing, every step is JAM PACKED with hard times, so please give me the benefit of the doubt -- as another poster said -- just because we're students, doesn't mean we don't have brains or experience. 3. What I do want to get across is that being judgmental is a huge problem on units, which CAN be stopped. In an externship experience this summer, where I worked for 5 week rotations on two units, I experienced a unit withOUT gossipy judgment, and a unit WITH it. The nurses on the first unit simply did not talk badly about their patients -- or talk about their patients at all. Most of our conversations were about each other, our lives and our families -- not bitter gossip about patients that might have bothered us. Because of this expectation on the unit, people worked together, helped each other out and appreciated the patients for who they were as PEOPLE. The attitude of the unit was happy and exciting and yes, there were stressful time and yes, people got grumpy, but for the majority, the unit was progressive, exciting, fun to be on and really beneficial, regardless of what role you filled. The second 5 weeks of the summer, I worked on a floor where all the nurses did was complain. They complained about the patients, about the hospital, about the staff members, about the shortage, about the schedule. They complained behind the patient's backs, in front of the patients, with faculty, etc, etc. People rarely helped each other out, everyone was always stressed and the unit was very disorganized and not fun to be on. Report went for over an hour because of gossip, and was full of stereotyping, slander about patients and useless information. And you know what happened? Within two weeks, I saw my positive, proactive, purposeful attitude, which I had learned, and gained on the first unit, turn sour. I began to complain, I began to give my patients derogatory nicknames, and most of all, I really dreaded coming to work because I had no idea what my co-workers were saying to me behind my back. NOT a fun place to work. 4. Venting/sharing judgments of patients is NOT appropriate in report. Hands down. It's easy to do -- I've done it, I've seen tons of nurses do it, and I hate it every time. As I said before, and I will continue to say, I HAVE to choose to be a nurse that DOES NOT contribute to this, even if it is only by giving objective, non-biased report on a patient. Yes, the oncoming nurse needs to know how her night/day will look, but not through personal judgments. It is always refreshing to receive report that is unbiased, clean, short and full of pertinent information. All in all, what I'm trying to say now, and what I was trying to say in my previous post, is that judging patients is a huge problem that we can change. Yes, you need to let things out and yes you need stress release, and yes, sometimes you need to get in your car at the end of the day, call someone who is completely unrelated to your job and vent (or come onto a website like this and vent - I understand the purpose of this now, thank you for making that clear). But too many units are CONSUMED with this slanderous, gossipy talk and it RUINS nurses, nursing students, assistive personnel and progress in general. It is NOT FUN to be around and it is SO EASY to get sucked into. That's all I'm saying. There is a time and place for venting, but when it consumes and controls the attitude of the unit so much so that everyone hates work...that's not cool. Nursing is a hard job, and any job that deals with people has its serious downsides, but I think we have a choice to make: we can either continue to propagate emotionally-charged workplaces that compromise the quality of care and attitude of the unit, or we can choose to stop. I know I'm just getting into this world of nursing, and I know there will be times when I feel burnt out -- there already have been -- but I HAVE to make this choice now, or else I'll never be able to. I HAVE to go into this deciding how I'm going to act, and what I'm going to participate in. I HAVE to remind myself daily that my patients are HUMANS, and of how it would make me feel if I was the one sitting in the bed, and just happened overhear my nurse complain about me in the hallway or call me a name. It's hard to be positive, and many days I DO NOT meet my own expectations, but I have to go back to the old adage: life is 10% what gets served to you and 90% what you do with it. I think that's really true - in terms of nursing, in terms of everything.

I really don't appreciate this thread. Aren't we perpetuating stereotypes by highlighting them in a discussion? This is exactly how "drug seekers" and "complainers" are created, marked, studied and pegged -- before we ever even experience them! I'm in nursing school, and I remember the first time I heard a nurse give me report on my very first patient. "She's got these open abcesses on her thighs that are really painful, she says. But if she's in so much pain, why is she still going downstairs to smoke every hour?" This made sense to me, a naiive, inexperienced nursing student, and so, before I even got a chance to begin my career in my own way of thought, I walked into my patient's room with a stereotype blocking my entire field of view. Because of this, the first thing I noticed about her was that she was sleeping with her cigarettes in her breast pocket (of course), and the first thing I assumed was that she would be crabby and want to smoke as soon as she woke up (of course), and that she really wasn't in all that much pain (of course not). I'm really thankful that I took the time to try and get to know her, because I learned a lot about how wrong that nurse was. I learned that my patient was missing her son's first day of kindergarten, and that she had been diagnosed with Crohn's a decade ago with no end in sight. She really was in pain, which I could clearly see without years of experience under my belt, and yes, she smoked. But it made me realize: why wouldn't she? She had nothing else to get her through the day! Stereotyping is really a huge issue with nurses, especially in the realm of report. You can make or break a nurse's DAY depending on how you describe your patient at end of shift. Think about it -- the outlook for your day can be completely different depending on the report you get: "This patient is really great. She's sweet, she doesn't really complain, and she definitely knows how to get up and go to the bathroom by herself. Really easy," versus, "Oh my gosh. What a nervous nancy. This lady shakes, and she's a smoker, but she's not allowed off the monitor so she just bugs you all the time about going downstairs. She always asks for pain medicine, but when you walk in she's asleep, and she has been incontinent three times. It's not going to be a good night for you." Everyone knows how each of these reports gives you a totally different outlook for your shift, and how you treat your patient. This is my argument: both examples are wrong. Both examples of report put an idea into the receiving nurses mind, and immediately create a stereotype that molds and alters the rest of the shift and every dealing with the patient. I think that report should STRICTLY be confined to report -- medical, objective information that is PERTINENT and important to nursing care, NOT nurse opinion. Stereotyping is a HUGE problem in nursing. Let's STOP glorifying it by giving petty examples of people who bother us. Our patients are sick, and regardless of what they are sick with or how sick they are, they deserve respect, and good, unbiased, un-stereotyped care.

So, what is this fight about? Ensuring that we, nurses, get due credit for all of our accomplishments, ie, "tooting our own horn," or making sure that doctors don't? I understand, and completely agree with the need for recognition and societal change in attitude towards nursing in general, but for the purpose of playing devil's advocate, which would you prefer: public attention, or patient gratification? When was the last time you saw a patient cry out of gratitude to one of their physicians? And now think about how often you see a similar experience occur with nurses. Perhaps we don't get international acclaim, but that has never been the goal of nursing -- from the very beginning, it was, and should remain, about the patients. That's why, evertime I tell someone that I'm going to be a nurse, they break out in praise of good nursing experiences that they and their loved ones have been fortunate enough to receive during difficult times. Nobody says stuff like that about their surgeon. Not discrediting the media acclaim and attention that is rightly due to nurses, but I'd much rather be recognized in a true, meaningful and personal way -- without trying to force compliments and attention to myself -- than to be known as proud, conceited and attention-seeking, like most physicians are.

Ok, so this seems to be a HUGE issue... ...what can we do about it?! We're obviously smart enough to figure this out if nursing school is boring us...any ideas??

Don't get me wrong, the invention of the PowerPoint program is great -- if used in the correct way. I have had great professors who have used it to add to their lectures, through guidance and visual aid, while still demanding my attention by giving a lot of information in an engaging way. However, this is my problem. One: if you're in college, you should know how to take notes. Fill-in-the-blank is junior high. Two: if I'm paying $700+ a credit hour for these classes, I shouldn't have to teach myself the information. Review it and reinforce it, yes...but not teach. I really like some of the suggestions -- bringing a text to class, especially. It's so easy for me to drift off into lala-land when all that I am doing is waiting for the next blank. And even when I do ask questions (which I try to do, and also am discouraged by lack of support from classmates), the absolute nature of the fill-in-the-blank method makes it impossible to engage in critical thought or conversation with the professor -- it's either in the blank or not. The response, sadly...is always "Not enough time to talk about this, too much to cover!" But, ironically enough...I'm constantly let out of class early and given "notes pages," which have "See Table ##-#" all over them! Half of my last exam was over parts of the notes that weren't even TYPED up in the fill-in-the-blank handouts that the professors expected me to teach myself. Why not just memorize the NCLEX book and save myself the money? I don't know, I'm just really discouraged. I learn best when forced to critically think and analyze things and participate in class, and I feel like very few students and professors (in my experience) feel that way. I mean, we've all had that one professor that scared us to death because they EXPECT performance and interaction from all of their students, and even though its intimidating and scary at first, those are always the most beneficial classes... Isn't that what education is about, anyways? Intellectual exchange? Lots to think about...thanks for the replies!:)

I totally agree with you BlueEyedRN -- my med/surg prof was my favorite one because he didn't use PowerPoint at all! It forces you to think about things, because without an outline you have to put it into your own words and therefore remember/are forced to actually pay attention and ask questions for fear of missing something. It's almost like PowerPoint breeds laziness and total lack of critical thinking -- because you're right, nobody thinks about the "blanks" or what is behind them as the professor reads them off, and so nursing -- a profession that MUST be creatively founded and critically thought through, is becoming a black and white checklist profession! It's so depressing. What do you think: I've been toying with the idea of putting together a proposal for a research article regarding the effect of the use of PowerPoint in nursing education. I'm really new to the research scene, but after talking with an advisor who is very experienced in it, she told me that a lot of publications are looking for student contributions. I haven't looked too far into the prevalence of studies involving PowerPoint in nursing lectures, but this seems to be an issue not only with all of my classmates, but a lot of nursing students everywhere. I just don't know how to phrase it/present it so that the nursing faculty won't take offense and will actually let me carry out the study. Any thoughts?

Maybe I'm the only one, but this is bothering me enough to ask: Does anyone else feel like their nursing education has been hijacked by Microsoft PowerPoint? I feel like I sit in all of my senior lectures and am fed notes-page after notes-page of fill-in-the-blank format PowerPoint-ed information. My brain isn't required to think about anything besides listening at the moment when my professor says the next "blank," so that I can quickly fill it in and get back to la-la land. If the notes are handed to me/e-mailed to me before class and all that I am doing is filling in the blanks and listening to the professor READ, yes READ exactly what is on the page before me for two straight hours...what is the point?! I usually end up teaching myself all of the info for tests/practice, and although I'm doing well on exams...I feel like I'm paying A LOT of money to teach myself nursing. I used to think that I was studying at a very reputable nursing school, and everywhere I have worked -- in clinical, externships and all healthcare fields in the area -- I've heard nothing but positive feedback about the nurses that come out of my program. But most days, I feel like I'm back in junior-high before I learned how to take notes (even in high school it wasn't this bad)....or even worse, bored in church, filling in preacher-made outlines just to pass the time. This is just silliness and I'm not sure what to do about it. Anyone experience similar brain-numbing, bored-out-of-your-mind fill in the blank lectures??

Crap, I just had a test about this last week...so here goes. :) In the body, Calcium levels and phosphate levels are inveresly related, so when calcium is high, phos is low, etc. etc. In renal failure, the kidneys lose the ability to excrete phosphate, so it kind of hangs out and accumulates. Calcium sees this, and therefore uses itself to metabolize phos/get rid of excess phos. In doing so, calcium levels are depleted. Adding to the problem is the fact that Vitamin D (which promotes Calcium uptake) is activated in the kidneys -- if the kidneys aren't working...no Vitamin D, no Calcium, bad news. The body senses this and begins to break down the bones in order to raise serum calcium levels. This leads to really frail renal failure patients -- lots of bone damage with very little trauma, and increasingly and chronically low calcium levels. Treatment is usually through a pill like Phos-lo, which binds to phosphorus and gets rid of some of it so that the relationship can be restored (low phos=high ca) This is a really simplistic explanation which I just totally drew from my recent test-studying (yay! It actually worked!). A simple google search brought up this website, though...which will give you a much more detailed and scientific explanation of the issue. UK NKF - Bones, Calcium, Phosphate, and PTH*in Kidney Failure Isn't it interesting? The kidney is mad-complex...so fascinating!! Good luck!

Check out this site: Fortune: 100 Best Companies to Work For Although its a list of all kinds of best-companies to work for, there are a number of healthcare corps and hospitals on it that definitely sound promising. I have yet to find an official list of best hospitals to work for, but this list of US magnet hospitals is also a good place to look: Magnet Facilities

I've recently been talking to GW nurse recruiters about their new grad program. After e-mailing them early one morning, I received an e-mail within an hour with some very good info (such a prompt response has yet to happen at any other hospital I've enquired at -- very impressive). The nurse recruiter that I have been speaking with is extremely nice, helpful and very available. She sent me some info through the mail which was somewhat vague, but we plan on speaking later this week on the phone...will have more info to share then! Here's what I know for sure: Apparently, on February 3rd, they have a new-grad hire day, where they interview and hire 80% of their new grads -- not a day you want to miss if you're interested in their program!:) Here's the site: http://www.thenurseshospital.com/contact.htm -- because there is info that you need to have prepared and an RSVP in order to attend/interview on Feb 3rd. Have also talked with a grad of this program who did the L&D track, and although our communication has just started, she said that the program is almost like being in grad school because of the classes that they offer (yay!) -- I've heard nothing but good things about the program thus far, so any critiques from grads would be good to know! Will have more info to share later this week, but generally, I've been nothing but impressed with all of my dealings with GW thus far.