jackson145

I'm gonna get a RN tattoo on my scapula tomorrow. I want to add something to it but I'm not sure what I should get. I thought about an EKG line or the first aid cross. Does anybody have any ideas? Have you seen any cool medical symbol tattoos?

I didn't go to either one. I hauled myself to class & clinicals for 2 years & I wasn't making another trip to the school for anything. Plus I hate ceremonies. I put in the hard work, so I felt like I earned the right not to participate. Also, I'd already started work as a graduate nurse & I just wanted to go home at the end of the day, not slap on a cap & gown. I have no tender feelings for the school or the experience. To me NS was a means to an end. Now I can be paid well to do something I've always wanted to do. I won't even wear a T-shirt with the school's logo. I'm not going to be an advertising medium for them without some form of compensation. Like a discount on tuition!

Wow, harsh! I didn't think the OP came off as arrogant & selfish at all. Just giving an honest opinion about their motivation. As a nurse you'll encounter a lot of patients who have opinions & values that differ vastly from your own. Do you dread to deal with them as well? Will you hope they end up "torn apart" due to their opinions or choices? I've wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember, but nursing is hard work & I sure wouldn't do it if the pay wasn't so good (for my area it is, at least). Choosing nursing for the pay doesn't necessarily mean a person will be a poor nurse. Choosing nursing because of a calling to care for others doesn't necessarily mean a person will be a good nurse.

In my area, nurses make a better salary than most. With the economy & the job market as it is, we all ought to be grateful to have a job. Period.

My new employer offers something called PILOPTO or Pay In Lieu Of Paid Time Off. Has anyone else had any experience with this at their workplace? Instead of accruying(sp?) PTO with each paycheck, you receive a differential added on to your hourly wage. For me, the differential ends up being about $1.50 more an hour. I'll earn more money each check, but later if I want to take a vacation, I won't receive a paycheck for the time I'm off. I know it's pretty much all equal in the end, but I can't decide which way would work out better for me. Has anyone else gone with this option? Did you like it?

Nope, never worked in housekeeping or "environmental services", whatever they've renamed it these days. However, I did make friends with this little old lady who cleaned the E/D when I worked there. She worked her fanny off & always had a big smile on her face. I especially felt sorry about our bathroom she had to clean. Sometimes it was just unholy in that BR.

I didn't care much for having my husband (ex now!) working as a LPN at the local nursing home. Apparently, being surrounded by mostly female coworkers was just more than he could handle & still behave himself. 15 years as a cop, working with all men & he never cheated. 1 year in LTC & he was sneaking around with another nurse & seeing a CNA on the side. Oh well, easy come easy go. Now I'm through nursing school & making more than he & the girlfriend combined.

One of the 1st things we were told yesterday in orientation was that the RN behind our name wouldn't be what got us hired or kept us in a job. The head of HR said they've got rid of many nurses, all who had excellent clinical skills, because of their attitude at work - to coworkers in particular. We were told that great patient care will only take us so far. If coworkers don't want to work with us, or worse, are quiting because the atmospere is toxic, than we'll be hearing about it.

I don't like all the "____ week"s that my hospital always had. I never expected a party & a gift for doing a job that I was hired to do. They paid me for my time & offered me insurance - that's all the compensation that I agreed to when I took the job. Also, it never seemed fair to have a day or week for some positions & completely ignore others. I've never met anyone who works as hard or does as nasty a job as the housekeeping staff & no one ever honors or appreciates them.

I don't think the type of insurance you're offered will have anything to do with the job title of nurse or any level of certification you achieve. It will all be a matter of what insurance company a facility offers. Every place of employment will pick their own insurance company and plan. Every employee, regardless of position/pay/experience, will be offered that plan. However, part-time employees can usually expect to pay more per paycheck for their benefits. In my experience, the bigger employers (hospital versus independant Doc office), tend to have better benefits packages. Discount by bulk, you know. When you interview for a potential job, they will ask you for any questions you might have. Be prepared to grill them on the healthcare benefits their facility offers.

I just finished my ASN & it wasn't that hard at all. I was lucky enough not to have to work full-time, so that helped a bunch. I got just as much sleep as I ever did before, studied way less than I did for pre-reqs, & had plenty of free time for family & fun. You'll hear a lot of NS horror stories. Some people don't feel like they've accomplished anything unless it was really hard to do. I think they just want to impress people with how hard they had to work. Don't form any hard opinions until you've tried it out. You might just find that it's not so bad after all!

I was told a lot of horror stories before starting NS. Most of them were just a bunch of crap. We were told that they'd lock the doors at the start of class & if you were late you'd be left standing in the hall - not once did anyone ever get locked out. People showed up late everyday & no one said anything. We were told they'd be super picky about our uniforms - they never paid any attention to our uniforms. People were wearing long-johns under their tunics & Nike Shox instead of official 'nursing shoes'. One guy lost his name tag & nobody noticed. However, 1st semester during lab our 2 instructors were really picky. The way they insisted we do things was crazy. I've never seen a single nurse do procedures that way since lab. Just remember the old saying, "those who can't do, teach". It's really true!

I had 2 PPD's done at a hospital where I was working PRN & when I went in for my pre-employment phys at another hospital, they wouldn't use my 2 PPD's. I'd only had them done about 1 month prior, but I was told it was part of the employment process & had to be done. However, I've not had any issues with a false positive - this time at least.

I was taught in NS that (for Indiana) it's only illegal to 'sign off' on things as a RN if you aren't. It isn't illegal to call yourself a nurse if you're, say, a MA. The instructor who told my class this had sat on the BON for 2 terms & I guess she knew what she was talking about. Remember, you have to allow yourself to be offended or annoyed. Just because a non-nurse calls themseves a nurse doesn't make you any less of a nurse. As far as one person's schooling being harder than another's, that's all individual opinion. What's hard for one might be easy for another. I was told horror stories about how difficult & challenging NS would be. I'm 2 weeks out from graduation & I can honestly say it's not been bad at all. It hasn't affected my sleep, stress level, or time with my kids. I did get a divorce during NS (now that was stressful), but only because he cheated-not really a NS issue.

I wish I'd have gotten my divorce before NS. I was constantly juggling court dates & lawyer appointments around class & clinicals. At one point, I'd missed most of my alloted hours early in the semester & that made me pretty nervous. I'm planning on my next divorce being much more convenient!