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!

I'm just PRN right now, but the majority of my class works FT. 30 of our 40 are already LPN's & therefore have been working as nurses for years. They weren't going to quit their jobs just for 2 semesters of NS. Several of our 'straight-RN' students are now working as CNA/Techs. I wish I hadn't geared down to PRN for NS. I've got too much time on my hands, and although it's been nice, I'm actually starting to get a little bored.

I wouldn't even notice if someone missed class. I don't even know the names of most of the others in my lecture class. After all there's 40 of 'em! I'm a little closer to my clinical group because there are only 10 of us. I'm a big supporter of missing every possible hour you are allowed to miss. Those hours belong to me & I cherish them. I save gas money everytime I decide to stay home. Whether I've got a sick kid, an appointment to keep, or just need a mental health day, it's no ones business but my own. I do try to wait until the later part of the semester to use my hours, though. Just in case something comes up!

I had an instructor tell me to go get a script for anti-anxiety 1st semester. My hands would shake whenever she started criticizing me in front of my patient. Go figure, huh? I didn't tell her her I was already taking Klonopin. I've taken 1 mg at least QD & often BID for years. Never has given me any probs, either. However, I don't think I'd take a baby aspirin for the 1st time on a clinical day!

I'm in my last semester. I'd have to say 1st semester was the hardest anxiety-wise. They were trying to weed people out, so I always felt like they were just waiting for the smallest screw-up. My GPA really took a hit 1st semester, also. I was used to straight A's. Now my transcript is sprinkled with B's. Oh well, I'll take 'em! As far as material covered, OB has been my least favorite, but I still pulled an A (as compared to 1st semester). My whole class has felt like it was all down-hill after 1st semester.

1. I love to feel needed. 2. Job stability 3. I'm broke!

Be creative! I've hypothesized on possible scenarios that could happen if I've got a patient who didn't give me much material to work with. As long as you explain to the instructor that it's only your hypothesis - not just you making up stuff. At least you'll show them that you're earnestly thinking about possibilities.

I do feel like I learn more when I'm discussing a subject with other students or answering someone's questions. However, I wouldn't feel obligated to help another student. Answering questions or explaining a procedure that you've had a chance to do & someone else hasn't is one thing. Holding someone's hand & spoon-feeding them during the entire clinical day is quite another. Everyone in NS is an adult & should be responsible for themselves. Also, you aren't being paid to teach other students. In actuality, you are paying to received an education. By the way, it's not happened to me yet, but if I had a patient who kept making excuses to stop me from doing what I was there to do, I'd ask my instructor for a new patient assignment - pronto! If a patient didn't want me, I wouldn't waste time waiting for them to change their mind at the peril of my own grade.

Well since his labs are OK, but he reports recent N/V/D, you could use risk for imbalanced fluid volume. Nausea would be OK, after all he complains of nausea & you kinda have to take his word for it. Did he ask for Percocet for pain during your clinical? If so, use pain-chronic or pain-acute. How about risk for constipation? If he's taking Percocet on a routine basis, it'll happen eventually. How about risk for falls if he's routinely using an opiod pain reliever, muscle relaxant & Ambien? They are all fall/safety precaution meds. Or my all-time favorite, disturbed energy field. Not sure how you quantify that one!

I rarely showed up for class in HS & I never took a book with me when I did go. My grades were mostly D's. I had more than one teacher ask me to drop their class because I was snoring so loud it disturbed the other students. Senior year, after I got pregnant, the prinicipal called me in & said they were abbreviating my schedule. I only had to show up for 2 classes a day to graduate. I make mostly A's in NS, although I really don't study much. I usually just review the nite before exams. I show up to class & clinicals, but at the beginning of the semester I figure out how many hours I can miss & still pass, and I make sure & use up all of those hours. I guess I really haven't changed that much, have I? I think my grades are good now versus my HS grades because I enjoy & actually "get" the material I'm working with.

I've had a script for Klonopin BID since I was a teenager. I've only needed it QD for several years now. I can't fathom trying to make it through the day without it. During my 1st semester of NS I had an instructor (who was also a NP) tell me I just had to go to my doc & get something for my shaking hands. I didn't tell her I'd been taking "something" for that for years. I really didn't want to discuss it with her. I'm guessing the nursing shortage would be even bigger than it is already if nurses needing Lortab for their ruined backs or Xanax for panic attacks were to be barred from work. I'd rather be taken care of by a nurse taking Xanax than one in the middle of a panic attack any day!