eldragon

I don't believe you are disclosing all the information. They wanted labs. You said you had a dentist appointment, which was actually your friends appointment. It automatically makes me think they really needed labs and you really did not want them to be drawn. Then you lied about it being your dentist appointment, not your friends. So at this point, its pretty obvious that you are misleading someone.

I got a job offer the other day for $13 an hour. The lady actually said she didn't think I'd interview for the job, but that's all she can pay. She said its basically a triage job - giving some shots at a college. An easy peezy job. I can't afford that luxury, so I had to pass. PS, there is no such think as an easy peezy job.

Thanks. Yes that facility has a union. Perhaps they can help. I'm trying not to dwell on it, but it sometimes feels like I gave up my dream job and will never have an opportunity again like that one. Thanks again for the advice.

I am employed in the private sector. I was employed in a Federal job, GS7. I quit that position (worked out a notice) because I was offered a VA position. This was a different Federal agency than I had been working for before. Anyway, I went through the hiring process and it took me about 6 months. The day after I quit my previous Federal job, the new job Nurse Mgr called me and said "Oh, I know what I want to do. I'm going to have you drive 85 each miles every day to work at a facility I never mentioned you working at for the entire 6 months of the orientation process". So I had rented an apartment, had everything ready to go, and felt I had no choice but to move on with the decision, even though I was uncomfortable with it. She promised me if it would be 6 weeks of travel. I got there and did travel for 6 weeks. 85 miles to work, 85 miles back. The weather was bad, the roads were unsafe and I was extremely unhappy with the situation. I spoke to the nurse manager about my fear of traveling so much is horrendous weather and she said she understood, but she needed me to continue doing it. After the 6 week period was up, she extended the period for another month. It snowed over a foot and I panicked big time. I ended up quitting without notice, I was still in orientation officially, and going back home. I regretted it instantly, but I panicked. I have had significant history with driving on ice, had been in a bad car accident decades ago, and lost my brother in a car accident involving ice. It put me in a PTSD flight or fight mode. Fast forward less than a year, and I get another offer from the VA close to wear I live. I told them of this unfortunate circumstances related to the other job, and they said it wouldn't be a problem. I went through months of the hiring process, physical, everything - and then failed the background check. They wouldn't tell me why but kind of hinted it was the prior incident. This has been haunting me for 2 years. I really feel I was done wrong. I felt like I was risking my life and had no control over anything. The road was bad, sometimes closed for bad weather, and there were frequent fatalities on the road due to bad weather. Had I been informed of this during the hiring process, I would NEVER have given up my federal job, or taken the VA job. NEVER in a million years. Nevermind it cost me thousands of dollars to break the lease in the apartment I was renting. Overall, a bad deal for me. Since then I have worked in the private sector but this haunts me. It's been over 2 years now but I can't stop thinking about it. Does anyone know how I can fight this? Who to call or write to find out if I am black balled or something? Any advice is appreciated.

I feel your pain. I felt the same way when I was traveling. I used to cry whenever any sad song played in the mall, or on the radio. Things I liked to do with my family, I couldn't enjoy without them. While I made twice the money traveling - the money was awesome - I came home from my last travel assignment and took another job at home. I literally used to lay awake at night in my motel thinking about how, if I died in the middle of the night, nobody would know until I started to smell. Maids didn't clean the room unless I asked them to. Obviously my husband would be checking on me, frantic, but these thoughts went through my head most nights. Sometimes I was only able to sleep 2 hours in a whole night, I was so anxious. My mom worried about my safety and so did my husband. It was almost cruel leaving my husband home to do all the chores we have in a big house. I still paid all the bills and everything, but I couldn't enjoy myself knowing his life was all work and no play. He works full time, too. So I decided, for family reasons, to take a local job again. The money locally for me is less than half of what I made traveling but at least I look forward to my days off instead of dreading them. Being away from home is harder than you think it will be. After so many weeks, my mind just won't shut off. I'm sure these are issues for nurses who travel alone. Those lucky enough to have their significant other, or even a pet with them, probably feel different. I sure do miss that money. And yes, I will probably travel again sometime in my future. But not for a while, because my resume is looking bleak with all the jobs I have worked. It might as well have Job Hopper at the top, to warn prospective employers.

I'm staying at a motel that my agency pays for, and it has a gym. As far as other nurses, I did meet one and we got a long great, but her contract ended and she went home. I am just biding my time until my contract ends and next time I hope to be sent someplace that I either already know people, or can meet more.

I'm not turned off on travel nursing, though. I plan on doing it again because local stuff just isn't working for me anymore.

Where I am at, it's Hispanics warning you about Hispanics. Yes, there are problems with Native Americans. too. Just this past week that 11 year old Indian girl was abducted here and killed by a Native American man. Amber alerts are almost daily here. I just want to fulfill my contract and get home.

Ned - you can PM me for the town name - just so you don't think I made it up.

Neighborhood Scout is a website that rates crimes per capita and they have a scoring system that rates safety levels from 1-100. 100 is the safest. The area I am working in rates a 1. I removed the town name for personal reasons. But here is the data: CRIME INDEX 1 (100 is safest) Safer than 1% of the cities in the US. Annual Crimes [TABLE=class: totals] [TR] [TH=class: first]VIOLENT[/TH] [TH]PROPERTY[/TH] [TH]TOTAL[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: first]269[/TD] [TD]631[/TD] [TD]900[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE=class: per1000] [TR] [TH=class: first, colspan: 3]annual crimes per 1,000 residents[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: first]26.56 [/TD] [TD]62.29[/TD] [TD]88.85[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

I take drives, in fact - have to commute 40 miles each way to my assignment. But on my days off, I drive - I go to restaurants - I go walk around in the shopping malls and outlet malls - work out at a gym everyday, etc. I don't watch TV at home at all - and don't care for it. I read books - solitary things.

Nope - my perspective is correct. I've lived in large cities (Atlanta? Las Vegas? ) before and have had my car stolen, had my apartment robbed, etc. Not afraid of being raped. I am very self reliant. Having said that - my fear is not being a victim of violent crime at all - but just being in the wrong place at the wrong time with drunk or impaired drivers. The locals here warn you that so many people are impaired - they still drive without licenses. I recently met a person with 15 DUI's - no license - he still drives. He's been lucky that he hasn't killed anyone - has been through year long mandated alcohol detox programs (inpatient) and still can't beat alcoholism. I am working in a county that has a huge drug problem - heroin, meth, etc. Everyone that finds out I am going there tells me not to. Lock your doors. Watch your back. Don't go there. Driving at night is like being in a war zone - so many police officers with cars stopped - so many ambulances & firetrucks. I am not afraid to leave home. Obviously. I am not fearful at all in general. I am very confident. But it is what it is - do some research yourself on NM - it's sad because it's a beautiful state.

This is a really old thread, but it's my life right now. I am married to a very supportive person and my kids are grown - in college. Traveling pay is twice what I make at home, meaning I can work less in a year and still maintain our kids tuition, etc. I work private duty travel nursing, and have lonely on top of lonely. Nobody to meet or talk to. I am way too far from home to travel back on days off - and this week I had 5 days off in a row. I have worked as many as 6 twelve hour shifts in a row, also - and I think I prefer that to being off. There is nothing for me to do on my days off because I am not in a safe area. I am counting down the days (less than a month left) until I return home. So while pictures of travel nursing usually show you lying on the beach, soaking up the sun, the reality, at least my reality, is sitting in a motel room watching TV.

To Sunshine: I am halfway through a traveling contract in New Mexico. I started out in Albuquerque and ended up in Santa Fe. You have to be very careful in this state. Albuquerque had a lot of crime, car thefts, etc. Santa Fe & small towns around it - lots of drug use and drunk drivers. I have spent all my down time in my housing - except for going out early in the day for food, shopping, etc. I think it would be okay if I weren't alone, but as a single female, I always have to watch my back. BTW - it's the locals that fill you in on the DWI drivers - plus you will notice yourself - you have to be very careful driving and hope for the best. I won't come here again.

Also, discharged where? Back to the hospital? Home? Did she leave AMA?

You can't do an assessment. She wasn't there long enough to really receive payable services. An entry and a discharge. She wasn't there for a 5 day scheduled assessment, which takes a complete 5 days, which is done on the 7th day, right? You have no look back period. Therapy didn't see her - no start of therapy and no end of therapy because there was no therapy. Unless something has changed - entry record and discharge. That's it.

I also had on the job training. It's overwhelming but if you are sharp and detail oriented, it can be done. You can't go into MDS without experience and be the only nurse, someone has to be there to train you and do the schedules and upload everything to Medicare while you learn - and because you are working diligently to get your MDS's done, and maybe care plans, too, it can take a year or so to truly understand the whole thing. And it's a conflict of interest to work MDS and be a medication nurse in the same facility. MDS is administrative and Medication nurse works in nursing. If you are an MDS nurse working the floor, you can know what needs to be charted for a higher rug score. Conflict of interest.

You need a different Med A nurse. She's awful! I've never heard of a Med A nurse, but I was a QA nurse on a skilled unit and had to look over charts for new admits and report on them in meetings. I had to know my stuff. Cell phones were not allowed. Sounds like you need either an administrator or DON with some backbone, so that is not tolerated.

Right. Count me out to do med passes at peoples houses. No thanks.

This thread prompted me to look at my Oasis Answers certificate, and it's good for 3 years. Good to have, because I have a HH job interview today!

You should do well on the test. Just be prepared for a lot of questions that have to answered in what seems like a short amount of time! I was about to lose it when I finished the test - and I passed. They tell you a few minutes after you leave the testing room if you passed or failed. As I remember it, the questions are pretty tricky, too. PS ...coding was harder but also doable.

I think you were working with my last boss. She spoke to me the exact same way. She was a loon. She cried all the time. She jacked with schedules just because she could. She would talk about my co-workers to me, and probably vice versa. She couldn't remember what she told someone from one minute to the next. I quickly learned that talking to her about anything was a waste of time. The last straw, and there were many, was when everyone's payroll was wrong: she had gone in and deleted a couple of days from every single nurses paycheck. I confronted her because nobody else had the guts. She asked me "what are you going to do about it?" I finished my shift and turned in my badge. That's what I did about it. Since then I have regretted acting so hastily because I don't have a reference, obviously. That job was a mistake from the beginning and I knew I shouldn't have taken it, but I did. The moral of the story is to go with your gut. When you feel like a job isn't going to work, it won't.

I'm Oasis certified. The test is something like the NCLEX. It's timed and has about 80 very long questions, with multiple questions per question. You only get 90 minutes and you're rushed, to say the least. You need to study for it. Even if you are an expert at Oasis and Home Health, you won't really pass unless you fully understand all the rules and regulations of Home Health nursing. Timelines for care, etc. I was trained by a former employer that wanted me to code charts, as that is there business. I was also training to be a coder, but didn't really feel like it was the job for me, so I resigned. I never used my Oasis certification either. I think they paid $200 for me to take the test. I took the test with 2 RN's. I'm an LPN. I passed, and one other RN passed. The other RN failed. We had all been coached. The test is hard. But yes, there are companies that hire nurses to code charts for home health agencies they have contracts with.

Thanks for the response. Would you recommend a particular website to get CEU's?

Hi, I'm an LPN with a compact license, which unfortunately, Alabama does not participate in. I am considering moving to Mobile, AL., as my daughter received a great scholarship to Springhill University for 2015/2016 and it would be a nice change for me to live there as well. I work full time as an LPN, and have many years experience, from MDS nursing to Correctional nursing and in between. But I am surprised that Alabama requires anyone applying for endorsement to their state to have 24 continued learning credits (or about there) in the last 24 months. Is there a way around that? Because I work full time - about 50 hours a week and have NO time or money (daughter going to college, not me) to take a bunch of classes just to get a license in a state I may or may not ever work in. Just curious if anyone has ever found a way around this requirement. Thanks!