catslave

Where I work you must work 32 hours weekly in order to qualify for benefits.

The facility where I am employed offers baylor positions to CNAs as well.

I work as a full time baylor in the New England area as well. I work Sat and Sun - 7a to 7p and Mon 7a - 3p and am paid for 40 hours and receive the option of full benefits. Hourly base rates are contingent upon experience with shift differentials. I received 40 hours of earned time upon hire with additional earned time determined by hours worked per pay period and adjusted to a percentage depending upon length of employment. We are also offered baylor pay of 8 hours twice yearly applied to our earned time. The facility where I work offers pay in lieu of benefits if you choose to forgo them which includes earned time. No overtime is paid unless you physically work 40 hours during the week.

Any vitals signs required regarding medication administration I get myself as well as most routine blood pressures. It is my belief that half of the aides in the facility I work don't know how to take a blood pressure and I know they are unaware of normal parameters and could care less. I feel that more often than not - vital signs and meal percentages are made up. Having expressed these concerns to management - they care even less.

I clean my shoes with Kiwi heavy duty cleaner then use Kiwi leather shoe whitener. Works for me!

I use the Littmann electronic 3000. Truly a good investment.

I have some hearing loss as well and use my Littmann electronic stethoscope model 3000 exclusively. It hangs on my neck without issue and is the best equipment investment I've made. Luv it!

In addition to any scheduled laxatives, our bowel protocol goes as follows: Day 1 - 4 oz of prune juice Day 2 - 2 Tbs of BAP (a puree of bran, apples and prunes) Day 3 - 30 cc of MOM Day 4 - dulcolax suppository MOM and dulcolax suppository require orders obtained upon admission.

The facility I work in provides the required CE's via mandatory online testing, inservices and annual skills fair.

I was appointed as charge nurse after my orientation fresh out of nursing school and hated every minute of it. About a year later I took a staff position and have found it a much better fit for me over the past 2 years.

It is never too soon to have Advance Directives, POA for health and finances in place.

I've noticed at my place of employment anyone who is out for more than 6 weeks is either terminated (which is usually the case) or told that their shift and/or unit may or may not be available when they are released to return to work and will have to take what is available and it may be a per diem position. Why? Follow the money. It eliminates having to pay health, disability and workman's comp. insurance as well as possibly pay overtime or agency staff to cover your position. Before entering the field of nursing I had never seen this. In my previous life I had to take 10 weeks to recover from surgeries in two separate instances as well as take a year leave of absence to care for an ill family member and my position was held with benefits intact. The fact is that no one chooses to be ill or have a surgery and one would think that an industry such as health"care" would recognize this and be supportive of these adversities, however...... As far as pressure to work overtime, oh yeah but I don't succumb to it and do get attitude for it but there are reasons I work the shift/hours that I do and they are aware of this but are often relentless just the same. I do occassionaly pick up a shift when it works for me as I really can use the extra $$. The FLMA is unpaid and if I'm not mistaken, your positon is protected.

Having had what appears to be the same guage ear piercings before I began nursing school and knowing this would not be acceptabe, I removed my plugs months before beginning school. They shrunk to about half the size as they were and I wore plugs that fit - no one knew the difference. Of course you have the option of stretching your piercings again after finishing your program though I chose not to and allowed my piercings to shrink back to where I now where regular earrings and enjoy increased variety of options - but that's up to the individual. At my place of employment and other healthcare settings I notice that many of the staff sport heavy guage ear piercings as well as other facial piercings, so apparently it's not an isssue in many work environments. In school or at least the one I attended the only acceptable jewelry was 2 small ear studs and a wedding ring. The program I graduated from cost me approx. $16,000 including tuition, books and supplies for the 10 1/2 month program.

Krudenberg's chopsticks - A condition occurring after surgical separation of the remaining ulna and radius of a forearm stump after traumatic removal of a lower arm, allowing the ulna and radius to act as crude pincers. My word is thoracoparacephalus

At the faciliey where I work, the only thing I can't do as an LPN is hang blood, administer 1st dose of ABT and pronounce.

Occasionally a nurse will work as an aide at her usual nursing wage but it's totally voluntary.

Our Staffing for a census of 72: Days: 3 nurses - 6 LNAs Evenings: 3 nurses - 5 LNA's Nights: 2 nurses - 2 LNA's (occasionally 3)

Neat casual - no jeans - should be fine.

1st job - 3 years. Supply shortages and disorganization is common and generally may be remedied with improvisation, temporary order holds and creating your own organization. Full sharps containers are easily replaced...But black mold!! I'd leave gracefully and report the facility to the state.

1. I had no frame of reference prior to entering the PN program but wished I had. 2. I did not work during school. Lived off savings budgeting wisely and glad I had planned well. 3. Gained admission to the only tech school program I applied to (1st attempt) with a GPA of 3.8 gleaned from the prereqs prior to application.

Having lived in SE Vt all my life, I find rents have become outrageous in comparison to wages especially if you are single and finding a rental allowing pets is challenging. This is common to the immediate tri-state region. Unless you you live in subsidized housing, it seems that rents are gauged for 2 incomes. I've found that wages are better by at least $4.00 an hour in neighboring NH and MA. Consequently, while I live in VT which I love, I work in NH.

We have podiatrists who come in to cut diabetic's toenails. I do carry nail clippers and will clip nondiabetic resident's nails. Do I have time? No, but there's no time for everything anyway and the residents really appreciate it.

I too am somewhat hard of hearing and the facility I work in prohibits the use of automatic BP equipment. I use a Littmann electornic stethoscope model 3000 with ambient noise reduction and an appropriate size BP cuff without any problems at all. The stethoscope will run you around $265, is well worth it and the purchase is tax deductable.

I did not work during school as suggested, was single with rent and associated bills/expenses planning/saving 3 years in advance in order to enable this as well as take 2 months off before going to work. Glad I did. Graduated with honors. Students who worked eventually stopped doing so after the first semester. This was a 10 1/2 month program boasting a 100% first time pass rate over the past 5 years. However, nurses I know attending other programs, worked and did just fine.

www.sassyscrubs.com is my favorite. A bit pricey but custom lengths are available and the fabric selection is great. I love printed pants!