ROSYJO11

Hi everyone, it's been such a long time since I've changed jobs that I've never had to go through the formal application process before. I've always just been given a job based on my qualifiications. The last 26 years I've been nursing in hospitals in the wards (I was hospital trained), the last 13years I've worked in the private sector in a surgical ward. I am trying to respond to key selection criteria, (for a casual pool at public hospital) and I understand I need to give examples to show I achieve the points listed but I have gone utterly mindblank. It's like asking what my favourite movie is and all of a sudden I cant remember a single one! I really do not know the best way to respond that will get me to an interview. I would love some ideas here if anyone is able to help :) I'm not sure how to make the answers specific. 1. demonstrated knowledge of contemporary nursing practice within an inpatient unit and the ability to apply sound professional judgement to appropriately manage patient-centred care requirements. 2. demonstrated ability to communicate professionally and effectively across the health continuum supporting positive organizational behaviours and relationships. 3. Demonstrated self-management and self-organizational skills, including problem solving skills and professional engagement in change management to achieve organizational goals. 4. Demonstrated beginning to comprehensive knowledge of information management tools including demonstrated ability to use patient and staff information systems appropriate to the position (is this explaining the computer programs I use at work?) 5. Maintains a professional development profile and facilitates an environment that encourages life long learning, mentoring and support for colleagues 6. Commitment to quality and safety processes , and evidence-informed practices. Thankyou in advance :)

Hi, I hear what you are saying but it doesnt apply here. I wont go into details cause it will be too long a post but to try and cut a long story short we were prepared for his death cause he's talked about since his first heart attack in 1978 and has always been very open about dying, also he was elderly and we could see the gradual decline in his general health. He wasnt given the benefit of IV fluids and apart from a few days not even IVAB's. We watched the cellulitis creep from below his knee to above his groin due to lack of IVAB treatment. The lasix was given for the swelling in the cellulitic leg but then not monitored. They only stopped giving him the lasix when he was no longer able to swallow (due to the deterioration). He was not diabetic or frail or tiny. He walked into the hospital well nourished, hydrated, laughing and joking. I wont go into more detail as it's pointless. I knew him and I know my nursing. It was negligence plain and simple. It was something like I've never witnessed before and other RNs that I've since spoken to with the details have been mortified it happened the way it did. I just dont feel like sitting here and listing the details one after another. But I wouldnt be distressed if it was a natural course of events. Grief is a little harder to handle when it's coupled with injustice I think. Anyway, I'm ready to return to my place of work and wont know how I go until I give it a try. I'll just have to harden up and get on with things. I'm stuck there really as due to the work injury last year which involved my back I can guarantee I will be refused employment elsewhere as I had a similar situation 17yrs ago. Once you have a back injury on your application form, especially with Workcover, then your just seen as a liability and not employed. You have to declare it. And if you dont and you then require Workcover you can be refused the Workcover as you didnt declare on employement. Thanks again everyone, I'm sure I'll do OK, was just hoping to find some fantastic infomercial worthy ideas on how to cope with things when I get back to it :) Learn2Nurse - your post gave me a lot to think about, thankyou.

thankyou all for your words of support. Learn2nurse, I cant even begin to imagine how much you and your family's hearts are breaking. How you managed to work in that area and get through your shift is astounding. I finally summoned up the courage to enter 'that' ward before I took my time off work (I worked about three weeks before leaving)and the smell of the ward hit me and brought back memories that were so sad I just couldnt wait to get out of there. For me it's not so much the death itself that has been hard to comprehend as we were well prepared for his death for many years. It was the trauma leading up to it and being witness to it day after day, it was very distressing for us watching his dramatic decline- the nurses didnt seem to be concerned by it at all. Deep down I know I need to go work elsewhere and yes a Coroner's inquest should be opened but it wont be. The problem is if I work elsewhere then it will be full working hours (only in a country city - no agency work here even) and then the younger two kids will need to find after or before school care and lose out on afternoon activities. My older kids wont be able to do their afterschool work as I wont be there to drive them to it. Would mean a whole lot of big changes for the kids. Guess I'll just go back to work and play it by ear. Time heals all wounds I spose. Learn2Nurse I hope you do OK, your grief far outweighs mine by a long shot. Be careful not to fall into the trap of having to be strong 100% of the time. I think that was one of my faults and the result was I was absolutely thrown when all of a sudden I just couldnt. In my heart it felt like failure even though my head knew it wasnt.

Hi all, recently my father was a patient in the hospital where I work. It's a small hospital so whilst he wasnt in my ward, he was in the ward next door and I know the staff there as well as they know me. He came in with cellulitis and confusion and was so badly treated he died 3 weeks later after massive sedation stopped him from eating/drinking for over a week then sheer physical exhaustion from the infection (which was only occasionally treated with IVABs) and no intake had him just too weak to even open his mouth so another week of nearly no intake, being overdosed on mass lasix daily (I wasnt aware of this until 'after'), no DVT prevention and the list goes on and on. He withered away to just a shell, was unconcious or barely concious most of the time and in the end I guess he had a CVA or PE, he was in the fetal position with no gag reflex or pupil reaction etc etc Watching him deteriorate was the most traumatic experience of my life. Seeing what it was doing to my mother and my children was heartbreaking. I've been nursing for 20years, this death was completely preventable. I was so gutted and ashamed that it happened at my own place of work. It has scared my mother off ever being a patient there. Knowing it was my colleages that continued to give drugs they should have withheld, not maintaining the most basics of nursing care, not even trying to solve the problems but just accepting them and treating him as a palliative pt which he was not, each and every one of them was negligent in their care and some of them were just so uncompassionate and mean. And that's not even including the Dr's flaws in this situation. I tried to go back to work after a week but found myself avoiding that area of the hospital and any area like the dining hall as I just didnt want to face those that I held responsible. I know that part of the problem was the ward he was put in, they really are a pack of zombies there that are a discredit to the nursing profession. I was also upset at the lack of help I got from the heirachy throughout the process when I tried to get help and bring the problems to their attention. I have since taken 7 weeks off work (as this was the straw that broke the camels back as far as my mental health was concerned after a difficult 12 months with a work related injury) and am due to return next week. I would appreciate some advice on how to move on with this and continue to work in this hospital. I'm in an awkward situation as I am single with four kids and they have always allowed me to work school hours so changing workplaces means losing those hours. I like my own ward and my own staff as we have a very different work ethic so I am happy to go back to my 'area' but I know I cant continue to avoid the rest of the place. Just not sure how to get over it and move on and confronting those concerned is not an option. (did discuss it all with the ADON however) thanks

i also gotta say though, leaving three teenagers home alone unsupervised at night? I supervised my babies for safety, I supervise my primary school aged children for safety, when they are teenagers I will continue to supervise them - for safety. Yep, it means my work hours and my pay packet are heavily sacrificed but it's still a small price to pay for four healthy safe children reaching adulthood. Definitely wouldnt want teenagers unsupervised in the hours of darkness! My teenage years are just too clear in my mind still cheers, Jo

Is meningococcal not a problem in the US? Death can come in hours! Those symptoms and a call from my children (yours must have grown up well educated in matters of health and first aid considering the careers of the parents), would be enough to make me want to hightail it home or taxi the child to me. My actions would have resembled your own, it seems you did a lot to enable the hospital to cope in your abscense, you only left one hour early after all. Perhaps it was your supervisor that failed to provide patient care? You didnt just walk out the back door unannounced. You notified her of a potential staffing issue and she chose not to act. I couldnt stand working in an establishment that treats me like a packhorse and nothing else. Perhaps you could find somewhere that values you as a person not just a worker bee. Jo thank the lord I dont work in the US

Well, this may sound like a cliche but it is still very true. Your kids are only young once, enjoy them while you can. It wont be long before they hit school and bless you with their independence and attitude, then the teenage years when they are not your best friend by any stretch of the imagination. Your grumping at them will be echoed by their backchatting to you. You will realise then how beautiful the younguns really are. If this studying is causing you to resent your kids instead of enjoy them then hold off on the studying or reduce the load. Seriously. Mothering IS your most important job right now. Studying will become a LOT easier when they get older. You may obtain a degree with your current load but at what cost? Stress, anger, resentment, misbehaving children who are acting out due to all the above and making the problem even bigger? I am a single mother of four. I am lucky in that I achieved my nursing degree before I had children however I did return to Uni when the youngest was 17months old (the oldest was 8.5yrs) and I couldnt do it. Couldnt even open a book till 9pm then fell asleep reading it. I was working 3 days a week, studying, running a household, taking the older two kids to and from school each day. The stress that was lifted the moment I deferred the study was like taking a long overdue holiday. For me, it just wasnt worth it at that time to continue. I just didnt want to be so stressed. It wasnt fair on the kids who copped a mother who was tired, cranky, irritable and time obsessed. It has been 5 years since then and looking back at how little and adorable they all were I am so glad I deferred. My youngest is now 6 and my oldest 13. They are all in school. They are all VERY DIFFERENT children now. So as I suggested, defer your studies or reduce the load and ENJOY your babies. They lose their innocence too soon. The sun will still rise tomorrow and you can get the qualifications you want but at a time that best SUITS you. Another way to look at for you to see how you are doing is this. If you were paying a lady to babysit your children, what would you expect her to be doing with your kids throughout the day? Now, do you do it? Do you do what you would expect others to do? Would you be upset if she spent the day trying to study and just plonked the kids in front of the TV or asked for ideas on how to keep them out of her hair whilst she got on with her stuff? I'm not having a go at you, just trying to let you see what you are missing and maybe that the study, whilst important and noble, isnt as important as what you are trying to avoid. Good luck, Jo p.s. it's not failing or giving up, to defer, reduce or stop your study. It is brave and it does take a lot of courage and it does mean letting go of your immediate goal. But it's not forever.

that's a good ratio. I am in a 26 bed surg ward. M - 1:5 on a blessed day, 1:12 on a bad day or any number in between. L - 1:7 to 1:9 depending if it is a TURP day N- 1-13 or one extra staff for a TURP day Only downside is when the ratios consist of support staff or new ENs cause that means the RN's are spread thin. In QLD En's are restricted in practise compared to other states so the RN's are required to do some of the EN"s workload, if needed. So my ratio on a day shift might be 1:10 with a support staff assigned to help me. Oh the lovely TREND base system, who ever invented it needs a reality check. jo

The Royal Brisbane Hospital is the largest in the southern hemisphere. Brisbane is in the state of Queensland and is the cheapest of all capitol cities I believe and the weather is the best of them all. You will be close to major tourist attractions, including the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Lots of young people and nursing agencies. Oxley nursing and Queenstate nursing agency were two that I used to work for. Airfares to Sydney are cheap from Brisbane should you want to jump on a plane for the weekend to sightsee, it's a 45min flight. Perth is on the other side of Australia and a long way away from everywhere so if you go there to work you may find your options restricted to just Perth. Hope this helps. Jo

i've been nursing since 1990 and I've never heard a doctor/surgeon been referred to as a Mr or Mrs! All doctors/surgeons/anaesthetists/consultants I have ever worked with have been referred to as Dr. In a range of hospitals, small/large/public/private but all in QLD jo

Have a look at this one, it employs from the UK and has recruitment there at the moment. http://www.fsph.org.au/jobs.php3 cheers, Jo

hehe, just emailed that one on to my pregnant friend :)

Your job is to observe the signs, treat the symptoms. This attitude of 'is she faking'? shouldnt be a major concern to you, the school nurse. Is it any skin off your nose if she is faking? I'm sorry, but I hate that attitude. My own daughter also went to her school nurse on three occasions in one day and each time was sent back to class. When I picked her up I found her standing in the middle of the school yard with her tears hitting the grass because her ear was SO SORE. I took her straight to the doctor who said her ear was badly infected. I also tore strips off the school nurse and admin staff who made the decision that she was fine despite her continual complaints. A child arrives to you with a genuine complaint, assess the child, call the parents, let them worry about the faking. You just need to assess the child and notify. And no, I don't believe she faked her fever, or the vomiting. And I don't believe this post belongs on this thread.

a common one I use on the post ops when moving them or changing a dressing or other such thing, ' Does that hurt?' pt replies "no", I say, "Hmmmn, I"ll have to try harder then"

pre-op checklist - do you have anything in you that you werent born with? ( asking about prosthesis, lenses, pacemaker, artificial bits and pieces)