buddhak0n

Just a novel concept.... Let's make the Nursing and medical profession the same as like any other "business" profession.. you know like one where if you don't complete the project, or close the sale, or build the boat, or roof the condo... you don't get paid..... and then we'll see how many frivolous lawsuits pelter us daily in the newspapers. "Discrimination" is much too harsh a word. I have worked as a male in a female dominated environment and I took notice of the fact that most of the other people working were women and that numerous things which I previously had not taken notice had to be accounted for... Other than that , I experienced absolutely no "discrimination" ... Most people are what they are... If they are going to be unhelpful, they'll do so regardless of gender... If they are going to be obtuse, they'll do so even if you're a genderless carrot... Frankly I've found people in the "nursing" field radiate a sort of impending doom complacency as if they are always concerned about liability which considering the legal climate the last 20 years.. they probably are... I'm planning on enrolling in my actual RN licensure course of study soon.. My prior experience was as a Lab Tech in a major public health care facility with which I had a daily interaction with the nursing staff during rounds and blood collection.. Never had a problem with anyone regardless of gender. Did notice some excessively "other people's business" interested parties who happened to be female at THIS facility but I'm sure that's not a personality trait exclusive to women.... Go around enough places and you'll find plenty of men who just have to know what EVERYONE else is doing regardless of whether they are actually doing their own task at hand

Hey it's just my two cents but take the FASTEST path to a RN which would be the ADN program and THEN after you get yourself in the door of a Hospital or whatever facility you wish to work.. MOST of them have continuing Education programs whereby if you work there they will PAY to complete your education.. So the question is do you want to go back to school and just study for two more years , in which case you'll probably never want to actually work in the field .... or do you want to get a job and WORK? Just my two cents not meant to be anything but what it is... an opinion

I say this with 100% certainty, there is not a true "nursing" shortage... if there were why would there be "Per Diem" nurses and Nurse managers and "agency" nurses.. If there truly were not enough nurses to care for a community or any private hospital's patient necessities, why wouldn't all these people be fully employed? Sorry it's the business person in me that sets off this glowing Neon sign .. There is however a burgeoning Nurse "reeducation" business ... LOL.. Hey maybe it's me but my mama and papa told me a long time ago, when you see a Horse you don't call it a Pig because you think it's cute... It's still a Horse lol. And as far as the overwhelming compassion part, I realize that much of this comes from being terribly overworked but there's a group out there and we all know they exist who are anything BUT ... . I think I should become a Brain Surgeon and then try to operate on my own brain for even considering doing something like this... LOL .. sorry I had to throw that in there for the person you wanted to tell me they were a Navy Captain who thought I was intellectually too big for my britches.. Which I am, but everybody has their faults.... Excuse me, I'm really good at taking tests... it's got nothing to do with patient care but I could test out of all kinds of things and that would cut down on some of this and I MOST Certainly am not retaking my basic core Pre Req's.. And I most certainly would consider about 70% of the course work to be remedial reading... sorry that's the truth. Never in a million years am I retaking basic Chem or anything of that Ilk... lol .

See that's what I COMPLETELY Do not get...... How can any course be TOO OLD? They should have to under federal law give you the opportunity to test your proficiency in any subject area before uniformly declaring a prerequisite as "too old" ... Under the current rules a Molecular Biologist who worked for Wyeth for the past 20 years would have a hard time proving that he passed Anatomy and Phys... It's ludicrous.

I'm not lacking compassion for those that are sick or injured. I'm questioning more the "necessity" of certain educational requirements as barriers to entry into the field. The two are quite distinct. Sorry you felt it was disrespectful but seriously from strictly an "educational" requirement standpoint.. some of the reactions are laughable. I'm not saying you shouldn't have to receive training to become a RN. I'm saying that some of the "classroom" training, if you have prior experience in those subject areas, should have an alternative method for receiving credit because after all any of your true patient care skills are MOST likely to be developed during your time with patients.... Not to say that there aren't certain BASICS you should possess before being allowed in... there are but I'm sorry somebody telling me I have to retake a Chemistry 101 course when I could pass any final administered by any Chem Prof in any undergrad college in this state including Princeton with a two to three hour review is downright laughable. Sorry but the two are completely unrelated... how someone treats their patients and their intellectual prowess have nothing to do with one another.. Sorry there's nothing wrong with someone thinking that somebody telling you to retake your basic science courses in order to get a degree in another field does not smell like a thorough education designed to ensure the highest quality patient care.. It smells like another reason to rechurn more credit fees into the local school which is EXACTLY what it is.... I stayed at my old job for the past 4 years before making this type of move because they tried to tell me I had to do the same thing and , Excuse me I wasn't willing to give up a given 200 + k , for a oh let's send you back to school where you're broke so you can retake the same stuff you memorized at 16... And I'm most definitely not considering entering the profession for fiscal or monetary reasons... I don't need the money and I don't need the heartaches or stress... I'm sorry if I flamed a bit too much and came off way off base which it was because at the time.. I was laughing at what someone at the local Community college had told me; Sorry it spilled over ... I think I've got a way to get this done without having to do it "THAT" way exactly so I'm all better now.. Please excuse my mild psychosis whilst I figured out a way to get the "papers" that will let me get on with what I'd like to do. Yes it was disrespectful in some ways, but telling me that I have to retake certain basic chem and biology courses is ludicrous.

LOL someone after my own heart

originally posted by waques1984 i heard this story from a friend of mine, who is also a fellow nursing student but from another university. one night, while they were on a night shift, a 9-year-old female child unfortunately died in the pedia ward. my friend was the one assigned to perform post-mortem care to the said patient. so there he was, cleaning the patient's body and all. he placed a red bracelet in the patient's right hand, as it was the policy of the hospital to place a red tag on the right hand of all patients who are pronounced dead. after performing his tasks, he was on his way to the elevator when suddenly, the little girl came running after him! terrified, he quickly pushed the close button so that the elevator would close right away and bring him to safety down to the lower floor. while inside the elevator, an old woman in hospital gown asked him why he closed the elevator door right away when a child wanted to board in. still overwhelmed with fear, he explained to the old lady "that was the child that i just performed post-mortem care a while ago. she is already dead. did you saw the red tag on her right arm? that is the mark for all dead patients here in this hospital..." the old woman raised her right arm and replied... "similar to this?" my friend was found unconcious inside the elevator a few moments later. he never stepped inside the said hospital again. ever. no honking way!!!!!!!! now that's a good one..... you'll make quite an author some day

This is one of my favorites... LOL.. sorry too many of these stories seem "concocted" for their shock value.. I'm sure there's one or two that have some basis other than the overworked, impressionable brain here or there but not many.

Wow I wonder why they call you "scarymary" ... I could never GUESS why ... LOL

Okie dokie and the Okiefenokie.... Do the Hippa Hippie shake and catch me on the down low with lingo Jay Ko......

I believe they call them Generation "Y" but I think the Disciples of "Tattoo" is more appropriate. Sorry but WAY off topic is my speicality... I'm sure they have better names than that but there's a couple.

Sometimes that's just one personality... I'm doing a clinical at the local County Hospital hoping to work there at the end of the "trial" or "training" period... and during that time I get to meet everyone I could be working alongside... Some people will explain things slowly and be as helpful as possible... Other people will try to mess with your head and point out things that are terminable offenses.. Heck I've even had someone be both people all in the span of a few days... It's the same thing when you start working somewhere... Some people will have tunnel vision and concentrate only on the task at hand.. Other people will be all over the place and still get the job done. Some people will only care about doing their work. Others will only care about what "EVERYBODY" else's work IS and not worry about what THEY should be doing.. You never know who you are dealing with on what day...... I wouldn't judge a job off of how the person was during that short period but if it was that offensive.. that's your call.. It's like anything... it's your choice... But meeting someone who behaved like that in a hospital or health care facility to me wasn't all that surprising especially in a place that tends to have high turnover.. They probably dont' "invest" anything friendly in new hires until they see whether or not you'll be sticking around for longer than the 2 day orientation .. Just my two cents.

I would ask for a Short term or if necessary a LONGER term Leave of Absence.... Be upfront about what your issues may or may not be.. If it's something you'd rather not discuss then say so.. H.R. at most places will be accomodating so long as you are upfront and honest with THEM.

I'm not trying to "attack" you just let you know what I think and I just thought you were wasting a whole lot of time on what everybody ELSE thinks about YOU. I would support you in whatever you do.. sure... but you've got to move beyond what other people's stereotypes may or may not be about a situation.... To me, sure things in life can be competitive but it's really not about competing or one upmanship in this arena... It's about caring for your patients... Hey I'm a guy too and I guess all I'm saying is don't sweat what you perceive to be other people's respect or disrespect... most of the time it's just misperception... other times it doesn't really matter so long AS YOU are happy.

I actually completely AGREE with you although you may not think so. What I'm saying is that the educational REQUIREMENTS are simply a bare minimum to entry into the profession. The true test of whether a nurse or any practitioner for that matter is any good comes from actual practice... I would be the last person to say that a "nurse" who has 25 years of actual bedside experience who lacks a Bachelor's degree does not know just a LITTLE bit more than a college kid with a shiny piece of paper. I don't think new "nurses" can be truly educated in the classroom at ALL.. And for that reason I find some of the circuitous "waiting" list programs with some of their supposed necessary "training" silly... I would think the best training anyone could receive would be facility based with real patients and real doctors in real medicine... Sure unfortunately practical matters don't allow that EVERY single person who wants to pursue a degree of some sort ACTUALLY train with a live case... But without hands on training, working in a health care facility solely on the basis of what I read in my book, would be akin to somebody trying to fix leer jets with the product owner's manual. I guess what I'm saying is the doctors and experienced nurses are there for a reason and if there were a true Nursing Shortage as opposed to a burgeoning Nurse education business.... why would hospitals routinely have a long list of Per diem on call nurses .. Oh and as far as "nurse's aides" go don't even waste your time with some of these agencies if you actually need somebody to show up regularly... I've been bouncing around with one of these agencies for about 3 months now trying to get somebody to show up for something as simple as checking on an elderly woman who recently broke her hip. But if I went by my local county hospital, it would be overflowing with station after station of people who feel disrespected and are tremendously conscious of legal matters... --- And it's not their fault.. It's a horrible state of affairs in some ways. Some of the nursing shortage storyline is just a bit "exaggerated" in my not so humble opinion. If the basic educational components were so important, how come state boards of nursing routinely allow foreign students to simply test into certification? Just my two cents... Everyone has opinions.. we know how that goes.