RNDude1

I just returned from Northern California where I completed my first travel assignment working the one-day labor action on Sept. 22. My question: How do you fine travelers put such an experience on your resume? Here is what I have thus far: "As an RN for U.S. Nursing, I traveled to Northern California to help mitigate a strike lockout at a Kaiser Permanente facility in Sacramento. For one week I adapted to a new environment with different procedures to promote positive patient outcomes during a difficult labor action." What do you think? Too much? Too little? Forget the experience all together?

Ditch the special app. Just create an ICE entry in your contacts with the needed information. Most EMS folks can work the popular phone models.

AL7139, to help with organization make yourself a "brain sheet," just a sheet for each shift with boxes and lines that separate your rooms. you can make notes on it to make it easier to remember who's who. You can design it however works best for you. It saved me in the early days when I would give report and couldn't remember the specifics of each patient.

Admittedly, there are some lame professional organizations that seem as though they are selling memberships more than aiding the profession. The ENA is not one of those. I believe the journal alone is worth the monthly fee--it's simply the best magazine of its kind. As a previous poster said, the discounts on classes and certifications will also pay the yearly dues. Join. You won't regret it. Ever.

I would second the previous suggestion that "Fast Facts for the ER Nurse: Emergency Room Orientation in a Nutshell" is an exellent choice. It is easily carried in its smaller, paperback form; it contains "Fast Facts in a Nutshell" summary boxes at the end of every diagonosis discussion; and includes a chapter on surviving the emergency room environment. An added plus is that Amazon offers the book in Kindle format. That means you can download the free Kindle app to most phones or pads and carry the digitized version of the book more easily--the way God intended books to be read!

"On the subject of computerized drug books, you'll want one that has IV compatibility checking built in. Mine has saved me dozens of phone calls to the pharmacy" How true. I would suggest "Skyscape." It combines the Davis Drug Guide and a neat compatability tool in a great interface for most phones, PDAs, and Blackberry devices.

Despite the saying, a follow-up email "is a second chance to make a first impression!"

I always do it. It reinforces your continued interest in the job and establishes yourself as a respectful person--one the interviewer would like to have on their team. Most importantly, in the text you can also "revisit" some areas of the interview you thought were weak, or that you feel you may not have confronted adequately (we all have those regrets post-interview).

SCDs distroyed the "hospital corner."

I graduated nine months ago after a long career in both radio and print journalism. I chose nursing for the career reliability it offered and because I wanted to help people. Would I choose nursing again? Probably not. For the first time in my life, I'm working "a job." Not a career I feel good about, or take pleasure in partaking in. I desparately miss my J-job. I wonder: how many new grads are disillusioned after meeting the "real" world?

PICCs are the only thing I see hep-locked these days.

While many non-medical companies slave their milage pay to the government standard (about 50 cents/mile), I have found that home health companies don't--and they are slow to raise their milage pay to compensate for fuel cost increases. My company pays 34 cents/mile, which is far below that government standard and increasing pathetic when factored in with last week's 24 cent/gallon increase in gasoline costs. I know there are many that would do any healthcare job at this trying time. But most of us need a decent pay check. In my experience, the $27/visit didn't compensate sufficiently for car maintainance and the several hours each night I would spend on paperwork. I bailed back to a bedside gig.

I, too, came here from California. I agree that the pay out west is much better, but so is the grief related to a powerful union controlling your profession. The CNA is the second strongest union in California, and I often felt like the forced strikes that nurses are forced to take part in damages both the profession and my pocketbook. That rant aside, Duke on your resume would be a great filler (I have UCDMC on mine!).. Try it, you might like it! Training hospitals are the best and nurses frequently feel they have much more autonomy in them. I envy you! :monkeydance:

How is the Yuba program these days? I started in about 2004 (I've since graduated from another program in another state) and the program was so horrible. I can't tell you how many people got tossed because a few instructors with emotional problems didn't "like" the student. The cellar-residing passing rate was a reflection of this reality. I've wondered if any corrections was made.

I feel--and remember--your pain. Only those of us that have endured the trial, that is nursing school, can understand. Keep the faith! The "trick" works with 99 percent accuracy (the 1 percent being those whose results are manually pulled for some unusual reason). Take faith in the trick. Take faith that even if the worse happens, you will retake and pass in 30-days (or 45-days in some states). It's NOT the end of your world!

ABSOLUTELY it works! DO IT NOW! I used it, people in my class that failed the first time used it twice and say it works in both instances. I had an instructor tell me one day all of her students have used it and there have been no false (negative or positive) results. That's just dumb that you have to wait so long--the results were calculated before you left your chair. It makes me mad that these states delay so long and then want to charge you for expidited results.

I'm filing an application at Rowan hospital in Salisbury on their telemetry unit. I was told a large number of nurses left the unit recently. Does anyone know the full story BEFORE I get embroiled in a bad situation?

Both my wife and I use Skyscape for our Blackberry phones. Through their portal you can purchase Davis' Drug Guide and dozens of other applications, plus you'll receive a lot of free apps too. We've never had a problem or complaint with the software or applications. They are very readable, fast to load, and tout great functionality. Believe me, my wife is a full-time nursing instructor, so we've tried several--Skyscape is the best. They are available for all smart phones and many other platforms too (iPad, Kindle, etc.). Check them out at http://www.skyscape.com.

Get your ACLS. It's not too hard, offered at most facilities, and will provide you with a broad swath of job opportunities from telemetry floors to critical care. Best of luck!

Seriously, I have only been in a Hooters twice, but I was very impressed by the quality of training the girls have received pertaining to customer attention and care--a quality that translates to bedside. All of the waitresses I met were very articulate and I found myself thinking at the time how valuable their acquired skills would be to whatever future endeaver they chose. There is a mythology about Hooters that the restaurant is just a hairs-width from being a stripper bar. As with anything else in life, you can't worry about what the ignorant will think. Go for it!!

I started as a new grad in home health, but my company (Gentiva) gave me orientation. How could they not?? I stayed for nearly eight months before I became concerned that the lack of exposure to certain skill-sets would restict me from bedside forever--I worked too hard in nursing school to let that happen. So I bailed; please consider a PRN bedside position if you do accept the HH gig. Here are some questions to consider: 1. What are the productivity expectations as a new grad but also after you have been there for a year? 2. What is the expectation of you when they become short staffed? 3. What continuing education do they offer? 4. When will they begin using point-of-care documentation (using laptops)? 5. Is your pay based on # pts seen or are you salary (may lead to highly fluctuating paychecks!)? 6. Ask about the performance improvement plan. 7. Ask about the support you can expect if you are asked to perform a procedure that you are not comfortable with (you don't want them to require you to go alone and perform nor do you want to be penalized for asking for help). 8. Is the company bringing LPNs into the company also (limits RN visits--and $$)? I will add, as with bedside, your home health coworkers may tend to "eat their young." This is especially acute if a few of them feel that fresh grads should not be hired into home health. You might have to gird your loins, so to speak.

I started as a new grad in home health, but my company (Gentiva) gave me orientation. How could they not?? I stayed for nearly eight months before I became concerned that the lack of exposure to certain skill-sets would restict me from bedside forever--I worked too hard in nursing school to let that happen. So I bailed; please consider a PRN bedside position if you do accept the HH gig. Here are some questions to consider: 1. What are the productivity expectations as a new grad but also after you have been there for a year? 2. What is the expectation of you when they become short staffed? 3. What continuing education do they offer? 4. When will they begin using point-of-care documentation (using laptops)? 5. Is your pay based on # pts seen or are you salary (may lead to highly fluctuating paychecks!)? 6. Ask about the performance improvement plan. 7. Ask about the support you can expect if you are asked to perform a procedure that you are not comfortable with (you don't want them to require you to go alone and perform nor do you want to be penalized for asking for help). 8. Is the company bringing LPNs into the company also (limits RN visits--and $$)?

I started as a new grad in home health, but my company (Gentiva) gave me orientation. How could they not?? I stayed for nearly eight months before I became concerned that the lack of exposure to certain skill-sets would restict me from bedside forever--I worked too hard in nursing school to let that happen. So I bailed; please consider a PRN bedside position if you do accept the HH gig. Here are some questions to consider: 1. What are the productivity expectations as a new grad but also after you have been there for a year? 2. What is the expectation of you when they become short staffed? 3. What continuing education do they offer? 4. When will they begin using point-of-care documentation (using laptops)? 5. Is your pay based on # pts seen or are you salary (may lead to highly fluctuating paychecks!)? 6. Ask about the performance improvement plan. 7. Ask about the support you can expect if you are asked to perform a procedure that you are not comfortable with (you don't want them to require you to go alone and perform nor do you want to be penalized for asking for help). 8. Is the company bringing LPNs into the company also (limits RN visits--and $$)?

Where are you located? The BSN seems like a good idea--hey, what have you got to lose?