Jacobero

No, that wouldn't be it, we don't have different hospitals. We have different departments, for example, Dept of Medicine, Dept of Women's and Children, Dept of Surg At least I'm not the only one that thinks this is odd. My hospital has done a few sketchy things since I've started working there, like cutting the accrual of paid leave time (and then "giving it back") and changing the weekend track program and cutting pay of people who have been working weekend track for a while. This apparently has been going on for years, and I think it sucks. Personally, I would bail and find a new place to work, but I'm 2 months from having a baby and now is not the time. I may jump ship once I'm off of maternity leave tho.

I recently transferred from a med/surg floor to the NICU, and found out that now that I'm in the Dept of Women's and Childrens, that my shift differnetials are reduced by 10%. When I was working med/surg I would get 20% of my base rate for evening diff, and 25% for night. Now it's only 10% and 15% This wasn't explained to me when the offer was made...the only thing I got was from HR that said "NICU is offering you this job, here is your rate of pay" followed by the typical HR crap of me being a valuable member of the hospital community. This just seems wrong on many levels, but was curious if this is a common practice in other area. I am contacting the director of HR tomorrow to discuss the fact that this information wasn't presented to me when the job offer was made, something that I think should have been done. Needless to say, I'm irritated, as I turned down another position at a neighbouring facility as I didn't have all the information. Thanks everyone in advance for thier input.

Dutchgirl... Those are my thoughts exactly! I

I'm glad to hear this, as a nurse with nearly two years of adult med/surg vent expirience, it's disheartening to hear that some think that having that expirieince is a barrier to being successful in the NICU. As for the original poster, I wish that I had more constructive information for you...good luck on finding a position that meets your interests!

Yes, I was a tech at a hopsital while I was in nursing school. I feel that it helped reinforce some of the knowledge learned in school, gave me practical expirience with patients (how to deal with them!), and I would help out in any way I could, so I got to see alot (oh, you're giving blood...can I watch? What are you using on that dressing? etc)

Does it bother you? The sister of my SIL is in nursing school, graduating soon (I think) but since she started taking nursing courses, the entire family- including this girl talk like she is a nurse. It drives me insane. Yes, you are in nursing school, and this is great, but you do not have a licence to practice, you have not passed the NCLEX,you are restricted on what you can do in clinicals, and your expirience is limited to what you have seen in school. Therefore, you are not a nurse, and in fact have alot of learning to do once you do graduate. Please stop telling people and letting other tell people that you are a nurse. IMO, being a nurse is a privledge and sometimes even an honor. Many people respect nurses of our knowledge. To let someone think that you are a nurse is deceptive. Just curious if others feel the same way, or if I just have bigger issues on board

I look at it this way...the womb is pretty dark and quiet...sounds are muffled, and the predominant sound the baby in utero hears is mom's heartbeat, blood and bowel sounds. The more we can re-create that setting for a baby who really is supposed to still be in that environment, the better. I wonder if there has been any research on artifically re-creating those sounds for the premature infant and the effect on their growth and adaptation?

Well, after a couple more days I'm feeling a little bit better. Next week I start my "real" orientation - I had been between my old unit and the NICU doing a few days on both. I have the hang of doing an assessment and vitals and getting the hang of the schedule. Everyone I've oriented with thus far has been very nice; I've overheard or been around conversations where I've heard a few things. two of the three docs are exceptionally approachable and nice, one is a little standoffish, but whatever. Nurse Manager is consistently approachable. I did notice that there isn't too much intershift complaining, which is good! I hate hearing that "nights doesn't do ...." or "days just thinks they do everything...." crap It also helps that I had a great day on Friday! Helped with a discharge, and did alot of corificeat safety teaching, did some breastfeeding/pumping teaching with another mom (I'm working on my LC cert!), helped out a mom who has a baby in the NICU and was admitted to another floor with a PE with her pumping, talked to the neo's about if she needed to pump and dump etc. Two of the other nurses commented that I had alot of good breastfeeding/baby/safety knowledge! So, I'm ready to dive in! Thank you to everyone who replied....I have discovered that I really, really hate being new and that is my biggest hurdle. Off to read my Essentials of Neonatal nursing!"

Ok, I've been working in the NICU all of two weeks and I'm shocked that this is allowed to happen. This wouldn't have been permitted on my dirty-old med surg floor...for many reasons - infection, narcotics. I'd try to bring this up the chain of command, and if it goes nowhere, maybe the state DOH? Then run very far away from this place.

I replied that niether parents alcoholic, however, my mother is from an alcoholic family, and later (after I left home) developed some dependency issues. Some could argue that my father is dependant on alcohol, because he does have one beer a day on most days, but he never "had to have it" - as in if he couldn't have a beer, or when he wanted to loose weight it was not an issue for him to not have a beer. So, I guess I'm saying this was a little hard to answer completely.

We have an hour each way. I do try to combine as much as I can, like if someone is perscribed a multivitamin and the nurse before me puts it at 4pm, I might go ahead and give it with the 6 pm's as long as there is no contraindication. Or I'd just change the time on that. We have a nurse who is notorious for putting meds at really strange times, for no clinical reason.

I never timed myself, but we do walking report, and that helps a little to get a first time visual on a patient. Then, while giving 8 am meds, I listen to lungs, check how much o2 they are on (I work on an adult pulmonary) or do the vent check quick. Glance at the foley, or ask how everything is going with the voiding/bowels, ask about pain, other concerns, how the breathing is going. then look at the ankles/feet. With the adult alert patient, there's alot you can tell by looking/talking. With someone who's not alert, you'll have to spend more time assessing because you have to find the info. If it's a patent that I know that I'll need to really look at their bottom, I tell the aide to let me know when they are getting to the bath, and assess the back and bottom then. It also helps me participate in their ADL care as well, and the aides like it if nurses can take a quick moment to help with a bath too I also check/flush IV's/central lines/ports on first contact because I want to know first thing if there is a problem. The more you can combine things, the better and quicker you will be it, but it takes practice. In a few months of practice and doing these things every day, you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in a 5-10min encounter with a patient.

Thanks for adding the Ellis and Samaritan programs...I forgot about those!

I never give out my phone number. Then again, I don't think that I've ever been asked. I'm not that nice of a nurse! :) Seriously, although it hasn't come up, there are those on my unit who do have social/personal contact with pts/pts familes and I'm not comfortable doing that. The most I would do is give the number to the unit, or a company email addy.

See, that's what I've been saying on my unit since I got there!!! When I'm working on the adult pulmonary unit, people are wickedly paranoid about giving anti-hypertensives when the BP is borderline (like SBP 95-99 and asymptomatic!). It's just frustrating, and I wonder if everyone is understanding the pharmacology behind a medication like lopressor or coreg, esp in a post MI patient.