wendyh

I've been working as an independent RN for more than 2 years and I'm loving it. It's so nice to be able to do a great job. In hospital nursing I so often felt at the end of the day that I had failed so many of my patients by not having the necessary time to meet their needs to my standards. My standards would be how I would like to be cared for myself! A dificult aspect for me has been keeping up on licensure, CPR, hippa, certifications etc. on my own. There's no hospital dept. making sure I get CPR redone every two years. I'll tell ya, those years go by so fast. It's harder to keep up on that stuff then I ever thought it would be. I'm a much better nurse then a clerical person! Good luck to you, Wendy

help! anyone have experience with an inadvertantly lapsed RN license? Two years ago my license lapsed for about 40 days before I sent the check in. I'm an independent RN working for vent patients in their homes and I'm paid by the state. Now, the state wants a large bucket of money back from me for the dates that I worked during that period. I know that professional licensing is important, but really, at this point it's a clerical matter of sending in the check. I'm a skilled and valued member of the nursing team today and on those days in question, check in the mail or not. Anything like this happen to other nurses? Any advice for me? I'll be sitting here with my computer waiting to hear. Thanks, Wendyh

Hey Trudy, I'll keep you and your neice in my prayers. I happen to have 3 kids with an unusual metabolic disorder that acts alot like CP. It's not as bleak as it seems right now. Oh yeah, there are really hard times and ones faith and relationships can get strained. But as glib as it sounds, these really are times of personal growth. I'm not saying that I wouldn't prefer that my kids not have such big challenges, but life remains good. So much depends on the particular disability. Often, kids with CP have predominantly physical issues - easier to get services for as adults. Two of my kids are non verbal which makes long term independence daunting. The first thing to remember is that medical and educational personnel do not always know more then the parents! Your neice must become a health care consumer and actively search for professionals that she trusts and can communicate with. We have become very close with our docs and they often defer to me on issues. Egomaniac professionals, however qualified, are very hard to work with. Insurance issues consumed much of my time in those first years of multiple therapies. Never take the insurance company's first response. I never get nasty, but I am persistent. Early record keeping is of paramount importance. I have a CD at home that is very helpful. I'll try to get the info to you. My medical records fill a credenza! Not efficient. I'm trying to get it all on my computer now. Give your neice a nice computer for Christmas! My kids had lots of seizures when they were young so child care was problematic. At that time, our insurance was thru my work at the hospital so I had to maintain at least .5 status. That's when I was forced to count on family. Now, in my community, there are many more skilled child care options connected to the Children's Hospital. Have your neice look into your state's T-19 or medicaid funding for sick kids. It's a daunting application process but extremely helpful. My other standard advice is to get involved with support groups. For two reasons, the first and most important is for networking. Other parents know the most about the system and the spec. needs community. I've learned the really important things from other parents. Of course, the mental health benefits are also huge in support groups. There are gajillions of conferences and seminars that are also good places for networking and information compiling. I'm not a good resource for sibling issues as I don't have any typically devoloping kids, but my general sence is that if handled well, sibs of special needs kids are often amazing people. Statistically, over 80% of the siblings enter the helping professions. There are lots of good books regarding how to minimize the stress on siblings. They're not gonna get as much of the attention as the special needs kid, that's just a fact. I can't remember the other questions. Hope I've been helpful. Wendy

independent nursing may just be for you. I worked for many years in a hospital setting where I constantly felt the need to be in 5 places at once. Eventually, I became unhappy with feeling that I was failing my patients. I was unable to be the kind of caring and compassionate nurse that I wanted to be since I was always needed elsewhere and unable to get to my patients as quickly as I wanted to. I would often stay hours after my shift just to 'be with' the folks that I felt had needed more from me. As an independent RN I focus entirely on my one patient and I feel great about being able to meet their needs each and every time I'm there. I work with vent patients so I'm still busy, but once again, I feel like I'm making a difference in a patient's life. Another nice thing about independent nursing is, you could maintain a hospital job and also take on an independent case once a week or so. Good luck!

I'm an independent RN and work for two different clients who recieve funding from the state. My checks come from the state of Wisconsin. Almost 2 years ago I inadvertantly let my license lapse for a month. I had been working during that time. I just got a letter in the mail from the state demanding that I send them a check for the 5 grand that I earned during that time. Wow. It was my mistake, but in my mind, it's simply a clerical error and I worked hard that month. Anyone have any perspective for me on this one? At the very least, let this be a learning moment for anyone else working independently. Perhaps I can help another nurse who became complacant about licensure, CPR and other certification after working for many years in a facility which always kept their eyes on those things!