PlourdieRN

I know exactly where you are coming from! I worked as charge RN at a nursing home, followed by RN on a med/surg floor and all I want is to move my career up to critical care (but it takes so long!!). My advice is to keep applying... try cardiac floors (you'll get a bit of tele and higher acuity experience there), NICUs might interview you (they know that they'll have to do a lot of training since their patient care is SO different!), and definitely keep plugging away at your continuing education if you can... But this is my BEST advice: Apply for the float pool! - I spoke to a lot of float RNs and what they told me was exactly what I was looking for: a position that will take me to nearly every floor in the hospital so that I can not only rack up all the experience I can take, but I'll be able to make solid contacts with staff on floors I might apply to in the future. AND after a year they will train me in ACLS and orient me to the critical care units. I haven't started yet (still waiting for my start date, actually) - but I have a feeling this is going to be one of the best moves I've made for my nursing career. So don't stop trying, make contacts with nurses on other floors (and the floats!), and know that sometimes it will take a couple years to get where you want to go... but that just means you'll have more experience for it!!

Sorry OP, it really is just that busy ...especially for those nurses who work hard and care enough to do that thorough assessment, go that extra mile (instead of letting it fall to the CNA), and follow up that loose end at change of shift. Whether you have 2 patients in critical care or 40 patients in LTC, there is always more work to be done. I like to think (and my supervisors tell me) that I am a good and thorough and organized nurse... but I still routinely skip my half hour break and put off bathroom runs (15 min break? wth is that?!) and I am still struggling to get every last thing done before I clock out. My experience has been that the "lazy nurses" are the ones waiting for the minute to change over on the time clock so that they can punch out at the ends of their shifts. And yet... I wouldn't have it any other way. I love nursing, and I love a challenging shift (though I may not say it while "in the trenches"!).

Every once in awhile at my LTC facility, they have a free lunch or other food goodies for the day and evening shifts.... ...Us night shifters get the pleasure of seeing the leftover, room temperature, picked over, fruit-fly attracting food on the tables in the break room and go eat our own bag lunches.

Thank you for your insight MJB, I had also considered pushing the start date back. At this point I'm just planning ahead (and fantasizing) but I would never "cut off my nose to spite my face" - it's too important for me to risk losing a job on the chance of another! In any case, I love being a nurse - I will make wherever I end up work!! :loveya:

OK, I know this is a common topic... but bear with me, I'll try to make it different! (plus it's all theoretical at this time!) I might be offered a job on a medical floor, which I am thrilled about because I have been working LTC part time for the past year and a half and I am dying for a chance to work full time in a hospital (my ultimate goal is to work in an ICU or another acute care setting). However, in the SAME hospital, I am waiting for an offer from the oncology floor - which I think would be a more challenging environment, and a position I can see myself staying in for several years. (I don't see myself staying on the medical floor for the long haul) I know I am capable of politely resigning from the medical floor should I be offered the oncology position... but the fact that both floors are in the same hospital trips me up. Do you think I would suffer some form of backlash if I resigned from one new position to take another in the same hospital?

I'm keeping it simple here ... Why did you choose oncology? Why do you stay? :heartbeat

Hello fellow RNs! I am an RN who just finished my first year of practice as a charge nurse for the LTC and skilled units of a nursing home. I've had dreams of moving on to a med/surg hospital unit to continue my career onward to becoming an ICU nurse... but openings are still scarce and I'm getting pretty antsy to get some more acute care experience under my belt (to say nothing of needing better pay!). In my quest for positions, I came across an ad for a dialysis staff nurse for a private company. I have to admit I know very little about this field - but I imagine I would be able to further improve my assessment skills... and maybe it would be a position I would find challenging (which I love!) and would help make me a better candidate for hospital positions in the future (which I need!). I'd love to hear from some dialysis nurses here - please let me know what the job is like and how you feel about it, and whether you think it's a good move!

I picked up a pair of pants because they're so soft... but they don't feel "workable" to me, too much like pajamas so I might return them... plus they're pink, and I don't think I am actually a pink pants wearer (maybe after a few years of nursing)

I never post about work... I've seen enough postings from my coworkers that make me go "oh that was NOT smart to put up!" ...I also don't think my friends, family and coworkers care about the silly minutiae of my life!

This is my happy-dance moment! I finally got my first position as an RN!! Man, I've been waiting to say that for a long time! (For those of you still searching and praying for your opportunity to come... I graduated with my ASN in December, took NCLEX and passed March 1st, and I did not have previous hospital experience) Anyways... the position is part-time charge nurse in a veteran's home LTC unit. It isn't the field I see myself in for my career, but a start is a start and I'd rather be doing nursing than anything else! The problem is that my nursing program never had clinical experience in LTC facilities so I have no idea what to expect! I'd really appreciate it if you experienced nurses and aides could pass along some words of advice, or what I can expect so that I feel a little more prepared when I walk on the floor. How much care do residents generally need? What is expected of the charge nurse?

No one will watch those shows with me either! I can't stop pointing out what's wrong! The worst I saw was actually not a med show, it was "Criminal Minds" I think... the pt. was lying in bed in obvious respiratory distress and no one thought to even put her in High Fowler's - then when she coded the camera focuses in on her face as her doctor is lovingly stroking her face DURING the code?! While someone in the background says "paddles....CLEAR!" *zap* and that loving caress never flinched! My mother has the same trouble watching lawyer dramas, too many years in the biz :)

I can agree with both sides of the situation here, for sure! My own take was that the nurse manager should probably have taken the issue straight to the instructor for her to handle it. The student really is the instructor's responsibility, and I believe it wasn't the NM's place to correct her so sternly. (unless, of course, a patient's safety was at stake) And if I had been the student in question, I probably would have been thoroughly embarrassed and vented to the other students (and yes, maybe the instructor) but not in a manner that was tattle-tailing. Perhaps that part was overreacting on behalf of both the nursing staff AND the student disclaimer... I am a scared sh**tless student who wants only to learn as much as possible without stepping on any toes!

Going back to school for nursing is not easy.... but I feel like KNOWING that it's want I wanted in life is a great incentive to do well. When I sit up late at night worrying about money and how difficult it is for me to do school full time and work part time I never question my decision to go back to school because I believe I'm not only working towards a better career but towards something I am proud of and will make me happy in the long run. :redpinkhe *I actually feel like I complain less than the other students because I know that school is only temporary, and I'm just trying to soak up every opportunity to learn (I am in my last semester of an ADN degree, btw)* My advice, and I would give this to any friend of mine, is to start with one or two pre-requisites in the evening or weekends (or whatever your schedule allows). This way, you are working towards your goal WHILE getting used to the school environment again with the least amount of pressure. And try not to tell yourself that you can't do it because you didn't invest yourself in high school... these few years in the "real world" have already taught you how to manage bills, how to be a responsible employee and how to be an adult in general. In fact, my experience has been that nursing school admissions offices appreciate applicants who have done some time outside of school and therefore have more incentive to work hard to pass the program. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you aren't afraid to take the plunge!

Try breaking up the study sessions... after you finish a section (say, 30 minutes straight studying) get up and walk around, stretch or do a small task for five minutes. I find this maintains my focus by allowing myself to step away from the subject for a moment while getting some blood back into the muscles. Maybe after you write out some note cards, review them while walking around instead of staying at your desk. I'm also a huge fan of yoga for overall strengthening and flexibility, you don't need to go to a class... there are plenty of good yoga DVDs with different lengths of routines on them.

Up until now I've been trying to keep an open mind and experience as many fields of nursing before I decide which direction I want to go... and then I spent my clinical day in the OR for observation :redbeathe I LOVED the seamless teamwork and fascinating procedures! I realize that it's not bedside nursing... and a small part of me thinks that I should "do my time" in a field like med/surg, but I can't help but think that the OR is so much more exciting and interesting. I think I'm afraid that I'm going to lose my "skills" of bedside patient care if I go into the OR. I used to be an EMT and I feel like I would enjoy critical care like in ICUs, or lots of diversity and thinking-on-your-feet like in the ER... so I was surprised by my excitement with the OR what kind of people do well in this field? What would you guys say is the down-side to the OR? which do you love more: circulating or scrub nurse?