EMT-2-RN

Unfortunately during our meeting the union rep emphasized to the upper management that if they did this they would be paying us for 8hrs every check we are not working and told them it is really a tool that should be utilized for recruitment. Well a lot of help the union was... They immediately said no to the idea and said we currently have zero vacancies in acute care. I tried multiple ways to sell the idea but they still said no. They did say they were open to letting us switch to 0.9 fte and work only 6 12hr shifts but our pay would drop by 10%. So we will soon be trialing that as about half the staff on my unit are still interested. So unfortunately the 72/80 AWS was a no go for us at this time. Good luck to you guys.

I have a meeting this week with our management team, assistant chief, chief, HR, and the union to formally make a proposal for our unit to use this schedule. Will update with info afterwards and if it works I will help others if I can. Per the VA handbook if you write a formal request for an alternate work schedule, management has 20 days for a response with reasons why they will not accommodate if not and there are a list of questions they have to aknkowledge in the handbook when doing this evaluation.

They have the ability to do this as I know several units in different VA hospitals that do. It would require work on the part of HR and payroll but it's not impossible.

No you would work just like private sector 6 12 hr shifts that equal 72hrs over a pay period but per VA policy you are considered a full time 80hr employee though you are now logged for business purposes as 0.9fte

Has anyone made any headway on in acting this work schedule in your unit? I am presenting to management my units desire for this schedule next week and would appreciate any help anyone can offer. So far our argument to support such change include the following. Straight 12s would make scheduling much less of a headache. Improvement in retention and recruitment. Increase employee satisfaction. Increase in veteran continuity. of care. Less call outs as people are working 1 less shift every 2 weeks. We will be staffing the same number of beds with almost 2 less FTEs as each employee would now only count as 0.9 FTE. The VA will save money by not having to pay holiday to to those who are not actually working. If if anyone can think of other benefits to either the staff or the VA I would appreciate your input. At least we have the opportunity to voice our request. I will update on our progress after I hear back from management.

Took this as a new grad pre- and post- orrientation and scores were comparable to the above poster. Only one person scored in the 90's out of 15 after orientation and I believe I made an 86. Just passed CCRN today!!! :)

We used to get around $3/hr but get nothing now with budget cuts. This is around a 1000 bed level 1 facility.

I cant answer for Presbyterian but at CMC you should be able to ask for atleast your current rate if not a little more. Shift diff 3p-7a = $4 and W/E diff = $3. There is no on site daycare. My opinion on the Magnet status is that its not what its cracked up to be as I have worked at other magnet facilities. Benefits aren't the greatest but they aren't horrible. Multiple private parking decks with plenty of room for staff. Per diem in this area that I have seen is usually in the mid $30's/hr range. They do have a brand new fully updated children's hospital at CMC that is very nice. Hope this helps.

PRBC's, FFP, Platelets, Cryo, Whole blood, and .... the last is slipping my mind right now. I guessing that is what you are looking for.

Depends on what you want to do. If you had your EMT-P i would say def. don't let it go b/c you will regret it. If you wan't to do flight I would keep it up. I have my EMT-P and RN and won't let my medic cert go b/c there is no way I would ever go through all that training again... EMT-B cert doesnt really have much of a time investment. Its something else you could put on your resume though

Dont make this harder than it is. Remember CO = SV x HR (at this rate, the heart is beating slow enough it should not really decrease ventricular filling or SV) So the tachycardia could be due to the slight temp. or as you stated, the pt has a decreased intravascular vol. the and the elevated HR is a compensatory mechanism to increase the CO. Either way, as long as you have a normal rhythm, at this rate you would see an increase in CO, not a decrease so this would cancel out option 2.

Low dose or not, you wont find me putting any of my non-tubed pt's on propofol. There are plenty of other sedatives that dont cause the resp. compromise and do a good job.

One of my very good friends left with the peace corps just after her first year of work as an RN and she is doing just fine.

I don't date anyone who works on the same unit as I do. As you said, things can get messy. There is plenty of other people outside my unit and don't have to worry about as much drama this way.

Agree with traumaRUs