RN0707

Hi I have been a nurse for 9 months and have job interview for L&D and feel like I know nothing!!!! have you found they teach new grads well in L&D? I havent put an IV in in over 4 months and only have 5 months med surg exp and 4 months psych not exactly bringing much exp with me! I was told I would get a 12 week orientation being crossed trained in mother baby. does that sound correct do any of the exp nurses have suggestions?? i would really like to get the job but will i be a safe nurse??? will i be able to learn enough in that time? anyone have suggestions??? Anyone start out in L&D as a new grad?? I had origanly applied for special care nursery but was called back and aksed if I would interview for L&D which means I would be able to train for NICU after a year too! I am not even sure how I feel becuse I had given up on this hospital because its been a month and 1/2 since I applied! When I answered the phone today I was thinking it was somewhere else I had applied for med surg (just for exp)that was supposed to call back today and it was them!!!!:heartbeat Any interview tips or self study I can do at home for OB??? Thanks:nurse:

Hi I have been an RN :nurse:since 7/07 love the idea of nursing ...having a very tuff time with the reality of nursing... staff shortage, people who truly dont care about there pts and complain about their jobs etc. its really hard not to get caught up in all the neg as a new nurse I have been told I spend too much time with my pts:scrying: I feel like I have been just too idealistic thinking nursing was this place where I could go out and really make a difference but half the time I feel like when I do others dont like it and tell me how important the paper work is. alot of times forgetting the pts even telling me this is just the way it is nurses dont get to spend time with their pts there is too much else to do! Has anyone else exp this??? anyone feeling confused overwhelmed and scared??? I just want to find a place where I belong with a postitive working enviorment so I can enjoy my pts and my job. any suggestions from exp nurses or new grads out there?????? [i have already posted an introduction, but I have a question.....I have worked in three different areas of nursing since graduating in December of 2007...Cardiology, Nursing home, and Med surg....I am now looking into a position in dialysis....will i ever find my nitch......I loved all three positions, but was really turned off by the co-workers and employers...and the fact I had immense responsibility straight out of school....help....Will I know when I find the right place????? :banghead: ] I am feeling just the same as you I have been in med surg and psych and now have an interview for L&D I am so scared and I just want to find where I belong and stay!! I would have stayed in psych (long story big mess) but I can't at least not at that place and there are really very few peds psych areas around here with 0 openings at this time. I would like to do NICU or mother baby but never got call backs. so I decided I would go back to med surg but this time in one of the nations best hospitals. I had my self all set and thinking of it as a learning process waiting for their call back for my second interview today. But i got a call from somewhere I applied a month 1/2 ago today for special care nursery asking me to come frisday for a L&D postion UGH!!! I had given up on that area and now they call and I am freaked and scared! I am not sure If know enough !!!I love the idea of teaching and being there for the mircale of birth but I have no monitor experience or OR exp (OR kinda scares me)! This hospital does Mother baby and L&d together so I guess I would be working on both I am really nervous and torn Even though I am not a med surg nurse I had myself already to become a very skilled nurse in this big hospital. so I could go anywhere like mother baby!!! I am not sure what to do I guess this job is close to home in a community hospital. Plus the med surg job has yet to call back today as they said they would!!!! I am afraid employers will think I just jump jobs... but there was a good reason for leaving my 2nd one It is a feild I would have stayed in forever if things were not so messed up there and someday i may find it in another hospital MY fear is what if no one wants to hire me because i have 9 months in with 2 jobs already!! WEEEW sorry this is so long didnt realize how much I must have needed to get out!! But I know how you feel I am so nervous about this NEXT job because where ever it is I have to stay for at least a year or no one will want to hire me UGH! I hope I know when I find the right palce too I just want to find my home and stay there!!

just remember you are not alone its sounds like a few of us have the same thing going on! I am paper charting too wouldn't have a clue how to do it on the compute.r i started looking for jobs and have the same problem dont want my floor manager to know until i have somewhere to go. alhough after being on my own the past 2 weeks things have gotten a little better at least I can do it my way and no one will be up my butt every min! I am trying to make the best of it because I have not yet heard from the other jobs and I was told I cant move within the system unitl i have been there a year and its a big system several hospitals I could work at down town and commmunity hospitals. I think that is bull like they have control over my life now! UGH!! I just figure maybe this isnt the time yet and God is saying stay and learn. I am praying my dream job or at least one i really enjoy will come soon!

I became a nurse because I want to make a difference. Nobody likes to be at the hospital but if I could be there to showed I cared and was able to make the time to listen to their story:( My preceptor had a little talk with me about how i am not a student anymore and I can't be spending as much time in my patients rooms as I have been. I had two patients in the same room and the first patient I handed meds out to was new. I explained all her meds she was talking and answered her concerns. The next patient I had had so many meds. Both were pretty needed of my time but that's what I am there for. To make them as comfortable as i can....right!!! Maybe we are right and if we stick to it and make some noise about the nurse pt ratio things can be changed in the future. Look at CA dont they have 4:1 or something like that? I refuse to let people that do not have there heart in nursing anymore make me hate it! I was feeling so down and lost... thinking maybe I made a mistake.....I dont want to be a nurse anymore!!!! But there are those of us out there new or not that do care and are not hard and dont care only about time. I do my med passes the same way you described and I have learned to get faster at it Your right I think it all comes in time!I was so proud to graduate and become a nurse. Then I was starting to feel so defeated NOT anymore wherever I work I am going to put in 100% if others dont like it I feel sorry for them and their pts! where there is a will there is a way! GOD knows I have been through Hell and back through out my life and I not about to let someone take away my dream to give back and help others! I am not some young stupid idealistic nurse I know things can and do change but people have to get together to make the change! I am so glad to be off orientation my attitude is so much more postive even though I got screwed with the holiday schedule but thats what happens when your the low man. I will work my way up! we all have to pay our dues Just remember where we are at now never forgetting to help those that come after us!!!!!!

I am a new nurse(3months) But I also have a child that has had home care nursing since he was 2 or 3! I think it sounds good some may say too detailed I say it really gives a clear pic of what went on. When mom reads it she is able to see how the day went. and if something goes wrong at some point she is able to take the past notes with her to the doc and possibly find a sign or a reason from your deatlted notes. that is a huge help and can save a family alot of heart ache and time trying to figure out what is wrong with their child! in a hurry I will try to send an example later

sounds like where I work!! I want to move to CA

Thanks I wish I would have read these posts a few months ago before I started my first job but alot of it still applies after 3 months! and I have some work to do with treating myself and being assertive not letting people make me feel bad and realizing I can not please evryone. Its been a really rough 3 months thanks!!!

I have been a nurse for 3 months in medsurg and I dread going to work the past few weeks! My chest feels heavy and I feel deflated all the time! I am usually a happy out going person and I feel like I am loosing myself UGH! I went into nursing b/c I wanted to give back all the caring and kindness I was given many years ago. I never ever thought I would be a nurse but after spending so much time in the hospital and caring for my loved one 10 yrs later I just decided I was going back to school to be a nurse! Well anyhow I got on the computer now to ask others how do they know where they belong??? I knew I did not want to do med surg but then I was told over and over to do 1 yr by many people and my last rotation was at the hospital I work at now! its a medsurg floor and they asked me to apply way before I took my nclex I was so flattered b/c I was they only one who was asked in my class and I thought I would like it there. The nurse manger raved about how I treated my pts and family and what a great nurse I would be And now I am doubting if I want to be a nurse at all:cry: I am told I spend too much time with my pts by other nurses and my preceptor! The pt load is huge and it's so much more impersonal then I expected! It's like get in and out of the rooms work your butt of 12 hours stay late to finish and leave feeling like you didn't get to be the nurse you really wanted to be! I know there is a shortage everywhere but there has to be an area with smaller pt loads. I mean I know there are... but will I always feel shorted no matter where I go b/c the nurse pt ratio will be high for all areas even very specialized ones??? When I graduated I was so excited and felt it was a privilege to help others I feel that caring for a life of another is a great responsibility and I was deeply motivated to be the best nurse I could possibly be! Now I am questiong if I even want to be a nurse! I want to move but I am afraid I might hate somewhere! my heart has always bee in peds or phych but after dealing with sundowners and getting spit at and called names I am questioning phych!I want to work with depression anxiety panic etc but it is all mixed together! PEDS is so close to my heart b/c I am a mother of a sick child! I have thought about NICU step down or Level 2 NICU. I am not ready for level 3 my son was there 3 months and I don't want to deal with that high of acuity using echmo etc.! there is an opening in the hospital where he was and it is in the top 3 of the nation it would be such an honor to say you are part of such a team ...but then I am afraid I may not feel well or get sick to my stomach being in the same place he almost died on more then 1 floor over the years! But then I think maybe it would help me heal I wish I knew!!!!!! I did well with my 5 week clinicals there until I broke down and cryed to my instructed b/c I saw nurses talking about pts and families poorlyI think I held the hospital in such High regard that it hit me hard to see such actions!Plus lack of sleep etc etc etc I loved there medsurg floor but I am afraid it would turn out the same as the adult!I think the only floor he hasnt been onis the cadriac and the hemot floor but hemot is where those nasty nurses were and I would never work along side such people! During my roation there my son ended up an in pt and his pulmonologist found out I was in nursing school and came in and said " you never told me you were in nursing school you are gonna come work with us right??" that was flattering too but I am also afraid to work along side his many specialist I have known for 13 yrs I have heard the pulm who I love treats nurses poorly!it may just be the nurse just doing what he asks or maybe he has a GOD complex wit the nurses???? I did my l&D somewhere else in a huge inner city hospital and loved it even got to be invovled in a code pink! Helped a mother who was all alone during lbaor and delivery of her 25 weeker tok her to NICU and was able to expalin on a nurse and mom level I think that was the most rewarding school expericnce! The pt even said "God sent you to me I know he did! Talk about a good feeling leaving the floor!!!!! I have thought about mother baby or L&D but that's a hard area to get into as a new grad! I did interview for nursery at a community hospital the other day on an OB floor but the way they acted trying to squeeze as many nurses out as they could.I wonder if it was all about money not pts. I hate that! One thing for sure is I dont think they should of had me in the office while 4 of them were discussing the next shift I dont know if I am sensitive or what... but it just felt like the bottom line was to keep the least amountof nurses on the floor as possible! I thought it would be different in area like this... Is every where like that??? I am hoping maybe there is someone out there that can tell me how they followed there heart and found where they belong I need to figure that out so badly right now b/c it is effecting my life so much!!!! I guess I don't want to make a change and feel the same way in 3 months

Oh my gosh I am feeling the same way!! I have been a nurse for 3 months in medsurg and I dred going to work the past few weeks! My chest feels heavy and I feel deflated all the time! I am usually a happy out going person and I feel like I am loosing myself UGH! I wonder if its a thing everyone goes through after a few months ??? I went into nursing b/c I wanted to give back all the caring and kindness I was given many years ago. i never ever thought i would be a nurse but after spending so much time in the hospital and caring for my loved one 10 yrs later I just decided I was going back to school to be a nurse! I LOVED clinicals but was more a b/c student I did very well in all clinicals but no grades were assigned for them only class work ugh! well anyhow I got on the computer now to ask others how do they know where they belong??? I knew I did not want to do med surg but then i was told over and over to do 1 yr by many people and my last rotaion was at the hospital I work at now its a medsurg floor and they asked me to apply way before i took my nclex i was so flattered b/c I was they only one who was asked and I thought I would like it there. the nurse manger raved about how i treated my pts and family and what a great nurse i would be and now I am doubting if I want to be a nurse at all! I am told I spend too much time with my pts by other nurses and my preceptor! the pt load is huge and its so much more impersonal then I expected! its like get in and outof the rooms work your butt of 12 hours stay late to finish and leave feeling like you didnt get to be the nurse you really wanted to be! when I graduated I was so excited and felt it was a privialge to help others I feel that caring for a life of another is a great responsibitly and I was deeply motivated to be the best nurse I could possibly be! now I am questiong if I even want to be a nurse! I want to move but I am afraid I might hate somewherelse! my heart has always bee in peds or physh but after dealing with sundowners and getting spit at and called names I am quetioning phych!I want to work with depression anxiety panic etc but it is all mixed together! PEDS is so close to my heart b/c I am a mother of a sick child! I have thought about NICU step down or Level 2 NICU. I am not ready for level 3 my son was there 3 months and I dont want to deal with that high of acuity using echmo etc.! there is a opening in the hospital where he was and it is in the top 3 of the nation it would be such an honor to say you are part of such a team ...but then I am afraid I may not feel well or get sick to my stomach being in the same place he almost died on more then 1 floor! But then I think maybe it would help me heal I wish I knew! I have thought about mother baby or L&D but thats a hard area to get into as a new grad! maybe there is someone out there that can tell us how they follwed there heart and found where they belong I need to figure that out so badly right now b/c it is effecting my life so much!!!! I guess I dont want to make a change and feel the same way in 3 motnhs ya know. let me know if ya figure something out b/c I am in the same spot!

Mine just recently broke but it was a huge help during clinicals in school! Davis drug guide was what I had and I really liked it! I have been looking for one recently and have been told I - phone and black berry etc are phasing out palms! I am not sure if I would want to get a phone instead so I have been just in limbo. One good resource would be the Skynet web site it has tons of programs to download and have palms already loaded with some! check it out I know I need to get my butt in gear and get something!:)

- personally i double glove when i have a known diagnosis but it is good practice to treat every pt as if they are positive for everything! that way you are always protecting yourself so treat all blood and body fluids as if they were known to be infectious! use universal precautions/standard precautions with blood and all body fluids, secretions, and excretions regardless of whether or not they contain visible blood! the precations are designed to reduce the risk of transmission of microorganisms from both recognized and unrecognized sources of infection. so always use good hand washing, (get in between the fingers tops of hands etc) gloves, gowns, and masks, whenever touching or exposure to patients' body fluids is anticipated. sometimes nurses get into a bad habit when placing iv's etc ...not using gloves or tearing a finger off especially with the elderly or babies! it's especially easy for me to forget with babies but you never know what someone can be infected with! we recently had a sweet 88 yr old test hiv positive and you would have never known or suspected by looking at them! and with the baby's.. mom can pass hiv hepc etc when they are born so always protect yourself! hep c is more often with needle sticks etc but remember open wounds such as pressure ulcers and you having an open area on your hand with out gloves is a possible transmission! check out the cdc website and it may help calm your fears and will teach you just what precaution is needed for blood droplet etc contact! take a deep breath and never slack when you get more comfortable and you will be safe! - as far as the smoking that's a hard one maybe you can tell your work you will only work in nonsmoking homes. it is a known pathogen and if you keep yourself protected any other time why can't you be safe at work. that's why there is no smoking in public places in most areas!

I feel for you... last night my med surg floor had 32 pts 2RN's 1 LPN 1 STNA (basic care BS vitals only) PLUS we have no pharm open on 3rd no transport etc so we have to do everything ourselves go to lab get our own blood, mix iv bags, and take pt to xray/ us. last night 1 of my pts coded 2 had blood going new admit in extreme pain with no orders and she was on the floor over a hour UGH Not to mention 1/2 have sundowners!!! Talk about under staffed and over worked! They staff by numbers not acuity so i could get 9-10 totals myself how in the world is that safe?????? do you feel unsafe at times????? I am going to start looking into other jobs b/c I do not feel like i can give the care I need or ever spend time with my pts! Plus I spoke to a friend in a near by hospital and they have pharm all night certain drugs must be checked by 2 RN's xray us transport so they dont leave the floor and they get about 5-6 pts. so I know I can't just be crazy!!! I notice I am starting to dred going in I swtich back to 1st next week and thats a whole other mess and the nurses are not as nice! My 1st month or 2 I was so excited and loved it but i dont know if reality is setting in or I am just not a med surg nurse But you are not alone in feeling cheated

Hi I Have been a med surg nurse for 3 months and I am about at my wits end . the other day I starting quetioning if I made a mistake becoming a nurse. Its not my pts I love my pts its just the work atmosphere and the high pt load. I came home feeling deflated I cant really explain it but just heavy and down and it is getting worse and worse! I dont think some of the things done are safe and i am scared at what I am expected to do sometimes. Has anyone felt like this? I came into nursing LOVING IT and I dont want to loose that b/c I am in the wrong place! I see so much slacking and I do not want to be like that. also I feel stupid half the time b/c its so fast paced and your pts have so much wrong and u cant look up diseases u dont know unless u do it at home so I feel lost and am loosing my confidence. I have 50 different people telling me how to do things the "right" way... no one really follows a certain protocol they just do want they want and think there way is the best i feel so unorganized and about crazy some days! when I am left alone I do alot better but somone always has to but there nose in to "the new nurse" to tell me something. I am told I am good nurse and very caring. during school everyone always teased me about being the biggest pt adovocate! but now I have people make smart comments b/c i spend too much time with my pts! I have always been a people person. I get along with people very easy but it seems I have run into some nurses that just want to make my life difficult. do not get me wrong there are some really nice nurses too. but the pt load is so high and i see alot of corners cut and am told "this is the real world not school" I know there is a diffrence but i have a lience to and pts to protect. if I do what they say knowing its not in my best judgment and something goes wrong it will all come down on me no one is going to say I told her to do it that way! But they get mad if i say i dont feel comfortable doing it! I was told "we always do it this way but if you want to do it like that go ahead!" in a very smart tone and this was over signing off insulin i gave at 5am in the book as 7:30 am. does that make sense to you???the mars are preprinted with 7:30 so they just check 7:30. I just dont get the reasoning behind it and felt I needed to mark that I gave it at 5 am! I have an interview today for a special care nursey my heart has always been with peds. But I am scared I want the job so bad but I dont know how it will look being a new grad and changing jobs after 3 months. I am afraid and unsure how to give my 2 week notice if I get the job! Has anyone been in a sim situation??? any suggestions on how to go about giving 2 weeks or interview questions b/c I want to leave my first job out of school after 3 months. My biggest worry is this hopsital i want to leave is part of a huge sytem and I dont want to leave on bad terms b/c I dont know if it would effect me being hired in the system at another hospital someday. Its just a community hospital like a sat hospital of the big one downtown and down town is where i would go if i wanted to work in this sytem someday! Also My child was born premature and was in NICU for 3 months and been in and out of the hospital ever since and that is why i went to school to give back alll that has been given to me. Should I mention that in this interviw for level 2 nicu? he was in level 3 ....but right now I dont think I am ready for that acute of care so I thought this would be a good start. I think I would also be cross trained in OB mother baby I really want this job it is close to home and the other nicus close are level 3 in down town urban hospitals one being where my child was treated and even though I LOVE the hospital I am not sure if it would be good for me to start out there! any ideas suggestions feed back is greatly appreciated! I am so nervous and confused!

Hi I Have been a med surg nurse for 3 months and I am about at my wits end and I have gone through almost everything u have mentioned above. the other day I starting quetioning if I made a mistake becoming a nurse. Its not my pts I love my pts its just the work atmosphere and the high pt load. I came home feeling deflated I cant really explain it but just heavy and down and it is getign worse and worse! I dont think some of the thiings done are safe and i am scared at what I am expected to do sometimes. Is that how you are feeling? I came into nursing LOVING IT and I dont want to loose that b/c I am in the wrong place! I see so much slacking and I do not want to be like that. also I feel stupid half the time b/c its so fast paced and your pts have so much wrong and u cant look up diseases u dont know unless u do it at home so I feel lost and am loosing my confidence. has anyone else felt this way?? I have an interview today for a special care nursey my heart has always been with peds. But I am scared I want the job so bad but I dont know how it will look being a new grad and changing jobs after 3 months. I am afraid and unsure how to give my 2 week notice if I get the job! and even if I dont My heart is telling me to move on! Has anyone been in a sim situation??? any suggestions on how to go about giving 2 weeks or interview questions b/c I want to leave my first job out of school after 3 months. I also do peds home care and flu clinics through an agency on the side and I am not quitting threr should I mention both jobs?? Also My child was born premature and was in NICU for 3 months and been in and out of the hospital ever since and that is why i went to school to give back alll that has been given to me. Should I mention that in this interviw for level 2 nicu? he was in level 3 ....but right now I dont think I am ready for that acute of care so I thought this would be a good start. I think I would also be cross trained in OB mother baby I really want this job it is close to home and the other nicus close are level 3 in down town urban hospitals one being where my child was treated and even though I LOVE the hospital I am not sure if it would be good for me to start out there! any ideas suggestions feed back is greatly appreciated! I am so nervous and confused!