Nursing_chick

Pt came in by EMS b/c she ran out of colostomy supplies. She had it her ostomy for years but her supplier went out of business and she didn't have the foresight & planning to look for a new supplier. Plus she wanted us to clean her up when she was fully capable and supply her with a months worth of ostomy bags

Would you like me to order you a six course meal now that I've given you Zofran? (To the vomiting abdominal pain who hasn't eaten this this morning)

I've called in from overseas ... I missed my flight & by the time I would make it back it would be a day too late. So I called in a day before & told them I'm stuck in Dubai (thankfully, they all knew I had gone there on my trip)

So I'm a RN that works for a private Ambulance company that does CCT. We have rigs with: 1 RN an 2 CCEMT-P medics for the nurse calls and for independent CCT rigs with 2 CCEMT-P. The regular medics EMT-P have to work at the company for a while & be high performers even before they are considered for the CC team. They are then put thru the class before they are allowed to function on the team, even then they are paired with experienced CCEMT-P partners - I love & trust the medics I work with - I fully trust they know how to handle vents &/or IABP, just b/c I have RN behind my name doesn't mean we aren't equal - we just have different roles to play in the back of the ambulance.

Had a pt come in for alcohol detox, while triaging him my charge nurse came out to get him. Pt: "You didn't let finish my story, I can't go back yet" Me: "what haven't you finished telling me?" Pt: "I have my pet with me" Me: pet? Where? Pt: right here in my backpack Both me & the charge rn look in the backpack - sure enough there is a plastic box w/holes in the bag - he had brought his pet rat. The charge RN spent 1/2 the night calling around to get offices to hold the rat for several days for the pt. then the ER volunteer had to sit outside until our hospital security could bring him to the vet

No problem! Good luck on your search ... It's just a very tough job market in Illinois right now (truth is, where isn't there?). Illinois state is also flat out broke, the state budget in so far in the REd, that they aren't paying the hospitals their reimbursement for Medicare & Medicaid back for almost 2 years - many hospitals are tightening their budgets & cutting back. I know of a local hospital that went thru 2 rounds of layoffs on 2012. I'm in no means trying to discourage you, just trying to be realistic. I would move out of this state in a heartbeat ... But I'm tied to my condo right now until the housing market increases somewhat ...

If you move to Illinois let me flat out tell you are in for a FULL culture shock!!! Illinois hospitals can't even touch the benefits you are getting in California - benefits, pay, hours, etc ... Your best bet to get $68/hr is maybe Agency & that's not guaranteed work. The only few unionized hospitals that I know of is UIC, U of C, and County - good luck trying to get into them. I'm resource at my hospital (no benefits) and the best pay I get is $40/hr. just do your research before you jump off a very good ship in California ...

We have a gentleman that our ER saved 17 years ago from an Acute MI - every year he drops off a cake & a thank you card to both us & ICU thanking us for helping save his life.

I don't know all that you have applied to, try doing searches on your very little hospitals in and around Chicago. I graduated 3 years ago & was in a tough position to find a job, I'm a NW suburbs girl and I ended up having to go to the West side ghetto hospital to get my experience. The place I started was Sacred Heart Hospital ... its a very tiny inner city hospital that serves the community. I know they are ALWAYS looking for people ... I can't say that its the best place you will ever work, but there are some really good people that I enjoyed worked with there and there is of course the craziness of the hospital itself. I would consider it a challenging place, I'm not saying the ratios are always the best & the technology is not the most up todate ... heck, a couple of their med/surg beds still have 3 people to a room. But if you can stick out a year there ... you will have better luck moving to a bigger hospital when you get a year underneath your belt. Good luck with your search!!

I work in the ER so I see a lot of bad things ... the most recent sad thing was a 32 year old man come into the ER due to a stroke, no major history that would bring this on ... the other was elder abuse, an 80-something year old Alzheimer's female that was made to sit into her own feces, urine, etc ... never to be moved out of her wheelchair in months ... between the lice and stage 4 ulcer ... and a smell that could clear the ER ....

The Targhee II, Voyageur or Ridgeline - all three haven't caused me any problems; my husband wears the Ridgelines a lot.

Go-lytely + big women who was bed bound = complete liquid poo that left her in a poo pond that leaked out of her diaper & pooled in the bed ... that or the GI bleeds. Either way, you will become really good at identifying your types of poo smells. Like the previous nurse said, have an extra set of scrubs available and yes, you will learn to talk about it over lunch without batting an eye ...

Love my Keens!! My husband (also a nurse) & I swear by them!!

To be honest, I would be vary wary of hospitals that offer big bonuses right now ... I work for a very small 100 bed hospital in Chicago that offers a $5000 bonus (1/2 given at 6 months) ... there is a reason they are offering bonuses right now, they can't keep their nurses ... and I thought it was great when I first started, but most, if not all RNs that have been at the hospital less than a year are counting down the days where they can get the bonus & go to another job. I could write a book on the craziness of this place & how the administration treat their staff.

No, I have an ADN, bachelor's in Computer Science & an almost completed Masters in IT ... that being said, I finally found a job in bedside nursing ... so I have backed off on looking at the IT route. I eventually plan to skip over a BSN and go straight for my master's in nursing since I already have one bachelor's ....