MachoNurse

When I first came across informatics a few years ago, I got really excited. I had left the floor and was working in Quality and thought these two skills (along with a previous career as a hardware engineer) would make Informatics a perfect fit for me. After many conversations with people working in the field, I found that just about *everyone* started as a Super User while working on the floor as an RN. Since this is not an option for me, I thought an MS in Informatics would do the trick, but, after speaking with admissions at some schools, I'm not sure. Please share your experience, strength, and hope around this topic! Thanks, Rob

Thanks, Tony. I liked UI Chicago's program. Also check out University of New England. What are the other programs you liked? What direction are you planning to take your career with an Informatics degree? I've been working in Quality Improvement for five years, and thus unable to become a superuser on the floor. After speaking with many schools, I'm no longer sure what the degree will get me without that experience. Any thoughts? Rob

Hi, I'm looking into online MS in Informatics programs and would love recommendations. I'm intrigued by the competency-based program of Walden and Western Governors (WGU), and get there are pros and cons to this design. Please share your wisdom and experience with these or other programs. I'm also open to tradition "course-based" online programs. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for asking, Danceluver. I found a great job in the ED at Children's National Medical Center in DC. I landed a position in their Fellowship program, which is giving me a 14-week orientation with eight weeks of didactics. This is twice as much training as I received at my first two nursing jobs combined. It's about time! I'm finally feeling supported by my manager, and just in time. I was getting to throw in the towel on nursing. Having survived two experiences of "nurses eat their young," I am committed to being a great preceptor and clinical instructor in the future. How are things going for you? El Macho

Greetings, I've finally made the decision to leave the Bay Area in order to pursue my dream of becoming a pediatric ER nurse. I have one year's experience in pediatric med/surg, and six months of short-term pediatric clinical assignments. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any children's hospitals that would hire someone with my experience. I would love to get a new grad position, but know I may be "over-qualified" for that. Any details you can provide about the hospital, the ED, your personal experience there would be most appreciated! And if you're an ED manager, even better ;-) Thanks in advance! Rob

Congratulations on your new job! When do you start? In what department will you be working? Are you in a new grad program? I'm hoping to have a phone interview with them this week. Thanks! Macho Nurse

Congrats on the new job, SpunkyAggie! Where did you get hired? I'm out here in the Bay Area and it's slim pickins!

Congratulations, Chickidee! I just started my PICU preceptorship, and so far, so good. I think it's on the lower end of PICUs, but I'm grateful to be there. Let us know how it goes for you. Macho Nurse

Hey there, I'm graduating in 36 days! :dncgbby::dncgcpd::dncgbby::dncgcpd: Things sure have changed since I started down this road two years ago, hiring bonuses and nursing shortages. I'm in the SF Bay Area, and there are practically NO jobs for new grads right now. And for someone committed to pediatrics, like me, the pickings are even slimmer. I had been hoping to stay here in the Bay Area and work at Children's Hospital Oakland, but think I need to be open to moving in order to get a job in peds. So I'm looking for some advice from y'all! What is the best way to get a job out of area? I've been around a while, and know it's all about networking, which is hard to do when the jobs are in Texas and WDC! Any other great job-finding ideas? And of course, if you know of any hospitals hiring new grads for pediatrics, let me know! Thank you! Rob -

Congratulations, Candiam! Where do you live and at what hospital will you be working? Will you be entering a new grad program/orientation? Rob

Hi Biggiecali, I'd say that overall, I'm disappointed with what appears to be acceptable of a nursing education in general. Everyone keeps saying, "Oh, I didn't learn anything in nursing school. You get it all on the job." As a former educator, I just don't buy that. And I think it's worse in an ABSN program. I think that what doesn't work about any ABSN program is that you cannot "accelerate" learning. Thus, the "A" should really stand for abridged, because that's what happens, things get left out. Anyway, to answer your question, if I focus on the two main reasons that I chose Samuel Merritt, I have no complaints. Those two reasons were: in Oakland and fast. They have delivered on both of those! If I could do it again, I might have considered leaving the area for a non-accelerated BS or MS program. I'm 46 in a few weeks, so time was and is a factor! Then again, they say that time is an illusion... Final advice: keep your expectations low and practice good self-care, where ever you go to school. Good luck! El Macho

I can sell you the following books, all in good or great condition: Bastable. "Essentials of Patient Education" Ackley. "Nursing Diagnosis Handbook" Burns. "Understanding Nursing Research" Ebersole. "Gerentological Nursing & Healthy Aging" I also have study guides for Maternity, Health Assessment, and Pediatrics which I will sell very cheap. Let me know if you're interested!

I'm in the Oakland ABSN program right now, graduating this May. I think just about everyone on my cohort is disappointed with the quality of education and instruction. Classroom instructors are nice and well-intentioned, but clearly lacking in teacher training, and there is no consistency in the curriculum. Most of my clinical instructors have been good, with a few great ones. My pediatric instructor was an emotional and physiological train wreck, and completely ruined our rotation. :-( If the most important thing for you is to get through the program quickly, and you want a Bachelors (good for public health nursing), then go for it. Just don't expect much and you won't be as disappointed and frustrated as I have been. My biggest mistake has been expecting $55,000 to get me a superior education. All that being said, we're graduating in 3.475 months!

This forum is awesome! I've watched a number of IV starts on kids, but as a nursing student, still haven't had the opportunity to try one. At the Children's Hospital where I volunteered, there were a few nurses who would usually be called in because they just had "the touch." Other nurses were good at other things. Cest la vie.

While on my pediatrics rotation last month, I found myself really interested in the hematology/oncology ward, and wanted to float there for a day or two. Our clinical instructor was so stressed and disorganized, she would let us float there, or anywhere, so I never got to see it. Does anyone have any experience transferring there after a year or two of pediatric med-surg? Thanks!

Congratulations on your job! Pediatrics is why I entered nursing school in the first place. We just finished our pediatric rotation, and our instructor was a disaster who got us kicked out of the hospital our final weekend. The good news is that even with all the stress and drama she brought to the rotation, I still LOVED being on the peds floor. So now I know I will soon be joining y'all in the ranks of pediatric nursing!

Children's Hospital Oakland has a rehab wing. A cohort of students in my nursing program just did their peds rotation there and loved it. Good luck to you!

Sounds like it went well! Usually, the more people you meet, the better. Good luck!

Thanks for the great story! As a former fifth grade teacher and soon-to-be pediatric nurse, I appreciated your adventures from both perspectives. I grew up on the east coast, always a school nurse to be found. But here on the west coast (in CA), I never had one I could even call. Two years ago when I told the district office I was leaving teaching to become a nurse, the HR director said, "Come back and be our school nurse!" Then she told me the school nurse typically covers five schools, and sometimes has to write their own grants. Jeesh! So thanks for taking care of all those kids!

It's 7:20 am. I stood there for a few minutes, looking down the hall at my two companion student nurses scampering around with their buddy nurses. I watched with envy at how their mentors actually talked to them. Now, let me be fair to my mentor. When I said hello to her, she didn't completely ignore me. Her response was, "What can you do?" After three seconds of no response from me (I couldn't remember what I could do), she asked, "Can you do vitals?" "Yes." "Can you do AM care?" "Yes." And then I remembered. "AM care" includes poop. ****. I mean damn. So two minutes later I'm standing there, tumbleweeds blowing through the deserted nursing station. A crow lands on my shoulder. It's just me and those three patients, waiting for the macho nurse to change their beds, wash them down (all of them), and take their vitals. I decided to start with the quadriplegic man. The room is just a few steps away. I walk. I stop. I walk. I enter his room. I leave his room. I enter his room again. I stay. My patient is a 40-year-old Latino man, probably about 250 pounds. He says hello to me as I walk in. I say hello. I tell him I'll be right back. I look out into the hall. No one. I go back in. He's just finishing his breakfast. I take his tray, another excuse to leave the room. I come back and tell him I'm going to change his sheets. I ask him if he wants me to clean him or if he would like to clean himself. He says I can clean him. I say, "I"ll be right back." I walk down the hall, pure fight or flight. I'm ****** at being left alone, scared because I don't know what to do, and I don't want to do what I think I'm supposed to do. I'm heading to the other nursing station in search of my clinical supervisor. I see her. I walk up to her and say, "I don't know what to do." Her face softens with the compassion and wisdom of the Dalai Lama. "You know what to do," she says. "Just do what I showed you in lab yesterday. Start with the clean areas and end with the dirty areas." No problemo. I'm the macho nurse. I can do this. I walk back to my patient's room. It's 7:50 am. I walk into my patient's room, still terrified of washing his large, sweaty body. He has no motor or sensory function from the neck down (limited use of his arms), so he lives with a 24/7 Foley (urinary) catheter. And he can't tell if he needs to poop or if he does poop. Guess that's my job. I walk over to him and set up my bathing supplies next to his bed. I start to wash his face. I'm not very graceful. I realize I need another towel and need to leave the room, again. I go out and this woman is standing there. She's a "lift technician," part of the Patient Mobility Team. She grabs my arm and says, "Are you the nurse for Room X?" "Well, I'm a nursing student. I don't know anything." (did I say that last part out loud?) "We need to install an air mattress in his bed," she says. "Let's go!" A major risk to bedridden patients is pressure ulcers, the super bowl of bed sores. You can learn more about them at MedlinePlus: We're sorry, we can't find the page you requested. Air mattresses are a big part of prevention efforts. I followed her into the room. The good news here is that in order to put in the air mattress we need to change the sheets. "We" being the operative word here. "I need to wash him, too." "Well, let's get at it!" says my guardian angel. I'll call her Angel. So together we strip down this large man. I daintily apply soap and start washing with a hand cloth. She grabs a full-size towel and starts washing this guy like he's going through a car wash. She's not rough or anything. She just does it. And this is not her job. So I start putting a little elbow grease into it, washing with bigger and bigger strokes, moving down his neck to his arms, his chest, and abdomen. And voila! This guy has a member. As I'm standing there figuring out the best angle at which to approach, Angel swoops in and starts cleaning and then I start cleaning the member and the testicles and I look up and this guy's just reading his book. His bible no less. New washcloth in hand, I start cleaning his hairy legs and work down to his feet. Nasty. Lots of sores. I start cleaning. I remember to clean between his toes. They need it. I do it. I'm getting good at this. A real natural. Then Angel tells him we're going to turn him over and clean his back. And his butt, I think to myself. But (no pun intended) it's not that bad. It's not that great either, but I do it. There wasn't too much poop, which was nice if you know what I mean. We finish up the "bath," install the air mattress and put on the new sheets. Done. Angel says goodbye. I feel like I should buy her dinner or maybe smoke a cigarette. I don't smoke, so I just say thanks. It's almost 9 am. Even though I've successfully completed AM care, I'm still incredibly shaky. This is just too real. Where are those cute little kids I worked with as a volunteer at Children's Hospital? The rest of the day gets better, ever so slowly. While my "nurse mentor" didn't say anything to me all day, my clinical supervisor was extremely supportive. I'm not sure that I would have made it without her. She helped me with my paperwork and gave me enough compliments and encouragement to want to come back the next day. Which I did. I didn't sleep well that night. I could smell my patient, the sweat, the urine, the poop. I "took on" way too much of his situation, imagined his pain and suffering, and learned not to do that. I'm sure I'll need to learn that a few more times before I really get it. The gift and the curse of compassion. Friday. Day Two. I'm driving to work with two of my fellow nursing students. One says, "Let's set some goals for today." I said, "I'm going to stop focusing on what I imagine my patient is going through and show up with an attitude of service." Which I did. My mentor says hi to me today. The next time I see her is to say goodbye. This time I walk into my patient's room and my new confidence are immediately evident as we jump right into the conversation. We had begun speaking Spanish the day before, and today he wanted to speak English while I spoke Spanish. Fun, but not easy. I cleaned him all by myself. I washed his hair. I helped the Wound Care team and later the Physical Therapists. I did my paperwork, with interest (I refused to do paperwork as a teacher). I was like the phoenix rising from the ashes. The last hour of my second day was spent helping another nursing student bath her patient, a 64-year-old woman in a vegetative state. Another student joined us, and together we figured out how to clean this brain-dead woman who was someone's mother. We washed her and talked to her a bit, occasional sounds coming from her. I volunteered to clean her butt. Which I did. I was fifteen minutes late to our end-of-day debriefing meeting because my mentor reminded me that I needed to empty the patient's urine bag. I arrive at the meeting and sit down. I'm listening to another student share about their day and realize that I feel great. No, fantastic. I'm full of energy and enthusiasm and wow. It's 3:00 pm.

Great idea for a thread! I was a fifth grade teacher prior to entering nursing school, and entered nursing school with the clear intention on becoming a pediatric nurse. I volunteered in the ER at our local children's hospital prior to starting school, which affirmed this for me. A new twist in this is that, after recently completing my L&D rotation, I'm now considering the possibility of working in the NICU. I loved it! Nice to see so many men entering nursing, too. Rob

Hey shinyblackcar, Congrats on the two job offers! That must feel really great. In which department did you do your preceptorship? I'm trying to figure out if I should do it in ped's med/surg, the PICU, or the ped's ER. Any advice? Anyone else? Thanks! Rob

Greetings, I've really enjoyed reading the many discussions on allnurses. Thought I'd take the leap and start my own. I'm currently in nursing school, and need to choose my preceptorship for the spring. I know that I want to work in pediatrics; it's why I entered nursing school. Prior to nursing school, I volunteered in the ED at Oakland Children's Hospital, which I really enjoyed. Before that, I taught fourth and fifth grade and did some after-school stuff with teens. So why am i writing? I'm looking for some advice on where to do my preceptorship. I'm in my maternity rotation right now, and have enjoyed the few days I've worked in the NICU. Of course I've done my adult med-surg and critical care rotations, which I did not enjoy. I'm wondering how much different pediatric med-surg or ICU will be from adult. We don't do our pediatric rotation until January, and I need to submit my preceptorship request before then. I'm wondering which pediatric preceptorship (med-surg, NICU, PICU, ED) will provide me with the most experience and opportunity to work in one of the other departments if that's what I end up wanting (or it's all that's available). I know I need to follow my heart on this, but I also want to think pragmatically, especially given the state of our economy and its potential impact on getting a job as a new nurse. Hope that's clear! Thanks in advance! Rob

I'm a nursing student and am hoping to do my preceptorship in the PICU at CHO. I volunteered in the ER prior to entering nursing school and loved the hospital! Coincidentally, I looked at moving to Portland prior to entering nursing school. Perhaps some day... Take care, Rob