Gr8Dane

It comes with experience. 5 days orientation for a brand new LPN is low considering most LPN schools do not teach much more then the basics Basically ask coworkers, if there are none around reconsider that facility if you are by yourself or with other new nurses. The issue at hand is if you start calling frivolous lab results to doctors they will come down on you. but it's a double edged sword, should you neglect to call a result which may not seem like a big deal to you to a zealous doc it will cutya. I started as a brand new LPN on an acute med/surg floor but I got 3 months of orientation which helped. It took me about a year to learn what I needed to know. You learn with time what is a big deal and what isn't. This goes beyond labs to patient conditions/status changes, what needs to be reported immediately vs. what can be reported to the MD/PA when they come in. Basically experience but if you don't feel safe working at that facility find something else or let them know. It's your license as everyone says and if you loose that nursing will be closed to you.

Central Florida has one of the highest unemployment rates in Florida/US. There were hospitals laying off nurses in the Villages/Ocala area last I heard. You will find bias towards LPN's especially in hospitals. Remember you are a new grad LPN with no experience, to train you to work in a hospital is a costly/timely deal. And hospital payrates on LPN's are low, as such many LPN's finish their orientation and then leave as they can't afford to do it I live in Central Florida on the gulf coast and my hospital which employs over 2,000 (400ish nurses I think), out of that less than 30 are LPN's. I think we have 1 opening which they may or not fill for a LPN. Your best bet is a ALF or pref a SNF for better experience. Gotta hit that 1 year gap no matter what for experience. Your clinical rotations do not count as experience. Part of your education.

I personally have no problems with my homosexual coworkers, they are damn entertaining especially with the patients And a lot of the time combative patients for whatever reason REQUIRE a stern "macho" attitude from male and female workers even. Can't difuse every case with soft kind words. Beyond the fact in the real world we simply do not have the time. I am not saying it's ok to be abusive but sometimes a tough approach works out for all involved.

There are many different personality types. You might be calm and able to difuse some situations as a result of being calm. Others might be agressive and as such can difuse situations by taking a patient down. Both are needed in a good ER. I try to avoid working there unless I must and I am the latter. Calm most of the time but agressive when needed.

Perhaps the ER is not for you

I have had several cases recently where patients have added me as a friend on facebook. I never add anyone I don't know but I realized on several of the occasions that they were patients I had recently. I declined each one of course. Anyone else have this problem?

Yet hospital does nothing, doesn't even look into it. 10 of us sick, same symptoms for several weeks now, several now have pneumonia from it. You'd think the health nurse or management would see why so many are calling in ;0 Other then to simply scold them for calling in sick lol...

Florida seems to have too many nurses. I work for a local hospital as well as an agency, and my hours are being cut at both jobs for low census and nurse overload at the agency. A friend of mine just got an assignment in California but she said they put her on a two week haitus until she is needed, basically just paying for her to stay in a hotel and a lil bit of money to spend. Beyond that I don't know, it is a sad state of affair in Florida right now in my opinion. There are jobs but they are not popping up real fast atm.

When I went from CNA to LPN it was a huge difference, and when I started working at a hospital that was a HUGE difference from what I learned in school. So I would hope this is not true without superb clinical experience for the challengers.

Also look at it from that nurses perspect, she was prob very busy and thought you understood the PCA was out (a mistake easily made) however it made more work and took her from getting caught up that much longer. Really the nursing instructors need to be a liason and decide what you should report to the staff or to leave them be.

They were actually cool about it. Didn't want me to quit the agency but took me off the assignment at the prison. The office manager in another city was suppose to call but didn't, but I am not going to make anything of it. We will see if they find another assignment. If not o well.

C-Dif isn't resistant to alcohol, it is just protected from it. It is a sporoform, thus has a hard shell. You can either use sopa & water, create a GOOD lather all over, then rince it off, or, bleach lol Which disolves the shell.

About to call and talk to them, will post the end results. I have tried to find other assignments with them but as I said they just shrug questions off. Only thing I can come up with is each office controls certain assignments in the area and they get profits from it, so they don't want to lose any nurses to other offices.

I just got the agency job PRN for some extra cash, and it did pay very well. But I work full time at a hospital now for 5 years and it is secure work. Pay sucks but secure and it doesn't bother me like the prison does Thank yuo for the advice!

While two weeks would be professional I am looking more short term of...todays notice lol

Prudish Americans

As a LPN myself for two years now, the disrespect only makes me want to finish my RN faster I had a patient's wife who was a "CNA" say "O your not a nurse, just a LPN" to me just a aweek ago. I just stated I am working towards my RN and left it at that. Some facilities overstaff LPN's which overburdens the RN's which I understand there grief. However you also get lazy RN's who don't belong working as nurses to begin with whom dread LPN's due to having to push narcs for us. The LPN role is expanding beyond what it should tho. For one year of education we can now do that of an RN minus the specialities and narc pushes.

I have been working for them for several months. The only place they send me is a women's prison which I absolutely hate. I am suppose to work tonight and am scheduled the rest of the month 1 day a week per my availability I turned in a month or so ago. I applied for hospice and asked about mens prisons and other areas but I feel they are so money drive by each office they refuse to give me info and shrug my questions off. I can not take it another night, I dread the thought of having to go back to this place. It's not that it's that bad as a job per say, but several reasons why I dread it: Being locked in a "Pill Room" for 12 hours. You finish your work in a matter of 2 hours, sit there for 8 hours, pass pills for an hour then wait for the next shift. Unairconditioned 99% of the time. This is a killer for me. Sitting there sweating my ass off, trying to find relief. I am a male nurse and as such do not feel it appropriate nor safe to work the infirmory/ER or any area where I am in direct contact with the female inmates. They (Jailers) do a great job ensuring we are never alone, but still inherent danger of accusations flying and unneeded stress. I am used to a busy medical/surgical floor at a hospital. As I said I am scheduled to work tonight, and I truely feel bad for doing this but I need to know how I should go about telling them I quit. I think I want to leave this agency as a whole as they have not been doing a good job at staffing us lately (saying we are confirmed for a shift then getting to the site and being told we are not on schedule happening a LOT lately). Any info or knowledge greatly appreciated, thank you.

Look at it this way, the majority of health care workers (Doctors, nurses, diagnostics, etc) are colonized with MRSA in the NARES. You can treat it with bactroban twice daily for a week and clear it for a short while but it almost always comes back. Also look at all these patients who come in with MRSA, then leave. It's still there, it will most likely never be "cured" until new antibiotics are created. The above are at Walmart, shopping malls, restaurants, using the bathrooms, touching the products, counters, currency, etc. Simple fact is MRSA is beyond our control in and out of the hospital. We can only attempt to manage it in doors and teach as much as we can, beyond that people must live and are not going to change there lives over something so broad anymore.

My impression is that you never get rid of MRSA, you become colonized, inactive. And I think you are going overboard. Do you think EVERYONE with MRSA should be locked away? Because in that case you best lock yourself up lol. Truthfully he should keep the wound covered securely and use common sence, good handwashing, etc. If its a wound with a lot of drainage, IE: saturating the bandage, yes he should not work and prob should still be treated. However if it is not draining why shouldn't he work? Just tell him use good handwashing, keep the wound covered, and do not touch it without scrubbing your hands.

I recently had spine surgery (PLIF 3 levels) and I was in constant pain, I know when I was in pain I asked for my morphine and lortabs (surprisingly worked better then morphine) every 3 hours, but often at nights I'd be awoken in pain and then left in pain by certain nurses I work with. It's a catch 22 and unwinnable, but I personally never said anything about it. Some patients do but they should had spoken up, I didn't.

hmm sorry I don't see what your happy about at all here, considering you failed a nursing fundamentals class which you should have had an A in to begin with Study harder less internet next time!

Ideally you have 30 minutes for report, or we do at least, 6:45-7:15. I generally clockin at 18:35 to grab the patient info from the cardexes (Diet, vitals, activities, special notes from doctors, meds, IV site loc/fluids/etc). I prompty notify the nurse of this and begin report for "updates", "highlights", "Important info". This works 99% of the time, and I feel it's the most effect report that can be given/done as you don't waste time on the nurse giving you outdated info when the cardex should be updated constantly whenever an order is written if the nurse is doing their job properly. But that 1% likes to give EVERY DETAIL. Sits there and reads everything off the kardex to me (which I already have written down), every med to me (I make sure all meds were signed for prior to begining to report), how many times the patient coughed, their complete history medical and personal, every little detail of the day. A great report sure, detailed very, but I don't care that the patient ate half an apple with their dinner, or that they coughed a few times when their in for pneumonia. Am I the bad nurse for wanting to get a good, yet quick report so I may begin my shift or are they the bad nurse for taking over 30 minutes to give report on 6-7 patients.

Shes the devil incarniated! Luckily shes not in a position of real authority, although she believes shes higher then everyone lol.

I work 7pm-7am and this evil secretary that works days comes in 30 minutes early, starts yapping about crap being out of place from our chart checks, and demands her "spot" where other nurses may had done their chart checks at 30 minutes before she can even clock in or be there for that matter. And she looks evil/mean everytime I see her in her black framed thick glasses :angryfire Then she thinks shes better then all the LPN's because shes "doing her pre-reqs" to get into a RN program, which she has not even applied for yet lol. When a doctor comes in shes as sweet as can be The doctors usually ignore her as shes very fake.