Penguin67

I know some people (5 or 6) who all went to nursing school together and all got jobs at a hospital that was 45-60 minutes from their homes. They all went in together on a local apartment together. They slept there between shifts if they were working back to back shifts, and napped there sometimes before driving home if needed. They had a 3 BR place, with 6 twin beds, and sharing expenses on that was quite minimal and safe. They did this for a little over a year. After that, some opted to move there permanently and two found jobs closer to home, but it was a good way to start out.

Loved 8 hours shifts! Just when you feel like leaving, it is time to get ready for shift change and patient handoff to the oncoming shift. And if you ever needed an RN to stay over for 2-3 hours to help when short staffed, they are fresh enough to be able to do that, while you almost can't worry about helping the next shift when you work 12 hours. I also found that folks who might have been feeling a little under the weather (headache, cramps) would tough out an 8 hour shift, but call out for a 12 hour shift. Yes, you do work 5 times a week, but it is in small enough doses not to be as overwhelming as a 12 hour shift. You can still schedule appointments in the early morning (if you work 3-11) and in the late afternoon (if you work 7-3), and 11-7 shift can pick their sleep time around their activities. The evidence-based research findings also support 8 hour shifts as being safer, because the majority of errors are made in the last 4 hours of a 12 hour shift. But, to each his own on shift preference. It's nice that some hospitals give choices.

I just tried to read about the residency program on the link posted earlier, and the link is no longer working. Hmmmmm......

It should meet the scheduling needs of the working RN and be flexible. Online only works if your students are computer literate, and is not for everyone. Hybrid (online and some live classes) works quite well because there is a "connection" and students don't feel so left out in cyberspace. You have to recognize that RN-BSN students are "different" than prelicensure students, but will earn the same degree as the prelicensure student, but take a different path to get there. Not always an easy concept for non-RN-BSN faculty to swallow, as many want the RN-BSN student to do everything the same as the prelicensure student and there are many things that they don't need to do similarly.

The title of this article is wrong from the start "Nurses Are Not Doctors", because, in fact many ARE, having earned a doctorate in nursing, the title "DOCTOR" comes along with that. For example: Phd and DNP degree holders are called "Dr.". However, these folks are NOT asking to be called "physician", which is where the confusion may be. NPs practice withing a scope of practice for their area. If there is a complication, then they have to refer to a specialist. It boils down to practicing within the specified guidelines of a particular state, many of which are similar, but there are also many differences across state lines. The Institute of Medicine's report, The Future of Nursing, has a recommendation to expand the role of the nurse practitioner to include the fullest practice in the scope of practice. This article did nothing to promote that collaboration.I am hoping that someone writes a strong rebuttal piece back, representing the nursing profession, particularly NPs, as the professionals that they are.

Can you clarify the acronym? Could be Children's of Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.

Ok, I have read the above discussion, but still the question looms in my head..."If you have X number of sick days, why can't those sick days be used, as long as the call off is done as per policy? Why are we making nurses feel terrible about using their sick days that they have earned?" I feel like we are killing ourselves with this issue, insisting that nurses work when we don't feel good, regardless of the illness or condition. If you feel crappy, it's hard to work. This is one issue in nursing that has been around forever that I wish we could find a solution for. It would have to begin with better staffing by management, to be able to absorb call-ins. (OK, rant over, thanks for listening.)

I would encourage you to speak with your course coordinator and/or clinical instructor about this situation. As a former clinical instructor, that information is helpful to know because if possible, I could structure clinical assignments and experiences with that information in mind. In OB, there are several areas that you can be assigned to: L/D, antepartum, postpartum and newborn nursery. Once you experience each area, perhaps you will find one care that you are most comfortable in, and your instructor can place you there for the rest of your clinical shifts. I have done that, particularly with male students who were uncomfortable with the whole L/D experience. I asked them to attend once birth to have a reference point for test questions and to meet course objectives, then they went to post partum or the nursery for the rest of the clinical time, and some girls who wanted to be midwives were assigned to more L/D experiences, so it worked out for everyone. For your pediatric experience, you may want to talk with those instructors as well and find out what kinds of units you will do clinicals on. Is it a traditional peds floor in an adult hospital where you will see a variety of ages and diagnoses, or is it a specialty floor in a children's hospital? See if you can be placed on a unit where there may be less of things that may upset you and more of things that you can jump into without hesitation. Is there an adult specialty area that you like? Ask if you can go to a unit that has some of those patients on it, so you at least have something minor to look forward to. And, I think some other posters have alluded to this as well...try to go in to this experience with an open mind. I know that you ahve a wounded heart and an open mind is terribly difficult right now, but acknowledge your feelings with your instructors and move forward with an open mind to learn what you need to learn from these experiences so that you can build your knowledge base so that you are ready for NCLEX, as it will have OB and peds content on it and you need to be ready for those areas. I have had several students who told me at the beginning of a peds rotation that they were not at all thrilled about it and felt like they were going to hate it, and I just asked them to allow the clinical experience to happen and for them to be full participants. I was surprised that several of these very students made their career choice to be in pediatrics. One was gung ho on geriatrics and made the switch right after taking the course. Neither of us saw that one coming, but she did it by having an open mind and diving into clinicals. She even won the award for Outstanding Pediatric Student for her class. So, take it day be day, be open minded and learn what you can from the experiences. If that area is not your choice upon graduation, you can put peds and ob out of your mind after NCLEX is over and done. Take care, I wish you the very best!

NLN does not accredit doctoral programs.

Just a quick FYI..."third world" is not considered to be PC. Instead use "developing country" as a term. Good luck with the Peace Cprps!

I think it has always been a series of three shots. That immunization came out when I was in nursing school, in 1988 or 1989, and they made us begin the series in order to stay in school. I worked as a nurse assistant for a hospital, so employee health covered it. I still have the card, and I had to get three of those shots. If I remember correctly, when I traveled overseas and had to get the Hepatitis A series, those were two shots, separated by six months. Maybe that is what you are referring to perhaps? To figure out if you are protected, ask a helathcare provider to draw bloos for a hepatitis B titer and see if your levels are high enough to offer protection.

My two experiences with walk in clinics were at Walgreens Take Care Clinic. First one was on a Sunday. us and was playing with our cat and was bitten by a playful one. Being cautious, we went to the Take Care clinic, as there was a huge wait at our MD. Got Keflex ex and had a great NP. The next experience was mine, had a terrible cold for several days that no cold medicine was touching...NyQuil, DayQuil, paeudoephidrine, etc... The Np basically told me she was not going to prescribe an abx and gave me a mini lecture about super bugs and overuse of abx and charged me a copay and pretty much told me it was viral and suck it up. I knew I was I'll and not getting better, so I drove to my MD office and waited two hours to be seen. The MD examined me, got the same cheer complaint and symptoms from me, and diagnosed me with a sinus infection. Gave me a script for Zpack and steroids, and I was feeling better in a day. As much as I want to support NPs, I don't think I can go back to the Take Care clinic and will wait patiently at my PCPs office in the future. Just my two cents here.

So agree with you, especially that last line!

I'm sorry, but if the family member knew the difference then why did they ask in the first place? Were they baiting to see what the response would be? And in reality, this person did not say they were a nurse No, she was not "baiting" them. She heard a title that she did nto know and asked what it was. She does, however, know what a nurse is.