kf15

To expand I'd say that "we" alive today did not create the behemoth corporate America so much as our predecessors, who empowered their formation hru their political & economic choices. Political forces molded the environment we labor in, this was set in motion decades ago. So when I hear a very old patient complain bitterly about how "impersonal" healthcare feels, I sometimes ask them what they did in their life to help it NOT become this way.

Extremely well said! I will add that RNs are shown disrespect by the both the corporations AND the patients. Until I read this article I had NO IDEA that a nurse had ever done a "backrub".

The intelligent rule of thumb here is to present a rather benign appearance at work b/c appearance matters, and b/c people form 1st impressions quickly. I suppose anyone is entitled to their publicly visible tattoo just as others are entitled to feel how they feel about it. Culture and standards do not change quickly. Personally I feel the workplace is filled w/ more than enough drama, squabbling, corporate rules & human political conflicts than to add tattoo self expression into it. I do not think it wise to enter a professional field such as healthcare which has enormous exposure to the older generations and not expect pushback from those who dislike tattoos. Anyone who feels "hated" by the disapproving reactions of strangers is probably too thin skinned to have gotten a visible tattoo in the 1st place. That's enough for this topic. :poop:

As a rule of thumb anyone who goes immediately into Hitler and the Holocaust is a billion miles outside the converstation. It's not really worth my time elaborating on my post, but I CLEARLY said my dislike of tattoos was personal and is how I feel. Where do you get "hate" from? Certainly not me.

I'm in dialysis, I don't now about the formal corporate policy but personally I dislike tattoos especially on females. Yesterday 1 of the guys who has them all over his arms & legs said "they're becoming acceptable" & I said no, not really, they're just more common and they accepted by younger people. I told him not to forget that mgmt will be filled for another 20 years w/ people like myself from a generation whose 1st thought is still gonna be "prison." I do not find them flattering on anyone and especially feel they're ugly in ANY form on a girl. Therefore I'll always look twice at dirty ink on someone and wonder why they did that? Yeah I know... "self expression."

Economics. It is one of the last fields in this country that cannot be outsourced, which makes it valuable to get into. I wasted 4 yrs of my life earning an Engineering degree only to be told that my work is being done overseas for 1/2 the price. Life in this country has changed drastically and American labor is hated by corporations b/c of its cost. I learned very quickly to follow the demand. Of course I want to "help people"- myself, b/c noone else will!

WOW!, a stunningly gross misunderstanding of both the Affordable Care Act and supply/demand. Again, as I said, everyone should KNOW what will happen, so I suggest some quality/factual research!

Well said. Elections have consequences, so if you vote, be sure you KNOW how your candidate will move healthcare- will it be forward, or more into corporate control?

It's not about a negative view of pts, it's about being a professional in a field where most of the dictates come from insurance accountants and lawyers, and being an advocate means less (to HR) than being in compliance and "proper documentation." I know there are plenty of RNs who make these mistakes, and I can bet it's a result of exhaustion and pt overload. No excuse, but probable cause. The only solution is to decrease the burden on RNs but that ain't gonna happen, b/c that reduces corporate profits. Now you would probably think I'm a bitter RN to work around but you'd be wrong, these are my PERSONAL feelings and I keep them to myself, I do a great job and educate pts all the time. It is from interracting w/ pts and educating them that I see their ambivilance and lack of interest in their own health. Granted this may just reflect my socioeconomic area, but the people I deal with are more concerned w/ what's on TV and their next meal than w/ my quality teaching, even if it is their own health. Sounds like you found a good fit tho, helping people who wanna be helped must be great... I wouldn't know tho.

Yeah probably so. I absolutely know that the reason hospitals will demand BSNs is to drive RN and all wages DOWN, and b/c they ultimately work hand in hand w/ the ed. business. The relentless political push to privatize all education will continue, and ultimately you will see these sectors sort of blend- where the schools and hospitals and other corporations actually set the standards, and the consumers (students) simply follow their rules. Really, it's already like that. The icing on the cake of course is that the schools will continue to churn out students, and the hospitals will continue to refuse to hire them b/c of "inexperience." That is the main reason I refused to work for hospitals.

Hospitals are single focused on generating maximum profit and care far too much about "customer satisfaction." Patients are "customers" who have been given the consumer power to criticize RNs and other highly qualified, hard working staff, usually for crap like failing to wait on them hand and foot. Most patients are medically ignorant and have come to see the hospital as yet another place in America where they are waited on and can expect "good service." God forbid if they are spoken to firmly and denied something that could harm them; mgmt will always take their sides, the good RNs resent this, and yet another field has become dumbed down.

Let me offer some real world advice- if you consider yourself in school to work and learn and graduate, then pass Nclex, then do yourself a HUGE favor and be friendly w/ the girls but don't expect much support from them. Maybe you can find 1 or 2 who are very serious student, but the majority will be text messaging and Facebooking thru the class, then gossiping about their miserable boyfriends afterwards. They're very insular and will really only share w/ other girls, and they're like that in the workplace too, so be smart and stick w/ the winners.

Well that feeling came from their rude and dismissive treatment of me as I was awaiting word of my acceptance status as a student. I had literally MOVED out to AZ to switch fields into nursing and was working w/ that school and was awaiting my status, as THEY PROMISED ME, so this was a Pima timeline and they were past it- over the course of an ENTIRE WEEK I had contacted every single intake person then worked up the chain until I had politely and patiently personally left VMs for everyone on staff (noone was ever there!). So I drove to Apollo and had a great interview and was basically accepted on the spot due to my high intake performance and proven academic record. So to this day I resent PMI and their rude and unprofessional staff and philosophy of treating incoming students as cattle; keep them waiting until they feel like choosing their favorite one. Believe it or not they called like 2 months later saying a spot was open- I enjoyed sharing my feelings w/ them and slamming the phone down!

This will sum it up- shoot for A's but expect B's most of the time; the most imp thing to do is actually LEARN deeply the material w/ an eye on integrating it into a "big picture" for nclex later...... I was "outscored" by many fellow students who worried themselves physically SICK, but I had a relatively easy time prepping and passing nclex.

Well if that's your goal then you know what you have to do to prepare, so I wish you well! Personally this type of idiotic testing is just about my biggest pet peeve in modern life- high pressure, rapid fire testing of students in no way, shape or form determines the slightest level of qualifification for a registered nurse. I earned a BS Engineering degree several years before I went towards nursing, and had to refresh on the basic math b/c it's the First skill to be forgotten, in spite of doing 5 3 levels of math past calculus 3. I guess Pima is more interested in bringing on students who can control their anxiety and blood pressure instead of motivated, intellegent students who can critically think, which is what nursing requires.