eb_rn

i am currently rotating shifts...12 hr. days for 5 weeks, then nights for 5 weeks. another nurse on my unit had requested to rotate because her husband rotates and she needed to be oposite of him, for childcare purposes. my boss asked if i would rotate with her. i agreed. its been nice. the first of the nights is always hard, but it gets easier every week.

same here, anytime I cry, my eyes get puffy and red...my whole face gets red...I, too, am fair-skinned...:)

I like taking care of chronic vent kids. :)

:) I would not be offended....I was raised missionary baptist and would prefer this religion to others, but, in the event that I should leave this world through death, I would not be offended that someone cared enough about my life and death to offer up a prayer...whatever kind of religion you might be. I would hope you would pray for my family and friends, as they would need prayers also....understanding that all types of religion are different, and that it is the nature of this job...nursing...to care for ALL aspects of life, including spiritual needs as well as death, we should not be offended, but both understanding and grateful that our nurse thought enough of us to wonder about where our spirit goes after it leaves the body. :)

I too watch the show for the drama, and try not to pick out the stuff that's wrong....I did watch and, as usual, liked the episode. its entertainment...its not ment to be "real" or it would be on the discovery chanel. :)

:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire No, I wont work overtime for straight pay...you would have to be crazy...I love my job and all, but I dont think nurses get paid enough on straight pay, and now he's taking away our OT, and, yes, I blame Bush...I understand that it was a bill and argued, etc. but Bush, the current president, has the power to veto, and he didn't...so I blame him...Ya know, my dad said that it took many workers a lot of blood, sweat, tears, headaches, and pain to pass the OT laws...and Bush did away with it in one stroke of a pen, and it wont even matter to him...its not like he's trying to make a house payment, or pay daycare, or a car payment, or send a kid to college......I think Bush just set our country back about 40 years.....am very, very disappointed in his term as president........

I can completely relate to your story. Please don't give up on nursing. You chose this profession because....I'm sure you had a reason. It couldn't have been the money, b/c I haven't met a nurse yet, that had a limo,and lives like J.Lo....so, I'm guessing it was the people and that you wanted to make a difference. Don't give up on that. Live is hard. New jobs are hard. Nursing can be he!!....but, the rewards make it worth it....I know, I'm sounding like the johnson&johnson commercial, but it's true....for some of us. But you have to really want it. Know that you really won't be satisfied with any other career. I HATED, did I stress that enough, HATED, my first nursing job....it started out good, but declined fast....sound familiar? I didn't realize until recently (2.5 years after the fact) that this is normal....the first part is called the honeymoon phase, everything is great...wonderful...perfect. You're working, saving lives, and they are paying you....couldn't get much better. but then reality sets in...for me it was being left IN CHARGE of 25, yes, 25 rehab patients....I had been off orientation for 1.5 weeks....didn't even have my actual license, was working on a temp. anyway, I have had 1 other moment that I thought, I might consider truck driving, or welding, or ANYTHING but nursing. But after a good cry , I realize that I would not be happy doing anything less than this. Maybe you could try another area...another great thing about this line of work...there are always oppertunities...I wanted peds, but there weren't any openings...everyone told me that I needed 1 year of adult experience, med/surge....I did it for 10 months....hated all 10 months, but now I work at a childrens hospital....LOVE IT... :) :wink2: LOVE IT!!!!!!! just hang in there, change places, situations, change something to make life/work/everything better...but don't ever, never ever, give up on a dream...a career of working with people, making a difference. If you give up on that, what else is there? I know there is no way I could work another job. ever. don't settle for anything less than what you deserve. You deserve to be happy, enjoy your job.....so find one that you enjoy....find one that you love...smile, cuz life's too short not to....... :)

It depends on you really. I drive ~2.5 hours...~165 miles to work. But, I love my job and I only work weekends. I tried to work closer, but found that I liked the drive more than I liked the other jobs....not that I really liked the drive, it was just the lesser of 2 evils.

Originally Posted by butterphlyrn Nursing is the smartest thing I have ever done. I,also,LOVE this statement, ..... I love my job and couldn't ever imagine doing anything else...except maybe, being a nursing instructor....but that would be later down the road.....

I once had a doc ask me to "turn-off the vent" so he could hear heart sounds. I guess the patient's breathing wasn't as important as his heart sounds.......the RT sitting beside me offered to bag the patient so the doc could thoroughly assess the heart sounds.

I have has PALS--pediatric advanced life support, guess its the same thing...really liked it. The first class was 2 days long...8 hour days. We went over information on first line drugs to give if a kid is coding....we also went over tubing a kid. And there is a test at the end, but we all passed...like CPR, everyone passes, some require a little more help than others. There were interns and nurses in the class. Everyone was very helpful. The renewal of PALS was only 1 day, 8 hours and again there were nurses, interns, residents, and attending md's there. This class mostly focuses running a code with the docs, but everyone participated, asked questions, did mock codes, etc. I really learned a lot.

its been my experience that a small hospital may offer more support and help develope a basic knowledge of general peds prob....rsv/ pneumonia/ bug bites/tummy aches, etc.. but a larger hospital will give u more experience on syndromes, anomialies, etc. while also giving u the knowledge in the gen. stuff as well.......I work in a mod. size childrens hospital and have seen tons of syndromes. We also get most of the abused kids in the state. And we have a vent ward, long term trach/vent kids. It has been interesting, and my environment has always been one of support...I have not ever felt that I was left alone to sink or swim...... however, my experience in a small hospital (it was an adult hospital, but in a small town, total bed # was 60, including ALL ICU/LDRP beds as well as reg. hospital admissions) I was given mediocre support for my 2 weeks orientation, but was left to handle it on my own...charge nurse over all patients, except LDRP/ICU/ER...and there was only 3...yes 3...RNs in the entire hospital. This was pm shift and there were also 2 paramedics in ER, unless they were out on a run...oh, and the on call md was in ER, unless there werent any pts, then he went home...yes home...and that was at least 15 minutes away. So, my long winded explanation really just says, that small hospitals offer a different learning experience that larger hospitals, it just depends on u and what u need on whether or not u should choose a small or large facility to work in.

I love peds...have since school... was quite anxious when I first got out of school.....small hospital, leaving 7 peds to 1 RN and a tech......incidently I didnt stay there long. Not b/c of the patients or the ratio, but since I was new, they didnt want to leave me in charge with no one to lean on....so I got pulled...ALL of the time....I spent most of my first 2 months after orientation in every other unit of the hospital....units I was NOT oriented to.....after much talking to my supervisor, they continued to pull me. So I quit and went to adult med/surge...figuring I would just surrender to the old addage that new grads need "experience" in the adult world....I now work in a childrens hospital....we hire new grads all the time...they usually do wonderfully well....BUT we have people around all the time to help...troubleshoot....we are like a family....I dont think some of the nurses we have would have made it in peds in another setting...not b/c they are not good nurses, but because new grads need a network of support, and, sad to say, that's not always availablle in adult hospitals. best of luck to you. :)

i used to be grossed out by mucous....in nsg school, my first trach experience was a man in mid 40's with a VERY forceful cough. i opened the door, he coughed, i ducked, and mucous splattered against the door, just above my head....but now i work with chronic vent kids.......it doesnt really bother me.......but its baby mucous, it seems baby stuff isnt as bad as adult........

i emptied a jp drain.......i was a tech for the hospital that i had clinicals in and had worked on that floor regularly.......they claimed i went "beyond my realm" and that i was a danger to patients......they tried to kick me out....i fought back and arranged a meeting with to teacher-student leason.....did i mention that at that time i was a licensed EMT-basic.......anyway it was agreed upon that i would get a second chance, but they were horrible to me......i had to retake 2 tests, that i had passed, but they recounted and determined that i had missed 1 too many. when i asked to see the tests they had already been destroyed....it was just 2 hours after the test was completed.....none of my classmates' test were destroyed....hhmmmmmmmmm!!!!!! i passed.......but on my med. calcultation test, they tried to say i failed because i had rechecked my multiplication in the margin of the worksheet, the answer was correctbut "the upper level nursing classes wouldnt allow that kind of messiness." can u imagine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!sorry for my rambling...anyway, i now work at the local childrens hospital.....and am a dang good nurse, if i do say so myself.......:)