1996RN

Did you end up getting the job? If so (or not), please email me. I am interviewing for manager on Monday. Thanks.

the students were very cut-throat and if you didn't basically tell them everything that was on their quizzes and exams, they went straight to the DON and complained on me. I received a lot of attitude and mumbles of how bad of an instructor i was. i took it a little bit personally but not too bad. there was a lot of stumbling and then intimidation by the students. after my first go round, i became better and better, totally comfortable teaching the lectures. i always wanted to tell these interesting stories in the OB class since i've seen some really bad OB emergencies. i figured it would be interesting (they loved it!), but i always ended up running late on my lectures. they will do anything they can to intimidate and take control of the classroom, but you have to set the bar from the beginning. establish control and reprimand from day 1. dont try to get their approval, teach them that you are only telling them how it is in the real world, and that type of behavior is not acceptable as a professional. they will walk all over you and push you to find your limits. just dont lose control during class. okay, hopefully you have a better population than i did. mine was the type of vocational school that was really expensive but they never turned down anybody and financed anybody, regardless of credit history. so it was a last resort for many of them. it was all about the numbers. anytime you told them they needed to read a chapter in their book, they were all quick to moan and groan about how much $$ they were paying to be TAUGHT or TOLD the material on the tests. and management needed to maintain the passing rate to keep the funding coming in. my job was truly a business, not a school. i can only hope you have a much better experience than them. oh yeah, and dont EVER think any of your students is your friend. they will turn on you SO quickly. Don't let your guard down and keep those boundaries up. It will bite you in the butt as it did to me my first go round. i quickly learned that you cannot trust anybody. sad but true.

well what i quickly learned that they fully expected me to use a variety of creative teaching, not just lecture. i was on a serious time crunch the whole time i was there. there was always some sort of activity by the school or evals on their last instructors that cut into my lecture time. my classes were not always the quickest of learners, due to the type of place i taught. it was very frustrating how they cut a 3 hr lecture time into 1 hr, but i was still expected to cover all of the material. i came in early and stayed late, and even met the students back at the school after clinicals to try to tutor the students. til they said no more overtime. they also began to tell me that the students 'paid to get passing grades' and i was to do whatever was necessary to make them pass. they even fired a seasoned instructor because some students failed her class- medical math. i got out as soon as this happened, i felt very unethical and couldn't be a part of it anymore, but the job itself was awesome.

also make sure to voice that in emergent or questionable situations, you would not hesitate to contact the MD on call in the middle of the night, cuz that happens all the time, and they would rather you err on the safe side than take things into your own hands being a new nurse

tell me what you would do if you had multiple urgent/emergent events going on at the same time? tell me of a time when you worked well with a team and how the outcome was positive, tell me of a time when a team worked negatively and the outcome was negative, how did you handle that? how do you respond to frequent new changes on the unit?

i have a friend who was fired for a negative comment she posted on one of these sites.

regardless of the bad news lately, parkland hospital is the best place to get a start as a new grad. you will see every single complication and possibility that will ever happen, and it will boost your confidence and really look great on your resume.

yeah well tell that to their HR dept! i applied there almost 2 months ago!!

I'm currently living in the DFW area of TX and am a L&D nurse and the job situation is very sporifice. So I am looking to travel to other cities in Texas to work, probably do like 7 on, 7 off and fly or drive home, depending on the distance. Does anyone have any recommendations on cities/hospitals that have good L&D reputations or bad ones? I don't know much about TX besides this area I'm in, so any ideas will be helpful. Thanks!

Well, I had a good interview today at a psych facility that has about 5-6 specialized units, and pretty sure I'll get the job. I'm excited for the change. I've done L&D for the past 12 yrs. I will be working 3-11 shift, and I know that is difficult, certainly not my first choice, but it's what was available. I would LOVE any advice, warnings, etc about working in the psych world! Thanks!

i went the ADN route and graduated back in 1996, and never had any intention on getting my BSN, i figured i still had no problem getting jobs, what was the difference? but then i got a job where they had magnet status and really nicely pushed their nurses to further their education by great education reimbursement and discount programs with an online ADN-BSN program, so i decided to give it a shot. took me a year of hard work, but i graduated with my BSN last oct, and have been pleasantly surprised at potential employers' comments about my BSN status. seems like it's really starting to make a difference these days. i'd say go for it. or at least plan on it soon after.

maybe work some magic and make the perfect job appear on my doorstep tomorrow? lol i know you guys cant help, i guess i'm just here to pout and vent about how i've been the gold-star nurse for 15 yrs and all of a sudden, since 'the event' happened last year, i've just been so shaken up and have no confidence and apparently my decision-making is impaired. i'm bitter that i'm being blamed for something i didn't do.

i've been a RN for 15 yrs, none of that being psych. i'm in a situation right now where a job in psych may be my only option. i am very open to it, it's not like i hate the idea. i worked for 2 yrs in an ER situation where i encountered quite a bit of psych pts. can anyone give me the pro's and con's of converting to a psych nurse? i would be doing 3-11 mon-fri.

I've been a RN for 15 yrs and have been in the same specialty for 12 yrs. I've never had a problem getting a job, did travel nursing for a few years, and was at a day job for the past year. things got bad there- the management totally lost control and the ship was spiraling down the drain, so i jumped ship to the first thing i could get, which was a night shift. i've done years of night shifts, but now i have young children, and for some reason, my body and mind could not handle night shift anymore. i started getting physically ill due to the schedule. one day, i acted very stupidly and called and quit the job on the spot. i didn't even think i could do a final 2 weeks. first time i'd ever done that or left a job under bad terms. well this is a very large national corporation and i found out today that i'm not eligible for rehire. i understand that, but certainly nobody would understand my inability to work night shift anymore. day shift was not a possibility at this job. so i've been out of work for over a month now. i thought i would be able to immediately or soon find another job. i feel just horrible about my stupid mistake. my specialty has always been in high demand but it's slowing down right now, and the few jobs that are out there are night shift. i'm behind on my bills, i'm super stressed, i am a single mom. please don't barrade me with criticism for being irresponsible. yes, i was and i know it. i've been on interviews for office jobs but not been hired. most jobs i apply for (which are out of my specialty because they are day shift) dont even call me for an interview. times are really getting bad. somebody help me out! there's a lot more to my story but i know from personal experience that coworkers or former coworkers have figured me out from this site and i've gotten in trouble for what i've said. so i hate to withold prime info, but i will be having stipulations on my license within the next couple of months for a one-time horribly bad event that i just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and i've been blamed for by the board of nursing. i am also awaiting my punishment. so is that enough bad decision-making and a bad enough predicament for one person??? help.

i dont necessarily let them know i'm a nurse, only if they are friendly and seem receptive, or are around my age or younger. i feel often intimidated by older nurses and am afraid they might think i was bragging or something, or going to try to tell them how to do my job. mostly i just cooperate as much as possible, be a good patient, and do much more for myself than most pts do.

i dont know about where you can find a video, but main things to remember are to support the perineum (if you have time... lol) as the head is coming out, then always check for a cord around the neck before delivering the body, then remind them to pull straight down to deliver the anterior shoulder. and after baby is born, dry and stimulate!! and suction if that's available. kudos to you! every hospital i've ever worked in has been terrified of pregnant pts and would rather wheel the lady from one end of the hospital to ours with the head hanging out than deliver the baby themselves.

agree with RN2B, but medical city is your best bet. it's a huge hospital where you'll get great experience and have better odds at finding a job. medical center of plano is smaller and med ctr mckinney is even tinier and i haven't heard the greatest things about them. but medical city dallas is well-respected and i'd choose them if i had the option to transfer.

the majority of birth plans are written without any real knowledge of what goes on in L&D. sure you can read all the websites and watch all of the episodes of 'the baby story' you want, but still you have no clue about what goes on to save you and your baby's lives. that's why you'll rarely see a L&D nurse write a birth plan... we believe in and trust that everything being done is best for us. there's no need to try to assert control over a situation that you really have no understanding of, no matter how many babies you have had. also, on a side note, if you have a birth plan, you increase your risks of a c-section greatly! it's just the odds... lol, ask any L&D nurse.

yes, great job and congrats! just don't be one of those nurses who stops their education there. keep going after earning a little bit of money, it will be totally worth it!

i don't know what to say about your injury and work experience and all of that, but i can give you a good resource to get connections and info about travel nursing. i travel nursed for 3 yrs and had a great time, made lots of money, lots of friends across the country, and saw some beautiful sights. anyway, it's a very dog-eat-dog business, and yes it's a BUSINESS, so you have to learn to be savvy or else travel recruiters will take as much advantage of you as they can. i researched this forum and read and talked on it for about 6 months prior to taking my first assignment, and i still got screwed the first time around. but here ya go, it's Delphi Forums: Communities for friends, groups and businesses, and then the subforum is called 'travel nurses and therapists'... read read read! and ask, ask, ask!! good luck! oh yeah, benefits and pay are usually great, but remember, you're usually going to hospitals where local nurses dont want to go, so they're usually not the most ideal assignments, but keep telling yourself that you can do anything for 13 weeks! manageable with a family?? not so sure, i did mine when i was single and it was great, but i dont know what you're family is willing to put up with.

i'm sorry you're going through this, but i'd say that it's pretty much the norm in nursing. i've had a love/hate relationship with nursing since my first year in 1996. i'm still in it, still doing patient care (L&D) which i enjoy SOOOOO much better than 'floor' nursing, but it's still very fast pace and high stress but we do get to spend more time with out pts than other nurses. but still, it's a constant battle to try and get approval for more nurses, and then as soon as they hire a new one, another one quits, so it's a continuous cycle. i will say that nursing has gotten easier over the years because you become more confident, you find ways to become more efficient and manage your time better. and you become more 'hardened' sadly, you realize that you cannot spend 15 min talking with each patient every time you enter their room. you learn to go with the flow and keep your head above water. give it some more time. or else handle as much of it as you possibly can, then seek work in another department that you may enjoy better. good luck! p.s. i'm finally making the move to nursing education after 14 yrs of pt care and i'm a bit nervous because i know i'll miss my patients and my routine. like you said, it's totally love/hate.

i have an ADN and work at a magnet hospital (for 2 more weeks anyway) and had no problem getting the job. once i did hire on, i noticed that TONS of my coworkers were in school online to get their BSN's or MSN's, and we have a great tuition reimbursement program. so that's what got me inspired to go back to school. i think that magnet hospitals prefer to have BSN nurses, i think it looks better for their records, but i have never known it to be a hinderance to getting a job at a magnet facility.

depends on how often you normally use email to communicate to your manager, like if it's your normal method of conversation. for me, i work nights and rarely see my managers so i recently submitted my resignation via email and then submitted a paper copy of the resignation to my manager's mailbox.

these are all great questions that you asked. in fact, i asked most of them too and was told that i would find out everything on my first day of orientation. they said all i'll be expected to do that first day is sit back and take it all in. well i'm a planner and i want to know what i'll be taking in... lol. i've emailed both HR and DON and both have told me that i'd find out everything on my first day. so what can i do in the meantime??

Hi all, Hopefully someone is still reading this forum and can help me out. I'm an ADN RN working towards my BSN (will receive this fall) and my MSN in nursing education which I'll receive in 2012. I was recently hired as a LVN/LPN instructor- both classroom and clinicals. My back ground is OB, as you can tell by my name, so much of this will be 'new' to me since I haven't worked med/surg for 11 years. I have a few weeks before I start, and I'm trying to find out if there are any textbooks or programs specifically for LVN/LPN instructors, some guidelines for teaching, tips, etc that I can study up on prior to starting. Thanks in advance.