ONCRN84

My reply is the same as Banora. My old hospital had hand sanitizer with it and it made me break out in contact dermatitis. I went to the derm, that's what he suggested was the culprit, and it resolved a couple weeks after I stopped using it. Good luck to you. It's certainly obnoxious to deal with!

I like the free pens we get from the organ donation center or the eye bank. They're triangle shaped, black, and always write wonderfully. Weird, I know.

I had a panic attack at work once. I'm now medicated. Best decision ever. I didn't ever realize how depressed and anxious I was until I felt btter.

Check out the Tri Cities area (Kadlec Hospital, Kennewick General are two hospitals)... the pay is better than Spokane, cost of living is cheaper than Seattle, and the nursing market isn't as saturated as it can be elsewhere. There are jobs in Washington. I moved in June and applied to several jobs. I was offered a job in Richland and 2 in Spokane. I don't have connections in any of the HR departments I was offered jobs at. Good luck! If it's what God is telling you to do, He'll make it happen!

I moved 3 hours from my home town and am currently working in a similar environment. Some days are worse than others. The unit I came from was amazing. I had great coworkers and we were very much a team. It's not everywhere, but it's hard to come by an ideal environment. Good luck in whatever you choose.

I'd suggest if you find yourself in this situation, start looking through the chart before you pop in on the patients. Check out labs, history, code status, plan, etc. Then you have at least have some background on the patient even before you get report. Sometimes in the ICU we assume patients during an emergency and don't get a complete report. I always do some research before I ever go see patients and ideally I'd get a face to face report, even if it's brief.

It's a general statement. I don't hate most doctors, just the ones we all hate. And I can interact with people I don't like in a respectful manner. It's part of being a professional adult.

This made me laugh. Not at you, it was truly amusing to me. Please chart in poetic form at least once...

Funny how life works out, isn't it? I had a terrible preceptor my last semester of nursing school. I cried a lot. I doubted myself as a future nurse. She was an NP student at the time. She graduated her program, but was never able to pass boards to get licensed.

I went back to my highschool during my freshman year of college and in conversation with my old chemistry teacher, I mentioned I was going into nursing. He said "why not be a doctor? You're smart. don't sell yourself short by going into nursing." Uh... I don't want to be a doctor. I don't like them. I COULD have... but I didn't WANT to...

Focus on school, your family, and your outside friends. Do what you need to do to succeed and get out. Then it doesn't matter. Our nursing program was actually pretty good. We had a small class and we all got along for the most part. Yeah, there were people I didn't like, but because we were so small we had to work together. It certainly taught me how to work together even if you don't like someone.

I'd talk to your OB and do some research. Congrats on the pregnancy and good luck!

I take Melatonin to sleep. Day or night. The day before my first night back I usually sleep until 10am then take a nap late evening and stay up until 5am. Then I sleep until 3 or 4pm, get up, get ready, work. After work I take a melatonin, shower, eat, and go to bed. Wake up around 4:30 or 5 and repeat. I work my days in a row and like someone else said, working 1 on 1 off or something is cruel and unusual punishment. Nights is hard on your body. I DO prefer it to days because I enjoy my night crew a lot more than the day crew, but that all depends on where you work. This is the second time I've worked nights and the first time I got off nights because I frequently wouldn't remember my drive home. It was incredibly scary and dangerous. You'll know if you can tolerate it or not. This time around I'm doing much better. Good luck! As far as nights and my marriage... we don't see each other as often on the days I work but you have to make it a priority and have quality time when you do see each other.

Provigil... what is this pharmaceutical you speak of and why have I not tried this...

We don't have weekend options. Somehow it got put into the contract that if you work 2 weekends in a row they have to pay you overtime and you can't opt out. I understand that it's there to protect us, but for the love of pete... if someone wants to work only weekends for childcare purposes, there are those of us who would gladly give up our weekend differentials for them.