bulletproofbarb

even casuals in WA are being cancelled, like me. i have a second job though so no big deal as i have been doing extra in that job. i could not rely on a non permanent job. i dont think agency are getting any work at all here, except probably nursing homes. come winter it will pick up again. not far off now.

one i used when doing a non nursing diploma...which i dropped out of but got a job in that field anyway Chemical Forums - Index

neuro as in neurosurgical or neuromedical nursing. i worked neurosurgery years ago. neurosurgery icu at royal brisbane hospital neurosurgery at sir charles gairdner hospital western australia google those two.i'm sure contact details will be on the website. i dont know about the other states.

In Australia where i work the norm for shifts is 8 hours and for nights is 10 hours. morning 7am to 330 afternoon 1pm to 930pm night 9pm to 730am. I worked in UK in 2004 and did 12 hour shifts sometimes. I cant say I like them. I guess it's what you are used to. I do PRN work now and do 6 hour shifts..and it's brilliant. I start at 7 and finish at 1pm and the day is mine! Sometimes i do 7 hours as thats what the facility wants. I dont do five days a week, just 3 as I have another job for the other 2 days a week that dosn't involve patients. After 3 days of playing nurse I just cant face patients...and the idea of being 12 hours with the same patients fills me with dread..but I have been a nurse now for over 20 years. What I used to be able to do work wise/hours and what i can do now are two completely different things.

I worked in Brisbane in 19901/1992 and loved it. I cant offer advice on NP but I wish you the best. I found the public transport was great. I worked at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in Herston. I think thats the biggest hospital there. website: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/rbwh/

actually, it's the opposite here. When I finished my general training in 1989, EN's were being phased out then. In the last few years there has been a HUGE increase in the number of EN's being trained and working in hospitals. I remember back in the 1990's if an EN left they were not replaced with an EN but an RN instead. I personally believe and am speaking from over 20 years of experience, it's not the best decsion made.

bp cuff pumped up to 60mmhg also helps. use it upside down so the bulb does not get in the way!

ah, I am so sick of seeing this same ol' same ol' post. Guess what, us old nurses were young ones once and it happened to us...and we survived...and it happens in most industries not just nursing. It's a tough world and i get the distinct feeling that young nurses feel they should have expection for the cut throat world of work place politics ect as nursing is a caring profession...well unfortuantely it is not ever going to happen. Next time you see some poor young apprentice in building/construction on the news who died at work from lack of support/training...just remember you are still alive.

Also, remember, you are not the only student who has come through. The RN may just be darn worn out..she's probably taught the same thing 100 times and still has patients and family plus other staff/graduates to support. I have had students and grads who show interest and others who dont care..as an example one grad needed to learn a procedure, so I told them to read the hospital policy first and then i would explain it to them. I saw the grad chatting with the other nurses, it was a quiet shift HUGE learning opportunity and yet 2 hours later they had not read a 3 page dot point procedure and said "oh just tell me" I said I would do the procedure and they could do the other things until they read the procedure. I'm not there to spoon feed adults unless they are patients with a physical disability. I have zero patience for those who wont to put in very little effort to learn...and i know I am not the only one who feels like that. I have to read the policies as they change frequently..it's not only students who do and sometimes I think students forget that things change often so RN's are also always renewing their knowledge. It's hard to step in someones shoes but when you get to be a RN and have taught the same thing over and over whilst supervising grads/students, caring for patients and relatives you will see what it can be like. Regardless of how you are tuaght a procedure in school, just remember every hospital has their own policy and that is what has to be followed.

i work in a lab too. I do it 2 days a week, the other three days I work as a nurse. It keeps me sane and you know what I like about the lab is that it is mundane and boring and quiet..just what I need after 3 days of nursing. I was almost ready to give up nursing after 20 years but now I have the perfect balance..full time work and much less stress. BUT...i could not work in the lab 5 days a week..I would go nuts with boredom! So yeah i understand what you mean.

can i suggest you also contact the centre you are working for, some staff advertise shared houses/places for rent on hospital notice boards, or maybe you can make a flyer and email that and ask them to hang it up for you with your contact details.

If you are already hesistant, then go down the EN path. You will gain knowledge, experience and if you do decide to move on to RN, you will be able to work a bit when you study if money is an issue. Yes, there is a glut of new nurses and not everyone will get a place on a GNP. I do believe though that employers do look favourably on RN's that used to be EN's if they have done well, have good references ect. Some of the private hospitals also will pay for EN to RN conversion and offer you a job on their GNP. I am not sure how old you are, but honestly dont think you should rush into it if you have some hesitancy. Some places also have advanced ENs who are trained in IV insertion, IV AB"s and medications and other skills relevant to their area...and are cheaper to employ than RN's. I do know in WA the private sector is moving to 30% RN's and 70% EN's as their workforce.

just choose a clinical procedure..there is reasons why they are in place, best practice research, reduce infection, legal obligations of working by scope of practice, maintaining standards/professional indemnity by following hospital protocol ect. I think you are reading too hard into it..and thats okay, applications/job stess make our brains curl up and go into serious depth mode but it's a fairly easy question..just analyse a procedure in depth. another example..giving medications, the things you have to check and policies you have to follow...you cant change that...you have to follow it to the letter, thats what they are asking. good luck, chill and relax

I had worked for 5 years before i even considered casual/travel nursing...I do it now as my only nurse job but I have been working for over 20 years. I would not even consider it if you have only one years experience and you admit you are struggling.

if i had to choose, i would definately do EN first. you will gain experience and apply that if/when you convert to RN...you will save on hecs debt as well. it will be less when if/when you convert. i definately belive it's the way to go.

I agree finding something different may be the answer. I too felt like this a year ago and took a non nursing position part time and do casual part time as well. It's made me feel better about things. I got to the point I was not interested in learning new things, everything seemed a chore. Now I am doing self education and look forward to my nurse shifts. Sure they are still on a ward but I chose the day and shift the suits me. Ideally I would like to get into GP nursing but need ED experience. I have not worked ED for years but with my current job I now have the option of getting back into it so I am using the job to brush up my skills in the required areas for GP work and hopefully one day will land a job in the area. Whatever you do, dont resign unless you have something else to go to but start looking at what you would like to do and if you lack skills in the area you like, see if you can gain any of those in your current job. Use your employeer to get what you want to!

yes I agree with that. You need, as a graduate to be somewhere stable and float is not stable. I did not even consider working float or casual until I was 5 years out! I was far too scared to throw myself in the deep end. Start looking for a permanent job and in the mean time, all I can advise is to be really careful, double check and prioritise. I am not sure if you get a basic handover, but if you do, single out the priority patients, like diabetics, do those first and then do the others.

Okay, I have not read the all the posts, just the first two pages. If you have a disability (like me) and your employer has made changes to accomodate that, which you state they have, then you need to accept that if you want to work. No, it's not fair, I understand but that is life. I cant get a permanent position due to my disability in an area I would like. if i want a permanent job, I need to take one that does not involve night duty. So i chose to work casual so i can work on wards still. When i am ready i will consider the other areas that dont require night duty. Sometimes you have to accept what is offered and not expect to be accomodated 100% because of a disability. It's not fair on your colleagues either.

I too want to get into this area. I am in Australia. I did a two days course and the immunisation certifcate. There are other short courses i can do as well. I'm in no rush at the moment but I dont even bother applying for the ones that state RN or EN (I think EN is the same as LPN) because I know they will go for the person they have to pay the least. I applied to four this year and was told they wanted someone with experience in GP work. 20+ years of hospital nursing counts for nothing and when i did the course was told the last people they will employ are those who have been in bedside nursing for many years. Obviously our system is a bit different from US system but I shall start looking again next year. I am still in bedside nursing but also do some phlebotomy and am not totally burnt out yet so am just holding on to "one day" hope Good luck and I hope you find something eventually.

oh, sorry..i thought you were turning her head..misread post. i'm very very tired, just trying to stay awake so i dont wake up at 4am again. almost 8pm..another hour i can go to bed and do me owm rem a patient i looked after who herniated on me had some brain tissue come through her nose. her face was so tight from swelling, i can still picture it like it was yersteday and not 18 years ago

it is called dolls eye reflex

COPD smoker patients are the same as renal patients who eat food high in salt, drug addicts who get septic, diabetics who eat cakes, lollies ect, people with epilepsy who drink alcohol, and i am sure everyone can think of another example. Stop stressing about it, it is their life..governments waste tax money on all sorts of rubbish so dont look at it as "your taxes". The chronically ill non compliant patients keep us in a job. It seriously does not bother me. If they want to come in and out of hospital due to failing health from non compliance that is their choice. I'll give them the basic education and leave it at that.

when i go to work I say to the cat "right, I am off to work to earn money to buy cat food" I like the term velcro dog that made me laugh. When I have been on a few days, the cat gets a bit clingy especially in the mornings. But I let her sleep with me every night and yeah, sometimes I can tell she misses me, especially when she does "leg iron cat" when i get home. First thing she does is attaches herself to my leg like a leg iron and wont let go. I walk down the hall or into the loo with the fluffly leg iron attched to me. All in all she is pretty good though but at times she will just constantly meow because she has missed me. When i call her she settles down but if she cant see me she gets very meowie and I can hear a bit of distress in that meow. When I am on days off I say "hey kitty, mum is staying home with you all day today, wont that be nice" and 9/10 times she disappears for half the day sometimes longer...I just dont get it. I dont know much about dogs but I do hope you find a solution because I think your dog misses you very much. True love.

I've just read this whole topic! Firstly, I too have been in the same situation as the OP and also those who loved their jobs and it is easy to say "get out" when you have a great job. I had a great job, thought it would never change (oh how wrong I was), felt like I was valued, enjoyed my job and felt I was able to use my skills. It was great and I was respected by the doctors and other nurses. Then it all changed, the way we practiced nursing on the ward. It got worse and worse. I would go home and feel run down, tired and stressed. I changed to part time for a while and hung on. After i resigned, 5 people resigned shortly after me. In a way that was good because it made me realise it was not just me who had had a gutful. Like the OP was over nursing, had nothing good to say about it ect and so took a part time job in a non nursing area and now work casual/agency nursing. I feel better for it and everything is working out okay. I am better off finacially but job satisfaction wise, I have less stress ect but do still miss the old job and it's almost been a year now since I left. I have decided the only way to survive is to make it work for you, which is what i do and am now just focused on the money aspect. I do my nurisng job to the best of my ability but there is no way I could do it full time. I get to chose when and where I want to work. I can fit it around my other job too and dont feel tired, stressed or come home crying! I am just planning to carry on like I am until I get sick/bored of it and feel better about nursing. then i will look into doing something different in nursing if i have my spark back. I have been like this a number of years ago, and left the hospitals for 6 years working in a clinic and then went back into the hospitals for a couple of years. Then went overseas to work and had a bit of fun and did some travelling around Europe. I agree shift work stuffs up your social life. I have met nurses who have been out for less than 3 years and are sick of shifts and no life so are doing something else outside of nursing. I have not discounted dialysis or radiology or a clinic job but am happy at the moment and so have no plans to find that perfect nursing job just yet. BTW, I do one day of 9 to 5 and it's not all it's cracked up to be...maybe because I am still doing shifts around that day...maybe because I have only been doing it for less than a year and still adjusting. Some days it's good some days it's not. I think if you do 9 to 5 it would have to be every day not around shift work.