oldandintheway

Yesterday for the third consecutive year I fell asleep during one of our “mandatory” annual refresher courses. Fortunately/unfortunately a dear friend of mine kept punching me in the arm to wake me up, apparently I was snoring. The instructor was a colleague I’ve known for over a decade and she let it slide after pointing out that I was sleeping again to the whole class. I deal with the subject matter daily, but it is 7 CEs and get paid to attend so I got that going for me.

Median times may be more helpful than average times, I also see many unqualified nurses in triage roles. I think the worst thing is when a provider interferes by trying to start an assessment to preserve their door to doc times. I also think fast typing skills is essential, I know it slows me down.

California is a very large state, cost of living varies considerably

I experienced leadership and management training in a very unforgiving environment a long time ago and dealt with the harshest peer review imaginable, would they come back for you when your a** was hanging in the wind. I learned the single most important quality of a leader is to protect your team, then make sure everyone has what they need to succeed (training, tools, defined roles, and a plan succession) Recruit and hire for cohesiveness, be responsible for a unit culture that thrives on high performance and teamwork. A good manager takes responsibility for short comings as well as rewards success. Then this manger gets ground to dust by corporate management, and all those people that hang around the part of the hospital with carpet on the floors. And the older staff will sometimes say "remember so and so, he was a good manager what ever happened to him"

1100-2300 can be good or bad depending on what you want, I like it. You don't deal with the lull at the end of night shift/beginning of day shift, usually busy when you arrive till when you leave. Trade offs are searching for and often not getting adequate lunch relief, and negotiating with the charge to find someone to give report to at the end of your shift. A great advantage is you are often not considered day/night shift so it's real easy to avoid the cliques and drama of either one. It's a good fit if you are self motivated, you can slip and slide through the BS and do good work, plus you can enjoy night shift potlucks and still have a normal life.

Took a while but I've come to the conclusion I work for my patients not the hospital; although the hospital is legally obligated to thank me every other week for having clocked in. I try to get my affirmation from the conversations with my patients, I told the CEO one day that my best nursing for a particular patient took place on the bench under the oak tree after discharge. He acknowledged that, but my manager said after discharge they weren't a patient anymore.

Or they use their spouse's cell phone.......

I was over 50 when I started nursing school and I wasn't the oldest one. It can be done and it opened up a great and rewarding second career. You will face some different challenges than your younger classmates but they will have unique challenges also. As a chaplain you already know the comfort of faith, good luck and I hope the best for you.

Depends, is this a routine recertification survey or in response to an incident. Although in theory surveyors may arrive at any time unannounced, I don't recall routine surveys occurring outside of regular state business hours. Surveyors are state employees. If they are investigating a sentinel event they may show up during the affected shift but not until they conduct a chart audit that would occur during business hours and the shift would then have some notice by default.

Andy and Barney went to Mt Pilot, Barney made reservations as B. Fife MD. Andy asked why everyone was calling Barney Dr Fife. Barney said he registered as Barney Fife, Mayberry deputy. In the end its capability and competence that matters.

The only real advice I can offer is: use the best vein you find, not the first vein you find; most situations allow the time to search out your best option.

True dat

Different industry, different lifetime but if we were forced to work short handed the ones that did show up split the missing persons wages. That eliminated the incentive for the employer to purposely short staff. I wish we could institute that practice to nursing. Another sore point with me is management not understanding the difference between staffing and scheduling but that is a whole different thread.

I understand what you are saying, however I did not come to the ED from a vacuum. I would not be artificially pounding questions, I do have a broader experience base. My question is would there be any value in the context of continuum of care. By the way ED does qualify for renewal.

Sorry to poach on your thread, but is there any benefit to an Emergency Department Nurse pursuing this certification? I currently hold CEN and CPEN but have a great interest in the whole continuum of care. My Director has told me that ED time does qualify as Critical Care.