bonjovigirl

Wow, I haven't posted a response for at least 2 months, but I gotta give my two cents on this one. maybe aftercare is different for an ins/un-ins pt, but heck no, I HAVE NEVER seen a pt treated differently. as tweety said (maybe its a florida thing) un-ins pts seem to get better treatment. Tests get run faster to decrease lenght of stay, and pts who don't qualify for rehab/alf situations stay longer because there is no where to send them. Now I have met docs that don't take un ins pts, but so long as they are treated by someone at the hospital, then is that not right? I know this has been debated ad-nauseum. And for the record, and I swear this to be true, I have been threatened to be sued many times, and all by self-payers. Each and every one. (our case manager always let us know ins staus, due to above mentioned situations). For the life of me, I can't believe anyone at the hospital I work at ever thinks they are treated differently. I have seen more than one open heart surgery with hhc follow up on a homeless person, (we of course had to find them shelter before d/c). And I am sure they have no out of pocket. My very expensive insurance charged me $1500 out of pocket when I had my daughter. HHMMH.

I'm an RN in florida, with 1 year experience, day shift cardiac floor, 36 hrs a week, and take home approx $1200 Q2 weeks, after health ins for me and hubby and small amt in 401k. I don't think the poster is out of line, alot of people don't want to answer, so don't. Theres nothing wrong with either. If my co workers and I never spoke of money, they I wouldn't know that after many many years of experience, some people are making a whopping $2 more an hour than me. That make me look into future plans. Also, anyone who thinks a person is not going to make a good nurse because she wants to find out how much theyy make has never been broke. I personally find it crazy that I work SO very hard and put up with so much bs, and have to bite my tongue CONSTANTLY, not to mention the level of responsibilty I have and the fact I miss out on holidays and sunday dinners for what amounts above stated wage. Am I a decent caring compassionate nurse who ill do whatever it takes to be a pt advocate, yes, do I want to get paid a decent wage? oh yeah. Hello? while you're busting your butt taking care of everyone from millionaires to homeless people, your electricity and mortgage need to be paid. I wouldn't trade my job for most others, but dang, I NEED that paycheck.

wow burnout, today is my day off, and I try never to learn on days off;) but THAT is fascinating stuff. Makes me think you work er perhaps?

Can't give you advice on your particular choices, but what I looked at was schools retention/graduation rate. I agree its important to "weed out" people who may have no business in nursing school, but that should NEVER be the schools primary goal. One such school I looked into has a graduation rate of about 20, when they actually took in 70 students. I hear if you graduate from there you're really smart, yet I feel if you have a nervous breakdown on the way, and have those nice loans to pay back anyway, you really don't care about those that graduated. good luck!

On my floor we have been getting alot of dementia elderly, combative patients. Just the other day we had a gentleman start that nonsense, kicking and biting and what not. We porceded to call security who put him in 4 point restrains after taking him down. We are not expected to handle 250lb plus old men who are punching us, dementia or not. If anyone gets hurt, its a big deal. We restrain, then call md. If he as a problem with that we invite him to babysit the pt. If we have to call security and the md doesn't want to cooperate, it goes over his head. restraints are not to be used lightly, but no one gets abused where I am, NOBODY.

When I first read the post I thought the same as the rest of you, that said student was wrong. HOWEVER, if the pt has dementia and isn't all there, is it the same breach of ethics? If I failed to admin meds to every dementia pt that originally says no, nobody would ever get meds. Not saying that I shove meds into a pts mouth, but if for fourty five minutes they were talking to their great aunt faye that died 20 years ago, I may not take their objection as seriously. Most of our pts that aren't completley with it refuse EVERYTHING. How many times have you all cleaned up a person covered in bm that was telling you to leave her alone? Now, if the person was "halfway" with it, I would have tried to find out her objections. She may just not understand why shes getting her med. I would not sneak a med to a person who was coherant. EVER. Not only do they have the right o say no, but I DO NOT HAVE the right to force them to do anything. In other words, I agree with sharon.

I was recently (may 05) a new grad. I got a day shift with no problem. As a matter of fact, on my floor when a night position opens its filled immediatly, day positions stay available for ages. *sigh* I often fantasize about working night shift.... So short answer, you may not have that hard of a time finding a day position. And don't worry about "jumping rank". At least at my facility, an experienced nurse gets first dibs on positions. Whatevers left is for new people.

5 usually, 4 sometimes. never more than 5. day shift, tele stepdown. Night shift is staffed the same as day.

I give up my seat if I am just sitting. (which is RARE). If I am in the middle of charting, or looking up a lab etc. then no, I dn't give up my seat for anyone. If I am sitting talking I would give up my seat to a doc, and we are all usually very respectful of the cardiovascular surgeons because we are all a team and the respect goes both ways, and they are absolutley amazing at what they do. The only time anyone is less than respectful to anyone is when certian mds who are notoroios for being "gods", there is no respect either way. I would give up my seat for the pct's if they were running all day (which they usually are), and they would us too.

I am a new rn, and usually don't take things very personally. But I saw that comment as a direct reference to "you all are dysfunctional, and therefore we can control you". Its seems to be exactly like an abusive man who finds his prey out of a crowd. I would be very, very *mad* at that.

Okay, that reinforced it for me. I was very angry to learn that I would be EXPECTED to come in to work if someone else called out. It isn't a favor to come in, it is manndatory. Everyone is paired up with someone, and if that someone calls in, you are automatically scheduled, and expected to show up on time. I was thinking it is a terrible morale thing for staff. Can you imagine having 20 people invited to your house for dinner, and having to go to work? So help me if I get that call at 0500.What a nightmare. I saw the list for what everyone worked last year, there were more than 1 "sick day" in there. * sigh * I still can't believe its policy that NO ONE has any holiday officailly off.

So I am a new rn and this is my first rn job, at a mid-size hospital. we have the 1-5 order of preference for holidays off, which is cool , and I am new so I anticipate working the brunt of the holidays, which has already been made clear to me. That I understand. HOWEVER, if you aren't scheduled to work lets say Thanksgiving, you are officially "on-call" for another RN. If they have an emergency, or just call in for whatever reason, you have to go to work. You do not have any holidays officially off until 0645 that day. Sooo, if you're scheduled off on thanskgiving management has made it clear that you better not make plans that you can't cancel, that morning. No one "officially" has any holidays off. you two choices are work that day or be on call. Is this the norm???

Florida here. $19 an hour here, brand new asn grad. 0.50 more for BSN. Nights are I think abour $4.50 more, weekends a PATHETIC $1/hour. ( I NEVER volunteer for w/ends. I just left Philly, where my buddies are now making $24-26/hr, new grads.

You mentioned making alot on your house in NY. Keep in mind that houses are very expensive here in Fl, but they pale in comparison to "up there". I recently moved from Philadelphia. I made enough profit on my house to buy a modest home here in cash. My property taxes are very reasonable ( unlike the 3-5000/year in the Philly suburbs I was seeing) and most other things are a little bit cheaper. Unfortunatly, Florida has usually been a place where people had to bring northern money to. When I grew up here, hubby and I were making a pittance, I mean really bad money, houses were less than 100,000 (mostly) at the time, but that may have well been a million dollars for what we were making. Things are different now, because we spent a few years away, this is sad but true. Also, there is no state and local taxes here. I was paying i believe 2.5% to sate and a whopping 4.9% to local taxes. I am making $5 less an hour than my philly new grad friends(I am also a new grad) For my husband and I, we are living in a house we wouldn't have been able to afford in philly area. It's not all bad news, but it is tough if you started out here. $19/hr is "decent" money, but I am making a whole dollar more an hour than my husband who is a delivery driver. It's not really a fair wage. But, personally, you couldn't drag me back to Philadelphia. So, best of luck to you. I think you'll be happy.

This thread is all at the same time making me laugh and skip dinner. I helped re-dress a stage 4 ( sometimes ya think there should be a stage 10) decub that had taken over this poor womans ENTIRE backside. All you could see was bone. The stink penetrated the ENTIRE floor. That was gross, but I went to lunch immediatly after with no problem. But ANYTHING that has to do with the mouth GROSSES me out. The thought of dentures makes me want to hurl. Clean or dirty. If there was a fresh pair that had, never been used ever on a person, I still would rather clean up a code brown. Mouth care is the singlest biggest chore for me. poop is gross, but brushing another human beings teeth, I am getting sick just THINKING about it. Feet don't bother me at all, even the really gross ones, but pulling on toenails makes my skin crawl. Sputum doesn't ick me out *too much* but ANY of it landing on me, and I'm gagging. ( I seem to be the queen of sputum landing on my person) I almost passed out watching an epidural. The birth was fine, but that long, long, long needle going into that womans spine, and I nearly hit the floor. But teeth. GROSS.