nurseladyk

So I have a little update...I had my interview today for the Mother Baby position. The Interim Director was present, as well as a night shift L&D Charge Nurse (she is on modifid duty and is helping the Interim). It went so well!! I don't know if I misread her previously, or if she was having an off day, but the whole experience today was very positive. There is someone who is likely to get the position instead of me. She applied before me and has Mother Baby experience. They said there is another position coming up soon and they would love to have me. I am so happy!!! Interestingly enough, they wanted to know if I would be interested in an L&D position instead. They felt with my background and personality, it would be a good fit. I really felt certain that I wanted to take a Mother Baby position, but now I am not 100% positive!! We are a small hospital, and would float between the two units anyway, but I have to decide where I want my focus to be. I did not mention before, but I occasionally get anxiety. Not at work, but it strikes me when I am trying to sleep, early in the morning. I am fine and focused at work, but when I am stressed, I sometimes wake up at 3 am and get myself spun out over work and what I could have/should have done in a situation. This is another reason that I was hoping to go to a more moderatedly paced department. But now that the prospect of going to L&D has come up, I don't know what to do!! Honestly, I feel that I would love either position and would feel lucky and grateful to learn them both. So how do I decide?!?

This is an area that I feel very passionate about. I just don't have any experience with it, other than my own personal experience. I did do some shadowing in labor and delivery when I was a nursing student and really loved it there. That's why I wanted to go into that area after nursing school, but ended up staying longer than expected in the ER. I very much enjoy developing a relationship with my patients and providing education. I am very much pro breast-feeding and have helped several of my friends in that area when they have had difficulty with their own children. I am pro vaccine and I am on the fence about circumcision (I have two girls, so I never had to make the choice). However with all of these things, I absolutely respect a parents choice to make an informed decision for themselves. I definitely don't have the feeling that this area of nursing is just about completing tasks, I was just kind of surprised that the interim director thought that this might be a challenging shift of thought or flow from my previous experience. To be honest, I'm just excited about the thought of finally spending my time nursing in an area that's really very interesting to me. I am not at all opposed to working in labor and delivery, and who knows… Down the road that might be someplace I want to be. But right now I'm looking for something that is of a more moderate pace, and allows me to spend more time with my patients. The ER is such a fast-paced environment and just when you get to start bonding with a patient, you are discharging or admitting them and moving on to the next one. Thank you for your thoughtful input!

Sorry, I should have been more specific...I meant three couplets.

Thank you so much for your response! I am definitely looking for a more slow paced environment than the emergency department. There were so many things I loved about emergency nursing, but the pace and frenzy of it at times got tiring. I would like to work in a little bit of a more controlled environment. And of course I realize, like any area of nursing, emergencies can arise it any time. And I feel like I'm well trained for that type of situation.

I am interested in moving into a position in my hospital in the Mother Baby department. A little background for you... I have been an RN since 2007. I got into nursing because I wanted to work in Labor and Delivery. Women's health is of strong interest to me and drove me into the profession. When I was a new grad looking for a job, I was told that before I specalize, I should do some general nursing first. I took a job in the ER and stayed there for 7 years. I loved the comraderie, and learned a ton. I started getting the itch to try something else and my current position kind of fell into my lap. I am curently working as an Employee Health Manager. I have been in that position for a year and a half and am pretty miserable. I miss patient care and feeling like I help someone everytime I come to work. I have discovered that administrative nursing is not for me. I don't like siting behind a desk, 5 days a week. I want to do something I feel passionate about. A position has come up in Mother Baby, full time nights. I have not done nights for 5 years now, but I think I could manage it, as both of my kids are now in school full time...and I know it wouln't be forever. I spoke with the Interim Director of the department, and she seemed to think that coming from an ER background, Mother Baby would be a challenging pace for me. She said there is a ton of documentation, the day is very much dependent on fulfilling tasks by certain times, and that you have 6 patients at once, so there is a lot of juggling. This wasn't a formal interview, by any means, I was just confidentiallty gathering some information to try to make an informed decision before I actually apply and stir the nest in my current work area. I feel like my background would be a benefit to me, in any position. I can juggle many things at once, handle things that come my way without getting frazzled, and do it with a smile on my face. I realize that the difference in pace and priority would take some gettting used to, but I am an experienced nurse, I always get along really well with my coworkers and feel like I am highly trainable. And this is an area that really interests me! The discussion was mildly discouraging to me, so I am really giving it thought before I make a move. Sorry for the long discertation, but I suppose I am looking for some input on how someone with my background would do in this role. The department typically staffs 2-3 nurses per 12 hour shift, with an aide and a ward clerk...to give you an idea of size. The whole Women and Childrens Services area involves an L&D department, NICU, Mother Baby and Peds department. Any thoughts, advice or encouragement would be so appreciated!

I would love to see a response to this! I have an interview tomorrow for an Employee Health Manager position...I am currently and ED nurse, so this would be a change!

I literally want yell at people when I ask them to rate their pain 0-10 and the tell me 12, 20, 50, whatever....I said 0-10, 10 is the worst people!!!! Not that big of a deal, but it drives me nuts!

You absolutely can be a successful RN with hearing difficulty! We have a ED physician with severe, but not total hearing loss. He uses a special stethescope with amplified sound, to headphones. Even if you had to take out your hearing aids and put them back it, what ever works for you!!

I don't care how long I do this, the vomiting of gross amounts of blood still makes me cringe.

Thanks for all the input. My department has gotten rid of techs/EMT's and our charge nurse is also our triage nurse, so they help during traumas/STEMI's (we are the STEMI receiving facility for the county)/or other critical situations, but they get called frequently when a new patient comes, the radio goes off, etc. So often we are the only nurse for the patient. And our MD's work in staggering shifts, so often there is one MD for the whole department. We are on our own at the bedside often. I suppose my biggest concern is that often I am busy doing tasks the whole time the patient is in our department and throwing the charting together just before transferring them to either ICU or another facility. I stress that I have forgotten to chart something important or leave out an important part of the assessment and that it will end up biting me in the butt somehow...court or otherwise. It is interesting to me to hear how it is done in larger facilities.

I am wondering how you go about charting thoroughly during a trauma or with a critical patient when you are the primary nurse for the patient. I work in a smallish ED (14 bed, often filled to capacity) and at most we are staffed with 4 RN's with a charge and no tech. Often if a trauma comes in, the nurse who takes it already has three other patients. We will all band together and help, but sometimes you are on your own doing all of the tasks that come along with a critical patient, along with the charting. We are currently paper charting. I often feel like once the patient gets stabilized, I am left charting on all the events that have happened since arrival and it is a little overwhelming. It is easy to make notations of times of med administrations, and that can help put the timeline together of charting, along with looking back at the vitals. Of course in a more ideal situation, someone could be charting as someone else is "doing". This pretty much never happens. I feel like the patient is ready to head off to ICU and I haven't written anything down other than checking off what meds I have given and at what time! Any suggestions?

I also experienced a lot of this in nursing school. I personally enjoy having a student work with me for the day. It is fun for me to help them have a good experience. I also think that the rudeness I have observed is not just directed at nursing students. I also see these same rude people being rude to nurses in other departments.

This only happens occasionally in my department. Of course it only seems to happen when we are slammed, and have no place to put a patient. Even a 1-2 minute warning is so helpful and really gives us the opportunity to shuffle if necessary. We give the EMS crew a pretty hard time for it though. Out protocol is to receive a radio call for every ambulance and I really can't think of a reason why a call couldn't happen. If they are capable of calling when they are in the middle of a cardiac arrest, all out of breath and busy as hell, I can't think of any reason why they are not able to call for your average run.

Whan I was triaging a patient for some minor complaint and was filling out the medication list, he listed off about 15 meds and I asked if there was anything else. To which he replied, "Oh yeah, I take something for my memory, but I can't remember the name of it". Classic.