mommyX2

Try hillcrest. They hire new grads (I was one of six they hired in 2008) and I consider that a job I would go back to in a heartbeat if we still lived in the area.

At the hospitals I have worked at the general rule was that if the patient was alert, you give food or maybe a glucose tab. D50 was for non-responsive pts or pts too far out to eat.

One way to look at telemetry, in order to like it more is to think "at least I know at the beginning of my shift that those pts are alive". That is what makes me love tele. Pts without tele scare me cause I never know what I will find when I go in that room.

I am about to hit 35 weeks pregnant and have not had any trouble. I work 2 12 hour shifts per week (just went down from 3) and still take contact pts. I just follow the same precautions as anyone else and get help when moving pts.

I don't know much about the addition since they were just putting up the frame when I left but I know that all rooms will be private which is much better than having to deal with the small rooms and roomate issues. I am also not sure about when they will be hiring, I would imagine it would be soon so that they can get some of the May grads. As for pay it is average for the area. I started at 23.00 per hour with $1 shift diff for evenings and $1 on top of that for nights. I however was a new grad so I am not sure what they pay an experienced nurse to start.

I worked for Hillcrest last year and only left because my hubby decided to stay active duty military. I loved it! I worked with some of the best people. I highly recommend it (3 main is the best)! Good luck!

I started working on my BSN when my son was 2 and I did it while I was a single momma. During my time in college I got married, transferred schools (my husband is army so I moved to be with him), and had a baby my senior year. You can do it! I firmly believe, like many of the people posting here that if you really want it, no matter what you can make it happen. Good luck!

I am on a tele floor and 99% of our patients are medical cases. Loads of time management skills obtained and valuable tele knowledge gained.

What about a dynamap and a manual bp?

I disagree. I think the new admit should at least be looked at first. Just last night the nurses were given a pt from the er. They looked at the patient and recognized that they were in respiratory failure. Pt was down in the ICU within an hour of coming up. ER can be wrong in their assessment of an acuity.

I agree that if patients are already assigned and under the care of the 12 hour nurse that the assignment should not change but unfortunately so many nurses hate floating and can't look beyond what is best for the patient that I doubt hospitals will change the protocol. Now, in regards to literature, there is a lot stating that anytime there is patient handoff that the risk for errors increase. Those types of articles can back up your argument since everytime one nurse reports off to another nurse it is considered a "hand-off" and it is widely documented that hand-offs are detrimental to patient care.

I am not assigned an LPN but I work as a team with an LPN and we have a CNA assigned to patients but not to our team.

I think that anytime there is not continuity of care there is the chance that negative outcomes will occur. With that said I can also understand the challenges when staffing floors. Do you keep the nurse who has been with the patient for the last four hours or do you take a nurse who will be with the patient for the next eight?

I think you have to have a bachelors degree and then you go in as an officer. That was the impression I got from the recruiters who came to my school. You may be able to make a deal where you go in and obtain your bachelors by a certain date, I do know that this is done in other areas of the military.

I work at one of the CCF regional hospitals. You will only make $50,000+ your first year if you are working lots of overtime. I can also tell you that while there is no hiring "freeze" for nursing I do know that management has to justify every position they want to fill including positions that have been around. They want us at 100% productivity. With that said I do not think that it will be as hard to find a position here as it could be in other places but now is the time to start putting in applications. Good luck!

I had a patient with a colostomy who was ordered the same meds. I asked the NP about it and she dc'd the order. I think that she just forgot about the colostomy. Did you call the physician and ask about the order?

Let me know when you find out. I am moving to VA in July (from Ohio) and am not sure about the licensure process there. As for what to put in the application, I would put Ohio as your state and attach a paper explaining the issue. They should be fine with it.

I worked as a tech and did an externship in an acute dialysis unit while in nursing school and for the most part it is kinda relaxed.

I am part of the waiting for retirement club. I am fortunate though that I am able to pay someone to come to my house and watch the kids while I work (he is currently deployed). I can see how your situation would be hard and very frustrating.

I know how you feel. I am also in med/surg and feel like I screw up constantly. When I think I have it under control someone points out something I did wrong. I feel like crap but try to learn and watch for it in the future. It just seems like so much to keep straight. As for shift reports, I get attitudes from night shift during my report. It doesn't matter. Some people can't be pleased.

Just want to say good post. I currently work at a civilian hospital since I came home for my dh's deployment but I am hoping to go into working for the govt at our next duty station. This thread is really helpful.

I am so sorry for the loss of your brother. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I do know the pain you are dealing with right now.

Watch your caps too. Some caps don't let blood through as well as others.

I ebf for the first six months of my daughters life and the big things that saved me were having a good supply in the freezer and supplements like blessed thistle, fenugreek, and oatmeal. When my supply dipped because I couldn't do three pumping sessions I loaded up on supplements and pumped my heart out every two hours when I was home. Hope it works out for you!

I was at Kent and they had a nice deal set up with some company where we bought our software and PDA at a nice discounted rate. I never use it anymore though.