Squeaky44

Thank you all so much for your responses! I appreciate you!

Hi all! I am transferring to a geri psych unit soon and have a question. I will be working weekends. I am also needing to pick up one more day. Have any of you noticed if Mondays are busier than Fridays? I dont mind working on a busier day so I make sure I get my hours. Thank you in advance!

Thank you all so much for your advice! It is much appreciated :)

If you want to do peds I would just do it! I have heard that it can be harder to switch into peds the longer you have been with adults. Good luck!

Hi! I am new to peds office nursing and desperately need some tips on administering vaccines to toddler/preschool children. Where I am working at, we administer the vaccine in the thigh. How do you position/restrain the child? Also, what ideas for distraction techniques do you have? Any information would be helpful. Thanks

I have a BS and was a teacher for approx. 5 years before going to nursing school at an ADN program. I am not sure if my degree helped me get into school or not. I started working with adults and switched to ped about a year ago. If I were you and it is possible, I would go for a BSN because that is really what employers are starting to lean towards. I so far have never had a problem with employment, but there has been a lot of scuttlebut about all nurses having BSN degrees eventually. Good luck! I have to say I am glad I became a nurse and have no regrets whatsoever.

Hey thank you so much for the info. I really appreciate all of your input because where I work is going to start an ICU sometime soon and I was very curious as to how it differed from the regular hospital. I now have a much better idea! :)

Has anyone worked in an ICU that is based within a freestanding LTACH center??? If so, could you tell me about the pros/cons and any other issues that you may have come across? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks. :)

Thanks for the info. Very helpful!

How are you reimbursed for mileage? My question really is for those who only go to hospice office once a week. Do you get mileage paid from the driveway of your house to the clients home? Or does it start after you go to the first clients home? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

EEK! One week orientation? Were you a brand new nurse or had you already been a nurse in another area? I am getting ready to apply at a residential facility. I just want to wait till after the first of the year because I actually have xmas eve and xmas day off this year where I work which is a rarity! Thanks for the input!

I agree with the difficulty with age mixing. As I said I have not worked as a psych nurse, but I was a special ed teacher and taught summer school in a boys home with kids from 5-18 all together. Things could get pretty interesting! I want to thank everyone for the input on this subject. I am know in the process of updating my resume and hope to make the move out of the regular hospital into a residential facility after the first of the year. Wish me luck!

About how long is nursing orientation on a psych unit?? I have already been a med/surg/tele nurse for 4 years, but I know the assessments and treatments are a little bit different. Any further info. would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much for your input! I am definitely considering a change to psych nursing. Your job sounds really interesting.l One more question though! Do you know about how residential psych is different? I know you have the kiddos for a long term period. Are more of them MR?? Again I really do appreciate your input!

Hi! I am a nurse who is interested in pediatric psych. I have past experience with ED kids from my past teaching experience. I was wondering what pros/cons there are to this specialty and what a typical day as an RN is like. Any information would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Thanks for the input. No more stress than usual, I think. Maybe, I have just let things build up over time.

Hi all! I want to know if anyone else feels like this. I have been a nurse for 5 years working nights. In the last year, all day before I go to work I feel as if something bad is going to happen. I used to take naps before work, but I always wake up within 20 minutes or so feeling anxious as if something really terrible is just waiting for me. Of course, when I get to work, nothing seems to "go wrong" as I know I am feeling without just cause. I said something to my husband about it and he of course thinks it's as stupid as can be. Does anyone else feel this way? I almost feel like I am going to freak out sometimes. Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

Trying to please people is an impossible task! I have found that just being in a charge position that I suddenly am out of the loop and considered "one of them"! Something I definitely had not anticipated. Good luck with your new position! Remember that ultimately you have to make the decisions that are best for the patients and not your fussy co-workers!:wink2:

I have worked in ICU and on the floor. I personally do not see ICU as a dream job. I found it to be extremely stressful. For me, the more complex procedures I was allowed to do and learn about, the more I dreaded going to work. If I had a non-intubated pt. I was always worrying that something would go wrong and they would have to be intubated. The more I learned, the more I worried. I finally went back to the m/s floor. I feel confident working in the chaos and I did miss having pt.'s who could talk when in ICU. I think it just ends up being personal preference. Now if I could work anywhere it would be the newborn nursery. Boohoo for me. That will probably never happen!

I would look at the career section of allnurses forum in the stickied section for possible interview questions so you can be thinking about answers. I have never been questioned about specific technical skills during a nursing interview, even my first interview for a nursing position. Good Luck:) Suzy

I think maybe postpartum or newborns! My favorite areas during nursing school. Unfortunately I do not work in either area because of where I started (med-surg, tele) and I would receive a pay cut:( I definitely can't stand ICU which is where I work now. Cleaning up excrement, heaving around people who are 250 plus pounds along with codes, mulitple drips and hysterical family (rightly so at times) are not my idea of fun!! Hopefully I will find my niche! I wonder if circulating in surgery is stressful?? I think it is really all subjective to each person's preferences.