tma0312

I work at a hospital about 40 mins outside of Boston and with two years experience I am making $31/hr. When I first moved to Mass and was trying for positions with a couple of agencies, I was looking at making around $40/hr plus a per diem pay for the contract; however, there were very few bites through any of the agencies. I lucked out and got a permanent position.

I agree with it being female dominated and having less respect as a profession. I mean, just look at the name "nursing." I don't know what pops into your head, but to me, it is a distinctly female activity. I wish I had a different title than nurse sometimes.

I'm so glad you loved it! I worked at UNC and I miss it sooooooooo much! Awesome awesome hospital.

The heat from the dryer will kill some bacteria and germs, so I don't worry about it. I'm not really a germophobe, either, though.

I was told at my job that "3-11 is the worst shift!" mainly for the same reasons posted by the first two posters; however, I have found it to be not the case. Our ratio is 1:3 ( we are stepdown) so the most admissions I can get is three. Not too shabby, considering I was used to alot more! At my old job, we were 1:5 tele unit and 1:3 with our stepdown pts (combined unit) and I would see all my patients go and get 5 admissions all before 5pm on day shift very frequently. And the acuity level was alot higher than at my current workplace. To me, day shift is the worst. Evenings are fantastic in terms of pace and workload.

We are required every other weekend; however, I am the newest one and never seem to get scheduled weekends. Alot of the other nurses who have been there like their weekend shift differential and we are also staffed by Baylor nurses who only work weekends. We are considering changing the requirement to every third weekend for regular staff. When our unit opened up, some of the nurses from other units were offered positions with no weekends in order to encourage them work there so it wasn't all newbie nurses. There are only a couple of those, though.

Took me about a week to break them in and it was hell. Since then, no problems whatsoever! I love mine! I should have done what Wooh said about not wearing them two shifts in a row. Makes total sense!

I had a doc chart once, "Pt complained his chest started hurting Sunday evening while watching football game. It must have been pre-season football as the NFL or college season has not yet begun." very good assessment, doctor.

I completely agree with OP! At my last job, I did half days, half nights every 6 weeks. Day shift was insanely busy and totally exhausting. Night shift was, well, easy as pie, even when the staffing wasn't great! And those night shift nurses were sooooo mean to the dayshift nurses when stuff didn't get done. I mean, seriously, I KNOW you are not doing anything important between the hours of 12am and 4am! I work that shift, too! I know how you all sit there at chat and gab and laugh so loud the patients complain! I just gave up and stopped caring whether or not they got angry at me for stuff not getting done. Our unit manager knew this was a problem and she even made night shift nurses work a few day shifts once to give them a taste of days. None of them could hack it! But of course, every facility is different. Some managers may not be so understanding.

But, getting to the point of your post, when I worked 12's, I didn't do much on my days off. I was too unmotivated! Now I've been doing alot of gardening! And lots of little projects around the house! And alot more traveling to visit people on my weekends and days off!

I thought 12's were great! Until I moved and got a job only working 8hour shifts, and boy does time FLY by now! I no longer dread going into work because I am so incredibly exhausted after working 13hours the day before. I can now function on my days off, too! Its amazing! I love my 8's and would never do three 12hr shifts again as long as I can help it!

I think most mothers understand that they will be taking care of their baby 24/7 when they go home, but seriously....one night of getting a break after giving birth? Is that such a crime? Will the baby be detrimentally affected by this for the rest of their life? No, I don't think so. And as for breastfeeding, its THEIR CHOICE. When it comes to patients who choose to refuse the way hospitals are providing care, I've given up making them feel guilty. It doesn't work. I educate them and move on. It is not our place to assert our own values on to other people.

I bed alarm everyone UNLESS I am 100% positive that they have no problems walking and are not tethered to a monitor / IV pole and are not taking narcotics. I also get bedside commodes for the ones who need quick access. I always give people gentle reminders that I'd rather clean up their pee in the bed than have them fall and get a broken hip. Usually that is all it takes for the oriented ones to call every time.

I would also recommend calling HR and reminding them of your application. It helped me get a few call backs. Alot of HR's are swamped with applications, so do what you can to get your name in their minds rather than on just a piece of paper!

took me about 5 months to get a job and it was not even full time :) but there was always opportunities to pick up shifts. I had 2 years experience and put out over 30 applications. I ended up moving before I got a job because I was moving regardless. More places called after they saw my address change since they knew then I would be available immediately. Good luck!