Illinurse2010

I attended nursing school at 33 after being home raising children. Certainly there were lots of highly motivated 20 somethings in my class, with lots of plans for higher education. Some made it, some didn't. I did feel a little envious of them, with no children or families to take care of they could go to any school they wanted, work any hours in just about any hospital they chose (if one got a job she would get her friends in too), and have lots of fun on their time off .. I am friends with some of them on Facebook and I still get to hear about how far they have gone since nursing school..Even though I still envy them a bit, I know my life is different and I am proud of my own acomplishments.

I don't feel I have any lack of use of my critical thinking skills when I send a Resident to the hospital at 4am for sats in low 80's, irregular heartbeat, and diminished lower lobe lung sounds. I may not get to fix them, but sending them out before they get real bad or die is enough for me. My only complaint about nurses in LTC are the ones just sitting around to get a paycheck. They don't do what they are supposed to do, help other nurses or CNA's, and they definitely don't do anything extra to make work more pleasant (stocking carts, cleaning, auditing lab sheets, calibrating accucheck meters-- in down time on nights) Some of them even brag about their ability to do "nothing"... I take a certain amount of pride in my work and it shows. I just wish I could come to work without all the undone things from the lazy ones making my night harder. I know sometimes things get crazy and some nights are bad, but its always the same people doing nothing.

You want to get 80,00 into debt for a BSN? Thats nuts. Even if you don't fail the program and end up in debt for nothing, it will take you decades to pay those loans. Go the longer route.. I came out of community college with my RN and no debt, and if I have my way some hospital will pay for my BSN when I am ready.

I hate to see anyone discouraging you-- telling you "maybe you should not be a nurse" esp since you are not out of school yet. Being in nursing school is nothing like being a nurse. You are prob confused and a bit burnt out from school. I woke up every Monday thinking "why did I ever want to do this?" most of the time I could barely find an answer. Fast forward a year of working later and even though its been a rough year--I know where I stand as a nurse. I am still learning and most tasks I dreaded have become old hat. I straight cath people almost every night, give shots, and pass enough pain pills to choke a horse, do all that boring charting, talk to doctors and resident's not always pleasant family members..You just need to graduate, pass your NCLEX and get out there. If you still hate it after a year minimum ( I would say longer though) then maybe there is something to your fears..You can always go back to school later if you hate being a floor nurse...

My managers add to our responsibilities every week too, but this weeks is a doozy. Tonite I am attending a meeting that will teach me how to check the ADL charting the CNAs put in on each of my patients. I was told from now on I will have to reserve an hour or more to do this before my last med pass every night (I have up to 41 patients).. We work 8 hour shifts. The time I have to spend with my residents is ridiculously low already.. I don't know what I am going to do on those nights when everything goes awry.

I don't know if it is necessary to stay anywhere a year anymore. Alot of the girls I graduated with last year took jobs in skilled faciities and worked there for 3-6 months until they found hospital jobs. The key though is to have another job lined up before you leave. I graduated in May 2010 and I know some of my classmates are on their thrid or fourth nursing position--they seem to trade up every time.

LaCharity is a must..22% of NCLEX questions are Prioritzation and Delegation.

I started on nights in LTC as a new grad. It was a very hard learning experience. You have less resource staff at night (less nurses to ask for advice or help), and no management around, I have 41 patients and 2 CNA's (when we are not short which is not often then I have one CNA and share the other one).. Day and afternoon shift nurses have 22-24 patients. I spend my night passing meds, giving PRN's, doing charting and extra paperwork, rounding on my patients and assessing the ones who are dying or having a bad night, skin treatments, straight cathing every resident suspected of having a UTI, replacing Foley's, TB tests for every new patient or resident, getting the MAR and TAR ready at the end of the month, and getting the nurses station ready for day shift ..In an 8 hour shift I may only sit long enough to chart, though some nights can be a bit slower. I think the nurses who started on days or afternoons get a more well rounded experience. They deal with doctors, families, see their patients when they are awake and doing things, and spend more time entering and receiving orders.

I don't think you were that unprofessional, the charge nurse set herself up so she would not have to help with admissions--dumping the work on you and your coworker, and you showed her that was unacceptable. I think you stuck up for yourself. Sometimes there is just no nicey nice way of doing that.

We would be one step closer to ending this problem is the government would pass the "Employee Free Choice Act" which gives workers the right to organize into unions w/o fear of retaliation from employers.

Obamacare does not go into effect for 3 years if it does at all.. Its true our system is broken, and our politicians only care about serving themselves. These are not great times we live in now. While I don't blame Obama for the current state of things (he hasn't been around long enough to hurt us and it seems he has been unable to get Congress to agree to help us working people) I don't know that things would be any better or that they will be any better in the next administration. Oh and as for the state of working of these days I can honestly say employees have no say in anything and that we seem to have no rights as workers. We are supposed to just shut up and do our jobs no matter how deep the work load gets. And we are supposed to be thankful that we even have a job..

I don't really know anyone who enjoyed nursing school. Nursing school barely resembles in any way shape or form being a real nurse. For me nursing school was 4 semesters of waking up every day feling like vomiting, GERD attacks, and anxiety attacks--but I made it and I really like being a nurse. I think it is better to have a realistic attitude about nursing. I meet so many delusional people who think nursing is something its not-I have heard nursing likened to being a glamorous role with them starring, a mother theresa role with them saving the world from suffering, and for others a power role with them using their wits and superior intelligence to rise up in the field. If you like helping people, can handle the responsibility of monitoring multiple patients health status, have decent computer and language skills, and have good common sense you will make a great nurse..we all doubted our ability and our will to get through nursing school while we were there--but I know very few people that made it through the program that regret it and hate being a nurse.

I know this, the 20 somethings had jobs almost immediately after school as new grads and those of us in our 30's, 40's, and 50's did get jobs but it took longer. The 20 somethings got jobs in ICU's, CCU's, ED's, and specialty units and most of the older grads went to Med Surg, ortho, tele, nursing homes, and dr offices.

Be nice even when your residents call you the b word, and try to punch you for helping them. Remember its not personal.

Nursing is a service profession. On its most basic level we take care of people while they are sick until they return to their lives in the community. This type of job has traditionallly been viewed by men as more naturally suited to women, once nurses started making better wages the men started to get over that stereotype and trickle in. I find the kitchen and sandwich statement to be overtly disrespectful to women, but I'm just crabby from my night shift.