mustlovepoodles

Well, I'm late to the party but I wanted to share my own experience with you all. I have been an RN for 38 years, and a mother for 29 years. Most of my nursing experience has been with adults, mothers & babies and pediatrics. At home, another job was waiting for me. My husband became fully disabled with lung & heart disease, one son was diagnosed with bipolar and anxiety, my daughter was diagnosed with depression and an autoimmune disorder, and my youngest son is severely intellectually impaired and has seizures. My youngest son is a big, strapping young man, 6'3", with the mind of a 1 year old. He needs full assistance with pretty much everything. He can walk, but cannot talk. In fact, he's prone to eloping so he needs almost constant supervision. He's fully a foot taller than me and strong as any man. So, about five years ago, I realized that my back was just about to the wall. It took us about a year to get the state to agree to full funding for him. We approached an agency that provides host homes for DD clients. A host home, if you don't already know, is one which is owned by the caregiver. The client pays a set amount of room & board and lives with the family as a boarder. We liked this model better than a group home because of DSs high need for supervision. It took us about another 9 months to find the exact right home for him, with a wonderful family who had already been doing this for several years. We placed him there when he was 17; his caregivers welcomed him with open arms and fully blended him into their extensive family. Now, here's where my personal life and professional life crossed paths. The agency did not have a nurse on staff at the time, so they asked me if I would do training with my son's potential caregivers. Well, of course I would! I spent about 3 hours with the family, teaching them all about how to feed him, trip train him, deal with seizures, and ways to keep him safe. I wrote it all up and submitted the document. About a week later, the agency called me and asked for my resume. I started out prn, doing training with caregivers and within a couple months we all agreed that this was a much bigger job. I joined the company and the rest is history. I have about 75 clients who live all over the state. I believe that what I bring to the table is my experiences on both sides of the bed, so to speak. Without my broad nursing experience I would not be able to provide the kind of nursing support that many of these clients need (about 75% of our clients are over 45, so they're starting to develop those chronic illnesses typical of that age group.) On the other hand, I've been the mother of a severely DD child and children with mental health issues which are also common to DD clients. As a younger nurse I would not have been able to do this job. It never occurred to me in a million years that I could go to work with a non-profit agency, but I absolutely love it. I love going out on home visits to see about my clients and do training with their caregivers. I love interacting with and training their social workers too. In fact, I love working for an agency where every single staff member is working toward providing our clients and caregivers with the best and safest living experience possible. This is the most fun job I've ever had!

I agree with you. Tread very carefully here. I would absolutely NOT go against this doctor's supervisor. Everyone is expendable, especially the brand new nurse. Fairly early in my career I got myself into hot water by allowing myself to become an unwitting pawn in a power war between L&D and the postpartum unit. Looking back on it, I can clearly see how my supervisor egged me on and being the younger new nurse, I went along with it. Suffice to say, I didn't make any friends and I caused a LOT of animosity. Thankfully, I was only there 1 year and I was able to move on and remake my reputation at a new hospital. Lesson learned!

I do. I work for a non-profit that does foster care and placement of persons who have developmental disabilities. I've never had anyone make an unkind comment about my job.

My nephew was "in nursing school" for 4 years. At least that's what *he* thought. He couldn't get his GPA above 2.4 and kept failing classes. The closest he ever got to a nursing class was Lamaze, with his wife. Finally he left college as a SOPHOMORE (after 4 years!) He is now a pipe-fitter and making great money(at least as much as an entry level nurse.) He still laments "losing his nursing career." Oy...

I used tin foil, as well. You can mold it to the window so NO LIGHT gets out. And if you HOA nixes tin foil, get a piece of poster board, tape it over the window facing out, then cover the back with tin foil. I kept my room like a cave. I swear, there were bats in there! And I put a big sign by the door bell that said, "Do not ring this doorbell. The baby is sleeping and if you wake her up, there will be HELL to pay!' Worked like a charm.

My mom calls it you "goozle"

Here are the questions: 1. What is it like to work nightshift? It can be busy, even frantic, if you have a large caseload, are short-staffed, or a lot of admissions. Or it can be totally quiet--patients sleep all night...just kidding. Nobody sleeps all night in the hospital. 2. Can you tell me a little about your sleeping habit before a night shift? On the first night back to work, I slept about 2 hours prior to the shift. Came home exhausted in the AM, immediately went to sleep in my dark, cool room and slept all day. Repeat every day until I have a night off, finally 2. During night shift, are you allowed to take a short nap during breaks by the hospitals? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 3. If you are and you do, how long do you usually take a nap for? See above comment 4. Do you feel groggy after? If so, how long does it take you to recover? *drums fingers* 5. Where do you take a nap? Is there a special room provided by the hospital for nurses to take a nap in? no rest for the weary... 6. What do you think are the barriers on having a nap on night shift? Um, working in a HOSPITAL...hard to do CPR in a recumbent position... 7. Do you have any concerns about driving home during night shift? I have driven off the road too many times to count, which is why I finally had to get off the night shift. 8. If there is an especially designed 'Nap Room' available at the hospital, would you use it? What feature would you like it to have? Massage therapy and fine chocolates Sorry, I couldn't help having a bit of fun!

No BSN. I have an ADN and a BS in education. And 36 yrs nursing experience, LOL

I work for a non-profit that provides therapeutic foster care and placement for persons with developmental disabilities. I am the only nurse in the organization. I haven't been in the job very long, about 9 months, but my primary role is to be a resource for our caseworkers and caregivers. I do trainings for caregivers so they'll know how to care for their clients who have medical issues. I also audit charts to make sure that we are providing the care that has been mandated and to make sure we aren't missing important things, like labs, dr appts, nutrition consults, etc. I make recommendations for follow-up care. Sometimes I travel to a client's home to Do on-the-spot training with caregivers in an emergency. So far, I love it! I love teaching and our staff is so appreciative. We have the best caregivers in the world and they genuinely want to help "their kids." I got into this through my 17yo son. My youngest son is severely mentally handicapped, like a 1 yr old. He is nonverbal, has feeding issues, unbalanced gait, fall risk, elopement risk, seizures, hearing and vision impairments, and he's incontinent. This organization helped us find placement for him. During the process, they asked me if I could do his training to help expedite the process. Apparently, they liked what they saw because 2 weeks later they offered me a job, LOL.

I am a nail biter, have been since I was 15 months old, so my mother says. Nail biting and skin picking are self-soothing behaviors that are related to OCD. I know when I'm biting. i know it looks nasty. I know my nails look disgusting(I have literally bitten them all down to the cuticle. All I have is bare nail beds.) I dont' like the way it looks, but I have been powerless to stop it. I have a lot of anxiety and stress in my life and biting my nails instantly diffuses the anxiety. I have been in therapy and i still take psychotropic medications, but it has had no effect on the nail biting. I wash hands a LOT and I wear gloves when there is risk of transmitting germs. But I'm 56 and I don't think it's gonna change any time soon. I have learned to make peace with myself over nail biting.

I've been a nurse almost 36 years and a mother for much of that time . I have three children, 26, 19 & 17. My oldest son has severe learning disabilities and bipolar disorder and my youngest son is severely developmentally disabled (like a 1yr old) . I also homeschooled my kids for 12 years. Working and raising a family hasn't been easy. For me, part-time work 2-3 8hr shifts/wk was the answer. I worked 25 years of night shift and a whole lotta weekends, so that I didn't have to use much daycare.So, it can be done. I look back on it and I don't know when I slept. Good luck. It is entirely possible to be a good parent and a good nurse, as long as you know your limitations. Understand that you can't do it all. You need a good support system and if you have a spouse, they need to be fully on board. There will be sacrifices--you may not be able to cook a 4 course meal every night and you may not make it to every ball game and band performance. But you can stay plugged in to your kids' lives with a little effort.

This is my 36th year of nursing. I have a degree in Elementary Ed and an ADN. My non-nursing degree never stopped me from getting a job and on 3 occasions actually helped me get the job. I have been out of bedside nursing for a long time now, mostly doing education & training and school nursing. At my age (56) I have no desire to seek out more college degrees. I am within 10 years of retirement and it would not be reasonable for me to take on a bunch of college debt at this time. If my employer suddenly required me to get my BSN, I'd say adios! Not interested in that.

You know, every job I ever had just fell into my lap. Some might call it coincidence, I call it God's will. When it's right, it's right and everything falls into place effortlessly. So glad you found your calling. I hope you get this new job.

I train and educate adults who care for children in foster care and developmentally disabled persons. There are over 100 persons in the company. I am the only nurse. The others have degrees in IT, business, social work, and finance. Obviouslly, I am merely a cog in the wheel of the engine that runs the whole show. I love what i do, but so does everyone I work with. We're *all* working to benefit our clients. OP, you don't have to go to nursing school to make an impact on those around you. Look around you and see what you can do RIGHT NOW. Can you help a child with homework? Teach an immigrant to read English? Photograph pound pooches for a rescue group? Drive a vet to his doctor appointments? I would strongly urge you to search your heart to discover what it is you really want to do. I won't try to discourage you from nursing, but you need to know that it's a lot harder, a lot stinkier, and a lot more aggravating than you might think.

I hated 12 hour shifts. I worked nights and I never got enough sleep. 12 hour shifts just exacerbated the fatigue. And then I had a 45 min drive home, in Atlanta rush hour traffic. I fell asleep at the wheel a few times, luckily didn't hit anything, just shook myself up a bit. I found that i just couldn't tolerate the extreme fatigue. And it's not like you're really working 12 hours. By the time I got up, got dressed, ate and got to work, I had already killed 2 hours. Work 12(at least!), then drive home 45 min, eat a bit, then try to go to sleep. Total: 15hrs, minimum for my 12hr shift. Nope. Give me shorter shifts. In fact, now that I DONT work in a hospital I have fashioned myself a desk job where I can telecommute 3 days a week and set my own hours. Boo-ya!