missbutton

There is a service at Vanderbilt run NPs that only does percutaneous trachs and follows those patients.

Earn your own internship.

It's just business. I get called off all the time and have learned to never leave without double checking my phone. But I'm sorry you had a crummy night.

Everywhere I have ever worked has had a three month probation period where either they or you can end the employment without issues because you are not yet a real employee. Its a trial period. If you get the other job just quit at the SNF but tell them something vague about how the job/location is not a good fit for your family commitments but thank you so much for the opportunity... blah blah blah. It happens all the time, so don't worry about it too much. That's why they put you on probation to start. But do not tell the SNF that you are still interviewing. You will never get off the sh*t list. If you do end up leaving right away, and you make the reason about family commitments it's hard for people to get too upset about it without them looking like a jerk.

I second looking at PACU/ ambulatory surgery for a lateral transfer. But have you looked for more supervisory positions? 10 years of hardcore er experience sounds perfect for advancing to a dedicated charge nurse position or a house supervisor position.

I'm a newish grad and that's the way I was taught to do it to. 1. As as student we were not to give meds without a nurse verifying the med were were giving/ actually watching us draw the med. 2. It is best to draw the med at the bedside. and 3. It is a huge problem with the joint commission to transport meds in an unlabeled syringe. Sounds like your new grad is doing a good job.

Required or you have to wear a mask. But I don't get why so many healthcare workers are against vaccination? It drives me crazy.

I'm loyal to my unit and direct management. I'm blessed that my direct manager is awesome and if she leaves before I do, I would strongly consider following her. But the humungous corporation I work for? No.

CA nurse practice act says that nurses are responsible for 'personal hygiene'; whatever you will make of that. Any restrictions about clipping nails are facility based. I strongly suggest that you read the nurse practice act, lots of people will tell you things about your scope that are just plain wrong. Yesterday, I had a phlebotomist tell me that venipuncture is not in the RN's scope of practice. I had to laugh. http://www.rn.ca.gov/regulations/rn.shtml 4th link down, but lots of other good things to read on that page.

Hi guys, I'm orienting to the ICU (yay!). It's a rural and low acuity ICU and we're in the middle of a really bad summer slump. And both me and my 'dedicated' preceptor are getting low censused, but independently of each other, so as a result I've ended up passed from nurse to nurse, I've only had one acute patient, and I've been low censused so much that I've only worked 5 1/2 weeks of my seven weeks of orientation. When I was oriented to med/surg ,at this hospital, my orientation was protected- no low census or call for me or my preceptor during my whole orientation. Anyways, I'm pretty upset about the whole thing, but before I get too upset, I wanted to ask what your ICU orientation was like or how your ICU handles orienting new nurses...? Thanks for the feedback

To the OP: I'm a year out and I'm still there many days. But you learn to tread water. And after switching units, I now know how important unit culture is to my professional satisfaction.

Keep applying for other jobs now. As long as you are on probation, which I assume you are because everywhere I've ever been has had a 3 month probation, you can leave or they can let you go much easier then after you are a full employee. Once you have a job, its easier to get a different job. So just keep looking.

Thanks for sharing... I now feel very spoiled by my little hospital.

I didn't realize that that's the way it is at other hospitals. In my defense, the orders are the only official notice that we get, its the only thing that even has the pt's name and DOB. Thanks for sharing.

Is anyone else expected to routinely take report and accept a pt from the ER with out seeing the admitting orders? I just transferred from med surg to the icu; and I'm now forced to routinely take report on pts without the ER sending me the order. The med surg floor that I came from insisted that the orders be faxed before report was given and maintaining that prevented a lot of problems from ever reaching the floor or the pt. It seems kind of dangerous to me, but I was wondering what you guys think. Thanks

I was hired as a new grad the same day that RN with one year of LTC experience was hired. Her orientation had to be extended, and a year later she is barely making it. The same with the nurses that they hired with only clinic experience. That's just my experience at my little hospital, but I thank god every time that I work with them that I was fortunate enough to start out in Med Surg.

I'm officially one year into being a nurse and I love it even more. The bad days make the good ones even better. In a sick way, I even love the bad days. I love getting through the seemingly impossible workload. Tonight is my last night on Med Surg before I move over to the ICU. And I never thought I'd say this, but I have grown to love Med Surg and I think I'll miss it. Anyways, I love seeing the positive post about our crazy and unique career. Keep them coming.

I was a home health aide in nursing school and I loved it. But no, the people you will work with will be more stable than in any facility. They only need 1 to 3 hours of nursing care per week vs. 24 hr nursing care of a facility. Before you would take it, I would think about where you want to start out as a new grad. Being a home health aide helped me in my initial interviews, but I think being a cna in the hospital would have helped me far more. I was able to talk about my experience with pt care, but I got the sense during my interviews that they wanted to hear that and that you have experience with the non stop demands of the hospital setting. Just think about it.

I have a really good relationship with most of the ER nurses that I work with (I'm that med surg nurse who always goes to the ER when they call ( I'm in a very small hospital) ). But every once and a while they feel the need to tell me how cool they are in way that puts down M/S nurses. I always smile and invite them to come work a shift with us so they can show us how it's done. Since they're the big bad Emergency nurses. Point made, because nobody ever takes me up on my offer.

I've been assaulted by dementia patients. I've always reported it internally since the two times it happened it was by pts who were completely out of it. But it's made me wonder what happens when you're assaulted by a patient who is with it? Obviously report to the charge, but then what? Call 911? And this might be dumb, but what about HIPPA? I'd love to hear from those of you who have reported your assault.

Here's the thing, though: all of these little disrespectful things that happen in our our society towards nurses add up to why nurses are so undervalued in the healthcare setting. Petnurses, sexy nurses in advertising, and the absolute lack remotely realistic/powerful nurse characters on medical dramas, to name a few, demonstrate the value that the public sees in nurses. Sure, they trust us, but they don't think that much about us; they think that we help out the doctors and do what they say and they respect us for doing things they don't want to (dealing with bodily fluids and death). People think that the hard thing about being a nurse is giving shots; that this is what we go school for. But that is why MAs in medical offices get away with calling themselves nurses, people see us doing the same physical tasks. But my job is not to assist the doctor. My job is to assess you and act as a safety check on the doctor. I've been a nurse for six months and I have already saved my patients from their doctors. Because I have my own education, and my own responsibilities. But my patients don't know that, because I will never tell them just how close their doctor came to killing them. They will never know about the near miss, or the save that I made. To prove my point about the value of nurses in society, just look at the lead article on allnurses today. There is something fundamentally wrong if we are still at a place were we have to prove that safe staffing and the availability of RN attention has a positive effect of patient mortality. That should be self evident. One of the reasons why doctors are so respected and powerful in society is because they stick together and the AMA is ferocious in protecting their professional interests. Nurses are amazing. What do you think we could accomplish if we stuck together? So, I think you have to do both, work to protect our professional image in order to advance the profession.

Do it. Report them to the board. We fight enough for respect. Or you could just call/write the manager and let them know that 'nurse' is a protected title and what the consequences for using could be. That might just fix it. But please, please, say something.

I would be bored too. To me, your situation sounds awful. If the hospital isn't your thing, have you thought about looking for a position at a clinic, or in home health, or hospice? In my area, the clinics have way more nurse run programs. One of my friends works for a clinic and she does it all, including, diabetes eduction, some wound management, and a lot of case management. Also, my experience, home health/ hospice are nurse driven organizations. Where everything is pretty much done and decided by the RNs and signed off by the medical director. I think that type of environment attracts physicians who like and respect the work of RNs. All of the medical directors that I worked with in those settings totally believed in nursing judgement, and it was awesome. If I were willing to work 9 to 5, I would go back.

Are you starting your Ivs on little old people? I'm a new nurse and I was having a terrible time starting Ivs. I had the same problem you describe, getting the flash but then blowing it. I stopped using tourniquets. I use heat, gravity, alcohol, and a bp cuff for a tourniquet if I'm really desperate. Those rubber tourniquets are just too harsh for the elderly's veins. Nobody is good after five starts, be kind to yourself...

Saline lock is just the term for an iv that is in place, ready to be accessed for future fluid boluses or IV pushes. Anyone who has an IV, but no fluids or medications running at the moment, is considered 'saline locked'.