AZ_LPN_8_26_13

I find that very interesting tbehlow - I always assumed that you had to be an RN to be in the OR. The hospital that I work at doesn't even hire LPNs anymore - they will only consider RNs who have a BSN. I work as a nursing assistant even though I'm a...

That old saying "it's who you know" really IS true, I've found out. Network, network, network. I know that sounds like a modern day "buzzword" but in my own case the last three positions I've held were due to knowing someone within the organization. ...

One trick I've used is to keep myself busy - I am an LPN and I work full time in a busy hospital, but I am also in school to get my BSN. Plus I have some other outside of work/school activities that keep me occupied. Very little idle time and in my c...

And I agree with you 100 percent. Sometimes a person doesn't have a choice. Actually that's where I was at say fifteen to twenty years back - was seriously considering just checking out. So I cannot tell anyone that psych meds are of no value whatsoe...

They do that at the hospital where I work - and I've been in on a few codes myself where I helped give CPR. On those occasions the code leader would shout out that the person giving compressions wasn't going deep enough etc - there were a bunch of us...

Trust me, when the time comes you will do fine. I am an LPN now, but there were a couple of times where I had to actually help give CPR as a nursing assistant to patients who were coding in the hospital. When a patient is literally dying right before...

Sounds more like a dx for depression than bipolar. I used to take anti-depression meds myself (this was like fifteen years ago or so) but now I don't take anything - I try to use other non-pharma means of coping. In my own experience non-drug methods...

It's funny that I should come upon this article tonight - I was scheduled to work at the hospital tonight but I called off. Not really physically sick but just exhausted from the past two nights straight of dealing with people with dementia, Alzheime...

I am in the same boat. I'm really doing what I am doing totally by faith..... I'm an LPN and I've just enrolled in a LPN to BSN program. I really have no idea of how I'm going to pay for it all. I don't want to take out any loans - I'm 60 years old a...

Well, that's not what I was saying. The net effect of either one is that you are doing them a favor, and it still opens up a whole same can of worms. Doesn't matter if they asked (which is usually in my experience the more common scenario) or if you ...

This is exactly what I was referring to in my earlier post when I commented that these things "will take you to a place you don't want to go". Small teeny favors and no-value gifts may seem harmless, but they get the ball rolling toward bigger things...

Yes, I've wondered about these things myself. How a nurse can lose their license over something like DUI but not for pilfering narcotics from the med room. They can get drug abuse counseling and keep their license but at least where I live and work a...

I think things like letting patients use your cell phone, running errands for them, accepting or receiving gifts etc. is crossing a line. Personal caregivers or friends/family can do this but not healthcare professionals. You start doing things like ...

To the OP - Thanks for writing a great article on this topic. I am a Christian myself but we get all types in the hospital where I work. You have to respect their beliefs and spirituality, or even non-spirituality. Plus I never consider it my job to ...

Thanks for posting this article. People ask me all the time how this is really affecting ordinary people. Your story brings this home in a real way. It's really outrageous how our "leaders" still get paid, but regular hard working folks have to do wi...

Email this post to hospital administrators and hiring departments at hospitals. Most of them haven't gotten the message yet. Many places still don't want to hire new grads

Where I work, every day of the year is Halloween ?

The reason I personally do not struggle with this is that I consider weather or not a person ultimately lives or dies to be out of my hands really - I have a job to do and I do it - and if even after I've done my very best someone still dies (or than...

Not disagreeing with you there - some things do start at the top.... Just nothing really essential to hospital operation IMHO. Dynamic and engaged - subjective things that are hard to quantify. Most of these surveys I've seen appear like they've been...

Plus there is a glut of new BSNs on the market - Nursing schools are churning out new grads by the bucketload all over the U.S. including here in Arizona. IMO that will tend to drive down wages. It's an employer's job market right now.

I agree - what the OP is describing isn't unique to nursing or healthcare. Management always wants more for less. They want more work out of everyone and of course they want it all to cost little or nothing so they come in under budget, and you don't...

To the OP - Sounds like you are doing just fine and nothing to worry about. I am this way myself - sort of on the quiet side - one of my supervisors once told me that I have a "calming effect" on our nursing pod. I am not a "bubbly" person and could ...

This is me also - Nursing is a second career later in life for me. Sometimes I wish that I had gotten into this earlier when I was like in my twenties but then again who knows - If I had done that maybe I would have just gotten burned out by my forti...

This is just me, but I agree with that wholeheartedly. To the OP of this thread: Work as a nurse's aide first for a few years, to get the experience, and also to see firsthand if this is really what you want to do. It's my belief, after four years of...

I work the night shift in a hospital, and I have grandmas and grandpas go "The Exorcist" on me all the time. Sort of sad to see it really - A lot of these people really have no one anymore and are alone in the hospital. Many of them have dementia or ...