MrsWampthang

Good for you. It must have been sad for you to see all the people whose accounts you had to deactivate. Where I work, 600 people were laid off and another 900 open positions will go unfilled. Thankfully our department wasn't in the crosshairs so no one got the axe. But our boss explained to us that that is why she has been such a bear to us about keeping our productivity up, so our department would stay off the radar. Hopefully we will aquire some additional states for our business, and business in general will pick up. Congrats on being safe! Pam

You might want to look at Career Builder's.com for work at home opportunities that you can get into now while your baby is little. Just a suggestion. Pam

RNs and LPNs can work from home for insurance companies in prior authorization, continued stay review and case management. I don't know how long you've been an LPN, but depending on that and what kind of experience you've had, you might be able to get a job with an insurance company eventually working from home. You usually have to work for the company for a certain amount of time before you're allowed to work from home though. I would caution you though, just because you would be working from home, doesn't mean you wouldn't need child care. Depending on what area you might get a job in, trying to do that job and run after a toddler would be next to impossible. I know that you wouldn't be able to do it with prior authorization nor continued stay review because you really need to be able on focusing on your work, and being available if providers call with information, doctors call wanting clarification on something you've sent them for review, etc. I can't speak for case management because I haven't worked in that area yet. I don't know how other companies are but the company I work for has daily production goals for us and if I didn't sit at my desk literally the whole day, I'd never reach those goals. Also, just because you're working from home, doesn't necessarily mean you will be able to sign off at 5 or 6pm. Again, I don't know about other companies, but the one I work for, since I work from home, kind of expects me to stay online and finish my work no matter how late. I think that's more of an unwritten rule, but we all have MSN communicator and I'm not the only one that can be seen online after our scheduled quitting time of 5pm. I don't mean to be discouraging, just trying to give you a realistic view. I worked as an RN for 6 years before I stumbled onto this job. It isn't all perfect, but it beats working bedside and having to be exposed to body fluids on a daily basis. Good luck with your studies! You might check out some of the head hunting websites, they always have nursing positions posted. Again, good luck! Pam

That's the one thing I don't miss about bedside NURSING, the grunt work. I did it with care and compassion, but it wasn't my most favorite thing to do, so I can empathize with some of what you said. And you only have5-6 patients? Try doing it with 7 which was the patient load on nights at the LTAC where I worked. There were times when I was in charge and had to take two or three patients myself. Talk about being overwhelmed! You're probably lucky that they called the CNA off and not you since, hopefully, you make more than a CNA so technically they should have cut the higher paid employee. Besides, with 5-6 patients, did you really have to give all of them a bath? We split baths between nights and days so no shift would get the brunt of them. Night baths also were usually reserved for the patients who didn't know days from nights. And it was usually a team of two that did the baths. I have a lot of respect for CNAs, BTW. Most of the ones I worked with, worked their tails off every night. Like someone else said, try working in an ICU or an SCU, you're on your own most of the time to do everything for the patient and where I worked, that was usually three patients which stunk. Probably not a good idea to make that comment to the DON though. Comments like that have a tendency to come back to haunt you at evaluation time. Good luck with your job hunt though. I hope you find something you like better. Pam

I would suggest shadowing a couple of times. Real life ER isn't anything the TV shows. And the Trauma life in ER doesn't do justice to what goes on for a full 12 hours. I doubt that you would get 6 months orientation. I think that 6 months is a little excessive even for a new grad, unless they just aren't getting it. I may be wrong though. I think you might want to reconsider med/surg unless you were a really strong nurse back then. Just curious, why did you only work a year and then take a four year break? Anyway, just my . Pam

You might want to look on Monster.com or Careerbuilders.com. With 38 years experience in nursing and with case management on your resume, I would think you would be an asset to any company. Just a thought. Pam

Thanks all for the congratulations! I'm really happy about this opportunity. I'm working for a national insurance company so I'm not self-employed. I found this opportunity through Monster.com. First I was hired by a temporary agency to work at this insurance company in the prior authorization department for a term of 1 year with the insurance company having the option of hiring me at the end of that year. My year was up at the end of the year and my boss extended me an offer to work full time which, of course, I took! I knew that once I was a permanent employee I would eventually get to work from home. I wasn't sure how long it would take, but I was pleasantly surprised and a little freaked, when one of the executive assistants told me to start setting up my home office a space, I was going home! Well, the next thing I know, I got my computer encrypter, work at home computer training, and then my stuff was loaded in my car! All in the space of about a week! I know that in my company we have prior authorization, case managers, continued stay review, and health initiative nurses that work from home. I would suggest searching Monster.com or Career Builder.com. The offer I got when I hired on full time was a little more than what I was making as a temporary employee so I was pleased with the offer. My husband still makes less than I do, which I find quite humorous since he is an RN in the ER. My son is thrilled since I will be able to take him to school and pick him up after school. Anyway, thanks again for all the congrats! Pam:D Pam

i finally got the job i have alway dreamed of! for a year i have been working as a contract employee for the prior authorization department of a well known insurance company. i got hired as a full time employee by that same company in october and have now finally got the chance to go home to work! :w00t: i start officially working from home next week after my home office has its assessment done. (they want to make sure i'm not working out of someone else's home). all i can say is "praise the lord!" and the best thing is, no one dies from any mistakes i might make. i love my job! and now i get to do it from the comfort of my own home!! sorry, just had to celebrate! pam:yeah:

You must have worked for the same boss I worked for at one time. She was a fruitcake! She finally got put on leave because her behavior had become to erratic then she was told that she was not welcomed to come back to her department, that if she came back to work at the hospital she would have to apply to some other department with no guarantee of being hired. Too bad I was already long gone by that time. I would have been standing in the hallway applauding as she walked out of the building for the last time. Pam

:monkeydance::yelclap::w00t::balloons: Can't say enough good things about your situation, both at work and in your personal life! Sooooooo, how're ya gonna ask her? Romantic dinner, down on one knee? Thanks for letting us know "the rest of the story." Good luck!!!!!!!

ok, i'll show my stupidity. i also think, why are these bad orders? they may be silly orders, but not bad orders. as i said in my previous post, i have seen them. elevating scrotum because it was extremely swollen. cut finger and toe nails because the attending doc was a jerk and wanted to make sure it got done,:icon_roll but staff at some facilities may need that kind of order so that basic hygiene will get done. i've seen staff do a tremendous job caring for patient's feet, hands, nails etc, and i've seen staff that won't do anything for the patient unless someone is practically standing over them and the order is written in blood. just a thought. and i don't think there is anything wrong with wondering why these orders would be considered a "bad order". just my two cents. pam

Actually I've seen orders like that in the long term care where I worked before. The scrotum was elevated because it was swollen. As for cutting the nails, I think the attending doc wanted to make sure it got done. Course, he was anal retentive and didn't think things wouldn't get done unless he wrote and order for it. The orders that always made me mad were the ones to DC foleys on patients that were unable physically or mentally to hit the call lite and ask for a bedpan. The ADON put sticky notes in the docs charts asking for foleys to be DCd and the doc would write the order. (I know, that's a whole other thread!) Pam

How True!!!!!! Pam

You sound like a good candidate for case management or maybe a degree in psychology or social work. Something to think about anyway. Good luck with whatever you decide! Those would be career fields that wouldn't involve floor nursing anyway and might offer more stable hours. Just a thought. Pam

I'm surprised that they didn't fire her on the spot. She's in her probationary period and she gets away with this type of behavior?! Definitely keep track of anything and everything that has to do with her, including if you end up taking care of any patients she has taken care of. I hope your coworkers circle the wagons around you and make this woman's employment there a living h@#$ for her. Not by being mean or hateful but just by giving her a cold shoulder. It's not much fun to work somewhere when no one talks to you. I just wonder, does she have a friend or buddy in the upper management that got her the job and is allowing her to dodge the bullet on this? It just seems odd that they would allow someone like this to continue in employment after what she said to you during her probationary period. I know some places don't want to spend the money firing someone and having them come back and file an unlawful termination suit, even if they win. I guess it isn't worth the money spent even if they win. Well, good luck. Let us know if this witch quits. Take care. Pam

Well hopefully you found out some good news about this witch, meaning she blew her ninety day probation period by being hateful. Maybe you remind her of one of kids who are now losers or something. I can't imagine that your coworkers are civil to her. I wouldn't be if someone were treating one of my buddies like that. Well, good luck and let us know how it turns out. Pam (yes, I'm old enough to be your mama):icon_hug:

Can you just wear plain colored T-shirts? I'm sure your local Walmart or Target has just small plain colored T-shirts so at least for now you would have tops to wear. Just a suggestion. Pam (wishing I didn't have the exact oppposite problem)

You know, someday you're going look back on this and laugh. I know, that's such a lame quote. But really, when you get those test results back and you're a nurse, you're not going to know whether to laugh hysterically or cry hysterically, and it won't matter that the hours leading up to your test were literally a comedy or errors. Good luck. And thanks for the advice to others who are getting ready to take any kind of test where it's so important to have the proper paperwork. Pam:nurse:

BOO HISS! I went back to school and got my ASN at the age of 41 and I got an ASN because I wanted to get my degree and get into the work force as quickly as possible. I got it from a community college, not a university and guess what.....I make just as much as any BSN nurse in this state because our state, thank goodness, doesn't differentiate between 2 yr and 4yr degree. Now if I want to think seriously about going into management someday, then I would seriously think about getting my BSN, but since I make good money (more than my husband who is also an ASN), I have NO desire to go further right now. I don't have the money or the time. You must be very young and idealistic to think that you must have a BSN and to want to 100% support a push for all BSNs; as some one from Canada said in this thread, it didn't work there and it won't work here. That would only make the nursing shortage that much worse. And to require nursing schools to go to all BSN programs is just plain dumb. Anyway, whether you"re an ASN or a BSN, you're still an RN, therefore nursing is no different NOW. And for your information, I have worked with some LPNs that could work circles around any BSN nurse so don't go thinking that one must have a BSN behind your name to give good nursing care because, again, that's just plain dumb. Sorry to be so harsh, but it just makes me mad when this same conversation keeps coming up. BTW, I respect the fact that people and the time and money to get their BSN in the first place, or go back and get it, but, don't look down your nose at me because I only went to school for 2 years versus 4 years and don't have any desire to go any further at this time.

Could you stay in the position that you're in as an RN? Your employer may even pay for some, if not all, of your schooling. Otherwise, check online sites for case manager positions, telephonic nurse positions or prior authorization nurse positions. Those should have the requirements for the job listed so at least you would know what you need to have under your belt before you apply. My question would be though, is are you going to be able to do your clinicals? You will have to be on the floor for several hours, usually twice a week. Good luck! Pam P.S I do prior authorization for state sponsored business now and I really like it. Especially since, nobody dies from my mistakes, and the worst day there is still better than the best day working the floor! No one is throwing up, coughing, pooping(admin, can I use that term on this site?), or bleeding on me! :w00t:

I think in some cases, the new grad needs that med/surg experience to get some critical thinking skills under their belts. Some new grads can do well in specialty areas, but like someone else said, you start out in a specialty area, then unless you want to stay there, you kind of limit your experience to be able to work comfortably in other areas. My husband and I both started out working in the ER and I didn't know how much I didn't know until I got a job in a long term acute care. I learned so much there that you just don't learn in the ER, at least in our ER. But in any case, it's not a bad thing to go into a specialty area if they have a good orientation program because if they don't, you end up lost and in over your head. Good luck in whatever you chose to do!

That place sounds like the place I just left. And inappropriate head injury patients weren't the only inappropriate patients they would drag in there. When a facility is for profit and the upper management wants to make sure they make their bonus at the end of the year, they don't care about patients or staff. The facility I left just moved into a bigger hospital and I shudder to think about the nightmares they will drag in there to fill all those extra empty beds. I'm glad I left and will never go back. I'm with everyone else, try and take someone in with you to the meeting, a union rep, an attorney, someone you can trust to back you up and be your witness. Good luck with them and I would definitely seek other employment ASAP. You worked to hard to get your license to lose it because someone wants to make a buck. And you might consider reporting this facility to JACHO (sp?), they regulate what hospital's do and how they do it. Good luck. Pam

the first thing you do is ask your preceptor. Whovever it is will tell you the proper procedure for their unit. If you follow their procedure then you won't get in trouble for doing something you weren't supposed to. Pam

They probably charge that much to certify you, then it's your job to find someone to let you do it from home. I spent money one time on learning how to do that (before I got my RN) thinking that they would have a list of Doctors that would be ready and willing to hire me. After I graduated from thier course they sent me a certificate and the accompanying letter said that now I could go out and find the job myself with no help from them. I was very disappointed because I had really buzzed throught that course thinking I would be able to start working from home right away because I thought they would give me work as soon as I graduated. I had a toddler and I was a single mom so working from home really appealed to me. So I guess the moral of this story, ask them if they can put in writing who they will be getting you work with when you graduate, if they can't do that then don't waste your money. Good luck. Pam

My husband called in sick for tomorrow because he IS sick. He should have called off the whole week. He has that cough, cold, congestion that kicks you in the butt stuff and he is absolutely miserable. He worked today from 7-3 and was the last one to leave the shift since he had a discharge and a new patient at the last minute. (he works ER) One the evening shift nurses came in early but instead of letting my very sick husband go home, they drew straws! We had Thanksgiving dinner here so he had his whole family telling him the same thing I told him....stay home tomorrow! The ER won't fall apart without him and he NEVER calls in for any reason. So there are exceptions to calling off before, on or the day after the holidays. Pam