nursechick182

I'm strongly considering getting my master's in nursing education, but the main issue I have is that to be a nursing instructor I have to pay to get my master's to enter into a job that pays considerably less than hospital nursing. I know money isn't everything, but I'm going through a divorce, so money means more to me know than it used to. I've even considering joining the military to help pay for further education. I'm burned out on hospital nursing...can't work nights anymore and have frustrations over low patient census and being cancelled...and really enjoy teaching and precepting. Also, it seems that most universities require their faculty to have their PhD's which I'm not wanting to pursue at this point. Any thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated. :)

No it's at a center, and there are only a few centers across the US, and one in the UK. And it's not really triage...it's more of disease management and helping people make better informed decisions about their health. We can do symptom checks as a form of triage to see when people need to seek care. They said possibly at some point they could transition to work from home, but that's not the case anytime soon.

I just started working for them several months ago. I love it. I really hated hospital nursing, and I was really searching for something more meaningful. I feel that it is an incredibly supportive environment and when you get good calls, you REALLY feel like you impacted someone and made a difference. And getting paid holidays that you don't have to work is amazing (I've never had that before!) People with complex conditions are in such a need for education, and the company is solid and is only growing. I have made lots of friends at the company and most of my coworkers are very very happy. My only downside is that it does get monotonous sitting at a desk for 10 hours ( I do the 10 hour shifts). I wish we had an exercise room and more breaks to get up and exercise. I try to get up every hour to stay active. But that is really my only con with the job. I'm really happy with it. Feel free to PM me for more info if you would like.

I quit! Turns out, the hospital is not very good, and I was absolutely tired of dealing with all the negativity and no support from the upper management. I got a new job that I am really excited about, NOT managing anyone. I don't think the management route is right for me. I have too much stress in my life to deal with everyone else's problems. So I am really happy now. Thanks for the all the advice!

There are lots of hospitals in the areas outside Dallas offering internships in January for the new grads. Lots of ER, med surg, ICU internships. Cost of living in Texas is amazing compared to just about anywhere else, however traffic is bad, and the summers are unbearable in my opinion (born and raised Texan, but I hate the heat and humidity!) But you can get a REALLY nice house for 200K and a nice, smaller home for even less than that. Summer only lasts for several months, then it's gone. But Texans get cheated on a real autumn which makes me sad. :(The tornados seem to stay farther north, up around Oklahoma, but that's always a little unpredictable. My house has never flooded, but I see occasional side streets that are closed and flooded when it rains bad, which isn't really that often. It snows once a year usually in Feb. which melts the next day, and sjt9721 was totally right...the news stations will only talk about snow and bad road conditions the whole newscast. I don't know new grad rates, but they increase every year. The pay rates might be slightly lower than in the northeast, but cost of living is so much lower. That's too bad there aren't many new grad positions up there when all we hear about is the nursing shortage.

I did the same thing...tired of some disadvantages of level III and so I started in a Level II a while ago. They are trying to move to a level III because babies are shipped out all the time. It's very hard. I personally have found that with level II babies, you have many more term kids or near term kids that need CPAP or get antibiotics. Usually with preemies, the parents seem to understand that their baby will need to be hospitalized for a while and seem to be more accepting of that. With level II parents, I think they are more difficult to help because they were thinking they were going to have a perfectly normal delivery and baby, and when things don't go according to plan, they REALLY have a hard time with it. For example, having a 37 weeker with RDS on a cannula at 2-3 LPM breathing 80 times a minute and explaining to the mom that she really can't breast feed right now until breathing improves. That's been really hard for me to work with. Yet again, I really have a hard time with trying to save a baby that is really suffering which happens in level III! I think with working in a level II, it requires more patience on the part of the nurse without a doubt.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and advice. Things have gone from bad to worse. I'm not the manager, more like an assistant nurse manager. I've never in my life worked with so many departments within my pod that complain nonstop and are so far gone from teamwork, it's ridiculous. I ask people to do things, and they complain that they are in the middle of other things and then walk off. There are numerous safety issues too...to the point where I can't even do my charge duties because I can't leave a sick patient since I'm the only nurse there qualified to take that acuity of patient. My unit isn't equipped or staffed to handle when things get bad, so patients end up getting transported. I came from a place where things were so organized and teamwork was amazing. If there was a sick patient, everyone rearranged and worked to do whatever they could to help you. The nurses at my current hospital do not understand that. They've never had to do it. I stayed 3 hours after my shift was over to help the oncoming shift because it was chaos...never had lunch or dinner! When I got home, I wanted to throw up and started crying! I don't know if I can stay and suffer long enough to try to make things better! It's just sad. There is no way I would ever want one of my family members being taken care of in this hospital! Maybe I should just leave! I'm just trying so hard to not be a "quitter" and not let stupid people keep me from doing what's right. But it's hard to always be the ONLY one right all the time.

I just recently started to work for a small hospital, and I came from a much bigger hospital. The unit I am with is currently trying to expand and improve things, so I was quickly promoted to a management position to try to help the unit grow. The unit has the biggest gossip/rumor mill/coworker bashing I have ever witnessed, and some are including me in all this, and I think they might be trying to bully me into leaving because I have already made some changes on the unit. I am younger than most of my coworkers, but I know that I can make a difference for the better because I came from a really solid hospital. I am trying to stick it through, but it's tough! I feel like I have no friends and if I talk too much, then rumors will start. If I don't talk to them, they all say that I am quiet and stuck up. I feel like I can't win. How can I deal with difficult people that don't respect me when I am in charge of them?

I know how you feel. I became very frustrated with nursing due to stress and there were also major changes happening at my hospital, so I happily left, thinking I would never go back. Now I am in over my head in a totally different career, and after my father-in-law passed away last month, it made me realize that what I am really good at is nursing. I will tell you that it took me about 2 years to fully feel able and competent working in the nicu. So, maybe you just needed more time. Everyone is different. You could always go back and speak up for yourself and ask for some more time with orientation. You managers should want to help you be the best you can be, so it's nothing to feel bad about. Nights are great, however it does make you feel horrible, but I think it's doable at least on a short term basis. I did nights for five years and did start to notice a decline in my health. But shift change opportunities do come up, so that's nice. You have to do whatever makes you happy.

I have applied for a few school nurse positions in my area and actually got an email from a guy asking me if I wanted to interview for a teaching position. They need an RN to teach the high school students health science technology class, which high school students can take to become a certified nurse's aid. I don't know a whole lot about teaching this subject....does anyone else teach this class or know anyone who does? I would just like to know what it is like a little more before I interview for the position. Thanks

Thanks for the advice....I'm think I'm going to go with not being bilingual (kind of a big deal now here in Texas) and the fact that I'm not incredibly outspoken and have a hard time confronting people sometimes. I actually had a nursing professor tell me in college that I would never make it in grad school if I didn't "speak up and get my ideas out there. I've had a few instances at my current job where I felt like someone kind of "walked all over me" and I didn't speak up about it. I'm getting better at it though!

I am trying to prepare for an interview for a school nursing position....I've worked in the hospital for 5 years. I know a lot of employers like to ask "What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?" Well I could honestly list and elaborate on about 5 strengths, but I am having a hard time thinking of weaknesses I could discuss. I'm really not trying to be conceited, but my employee evaluations every year have been great, and I am having a hard time coming up with something that would be ok to say. The only thing I have thought of is that I am not bilingual. Does anyone else have any suggestions for acceptable weaknesses? thanks

I am currently suffering from terrible GERD, taking 150 mg Rantadine daily and 20 mg Omeprazole daily, still not getting relief. I'm about to start really cutting my food portions down and eat smaller, more frequent meals I suppose, even though that seems impossible to do with working 12 hour nights! My gastroenterologist I just started seeing is doing endoscopy next week and told me it was really best to take the omeprazole daily (I had been taking it prn before my visit with him.) My question is this: every study, drug book I have read about omeprazole says it should be taken for 4-8 weeks and that studies have not been done over 8 weeks. I asked my gastroenterologist this and he just kind of looked annoyed with me and told me that it worked better if I took it every day. Well, lately I have been having some NEW GI troubles too-lower left quadrant pain, especially right before and during the first 2 days of my cycle, sometimes so bad I can't really sit or stand or get comfortable at all. the pelvic US I just had checking for ovarian cysts was normal. Is it possible my reflux meds are causing the new abdominal pain?? I don't know what else to think of it since my pelvic reports came out ok....has ANY one else had trouble with reflux and/or the meds? Thanks for listening.

Is anyone seeing neo's starting feeds on babies who are on Indocin? Supposedly there is "current research" showing good outcomes with doing this, but it's freaking all the nurses on my unit out thinking we are setting our babies up for a perf. Does anyone know of any research articles saying this is ok to do???

You can get a lot more house and more upgrades for much less money in Anna; however you have to drive to Mckinney (and deal with Mckinney traffic)to pretty much do any shopping/errands because the only things in Anna are truck stops and liquer stores pretty much! (Lots of mice and black widow spiders, too) I still can't seem to get the mice out of my house, I'm afraid they are just here to stay. I don't know much about the presby hospital system, but I know med center of mckinney is expanding right now, and I have been there before as a patient and really liked it. The whole Dallas area in general (as compared like to Austin or Houston) does have a reputation for being a bit "snobby" and very appearance/material-things oriented, but not every neighborhood is like that. You wouldn't have to worry about that AT ALL in Anna! But you would see that personality more in Mckinney/Plano/Allen. Home prices in those areas though have really gone up over the past few years, which is why some people like the idea of moving north. Melissa is a small city just north of Mckinney, just south of Anna that I think is nice. There are some nice homes and they even have a city provided trashcans/recycling services that Anna does not provide. And the city of Melissa has a school district and seems to want to build resources (shopping centers) more quickly than Anna.