DaisyGrlRN

Ask questions, hopefully you will have an awesome mentor. Are you in home hospice or in an inpatient setting? If you have access to Nursing Spectrum, they have an awesome CEU for getting started in hospice care. Give yourself 6 months to a year to get acclimated. You don't have to learn it all in the first day, week or month. Good Luck!

That is the kind of patient that I am supposed to take. The CRN is in charge of 3 units so she isn't always available to make the assignments. I know enough to know I don't know enough about Critical Care. I'm scared I will miss something on one of my patients. Everyday there feels like I am starting over, because the staff is different or I haven't been assigned there for awhile. They don't know me, I don't know them. I'm not sure who the good resource people are. I guess the best thing for me to do is stay positive, continue to study, and ask questions. Thanks for your info.

I work in my hospital float pool and have recently finished my orientation to the units. I have been told that I won't have to take an admission or take the 1:1 cases. We listen to report then decide who gets which patients. They look to me to decide who I want to take first. The expectations are that I will take one stable vent and anther patient. Do you have any advice for me on deciding which patients to take? In the past I have asked for the floor staff's input but they have turned it back to me. I don't feel I have enough experience to make that decision. Do you have any advice on floating to the units?

I work 4, 8s and 12s. Generally I try to do three 8s and one 12. When I was working 3 12s, I came home exhausted, spent 1 day recovering and another day catching up on housework. I like having energy left over when I get off work, and not having to take a day to recover. Life is better on 8s.

I was 35 when I went back to nursing school. I had 3 kids, 2 dogs, a husband and worked full time. It can be done. You can do it... :up: You can do it... :up: The youngest in my class was 21, the oldest was 55. It was a great experience.

I started in the float pool right out of school and love it. My hospital doesn't pay more $, they offer other incentives. I only work one weekend a month and one summer, one winter holiday per year (unless I choose to work more.) Most of the time I can schedule myself at work around what is going on in my family's life. I can switch back and forth between 4, 8 or 12 hour shifts, nights and days.