Luv2care0907

:igtsyt:I just retook the ACLS. Cost me $150 for a one day for the proficient ACLS. It was cheaper than the 2 day. I read the book carefully, knew my ECG strips and understood the meds that needed to be given. The guy next to me in the class didn't speak a word of English. Not sure if he passed, but. . . . . I will just say the book was written in English and the entire lecture was in English. During one of our simulations when each of us had to demonstrate bagging ONE BREATH every SIX SECONDS, the instruction was saying, "One one thousand, two one thousand, . . . . ." Each breath would come after the last six one thousand. Another student who also did not speak a word of English was bagging on every count. The instructor told her 4 times that it was on the "one one thousand" that we bag and said it is after every 6 seconds. She would indicate that she understood and proceed to bag on every count. This is the thing that bothers me about adding people to the mix that do not speak our language. Where you come from is irrelevant. Most Americans come from somewhere else. You need to be crystal clear on what it is you're supposed to be doing, understand instructions, and do them to the best of your ability. It kind of reminds me outsourcing for tech support to India. Throughout every conversation I've had with one of these people, they pretend to know exactly what you're saying when after two or three comments it is perfectly clear that they didn't understand anything I said. It is scary to think that someone like that has a license and is practicing medicine in our country. One client that I cared for whose ethnicity will remain nameless claimed that I was discriminating when I told her I have to have an order for narcotics. You can't just take them whenever you feel like it unless I have an order that says this. I don't care how much narcotic she wants to take. Just give me an order. She had a supposed verbal order from an ordering physician in the hospital. Only once these folks leave the hospital, finding this guy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. They never return your calls. None of her other drs were willing to write an order after much time had elapsed. I was told by one of the physician's NPs that I was very unprofessional for asking. Did anyone in the situation stand behind me? Well sort of. I was told by the agency that I did the right thing but. . . "You're fired from the case." LOL. :anpom:So I went back to making my puny salary and was happy to be making it. I would rather do that than lose my license. That is the reality of the situation.

Well after a two year ordeal (3 if you include the year of preparing for retaking the NCLEX), I finally have a job in a hospital making double what I've been making. I made it through a torturous year of home health where I was constantly being placed in a position of choosing between money, the company, the client, my license or me. I had to forfeit several good paying jobs to protect myself and my license. I had to eat dirt, do grunt work, be criticized when I know I did things right, and more. I took it all very graciously, held my head high when it happened, said thank you when it was appropriate and retained myself in the situation. These are the times when you know there's a God. :) I know some of you pray and so I just wanted to thank you for your prayers. They made a difference!

If you happen to work in my area and this were the case, I would highly advise you to stay put. That mega-hospital is running the show here and it is like pulling teeth trying to get in the door. But...once you're in, you're in. If there's a position for L&D, you will be first on the list. If you leave and find that same L&D position available and apply, hands down they won't hire you ever. I would further research the L&D you are applying to. How happy have people been working there and having a baby there? Because thatsnwhere you're going to be for a very long time. If the L&D from the mega-hospital has a great reputation, bide your time. Go to their L&D and introduce yourself.

I, too, living in South Florida. I have ten years of experience in NICU and OR and pediatrics. I stayed home with my children (which was the right thing to do) for 18 years. I have stayed abreast of all the latest science and health information. I retook the NCLEX in 2009 and passed with flying colors. I know that my character here 18 years later is far better than what it was then. I have grown so much. I have a whistle clean record and hundreds of people who would vouch for my reputation. I did land a job in home health but the pay has been fairly consistently Once I am working, EVERYONE loves me. I would be the greatest asset to any hospital in this area and I know it. I lay down my life for these people the minute I walk through the door. I am meticulous about paperwork and orders and other date sensitive materials while at the same time being a caring person. Whoever is being hired, all I can say is that it isn't me. I just thought you would like to know that it has nothing to do with you personally. It is this area. Another new grad wrote in a while back telling us that she was the valedictorian of her class and nobody here would hire her. Unless you speak two languages. are 22 and in great health, and have 3 years of current experience in an ICU, you are really not what they want. Discrimination? Yes. But near impossible to prove.

That is true. You can put security on your iPad to protect it.

One of the nicest features of both the iPad and the iPhone is the one that triangulates the position of the device. If you have an Internet connection and someone steals your iPad and you have MobileMe, you can go to the nearest computer, log in and find your device. :) I use mine continuously. I have been doing a lot of home health but also school nursing. I will just tell you that that device has saved my life on numerous occasions. I have drugs.com that I downloaded but you can also find that online. The mobile version of drugs.com allows you to log in all the meds someone is taking and show their interactions in a very user friendly format. The side effects of drugs are listed again in a very user freindly way. I also have a language translator that talks. Wow, do I LOVE that program. I live in an area that has a lot of Hispanics. When I need to make super sure that they know what I'm saying, I type in the statement and let my iPad speak it out for me. Woo hoo!! When my office needs to send me something, it can come straight to my iPad through email and open a pdf file. So in that way, I can view orders in a much better way than my iPhone. The text was too tiny on that device. GPS. Wow. I use that one almost every day. It is super fast. One of the GPS applications finds traffic problems and in my city, that is a major plus. That's the best $20 I've spent all year! I had a client tell me that she thought her baby wasn't growing properly. I found a baby growth chart, logged in the numbers and found out that she was wrong. I have a diabetic client that is unstable. I started keeping track of the glucose - insulin relationship through an app called Diabetic Buddy. It is password protected. It has a carb finder that was invaluable. Just to name a few....

What this is is the Thirty-One carrier http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/ I am not a representative for them. You have to find one in your area. For $6 they emboss these with your name. I also am using the paper carriers that I label with the type of document. I bought those at Target. This keeps my papers from getting messed up. I bought some plastic carriers for my gloves and gauze etc. I am so happy with this that I thought I would pass it on.

That's great! Home health has many faces believe it or not. Part of the reason for that is that there are many social classes, environments, family situations, and cultures that you will find in your community. Home health is either a one time visit or private duty. So, with that in mind, here are some tips. :) 1. If you are going to do an OASIS C, figure out some pointed questions to ask to widdle what will be a two hour plus visit to about an hour. Easier said than done. I know. I found that I had to do much of the paperwork afterwards at home from my notes. I wish I had known that before my first one because I spent way too much time there trying to fill in the blanks. . Nobody told me that and I wish I had known. 2. You are not in Kansas anymore aka the hospital. There is nobody to confer with in the home but a PCG. Most of them know the patient's condition better than the doctors do. OTOH, this philosophy can also be a recipe for disaster when the PCG leaves the reservation if you know what I mean. And that can happen on the flip of a dime. One minute they are coping fine and the next minute they're poppin' Xanax and making really bad decisions. There is no security guard or head nurse to come flying in to save you. You have to respond in a calm way thinking about the next right thing to do. This does not happen typically, which is another reason nurses, such as myself, leave their guard down. I am not embarrassed to say that I prayed myself through some potentially bad situations. 3. If you are doing private duty and you find a family that loves you and you love them, DO NOT LET THE AGENCY TALK YOU INTO GOING TO A DIFFERENT CASE. You can't put a price tag on that kind of situation. I had some great families that I worked for! I loved my job. I didn't go home to dear husband whining about my job. 4. Invest in an iPad with 3G. You can access a mobile connection to drugs.com that is excellent. It will compile a list of drugs that the patient is taking and tell you how they are interacting and potentiating each other. You can send and receive important information through email that is a whole lot easier to read than on a cell phone. And my personal favorite is a language translator that talks. I know a little Spanish but not enough to explain things. I type instructions and specific teaching in English and it translates it and speaks it in Spanish. 5. Invest in some sort of paper organizer so that your papers are protected and do not get crumpled and/or dotted with coffee. 6. Invest in some sort of carrier that you can use to organize your stuff. I use Thirty-One but there is one suggested on this site that is very nice albeit expensive. 7. Document everything that happens. People lie and there is nobody to say it didn't happen. One mom claimed that I didn't empty the vent lines all night. That was a flat out lie. Thankfully, I documented that fact. 8. I want to prepare you for the ultimate time when you and somebody do not click. These agencies are in the business of making money. In their minds, the customer is always right. I am sure that over the years with lawsuits being such an issue, that became the best policy. Some of these poor people are so stressed from what they are dealing with that they become demanding and critical of everyone and everything. They hate you because they just need someone to hate. My own philosophy (especially where it involves a parent with a sick child) is that they are stuck in the grieving process of losing the healthy child that should have been - without any resolution. So they call the agency and complain. The agency says, "We'll send someone else." There's no negotiation. There's no sit down and discuss a misunderstanding. You are off that case and will be waiting for another one to come available. That could potentially mean time without being paid. Trust me, it has nothing to do with you typically. Just chalk it up to this feedback loop they are stuck in usually landing them in the anger phase. 9. Insist on getting a phone number for a case manager in the event of an emergency. Don't hesitate to call if you have a question. At the end of the day, I was criticized for not calling. Calling who? They had never offered me a number to call. 10. Check and double check EVERYTHING! The glorious hospital where there are "other candidates more qualified than me" sent out orders that were so poorly written that I nearly made a huge mistake. And again, in the end you will be the one getting blamed. The agency will point the finger at you. You should have done blah, blah, blah.... I have to think of those words constantly. What will they say if this or that goes wrong? 11. Dress professionally. You only have one chance to make a first impression. It makes a difference. 12. Lastly, don't take any gifts or give any out. Apparently, this has been misconstrued as a means to Medicare fraud. Not sure how giving a parent a nice baby outfit would do that, but apparently things like that can be grossly twisted and/or misunderstood. Hope that gets you off to a good start.

I have found an ability to use my counseling and teaching skills in home health. The pay is not as much, but for the most part it has been encouraging for me. I too like that part of nursing very much. I have been in the hospital before as a patient and noted that only one or two nurses chatted with me for a few minutes. Those that did were multitasking by giving out meds and asking me how I was doing at the same time. Most of the time the people spending some time with me were CNAs.

This is true sometimes, not all the time. I met many parents that never raised their voices and understood completely why I was there; however, I do know the type of parent you are speaking of. One of those had me fired for not changing a diaper. That is one thing I dislike about pediatric agency work. It had nothing to with being wet because of a diaper but a gaping hole where the mickey button used to be. There are a LOT of children who are in really bad shape. My point though is if we tick these people off for any little offense, the agency has us removed from the case and we are once again out of work. So if you want to get a paycheck, you're forced to be the maid, nanny, babysitter, and everything else in between to make the parents happy. It is absolutely absurd.

That is so true. I have gotten computer generated letters stating that there are other candidates more qualified only to see the job sit on the employment board for months after that.

I live in South Florida. There are no openings in the hospitals unless you have major experience.

That is so true. We are human and as much as we try not to, mistakes happen. There are people that I know personally who have discovered how easy it is to sue and make lots of money suing anyone in their path that makes a mistake. It has destroyed nursing. My heart for people is the heart of what started nursing. Those first nurses wanted to save lives. I do a great job because I care. To be motivated to do a good job to avoid a lawsuit has absolutely ruined this profession. It is why the cost of medicine is so high. It is why I can't get a job.

I assume you have recent hospital experience. If so, the sky's the limit as far as I can see. I wanted that kind of reception when I came back in 2009. Instead, I can't get my foot in the door. Thanks for sharing and best wishes!

I am amazed at this.