futuregaspasser

Good luck, keeping my fingers crossed for you. My husband took 75Q mostly drugs he hadn't heard of, some priority, and he unfortunately did not make it.

I am not LDS (Mormon) and I am an RN in the hospital in St. George. The hospital does not discriminate against non-mormons. However, mormons can tend to make you feel like an outsider. That goes for everywhere in St. George.

What is the doctor/nurse relationship like there. I am used to neo's that treat the nurses with respect and don't degrade you for "dumb" questions. Also our manager is great and supports our "down" time. She understands it is a high stress area, and we should take advantage of any free time (i.e. knitting, reading ect.) All the staff are team players and willing to help eachother out. This is ideally what I would like to find. TIA!

As I mentioned in my post we have nurses float to our unit a lot and work with our grower feeders. I have had parents of my previously "primary" assignments comment to me about this, and how they seem to have a "new" (different) nurse every day. I tell them this is a good thing, meaning their baby is getting better and will be going home soon. This makes them feel a lot better about not having a consecutive nurse anymore. Of course we always check on "our" babies, and visit with the parents on their progress when we can. This comment also works when parents are upset their baby no longer has a one on one nurse, and now their babie's nurse has a 3:1 assignment (i.e. your baby is getting much better and no longer requires one on one)

Yes and no. We do primary in a perfect world. Usually though it is more like you get your same babies for the three days you work (if your days are in a row). Primary works better on the younger babies for us. By the time they are to the grower feeder stage, they are up for grabs (as we are short on NICU nurses and often have labor or PP nurses helping on our unit).

Call me naive, but why is this? Are prices of houses climbing as fast there as they are in my neck of the woods? If this is the case, our salaries have no hope of climbing, even though real estate has jumped 59% in 1 and a half years.

Never thought about that area, thanks, I will do some research!

Here is the deal, I am a NICU RN, DH graduates nursing school in December and is interested in Psych, but is open. I LOVE where I work, the hospital, managers, doctors, coworkers, everything (though I would like higher pay, but who wouldn't? ) Problem is the last two years housing prices have shot through the roof and DH and I do not want to pay $300-400 thousand for a home when we are making around $20 and hour. So we have been looking around and researching different areas. We have been to Boise ID (sort of ruled it out) and have done some minor research into Oregon and Missouri. I currently live in So. Utah. I am really sad about the thought of leaving my Unit, but at this point, unless soemthing drastically changes, it isn't feasible to us to stay here. What we ideally are looking for is an area that is not too cold (I have never lived in snow, and the thought is a little daunting, but may consider it). My husband HAS to have horse property, with places to ride without having to load up into a horse trailer every time. I would like the area to offer something to do other dinner and a movie. We would like to spend less than $300K on a home, unless pay is considerably more to cover the difference. But most importantly, I have to like the job, and the people. I have lived here my entire life and am afraid to leave my bubble. Though I am not completely satisfied with it, it is all I know. Oh, and living in So. Utah, it is predominately LDS (Around 70%) and we would like a change in that scene. Thanks for listening to my rambling, any advice or info you can offer will be greatly appreciated!

I am a former NICU Mom turned NICU nurse and I have found my calling. Prior to my DD being born at 30 weeks and spending 3 1/2 weeks in NICU, I worked in the Operating Room. I swore I would never leave the O.R. until this experience. Then I said "If I ever leave O.R. it would be to NICU". Three years later (and a horrible manager in O.R. that lost 36 employees in one year) I made the decision to go to NICU. I had a hard time with the decision as I had worked in O.R. for 7 years. I can just tell you from my experience that it was the best decision I have made. This is definately my calling, and to think I would have never even considered it if it weren't for my sweet little girl. Of course my experience as a NICU Mom was a positive one, only a short grieving process of realizing my DD wasn't going to be the happy healthy full term bouncing baby I had envisioned. I have parents request me a lot, and I believe that is due to my empathy (yet not sympathy). I am told by fellow co-workers that they admire how I interact with the parents. Of course I don't know anyother way, this is just me and my experience.

I just wanted to type you a quick note to tell you not to be discouraged. I am also a new grad (May of '05) working in NICU. I absolutely LOVE it and everyone in it. They are all very helpful, willing to pitch in at any moment (but not over run you) and answer any questions imaginable without degrading you. This includes the NEO's. So I guess what I am saying is, there are places out there that don't treat you the way your Unit is. Hopefully you find one soon! I just hope I can find another one with such great morale and team players. We are looking to move when DH graduates nursing school.

Wow! Glad I happend upon this thread. I am going to Boise in two weeks to check things out. We won't be able to move until Dec. though, as that is when DH graduates from nursing school. By the sounds of it, this is the right place for us. A lot of nursing job opportunities (I am a NICU RN and he is interested in Psych). Also cost of homes is a LOT better than where I am. What do wages range? Are there any sign on bonuses currently? I was told St. Lukes was offering $!0,000 and relocation in 2002.

I actually work in a level III Neonatal ICU. I love it there and am not sure I want to give it up. So I am not sure if the area is right for me. Is there anything within driving distance?

Thanks Jenksb! That is exactly what I am looking for. Do you have anymore info you can share?

Thank you. I will definately do some research

My husband and I are looking to relocate when he is through with nursing school (I am a nurse also). I am interested in Branson or Table Rock Lake area. Can anyone tell me more about it? Are there good options for work there? What is the weather like, particularly in the winter. Is there much snow? Thanks!

I was going to post the exact same thing. :bowingpur Thank you Suzzane! I am lending this book to my girlfriend who unfortunately didn't pass.

Why 90 days? Here it is 45. Good luck. Do you have the green Saunders book? It is awesome, I had questions straight from ut on my boards.

I have posted this on these threads before (infact I copied and pasted it), but here it is. Okay, I know this one sounds strange, but hear me out. We just moved into a brand new hospital, and the locker room (to the OR) always sounds like there is someone in there changing (Lockers closing, opening, mumbling voices ect.) but there never is (I work weekends and nights when I am the only one around). I go in there completely expecting to see someone in one of the bays, but no one is there. I have attributed this to a new building still settling in. One day around 6PM I am at my locker and I hear this strange whooshing noise. I attribute it to the clock behind me, when I realize it is coming from infront of me. I start listening closely and it coming from the locker directly below mine. I put my ear to it and it sounds exactly like someones mouth is behind the vent breathing. I automatically reach to open the locker and as soon as I touch it, the noise stops. All of the lockers are locked (each one has an individual key), but now one owns any of the bottom lockers. A few seconds later it starts up again, I said "Hello?" (fully expecting a response)and immediately it stops again. I told a few close friends I work with about it, to see if they had heard anything. They all say they have heard the lockers open, voices, ect., but never the breathing. The next weekend two of my coworkers and I all go into the locker room (again around 6pm). Their lockers are one bay down from mine, and we are all talking loudly, but as soon as I get to my locker, I hear it again. I told them to shut up and get over here now! One of them put their ear by the locker, and stood up soo quickly, we bashed heads. Put their ear down again to listen and slammed their fist on the locker it scared them so bad. The other person wouldn't listen and ran out of the locker room. The following weekend the charge nurse (that works graveyards) was in there next to that locker doing her charges at around 3am. She told me she heard breathing coming from below my locker and ran out of there. She said "I could just see a demon back there watching me." I retrieved the key from the unit secratary and opened the locker, half way expecting something (or someone) to be in there. There was nothing, and no air vent in there to cause the sound. I am not one to scare easily, but there is just no other expanation I can come up with. Something I forgot to mention, whenever the "breathing" stoped (from touching the locker ect.), when it started back up again, it was a gasping (like someone who held there breath trying to catch their breath again) :uhoh21:

:balloons: CONGRATULATIONS msnicole418 !!! :balloons:

I just learned I passed with my 80ish questions!

Do you work in my hospital? LOL! That sounds exactly like what goes on here. Of course they (L&D staff) don't all act that way, but the majority do. Anytime one of our staff (from the OR) has to have a C-section they request OR to do it because a lot of their sterile technique is so bad. On the other hand, our hopital doesn't have infections from the C-sections, so I guess it can't be all that bad.

I know it is different for everyone, and just 'cause one person gets a certain number and passes, doesn't mean the next person will. But out of curiosity, how many questions did you take and did you pass? I took somewhere around 80 (not exactly sure, I looked down at 75, computer kept going, then shut off shortly after). Not sure yet if I passed or not.

Which Saunders book should I buy? Comprehnsive, Q&A? Which edition? TIA!

We also boycotted the pins. We were all going to order them from a company for about $6 each. But apparently our school is now GIVING us a pin (worth about $6). :chuckle Works for me! Besides, if you get all centimental later and decide you want one, you can go pick one up, (at least ours) are the same from year to year.

I am in the same boat (drawing a blank). The only thing I know I am going to say is "I would like to apoligize to all my friends and family for being absent over the last few years" :chuckle If anyone knows what they are saying, please speak up! :)