Who?Me?

Wage freezes, elmination of all but pm shift differentials, new employee wage grids lowered, no education benefits, the "revamping" of the clinical ladder has been "happening" for 4 years, on-call pay decreased, and the employee discount in cafeteria eliminated.

I find that the docs with the worst behavior actually are stunted socially-never learned how to play well with others. Redirection will work with some, flat out telling others to stop talking to you like that this instant works with others, and others will just get written up and brought before their peers in a review board and counseled. I don't care how tired, overworked, underappreciated you are Ms/Mr Doctor--I do not get spoken to that way and neither does my staff. I also would have never spoken to anyone who is employed by that MD other than in a professional manner. Remember the hospital is just like middle school or high school--everyone is in a click and talking behind each other's backs even when you don't think they are.

What bothers me? Blood-nope. Vomit-nope. Gun shot or knife wounds-nope. Sticking any kind of line inside someone's body-nope. Cautery in surgery-nope. What gets me is: Throat secretions. Even after 18 years I have to think of something else, anything else when I have to suction a trach.

You are correct about the AP being too high. Is this pt's issue that he wants to finish his treatment faster?

Be honest- you are looking for a change and to broaden your scope as a professional. Burnout happens. Been there done that and changing your workplace can help you, and helps your employer keep a good nurse. I would go into the interview knowing a ton about the new potential workplace and how it will benefit them and you to get you this position. Good luck!

goats'r'us- As long as the nose piercing is small and discreet it really isn't a problem. It is the multiple eyebrow piercings, the tongue piercing that constantly clacks against the teeth or that you can't stop playing with that are distracting during the interview process. I wouldn't mention it during the interview. If you are offered the job, the time to ask about dress code/personal appearance policy will be when talking to HR.

If you want a job you need to look and act the part. No one is looking down on anyone here-what they are doing is venting and trying to help the next person. Nurses are expected to look and act in a particular way. How often do you see a physician with blue hair and multiple piercings? You don't because this would make them an outsider and patients would not take them seriously. If patients don't take you seriously, it doesn't matter how great you are at your job because you won't have a job.

I don't think it is a smile. She is in shock.

Opens doors to becoming a Surgical NP that can assist in the operating room and do post-operative care. Your clinical experiences in NP school will give you exposure in plenty of areas. Just think about how much you learned after leaving school and working...tons! Same thing will happen with your time as a NP. Good luck! Where are you going to school for your NP? It is one of the things I toss around for my future...been a nurse for 19 years and still looking at all the areas I haven't worked and just wonder what I am missing

Absolutely. Even with scrubbing my hands multiple times per day and wear a hat, mask, gown, and gloves in the OR, I take a shower. I have to wash the hospital off asap.

You need to send this to the hospital administer, the director of nursing and the ER/ED director at the very least. I would also send it to the local paper.

Doesn't have to be "leaked" by anyone. All HR has to do is search for you and read your posts. Just safer not to post work-related stuff on social networking sites.

I never post about work. Not only can it get you in trouble with current job, but hurt your prospects with future employers.

I would contact the "big" companies despite what is on their websites about not doing donations "at this time." This may be old information that has not be removed from the websites. What's it going to hurt to ask? All they can do is say "no" and most likely they will send a few samples with the negative reply. The American Cancer Society PR department might be able to direct you as to where to get donation as well. Search the "contact us" section for that department on the ACS website. Good luck-worthwhile project!

Most new grads start at the bedside either in the hospital, LTC, or home care. There will be days when you feel like you have to wash in bleach when you get home. I remember throwing away shoes that when an alcoholic patient with esophogeal varices was bleeding out and unfortunately it was all over my uniform and shoes-yep...showered at work, wore work scrubs and non-skid footie socks home that day and showered again at home. If it can come out of a human body as a nurse you will have it on you at some point in your career.:barf01:

Thankfully my car knows the way home after godawful, neverending days like that, because after not sleeping for 24 hours I know I don't know the way home any longer.

:eek:ORMIS---just make sure that you learn where all the "hidden" charting tabs are and the difference between the + and = signs---you will understand after taking the class. If whoever is teaching it doesn't go into these make sure you ask or you will get a lot of charts back to fix. While ORMIS is not high on my list for charting, I have yet to work with the perfect OR charting system. When I come up with it I will let you all know. LOL.

"A bigger issue for us is keeping the stuff we buy in our department- we've had to resort to locked cabinets." Ain't this the truth! I work at a small facility right now so weekends we are staffed "on call," so the house supervisors help themselves to supplies for the ED and ICUs. Can you not call supply like I would have too!?! Jeez. And I am sure that people in non-OR attire are walking through because what supervisor is going to bunny suit up or change out of their scrubs into ours to get a coude catheter or the laryngoscope?

Everything you just described is called assult and every single facility in America has policies against it. If, and this is a HUGE IF, this would happen and the facility didn't do anything to the doc you would have a legal suit not only against the physician but also against the organization for not protecting it's employees. I have worked in the OR for 12 years and have I had docs yell at me-yep. Usually when I am telling them that they can't do something that isn't on the consent and not related to the original procedure-such as taking a blip off the leg when the patient is consented for a exploratory laparotomy--I kept asking how is the leg blip related to the abdomen? He asked for my manager to come in and she just laughed at him. Next time I worked with him he was nice as pie-got a talking to by the chief of surgery who is a great guy. Have I heard of incidents where doctors show their behinds and throw things or throw temper tantrums-yes I have, but for the most part those days are long, long gone. Thank goodness. When someone, anyone, gets angry you have to ask yourself what is causing this? Patient going south? Doc got themselves in over their heads (happens with newer ones), are they experienced versus just out of residency and haven't figured out how to handle the stress, have they been up for over 24 hours, have they eaten, etc.? I am absolutely not asking you or any OR nurse to fix the problem for the doc, I am asking you to be aware that surgeons are just people, sometimes coddled, spoiled people, but people nevertheless and react to stress either well or terribly. If you are interviewing at a facility you can look at their website and find pics and mini-bios of the surgeons that work there-then google the facility and docs to see what kind of comments are out there, search for facebook pages, LinkedIn pages, etc. Do your research--unfortunately doesn't end after graduation. Honestly I had more issues with surgeons when I worked the floor than I ever have working in the OR. Some of the ones that were the biggest pains on the floor were the nicest to me in the OR when I transferred departments. Good luck and just remember surgeons have to put their pants on one leg at a time just like us and bodily functions are the great equalizer: we all have to eat/drink and we all have to take care of the results of that!

Honestly-interview at both sized facilities and see how supportive each are of their new periop nurses. Ask how do they train-just circulate or circulate and scrub? How long is the training program? What kind of commitment do you owe the facility after training is done-some can be two-three years. Ask if you have to quit due to unforeseen circumstances--ie illness, family matter-do you have to pay anything back for the training due to not completing it? Not having OR experience won't hurt you one bit if you are going into a program set up to train nurses how to be periop nurses. Places that train OR nurses tend to have staff, including docs, that are more tolerant of "newbies." Just be aware that nurses, techs, and physicians are people too-some are nice and some aren't-don't forget that OR nursing has its foundations in the same things that all speciality areas do: patient assessment, interpretation of labs, and an astute eye for details. Good luck and best wishes. The OR is an exciting place no matter the size of the facility.

I won't get into a ER/OR contest here--happens everywhere since most nurses do forget that the other department is usually working hard as well.... but Fentanyl or Dilaudid might have worked better for this kid. After 30 minutes of this I would have got the ER doc to write for something else. If they didn't want anything else ordered I would just have kept documenting pain levels, meds given, and response to pain meds to CYA. Since I work with CRNA's every day, some have a doc complex. "I give anesthesia therefore I know all and BTW I was an ICU/ER/Flight nurse before I was a CRNA so I really do know all." But if they seem receptive to talking to you, rather than they are just making snide comments about your nursing care, ask what would work better for these patients in the future and so it won't interfere with anesthestics. The morphine amounts you gave were reasonable--patient just needed O2 Sat monitoring related to the sedative effects of all pain meds.

Yes, I love being a nurse and I love my paycheck because it allows me to afford a decent lifestyle, go on vacation now and again, provide for my children, and even put a bit aside for when I am retired (which will be 90 the way it is going, but that is for a different thread!). Do I do it for free? Heck no-though some execs/administrators think we should and don't get me started on how different parts of the country don't pay worth a darn. Think anything south of the Mason-Dixon line-the heat has cooked the administrators and human resource folks brains when they feed you lines like this "people want to work close to the beach (FL) and the cost of living is less here-have they checked the price of houses, groceries, etc. Obviously not if they actually believe this drivel. If I did OR nursing with all my call hours and honestly putting up with prima donna surgeons (not all but the few who are unfortunately cast a pall over the nice ones) for free I would want someone to check me into a psych unit-because honestly something would not be right in my brain. Seriously, I truly believe that you can love what you do and expect to get paid well for doing it.

What happened to you was completely unprofessional with a second interview occurring and another interviewee waiting to speak to the manager all happening in the same room. Gone are the days when you got letters in response to sending in resume or even a follow-up letter after an interview. Nowadays, human resource departments may not even see your resume if the filtering software cuts you out or you might be passed over by a HR rep that has a business degree and has no clue what your qualifications are. Honestly, if the behavior during the interviews is an indicator of how this place treats interviewees, I wouldn't want to work there because obviously the organization doesn't really value its workers.

Remember you are working within a hiring system, aka human resources, that has very traditional ideas about what it takes to be a "qualified" nurse. Human resource employees typically have business or health care admin degrees and do not really know anything about nursing. Most resumes are filtered through computer systems that will not advance your resume if the right "tags" are not in your application, e.g. BSN, MSN, certification, etc. No one even reads your application or resume until it makes it through the filters! Outrageous, but this is how it has been done for at least the last 5 years at most health care organizations, local and federal government, and university/teaching jobs.

have you looked in to university of phoenix? they are ccne. from upox website: nursing accreditation the bachelor of science in nursing and the master of science in nursing programs are accredited by the commission on collegiate nursing education (ccne). for additional information, visit aacn.nche.edu.