Genista

Hi cc_RN- That's a tough situation. Is it possible for your husband/partner to stay home and care for the kids during the day while you are working? Since you are the breadwinner, can he change jobs and work alternate shift? Maybe you can overlap shifts, and hire a nanny? I understand the dilemma you are in. It's a difficult one. I hope you can find a comfortable solution!

Good luck!!

Very touching on many levels. Thanks for sharing. (I did get something in my eye).

I love public health! I am a visiting PHN for pregnant moms and moms of small children. I am in the office some of the time, and some of the time at people's homes. I also go to many networking/education events to help coordinate care. I worked in the hospital for over 10 years, and I don't miss floor nursing at all ( I do have some good memories there, but the bad was far outweighing the good for me, which is why I had to leave). I always loved education and prevention, so public health is just a wonderful fit for me! As the previous post mentioned, there are lots of different roles in public health. In my local health dept, there are PHN that work with the elderly, some that case manage critically ill kids, some that manage foster care children, infectious disease PHN, and others.Maybe you could shadow a PHN if you want to see what it looks like. I Love it!! Good luck :-) PS- I did take a massive paycut for this job, but I am at a point where I was willing to do that for the payoff of a job that I love

Hi Souapril- I think it took a couple weeks to get the letter in the mail saying my application was received, and maybe another 2 weeks before I was called to interview. It was a slooooow process, but worth the wait. Good luck to you!

Hi sourapril. I did get the job & I love it! Thanks for asking.

Mesa14- Congratulations! Have you started your job? How do you like it so far?

Congrats! Hope it is everything you hope it to be!

Good luck! Fingers crossed for you.

Hi everyone. Good news...I am in process of multiple interviews! I have a few questions about specialization in PH & wondering if my background will allow me to succeed in these areas of interest. If you apply for PHN I in an area for which you don't have professional experience, can you succeed in PH in the new area (by drawing on your transferable skills?) I interviewed for an area that interests me, and that I don't have much experience professionally, but want to make sure I would do well there. Many positions I am applying for are autonomous, and I would have to do self study to catch up to speed in the new area clinically. These are all PHN I positions, but in children's and maternal/child programs, and my background is strong for adult medicine. I am very interested in the new areas, but want to know if I would need a strong background in maternal/child or peds to do well, or if I could learn on the job having been an experienced acute care medicine RN for over a decade? What is your experience? I am very excited, but also want to do well if I am lucky enough to be offered a position. Should I stick with the adult PHN programs, or can I successfully move into the other areas? Thanks!

I drive an hour to work. Sometimes it's longer depending on traffic. If it's a great job, then it might be worth the drive.

Thanks Tinderbox. Glad you got the job! I'm going to call and set up the interview this week.

Sorry for the situation you are in, Viva. I hope it all works out for you. If not, I wanted to suggest Telephone Triage. You have to have solid clinical experience to do it well, and you have that. It's easy on the body , but still stressful mentally. Can work part part time to full time and decent pay. Also, you mentioned Hospice. One of the Hospices in my area has dayshift 8a-5p, rotating weekend position with no on-call. So, you never know...maybe this would work for you if you found the right position? Sending well wishes to you.

I remember taking care of a transgendered person who dressed as female, but was anatomically male. We called (her) by the female name she asked to addressed by. In (her) chart, it stated, "phenotypical female, genotypical male." (She) had not had any surgery/hormones. (She) was assigned a private room as well.

I took the NCLEX 1 month after graduating (I wanted a month to "review" for the exam). Started my 1st job 7 mos later (I took summer off/had fun/got married in between). ;-) Good luck!

I don't see why not, either. If it is still in the packaging & you check the EMAR, why not?

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It would be close to 50% reduction from my current hourly pay. I work part time, but would have to go to full time to make up the difference and would make enough to support the family, but still a little less than I make now. My current job pays well, but it's VERY stressful and I know there has to be something out there that suits me better. I don't know for sure if I will love the new job that I am seeking, but I truly think I might, and am willing to take the chance (you really can't know until you try it). I have a child who starts school this fall, and I work evenings now, so am excited about moving to M-F dayshift which would be better in that I can see her every night after work (where working evenings I would not see her on work days). The hard part is, I don't know 100% if I will love the job, and I am taking on many more hours. No more weekdays off to run errands, do fun stuff with the kids, etc. But I am VERY interested in this area, and am very hopeful it would be a good move long term, as I might be much happier in this role. Just wanted to hear from others if it worked out for them. Who knows if I will even get offered the job? LOL. Thanks again!

Would you take a huge paycut and work more hours if there's a chance you would like the job alot more than your current job? I am considering doing this. I am considering taking a massive paycut, which would likely result in having to go from part time work to full time. I have kids, so this is my big consideration. It would be dayshift, M-F with weekends and holidays off, which would be better for my family overall. I wish I didn't have to be full time, but can't really afford to work less at the new lower wage. Hoping for some feedback on those that made the leap. Thanks.

Update: Looks like I might get an interview!! I have to call next week. Fingers crossed! It would be a dream opportunity for me. But, it's tough competition out here. Please think good thoughts & send well wishes.

Thanks everyone! I was feeling so hopeful, since they had several openings. Maybe I will keep a tiny glimmer of hope for another week or two. Maybe by some miracle I will get a call. Thanks for your kind words. It is the type of nursing I would LOVE to do. :-)

Sadly, I don't think I'm even going to get an interview. I just received a generic email from the county HR stating I ranked 8 on the employment list and they typically interview for the top 3-5. So disappointed! I really think Public Health would be a good fit for me. I have been watching the county website for openings for over 2 years and I had hoped this was my lucky break. Thanks for your feedback. I still find this area very interesting!

I would wait till the job offer. Just wanted to offer encouragement to you...I pumped while working acute care. I made the time to pump once in a shift (maybe twice if I was lucky, that was rare). I tried to pump right before the shift & then nurse baby right after shift when I got home. I pumped in some crazy places...break room, empty patient room, supply rooms, but never the bathroom. I usually pumped on my meal break mid shift. It was too hard to find extra time to pump otherwise. Coworkers were mostly accepting & some were supportive. Good luck with the job & with continuing to breastfeed your baby!

Thanks Belle1005, GrnTea & mariebailey- I don't know about networking. It's not that rural (though there are rural areas nearby), and they have openings in several departments...maternal/child, children's service, senior program & communicable disease. I'm open to anything! Though, I love to teach and coordinate things. I interviewed years ago for a single maternal/child job opening & didn't get it. It was a 5 person panel interview back then, and I had to write essays to demonstrate my Spanish ability (I speak a little conversational Spanish & can read/write some, but not fluent). I am hopeful they will interview me, as I would be thrilled to try any area that they have open. Just waiting now...waiting for the phone to ring. LOL. Fingers crossed. They will let me know either way, I hear. So, hope to hear something soon. I would LOVE to work in PH. I applied to PHN I. Thanks for the tips. I'll post back whatever happens.

To the OP- One thing that I copied as a new grad from another RN was the idea of an hourly "to do" list/timeline in addition to the "brain sheet" (I incorporated it into my "brain" sheet). I would write in each hour for my shift (I work pms), and then fill in when meds or treatments were due for my current shift. Something like this...I would put the room number of the patient and an "X" by the room if they had more than one medication due at that time). Example below is an hourly example of a pm shift starting at 1500 (3 pm): 1500-Rm 222x, Rm 232x 1600-Rm 243 1700-Rm 222 accucheck 1800-Rm 222 TPN 1900-Rm 228x 2000-Dressing change Rm 222 2100-Rm 222x and accucheck, Rm 232x, Rm 243x, RM 252x 2200-Lab draw Rm 232 2300- The beauty of this, was you are able to see where the bulk of your medpass is when the shift first starts and work around that. I would cross off the room number as I finished the med pass/treatment, etc. If there are certain hours in your shift where there are few meds/treatments, you can utilize this to plan for as needed tasks that you hope to complete...i.e. ambulating a patient, some teaching you want to do, maybe a PICC line dressing change is due, or whatever else needs to be done. You're working around med times, but also can write in reminders such as if you need to check the result of a lab draw (ie. a vanco level, etc) or a timed draw, etc. I found it very helpful to keep me on track, especially when there are so many distractions.

1:5 is standard med surg ratio by law in California where I work. It can be okay, or it can be too much. It depends on the acuity of the patient. Sometimes you have a few patients that have soooooo much going on, and it is barely manageable unless your other patients are easier. Also, it depends on ancillary staff...do you have a nurses aid, a charge nurse who can pitch in maybe pass a med here or there or help with an admission? When I was a new grad, I took 6-8 patients on med/tele pm shift.ON a bad night we would have up to 10 patients. It was very challenging and stressful. I had to take direct admits straight from the doctor's office with active chest pain on med/surg/tele! :-( (Why didn't they go to the ED first?!) Personally, I think 1:4 for med surg would be more manageable, but you never see that ratio EVER on med/surg. I always loved it if I had one or two ambulatory patients who were stable, because you know you're going to have another one or two who are on isolation, needing Q 1-2 Hr frequent pain med IV, complicated dressing change, ambulation, frequent suction, a million piggybacks every hour, TPN, accuchecks, etc. I think 1:5 is as good as you'll get. But it isn't always easy. Depends on what is going on with the 5 you have! Good luck!