karenTRN

I didn't say take the cheapest, or the least expensive. However, when one graduates, one has to weigh the debt vs the income. Once a degree is obtained, in any field, it is up to the recipient to do with it what they can. It will no longer matter what school one comes from. 20 yrs of mgmt and hiring/firing have allowed great insight and countless examples. You will receive a good, if not great education at countless schools. The price is not indicative of quality, or lack of.

I don't know whether to laugh, scream or be angry. Probably the entire gammit! My PCT's take vitals? HA! They REFUSE. Flat out REFUSE. THey say that they are "too busy" with 12 patients so "do it yourself". They flat out tell the RN's that if we want to keep our licenses, we better do it because we are being told they are "too busy". They sure are too busy.....too busy watching TV, too busy on break after break after break....too busy yacking on personal calls and texting....want me to go on? And in typical "martyr mary" RN fashion........we are all told to "care" about how they feel. I'm sorry, if you lose your job for goofing off and can't pay your rent, look in the mirror. DOn't like the work hired to do? Quit. Personally, I am long past the fed up point with techs that just don't want to do the job they are hired to do, and expect the RN to do it for them, or call them "not a team player". I am sorry, it is not MY job to do yours for you. It is that simple. You aren't going to do mine. And no, I do not need to tell you what I am doing and why I can't do your job for you. Can you tell this hit a raw nerve?

Here is one for you.......had my physical a couple of weeks ago....$290, paid by insurance........a separate charge of $37, unpaid by my insurance......The charge was because she told me I should quit smoking. Lets not debate the smoking issue......but how can you charge me $37 to tell me to quit. Think I am paying it? Not a chance.

I have worked in hospitals that mandate every other weekend. Work it, get yours covered yourself, or choose another job was the motto...and that was when there was still a shortage with bonus sign on pay. Currently I work for a place that has RN's assigned to ALL weekends. Holiday or not, if it is a weekend, it is yours. Period. We get 8 weekends a year off. For committing to that, we get an extra $10 an hour, plus weekend differential. The other staff nurses are plugged there as needed if they don't volunteer.

Nursing pay is not based on the price of your education or the school you graduated from. It is based on experience. One can make X dollars and have no debt, or make the same money and have thousands of debt.

I saw a bumper sticker that said it best to me: RN, my job is to save your ass, not kiss it. When nurses stop acting like it is our job to cater to patients like they are in a spa, we will get the respect we have earned through education and training. I do not recall a single chapter in my text books about moving your glass 2 inches because you cant be bothered to reach.....or you say "I know you are busy, but my family is here and thirsty". How is that my problem? Then get angry when I am with other patients who actually NEED me, and you have been waiting 10 minutes for ice!...............I actually had one patient in a double room screaming out (yes AOx4)........ that she couldnt hear her tv over the code we were running.........I pulled the curtain back and told her to shut up! Sorry this patient was dying during reruns of gilligans island!........ Sadly, whiny patients are becoming the norm, not the exception.........all because we are treating them as if it is a fancy spa, not a hospital. The land of entitlement.

Are you sure your math is correct? In one year of school, you worked 25 weeks "full time"? In addition to that 160 hours, another 13 weeks full time? Please recheck, as a friend of mine who is a NP told me, that NP only need about 650 hours. How could you do that much clinical time, and take all the classes that other programs do in 2 years (BSN or ADN). Not judging, but I have never heard of anything that intense.....not even with NP schools that I have been checking into.

I take it that once I get a waiver, my file will go before the Board........then MEPS, then the interviews...........? Thanks for replying......I really do appreciate it.

Hi All......Afer reading these posts, I am already discouraged! I am 48, an RN for 2 years with Wound/Isolation experience and Tele experience......and I will be asking for an age waiver. All I have started thus far is making contact with a recruiter! Anyone have any helpful hints ---- or can you tell me what the process is all about? All I have been told so far, is that he will put my resume and certs together, and "see" if I would be able to get an age waiver. What is entailed in the process? What can I expect? Is it true that different areas of the country, the recruiters have different quotas to meet? Or do that they not have quotas? It appears that I am starting out behind the 8 ball already ----- and I am not even on the pool table yet? What happens once I turn in my resume? Boy....and help in this would be great...........oh, and I am trying to get into the AF......Will have BSN in 30 days.

I cherish the aides that I have had that are wonderful. But for the most part, I sadly have to agree. It seems as if they have "their own" priorities and they may or may not match up with the priority of the moment. I have literally had an aid tell me "that is not a priority for me" and walk away. Yes, many times it "appears" as if we "could do it ourselves", but #1, it isn't our job, it is theirs, and #2 we are usually on our way to do something else, and they fail to grasp that concept. We shouldn't have to stop and explain why we can't do it. If I am not busy, I will help - but if I am, no, sadly I will not. THe aides know that they "have us", and it is rampant. In one hospital I worked in, RN's had the authority to send them home. That worked. I dont think "relieving" of the responsibility of that one patient is helpful - they probably think "great, now I don't have that one to worry about -you do it all"......at least that has been my sad experience. The few that were great, I thank up and down all day long!!!! Kudos for pride in ones' work!

Everywhere I have worked, the max was 6 days, and 7 nights. I have been "told' that I am getting the additional patient, and I have refused. you are required to state you cannot handle it, because once you accept responsibility for that patient, you are responsible. Until nurses start speaking up and refusing these crazy ratios hospitals will continue doing it. JHCO's own studies have PROVEN that when the ratio goes above 4 to 1 the patients risk of dying increase 20%. I won't take more than 6 - and if they have drips going - no more than 5. And that is absolute max.

I have been a nurse for 2 years. I started out on an Isolation unit, and am now in Telemetry. It wasn't by choice, but when I moved, that is what was available. Very few hospitals I have learned have Isolation units. I loved doing that. I don't care for Tele much. But right now, we are happy to have jobs right?

ADN = Associate Degree, Nursing a 2 yr degree vs a 4 yr

ADN's are better trained clinically, BSN's are better trained for administrative positions. I know my experience had been that they preferred to hire an ADN, and have them return for the BSN...rather than start with one. But sadly, with the job market as it is, they are getting pickier on not just education, but experience. No, it shouldn't be illegal to turn someone away just because they only have an ADN. They can set the bar wherever they like. Just like they can take a 10 yr experienced nurse over a 5 year. It is up to them.

I have worked in 3 hospitals, various sizes, various parts of the country........sadly I too find it the norm. They are there to help IF ASKED....but only if asked.....I learned in nursing school that we eat are young........sadly we eat each other too. I am 48 - and have been in mgmt in accounting prior to switching to nursing......while I agree that because it is female dominated, it is more catty --- it is primarily due to poor mgmt. Few mgrs are actually trained in mgmt.....just because you have a BSN or MSN, does not mean you are trained in mgmt. I have my MSN, and would not consider it training for mgmt. I find it so unbearable sometimes too that it makes me question if I will remain in nursing at all.......