EmmaZ06

I am a lot like you, and have found that people take calmness as a weakness. If this particular CNA is a problem, document her behavior and turn it over to the manager. I've dealt with CNA's that for some reason think it is ok to be rude, intimidating, and lazy. It is not. It is not only unfair to you as the nurse, but also to the other hardworking caring CNAs who have to pick up her slack. It seems like you have tried to work things out nicely, but she still won't cooperate. She needs to shape up or go. Document, document, document, and give it to the manager. I worked with a CNA who was terrible, she would not follow instructions, horded equipment (refused to give me the only glucometer on the floor when I suspected my clammy diaphoretic patient was hypoglycemic, because she was GOING to eventually go do routine sugars. She told me I needed to be patient and wait my turn. This was after I calmly and politely explained the situation, I did not just walk up and demand the glucometer. I eventually got the glucometer only by physically taking it off her cart, but the whole ordeal wasted valuable time that should have been spent treating a patient. When I took the glucometer she had a stunned look on her face, she thought she had intimidated me into backing down because I refused to stoop to her level and get into a screaming match in the hallway. I'm pretty sure she considered chasing me down the hall but there were witnesses, instead she spent the rest of the shift pouting and refused to do any work.) and spent more time in the bathroom than a patient with cdiff. When I spoke to the manager she said that she was aware that this CNA was a problem but her hands were tied because even though people verbally complained, no one wrote the complaints down. I wrote my complaint down, the manager had a meeting with her, and the next week when I returned she was much much better. Not perfect, but I think the idea that she might lose her job gave her the much needed push to actually work at work. Unfortunately some people take kindness as weakness and respond only to authority. Don't waste your time, she is acting unprofessionally.

Don't be too hard on yourself!! For the most part you have actually been correct to goof on that word. If you actually read the whole dictionary post to the end it basically says that it is a word, but only in speech, and it is still not generally accepted. The final sentence in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition actually says, "Use regardless instead."

One of the wisest pieces of advice I ever got from a nursing instructor was, "If it would upset you to drop something in the toilet, I don't wear it to work." It has worked out well for me, I'm never the nurse frantically going through the trash looking for something they lost, because it was too expensive to just say "forget it I'll get a new one".

102 on a m/s tele floor. She was still with it and a full code (I checked with the MD and the patient, who both confirmed the code status was correct). I have never had my eyes so fixated on a tele screen in my entire life. Thankfully she was discharged home the next day.

If I could make one suggestion it would be to shadow an RN for several full 12 hour shifts before you decide to pursue nursing. The images that people in one field of healthcare have in their heads about what the other fields of healthcare actually spend the day doing are often not the reality, even though they work side by side. Nurses are awesome, and the job can be very rewarding, but you should really see for yourself what it is like before you spend the time and money on nursing school. Also be prepared to take a huge pay cut, new grad salaries vary from place to place but you should expect to start out making around $20/hour if you are working the floor, although your pharm degree might increase that a bit.

Don't quit, it is easier to get a job when you already have one, but I would start looking around for something else. Update your resume, and send it to some hospitals with open dayshift, or at least day night rotation positions. It seems like part of your misery is directly related to nightshifts, and part of your misery is the hospital itself. I have been where you are, I was a traveler for 5 years and can say from experience that not all hospitals are created equal. I have gone from wanting to quit nursing altogether to actually looking forward to going to work by simply changing hospitals.

How many patients do you have?

I wouldn't let a psychiatrist operate on my heart, so it makes sense not to take mental health advice from a heart surgeon.

It seems like your facility may need to review it's med administratin policy. My guess is that if a seasoned nurse did it twice, it has happened to other nurses as well, who may have been too afraid to speak up about their mistake.

You are comparing a flu shot to a lobotomy?

Oh you are totally correct, I would recommend that you follow the rules. Just venting!!!

Ok, off topic I know, but seriously this post annoys me. Not the poster, but the policy. I can understand making a student buy a specific color, because that has happened to me in real life, uniforms are part of nursing, but as long as a shoe properly supports and protects the foot, why would a school rule out an entire line of shoes that are perfectly acceptable in every healthcare facility I have ever seen? Because they are called "clogs"? As long as the heels are covered I can't think of any evidence based reason not to allow Danskos. They are comfy, they protect your feet from blood and body fluids MORE than the sneakers with mesh, which your school seems to have no problems with, and they are easy to clean. It is stupid, and exemplifies the "because I said so" reasoning that makes nursing school harder than it has to be. School is expensive enough, why make students go out and buy new shoes? By the way I'm always open to learning so if anyone has any facts that would back up the no-clog-even-if-it-has-a-heel policy let me know.

It is more about the individual hospital than the state. For example I traveled to 2 different systems in Pennsylvania. One was awesome, one was miserable. Check out turnover rates. I work in Massachusetts now, and love it. It is rare for me to be working a shift without at least one nurse who has been at my current facility for 10+ years. It says a lot for a facility to hold on to its nurses that long, not to mention the fact that there is always someone trustworthy to answer my questions. Ask the nurses how long they have been there. If everyone is new that is a red flag, or if all of a sudden there are a bunch of open positions on a particular unit, try to figure out why. You also should ask about nurse to patient ratios. I tend to add 1-2 patients to whatever they say in the interview unless there is a cap where they stop taking patients if they can't make the ratio (I have only worked in one facility that capped and it was wonderful 3:1 was the true nurse patient ratio 4:1 was the exception, and after that they stopped taking admissions, but it was a world renowned teaching facility so don't expect that everywhere). Look at the assignment board to see how many patients the nurses REALLY have. When I worked in North Carolina if a dc order was written the patient no longer counted, so you could end up with 6 or 7 patients on dayshift when the "max" was supposed to be 5. So to answer your question after traveling for 5 years I can honestly say there is no "best state" although Massachusetts is pretty nice, and I admit I have not traveled to California so I can't judge them. My experience has been that the northeast is more nurse-friendly than the south, but that doesn't mean everywhere in the northeast will be good and everything in the south will be bad. Research the individual facility carefully.

As a floor nurse I thank you!!! What are the issues they don't want you to address? There is nothing more frustrating than getting a patient and realizing the minute they get to the floor that they belong in the ICU (you have a full patient load and on top of that you have to do all the extra work to transfer/monitor a patient who never should have been on your floor in the first place). PACU needs more nurses like you. It sounds like if you can stick it out you would be a great mentor for the other nurses on your floor. If the patient is awake and stable but they might need something repleated or a transfusion it is ok to send them to the floor. The key word is stable! I don't mind hanging a med or starting some blood on the floor, I DO mind having to push narcan 5 min after they get to the floor because their RR is 6 and you can't arouse them (yes that has happened more than once), or sending them to the ICU because I can't get their pressure higher than 70/30 after fluid boluses (yes that also has happened more than once)Don't let them discourage you. If you are really unhappy and you don't feel like you are in a place where you can advocate properly for your patients due to the culture of the unit go back to ICU. There is no such thing as being too skilled or having too much knowledge! Is management backing you up?

An RN, even with a BSN, typically doesn't make $105,000/year in Boston. Salary.com Salary Wizard- Do you know what you're worth? of living is also much higher here. If your goal is education and you have children you might want to consider loans/grants to go to school (grants don't have to be paid back, and if you make less than a certain amount a year a Pell grant can go a long way to funding your undergrad education ) so you don't have to work full time. Nursing isn't the best track to med school. You dont need a BSN to go to med school, you just need a bachelors degree in any subject with the proper math and science classes. After med school you have to do a residency, where unless you went to med school on a scholarship, you will be a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt, work full time hours, and make less money than the nurses for 3-6 years depending on your specialty (think about making $50,000/year and being in debt to loan companies that don't let you wait until residency is over to start paying them back). I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just trying to help you look at the reality. You might want to consider nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist as long term goals. You get a significant pay increase in both, and compared to med school they are much cheaper and flexible for a single parent. I'm also not saying not to go to med school, I just think you should pick either doctor or nurse, because becoming a nurse won't speed up the process of becoming a doctor, in fact it may delay it because you will have to take extra courses to meet the med school requirements. You should contact the universities that interest you and talk to someone in admissions before you make any life altering decisions. Med school will be enough work, don't add to it more than you have to!