Bobbkat

I'm back and forth about homebirth. On one hand, with a well trained, well prepared midwife an appropriate candidate should be fine at home. On the other hand, I was an 'appropriate candidate' but the you-know-what hit the fan so quick with my first childs birth that there wouldn't have been time for a transfer to a hospital, she would have been dead. She spent as week in the NICU as it was. I went from through the door to triage to crash c/s to baby in NICU in under an hour. Besides my own personal birth experience, I'm a NICU nurse and we have had some seriously neurologically devastated babies in the unit because they were homebirth gone very, very wrong. I will say, in each case that I can recall the midwife recommended transfer for hospital care and a probably c/section, but the mothers refused for HOURS before coming into the hospital, and the babies will pay the price forever. It makes me very, very sad. We've had some babies from hospital birthing Moms that have had come in this way too, because of refusal of a c/section. I don't know.....I've seen the research about mortality rates in other countries, and I know that the 'bad' outcomes are few and far between if treated appropriately.....but I just can't imagine life without my oldest daughter......and the babies we've had in the unit...I just don't know if it's all worth it or not. Can you tell I'm conflicted about this?? I personally like the happy medium of a low intervention, midwife attended birth center attached to a hospital.

As was previously stated, Yale (it's the only hospital I can speak for) greatly prefers BSNs. Does it mean that ADN's never, ever get hired? Of course not. But if all other things are equal, a BSN will be hired over an ADN or a diploma nurse. I won't get into a commentary over whether it is right or wrong. It's just how it is.

My unit hires new grads, but I'm sure the positions are really, really competetive. It's too bad we don't hire more, because we are so short staffed right now.

I mix them together all the time, and have never heard of it changing the composition of the breast milk itself. I only mix it for nipple feedings if I know the entire volume will be consumed in one way or another, but that's just so I don't waste it, not because of any kind of chemical change. It all mixes together in the tummy anyways...

It is absolutely discrimination and against the law. Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964 states that pregnancy based employment discrimination is illegal, and that pregnancy must be regarded by employers as any other temporary illness. It is letter (k), if you scroll down the page. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm

It is absolutely illegal to not hire someone because of their pregnancy. A number of people have admitted that they would break the law and discriminate against you if they were given the option of being in charge of hiring a pregnant nurse. I believe this is reason enough to NOT disclose the pregnancy until after you are hired.

There is no reason to mention a pregnancy during an interview, and it is illegal for an employer to ask you about it. If you were qualifed for the position prior to the disclosure of your pregnancy, being pregnant shouldn't change that. If a job is offered, accept, then depending on how far along you are, speak with your manager about the pregnancy. You may run into a tangle with maternity leave off (a company has no obligation to give you FMLA time if you haven't been with them for a year), but many companys will give you 6-8 weeks off for medical leave after birth. There is no garuntee thogh. We have had many nurses take maternity leave with less than a year on my unit. It's never been a problem. Of course, unless you are interviewing on my unit, you might find things very different where you work.

May I ask why you say this? I know many people (myself included, as stated above) that have relied on networking to get into a hospital job, and I don't find them to have 'low performance' at all.

I have a BS in Edu and a BSN, currently licensed and working as a nurse. I let my teacher cert lapse. I am exhausted just thinking about doing both jobs! But, theoretically, since you asked, is it possible? I don't see why not. As long as you have no family commitments and a very open social schedule, it could work.

It's networking, and it in NO WAY means that the person is unqualified. Example? I graduated with my BSN, great GPA, great clinical recs, passed NCLEX first try with 75 questions, good to go for a job, right? Except there were so few places that would even consider hiring new grads, let alone postings that encouraged new grads to apply, that there were hundreds of applications for each position. I was very qualified, but couldn't get anyone to look at my app. After about 150 rejections (literally), I begged every person I knew in a healthcare facility back home (I had to relocate post graduation) to tell me if they had any connection to a facility in my new area. Long story short, I found someone to put in a good word for me, and finally my resume was looked at, I landed and interview, and am now working as a RN on the unit. Don't get me wrong, the recommendation got them to look at my resume, but I am the reason I got the job. Competition is FIERCE for jobs, or at least it was a year ago. Grades and recommendations aren't enough when you are lost in a sea of jobless new grads all clammoring for the same few positions. It's no different than someone getting a job as a CNA just to get their foot in the door at a facility. You have to use whatever you can in this economy.

Wait, aren't you the guy that started all the crap a few months ago about how it's immoral for women to seek employment when they know they are pregnant? :icon_roll Know what gets under my skin? People that like to stir up crap just to create drama, and then try to justify it as 'discussion'.

We warm them in a plastic ziploc bag placed in a warm water bath in one of those pink patient water pitchers.

I applied and applied and applied, and called HR and tried every angle I could think of, getting nowhere. Then I contacted every person I knew working in a hospital back home (I had to relocate to a state after school, so I had no experience with the hospitals here) and asked them over and over again whether they knew ANYONE who had any contacts in a hospital in my new state. A nurse I knew was working with a new attending that had just come from a hospital in my area. The doctor agreed to call the nurse manager on the unit I was interested in and put in a good word for me. Next thing I knew, my application went through HR, I was offered and interview, and then offered a position. Long story short, networking was key for me. There is no shame in using whatever contacts you can for an edge. I had great GPA, great references, all that, but it was getting me no where since every one I was competing with also seemed to have great grades and references.

I worked until my water broke. It broke while I was walking into work. I called off that day.

We didn't. We were told what, where, when. The only choice we were offered was our very last semester when we got to request a general area (adults, peds, women's health, etc) to do our preceptorship in. Even then there were no promises though. Most of the time we didn't even find out exactly what our schedules were until the week school started, maybe the week before.

My hospital will pay for $4000 a year towards education. They do have some pretty good scholarships available too for nurses working towards advanced practice degrees, but I'm not sure how competetive they are.

I think it depends on what your interests and goals are. Do you aspire to become a neonatal nurse? If so, take the NICU position. Otherwise, the other position will give you experience with a broader age and diagnosis range. Good luck whichever you choose!

I used to be a teacher. CPR and first aid was required. That being said, just because someone went through the class doesn't mean they would actually be prepared to use the training if an emergency actually presented itself.

I rarely lift over 10 pounds in the NICU. My heftiest patients have weighed around 12 pounds. Will school work with your lifting restrictions though? We couldn't have any physical restrictions where I went to school.

Diaper cream is probably my number one! Sweet-ease is up there too.

I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, you failed by two points. Rounding doesn't help much in that case. On the other hand, you won't know unless you try. I would however, suggest against 'begging' for the grade, or placing the blame on the test being tricky. Other people were able to pass it, so this excuse really is, well, just that, an excuse, and a childish one at that (sorry, I know that sounds harsh). Take responsibility for your learning and semester, and come up with a realistic plan on how you can master the information to a degree that would satisfactorily demonstrate that you earn the extra two points. Share that with the teacher and they may be more receptive than to begging.

Yes, it's everywhere. For example, where I went to school there were at least 12 schools within a 50 mile radius graduating RN classes. I don't know how many for LPN's. Not nearly enough jobs to absorb all of those nurses.

In my hospital the first set of labs would have been enough to have the baby sent down to me in the NICU and had a 48 hour course of abx started until the initial culture results could come back.

I work 2 12's and 2 8's a week. There are pluses and minuses to each shift. On one hand, I like that I feel like I am either coming in late or leaving early on my 8 hour days. On the other, I do have a tendency to leave late on the days that I work 8 hours, since chances are I have patient care to complete right up until time to give report. Plus, when my unit is slammed (like it is right now), if I am working an 8, I can pretty much count on someone begging me to stay a full 12 anyways. That can get pretty annoying when you just want to go home. I feel much less rushed during a 12 hour shift. I always leave on time (barring circumstances I can't control, like an admission coming in right before shift change that I am responsible for starting, oncoming shift running late, etc). I am really drained at the end of most 12's, however. I have an hour drive home, and by the time I get home, I just want to drop. I also have the option of working 5 8's, or 3 12's and 1 4. Anything that adds up to 40 hours a week. To be honest though, I'm looking forward to a few months from now when I am approved to start working 3-12's a week only. Hooray for 36 hours!! My drive is just to long to drive out 4 days a week.

Don't get too discouraged. I have heard the same stereotype over and over again: people with good grades have their heads stuck in a book and therefore have no real hands on skills. I can tell you, as a working RN, it's absolute hogwash. Each person is an individual. If someone else wants to stereotype that a certain percentage on a test = a certain hands on skill set as a nurse, you can't stop them, but DON'T let it get under your skin. Some great nurses have great grades, some great nurses have not so stellar grades, and a great deal run the gamut in between. Focus on yourself and what YOU feel you can do best to excell in your chosen career to the best of your ability. Also, a someone who got great grades all through nursing school, I can tell you that getting A's does NOT mean that someone does not struggle. I gave birth to a baby and raised her by myself while my husband lived 800 miles away through much of nursing school. I'll tell you about struggles.....I worked my BUTT off for those 'A's. Determiniation and pushing yourself to the limits of your capabilities isn't reserved only for those making 'C's, as is so often implied by this stereotype.