RoxyBen

"...the condom was too big." TOO FUNNY!!!

In my experience ICU Nurse Managers love getting transfers from medicine units. Medicine nurses learn how to care for pts. with multiple problems/diseases that you only see on medicine units. The pharmacology knowledge that you would gain will help you emensely in the ICU. Not to mention the cardiac, renal, pulmonary, endocrine, neuro, vascular, GI, GU, oncology etc. that you have to deal with. You will find all of these on a medicine unit. I use to transfer nurses to both the ICU and the PACU and the NMs and unit staff were very happy to get them. I know you need critical care for preparation for CRNA school but medicine experience for ICU is the best. Good Luck!!! Roxyben

Sorry, but I had to take the SATs. I don't know why you should feel excempt just because you call yourself "non - traditional". Elementary algebra is great for elementary students but you're talking about getting a ADN. Perhaps you need to research more what's required of an RN these days. It certaintly requires more than what's elementary.

I have to agree with the above. Being a "professional" doesn't make us better and electricians, plumbers and garbage men make more money then we do! :angryfire

Try naming a superstar nurse since Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale. Ummm...Clara Barton wasn't a nurse. Head of the Red Cross but not a nurse.

If there is "union activity" at your hospital just remember that the union and the administration will put their own spin to everything. Try to keep a clear head and make your own judgements. Both the union and the administration have their own agenda and unfortunately, the nursing staff can get lost. Question both sides and ask for proof for each of their claims. Despite what administrators say the hospital won't collapse if the nurses unionize and not all managers are the devil despite what the union says.

The bill proves that nurses and employers must work to end mandatory overtime. It is such a "sweat shop" concept to begin with that I'm surprised that we allowed it to go on for so long. Mandating that nurses give up their personal time, even with OT compensation, is anything but fair and democratic. That said, the bill is an obvious attempt to spend more on lower income OT than higher income OT. OT pay should be given to any hourly paid employee. That is what is fair. So much for the federal government doing something about the nursing shortage. Sheesh!

Sheesh - I bet most of you actually believe that the United States consist of 50 States too. Well there is only 49; OMG...did we lose a state??? Where did it go?? Should we blame Canada for stealing it???

What merits advancement are standards set by staff and managers alike. For nurses to excel they should have a set of standards that say more than just how long one has been a nurse. I've read union contracts that just give the basics of being a good employee. Unfortunately, too many nurses use this as their only guide. Not all nurses, but enough who just want to get by. Where are the standards that show us how to be great nurses? There are levels of mediocrity in every institution and at every level. It's just that one can defend mediocrity in a union hospital by using the contract to get by. I know my opinion isn't a popular one on message boards, but there are so many nurses, staff nurses, who believe the same. There has to be some "merit" in that.

I've been a nurse manager for 14 years and I love it because of the opportunity to mentor staff. I have also been staff and have wanted to write a book titled "Stupid Things Leadership Do and Say." I'll never forget a former DON saying to me "My nurses take care of the patients and my job is to take care of my nurses." I follow that. NMs...treat your nurses with respect and common sense and you'll get the same in return. A happy nurse means a happy patient. Keep the faith staff nurses! There are managers out there who have a brain, a concience and a heart.

I've worked at non-union and union hospitals and I'll take a non-union place any day. Unions DO work to elevate RN salaries and for that I am eternally grateful but there seems to always be a downside...mediocrity! In non-union hospitals nurses advance on merit not just seniority. There's too much "dead wood" in union hospitals who rely on their seniority rather than their initiative. Plus, I've never witnessed a nurse fired without cause in a non-union hospital or clinic. These institutions have a grievance procedure that mimics the union hospitals. Unfortunately, very little of this matters since nurses can't seem to stay united. The clash between the nurses who perceive themselves in a vocation and those that perceive themselves in a profession seems to remain. And so it goes...