nursenewbe

You are right, Instead asking a tech to get some vitals, I might get them myself because I need a b/p before I pass a Lopressor or something. You help them they will help you. It works all the time.

I have been a CNA for a long time now a nurse. This is a tuffie. Give cna's report and time frames to help them to do their job effectively. Be the strong one ask them what the problem is and how can we solve it. Avoid the whole write up thing. It is so time consuming and makes the situations worse. Make writing up your last resort for a really out of line situation. Ask them for their help because they know the patients better than you. That promotes a team like atmosphere. I love my tech's they are the best. I really thank God for them. I got there back and They got mine. Good Luck.

You really should come work at my job, I need ya LOL:yeah:

I understand what you are saying, one question is where is the charge nurse and unit secretary. Where is the teamwork. At my place of employment each RN is assigned to a LPN for coverage of IV hanging no questions asked teamwork is a must or you surely will be fired. It is stressed at every meeting. Now you feel llike a doormat I understand I have to jobs. One at the hospital and one at the SNF. The SNF job I am having problems because of the lack of teamwork. Telephone orders are placed in the am on 7-3 shift but the order is not put in the computer ( all of our orders have to be put in the computer because of this new system we have in place) it would seem like if you the am nurse take the telephone order the only thing you have to do turn your chair around and make 2 clicks of the mouse and put the order in, this order that is usually a lab order sits there , 3-11 does not enter it in so now I have to enter it in. Passing the buck, it erks my last nerve and sometimes the lab for a pt-inr gets missed. Night shift crew are always the doormat and I am sick and tired of it. I have 40 patients at night and it is no way I can catch up from 2 previous shifts. The kicker is day shift comes back in the am asked why is the order not taken off the chart, well YOU took the order you should carry it out. I on the other hand have not talked the unit manager yet. I have been stuck at work until 9 am putting orders in the computer and giving report to 2 nurses because I have 20 pts on one hall and 20 pts on the other hall so I am following 4 nurses that is passing the buck I take that back one nurse actually tries. Your question when do u ever get to leave. Nursing is a 24 hr job Do what you can and go home get your nurse manager involved and the LPN that you always hang the iv's for you help her she helps you partner up if you can. Get to know your techs real good they will save your life and your day at work. I love mine. Remember partner up. Also look for another job, your patient load is too heavy in hospital setting because most hospital only give 4-5 pts a piece. Nursing homes very different protocol in Florida the patient ratios are stupid anyway. I really hopes this helps, Good Luck.

If I can I get to work like 2 hours early and I ask or see what set of rooms I am going to have, from there I go down the hall and read the charts. All of the charts are in the wall a roo outside of each patients room so I read them and peak in and see what the patients look like. I usually see the nurse working in the room and if she can she or he will give me a quick report, anything to get them out the door quicker. The days I don't get to work early I feel the difference because I feel like I am walking into the room blind. I picked up this habit from watching doctors, they almost never go into a patients room without grabbing that chart first. Especially if they are filling in for another doctor. Try it, you should have been doing the same thing in clinical. That was part of our assignment was to go to the floor and get the heads up and a create a care plan for the patient we would be working on. Follow that same technique if you can. Good luck

It does get easier. One thing that I do to make my work night go better is I get to work early and begin to read my charts and take notes because the charts have the mars, tars, last notes, last labs, last consults and etc. Then I began to map out or prioritize which patient I am going to see first. It should be easier if you have the same group of patients for a group of days. Usually we keep the same set if we are going to be on for 3 12's in a row. Also while I am sitting there reading the charts the nurse that is leaving normally stops at the desk and gives me a quick report before I even clock in and let me tell you this information I am giving you has helped me to be a quick learner and already working on my own after only 6 days of orientation. I am putting in any extra time that I can to the best that I can be because I wanted to be on my own so bad. Now preceptor just hangs around to answer all my tons of questions and rechecks all that I do to keep me in line and that is fine with me. Hang in there try to get to work earlier and read those charts because early bird gets the worm.

I agree with you, I love the atmosphere of nights. As a new nurse, that is exactly why I started on nights. I plan to be here a couple of years.

I work in a nursing home that had 1 nurse to each floor and about a month ago they dropped a nurse. So now one nurse has 40 patients on nights, and she has to count two med carts, give report to two nurses. For the past week, I have been getting off from work at 9:00a. It has really begun to **** me off. Around 8a, I begin to get cranky because my body is shutting down better yet my brain is shutting down from all the critical thinking that I do all night long. It is crazy out there. All of the staff nurses are quitting. This seems to be happening nationwide. I also work in a hospital, where if they can do without the techs they will make it happen. This hospital makes the charge nurse take patients and be in charge which is utterly impossible. I am a new nurse and after a month I am already having second thoughts. I detest the idea of staying at work until 9a when I am suppose to leave at 7:30a. I am so frustrated, I really don't know what to do.

I just got my license and a job(THANK GOD) my starting pay is 17.01 and I just took an agency position for 18.30 a hour to make one full time job. To me, this is pretty good money because I have been a tech for a long time making inbetween 11 and 12 bucks a hour. I am also chosing to work as a tech also. To answer your question if u are single, no kids, no car payment then yea it is pretty good money. But in today's world even a RN's pay might be not enough. It takes 2 or 3 checks to make a house run effeciently in Orlando, Fla.

I would suggest just walking on the floor that you would like to work on and talk the nurse manager in order to get to know him or her and tell her to pull your app from human resource. I have 2 tech jobs just got my LPN license and the hospital where I am working all of sudden cant upgrade me because the census is low. Yet, the very next day I saw two new orientees on the floor. I know when they got hired last month the census was low then too. So I am going to see the DON at my second job tell her I got my license, so I can get my start as a nurse in SNF. Everything is going to be alright, I just know that it is for you, for me, and all the other nurses. We was given this career to help people and I believe that God will put us in the right job for us. And you know what it may seem hard at first but be strong we wil survive.

I haven't even started yet, but you know what after reading your post I know I will be ok. I am a new LPN and I am going to work tomorrow to tell my DON that I passed and have my license. The staffing coordinator told me that she only gives new grads 5 days of orientation so this should be very interesting. I want to be on nights for a smoother ride but I want to be on days for orientation. Your post is so inspiring. It made me cry out of happiness and joy for you. I wish you the best.

Hang in there. Are you looking anywhere else? If possible try other hospitals and if you just like the place you are in then wait it out and hope for the best.

Thanks, that is true. I am trying my best to stay positive and stay away from negativity. I really want to be fresh in any upcoming interviews. I am going to talk to the other DON at my prn job. I really wanted to keep it prn as a LPN job too, but it actually might just be full time job. And that is ok too, because 2 CNA jobs are a killer. Wish me luck. Thanks for the positive message.

When the human resource person told me that I was going to have to wait, The DON gave me a look of disappointment because she knows I wanted a LPN position so badly. I hate to give her my two weeks but somebody is going to hire me. Actually, I have two tech jobs, and the other facility that I work at wants to talk to me Monday. It may not be the job I wanted to keep, but I think it will be the one that hires me as a LPN first. I am going to take it because having 2 CNA jobs is a back breaker. So I will keep you informed.

Exactly, I don't want to lose the skills I got in school. Right now, My mind is tripping because I have 2 tech jobs and I am tired. I am ready to have just one job. I was so hoping for this place of employment because it is 12 hours instead of eight and only takes me 14 minutes to get to work. And yes people have asked me to do things outside of my scope and trust me I refused. I have already begun the process of looking for another job because I just believe it is bull---- to make me wait for the census to go up, that could be months. Thanks for replying.

WOW that is sad.

That is so true, family members please give grandma a sip of water.

I am disappointed at present place of employment. I have been working as nurse tech for about a year. When I was hired, the DCS knew I would be taking the NCLEX soon. I took the test, passed YEA!. I took my results to the DCS and then the unimaginable happenend. The human resources and advised the DCS not to upgrade me because the patient census was low. I was then told that I can stay a CNA until the census goes up. That was cool at first, until the very next day I saw new orientees on the floor. First of all why would I even want to stay as a tech. I worked hard to become a nurse and that is what I want to do. I feel like the human resources just did not want to move up a notch because she was being a hater and jealous. I feel like the DCS should have said something like we have new orientees coming in tomorrow maybe they should stay home too. I thought maybe it was because I was a LPN instead of a RN, but then we have LPN's there and 9 months ago there was a LPN in my orientation class. So, I am still stuck on the human resource person being a hater. I feel like there is just a big lack ofjob integrity going on here. I really don't know how to handle this situation. None the less, I still need a job for the time being and I am looking for new place of employment. Any info on this suitation would be helpful.