Riley3

I would love to do 12's...currently working 8 hour days/5 days a week. My employer did offer them to me but I turned them down once I looked at the schedule. They made sure I never had more then 2 days off in a row and threw in a silly 6 hour shift. On my weekend on I would do 12 on Thursday 6 hours on Friday and 12 hours sat and sunday. All the other 12 hour shift workers get 3 days off in a row. I travel 48 miles one way to work, but unless they modifiy the 12 hour shedule a bit I will happily walk out of there at 3pm and have the whole evening for my kids.

Dont tech in the Ed I work in...There is 1 tech per team. Each team has 12 bays and 9 hallway slots...I feel very bad for out techs and do try to help them out as much as possible, but the nurse patient ratio is not great either. It is not unheard of for a nurse to have a 9:1 ratio

I called in Monday and Tuesday this week..for fever, chills, headache, cough, and on/off GI symptoms. I am pretty sick. Sunday night when I called in for monday, no problem. When I called in Monday for Tuesday..I got the "Are you kidding me", "sigh", "geeze"..end with me apologizing..and them saying "uh ok its fine" then me saying I dont call out and do you think I want to use all my vacation time up being sick..then them saying "go to bed feel better" Of course today I dragged my butt in there and all I hear all day is what am i doing there I look horrible and do I want to go home..Sometimes you really can't win.. Always amazes me that nursing is so brutal to each other when we are ill, but compassionate to the patients. I think we have forgotten that we need to take care of each other as well as ourselves. I do recognize that it is at times hard to find a replacement, but the reality is even though we are nurses we still do get sick.

I worked with an NP who got her degree from Stony Brook in Ny.

I've been in the ER for 1 1/2 years. The only time I have ever gotten a meal break is when I was on orientation. My preceptor at the time would tell me "go to lunch now because when you are off orientation you will never get a break" Well she was right, I havent had a meal break since. I do have to say I work with an IA who will grab me something when she goes to cafateria, but I never get to sit down and it. It is more like take a bite..patient care...take a bite...patient care..

I did an online recert one year which was acceptable for my then place of employment but when I took a job at a hospital they made me redo it. They would only accept certifications from I think the American Heart Asscociation.

When working in the hospital setting I have never called out for snow, but when I was working in a monday through friday infusion clinic I have had my manager call me and tell me not to come in. If I couldnt make it the patients coming in for treatments could not make it either. Most of the time I would tell her thanks but I will try if I ran into problems I would call her. I have been on our major highway and hear on the radio that the road is closed..umm no it isn't I am driving on it..:) I do have to say that it is at times frustrating when I who lives 50 miles from work makes it there and others who live much closer do not. Also the first big snow/ice storm I called and told the charge nurse I would be about 10-15 mintues late but would be there. When I walked in the charge nurse said "oh here she is the slacker" Although I am suppose to think of this comment as a joke I kinda wondered if this was his passive-aggressive way of saying get here on time. So no I havent called in while working in the hospital setting but do admit to being a few minutes late in really bad whether. Being late was not because I didn't leave an 45 minutes or so earlier then I usually do. Also our hosital does not offer any accomodations for us that can't get home. Also if I was going to go in before the storm starts since I work day shift that would mean I would have to go in the night before and foot the bill for a hotel room. That is not a reasonable option for me. If they want me there the night before, they could give me some incentives to do so.

My manager is the queen of passive-aggressive behavior...She would say such nice things to you and then throw in a dig in the middle of it all..when I would question her about it she would say"oh just kidding". Hmm yeah I dont think so. I actually have gotten bold enough to do it back to her and say oh just kidding. She has actually stopped doing it so much to me anymore..

I had a Tummy Tuck in a freestanding surgical center Right before going to OR..."Oh RSI kit..I know what that is we use those all the time in the ER..I am an ER......." Woke up..Nurse..do you have any pain? Me..OMG..Pain..what the hell did I do to myself! Now my friend that was with me said (even though i dont remember it)..that all the way down to the OR I was explaining that I was a ER nurse and we have RSI kits that we use when we intubate our patients so I knew exactely what they were doing to me...blah blah..I guess I was quite the talker..

I have horrible plantar facititis of one foot only. The pain has been unbearable for 6 months now. May I ask you what type of arch supports you got? The full length or just heal support? I am desperate to try anyting at this point. Thank you

You dont like inexperienced nurses? Did you walk into the level 1 trauma ER born knowing all there is about a trauma patient. I work in a very busy ED and have only worked there for 1 year, but have been a nurse for 15 years. We are not considered a truama hospital. But we see only about 30 patients less a day then the trauma hospital down the road. I really would like to transfer to the ED there. I guess I am inexperienced also and would just get in the way. To the OP..go for it. Listen to the experienced nurses, learn from them, dont take things personal, find a good mentor, and soon you will be teaching others. Like I said above I have been in the ED only a year and I am already teaching the news ones the ropes.

I work in the ED. Many times one of the NP's will walk in while I am helping a patient get undressed and they will say come get me when you are done so I can assess them. I also have had them stand there while I am struggling to get a patient who can not help me undressed and start interviewing them without helping me out. Many times they will also come out of the room and say that I need to get help and reposition the patient. Well if they would go in with me I would have the help instead of trying to find a tech or another nurse to do the same job. I truly dont know what the Np's Pa's or Md's where I work are thinking.

Oh I am happy to have a job trust me. I just wanted to see what others were experiencing at there hospitals. Like I said this is our second year in a row without raises, this year they just also added the insurance and retirement cutbacks. The other hospitals in the area are still giving raises I dont know if there are other areas they are cutting back on. The idea that upper managment was figured into the budget to get there pay increase this year does burn my butt a little though.

We were just told that we would not be getting a merit raise again this year. This is 2 years in a row for our hospital. The frustrating thing is all the other surrounding hospitals are giving there employees raises and found other ways of cutting costs during this time. One hospital (I interviewed at) said they were still giving raises but lets say you were do in January your raise didn't come into effect unitl March. So bascially you had to wait 3 months for the raise to become active. They are also not contributing to health flex dollars so now we have to pay for our health insurance. There was also something about our retirement, but to be honest I couldnt hear anymore at that point. Also when the question was asked if the upper management was getting bonus's or raises the response was "yes because that was budgeted in last year". So that means they didn't think about us worker bees when they did the budget. Our hospital is by no means small as we are one of the two largest in the area. Is anyone else experiencing the same issues where they work? I know and I am thankful to have a job, but it seems odd that all other places are giving raises and finding other cleaver ways of cutting back. I am starting to wonder about the committment of this hospital to its employees.

If nursing is your dream..I say go for it. You have only one life to live and you dont want to live it with regrets. We can't predict the future nor can we change it. The only thing we can change is what we are doing now. If going to school in January is going to make you happy and help reach your dream of becoming a nurse then I think you can't go wrong with that. It sounds like you have a supportive family. 15k is alot of money, but really not when you are looking at it in terms of education. I know the economy is difficult right now but not going to school because of it just doesn't seem right to me. It would be like me telling my son who will be going to college next year he can't go because he will have to take out some loans to do it. Yes I will help him as much as I can but the reality is there is going to be loans. Should I tell him to postpone his education because the future economy is not known. Absolutely not. Start saving every penny you can now and if you can land a part time or per diem job now great, if not keep looking while in school. Things always have a way of working themselves out and if you have a spot for January for nursing school keep it and dont look back. I wish you the best!