goetface

I had alot of help from my dean and instructors who have guided me, and helped me in this process alot, its different for them when they see what kinda person I really am even though i have had issues with such things in my past. If your dean can see you as truely a person who will go out there and that you are someone that should sincerely be out there due to your honesty,compassion, and patience, and love for nursing, and if your instructors have seen that throughout clinicals, you should get their help. Ask them to write letters for you if they wish, get your dean to do the same, write yourself a letter of remorse, that letter should include excuses at all for what you did, talk about where you were, where your at and your goals for the future, and talk about what sort of rehabiliation you have personally sought and continue to seek. Make sure within your own heart, for the lives of people on the street, for yourself, your family, and your children, that you quit drinking and driving, and if alcohol is just a problem pursue sobriety, and NEVER give up.

Lots of double standards, let me tell you. Tons of law enforcement with id say the exception of CHP because them guys are pretty honorable, get off on DUI's and tonnnns of other things. Big buisness indeed, and most people wont see it from the light until they are caught up in the system and you see it from another perspective. The way we deal with drinking and driving isnt effective in my opinion, and it is severely flawed given the cutlure of society we live in where major sectors of business are looking at you as cattle from the alcohol companys, to the lawyers, to the court system, law enforcement, jails, dui schools, etc. I still believe EVERY! care should have an interlock device PERIOD! if you need to wear a seatbelt, no chance should be given to allow anyone to drive, but that wont happen because money is to be made, and the legal system really doesnt care what innocent person is at risk or dies due to a drunk driver.

Hi, I thought since this conversation is recent I'd add to it my own situation. I just graduated in june, started the program in 2008, when i entered I had no criminal record. However, I am ashamed to say, In 2009 i got two duis one in feb one in nov, thankfully I hurt no one, caused no damage, and was not to high for my BAC, although I wasnt making good decisions. One can say once having gone through a DUI Depending on the situation, that it is truely a buisness, and its when you get one you notice just how many people are getting them EVERY DAY. This is not to say or downplay the seriousness of drinking while driving, as it is very serious, and many are innocently killed by this behavior. However, when we live in a society whos values are of a drinking nature, we have to wonder what cycle we are caught up in, in between the alcohol industry, the legal system, and a loop of profiteering, where ultimately we are ruined for life from it. Continuing onward, I just submitted my application, I had alot of support from my instructors and dean, they have truely demonstrated compassion and care. With my application, i submitted lots of detailed paper work from the courts, letters from instructors, work, counseling, and my own personal letter along with one from my dean. I've completed all court ordered rehab, gone to numerous AA's, did house arrest, been sober, sought counseling with a psychologist for a few sessions, and have been compliant. As soon as I find out down the road what happens ill update this thread, although ill say this much, the board isnt messing around with anything at this point from what im being told. I wish I could go back in time to undo what i did, although thank God its only affect me and no ones family except my own. Today, I do feel much more mature, much more enlightened, but also saddened having seen all these other similar situations, but I will never give up on my dream. I just wanna say to everyone else, never give up, but always be honest with yourself in getting your life straight, do what you gotta do to get on the right path and seek help.

When I first entered nursing school in 2008, the hype here in california about nurses being in such a high demand seemed to be at question. Contributing factors that brought this into question was the economic decline, lack of jobs, lack of hiring for new grads, and other factors. Fast foward to 2011, many of these factors have become a fact, the jobs for new grads here in california are in dire shortage, very difficult to obtain, and new grads can expect to hunt around for a year + easy if not more. Older aged nurses are not retiring due to economic instability, hospitals are just as tight as corporations for hiring and training, although one thing doesnt seem to have changed, and thats the number of nursing students. From personal observation of the years, one will often here from someone on the street, " oh your going into nursing, theres always work there, tons of jobs you'll be good". Additionally, I've noticed these new private colleges which are rapidly growing, all they require is you go into debt, and since people are desperate for a career, this is in my opinion attracting the wrong kind of nurses. Because of the long waiting lists at community colleges, often individuals are taking the debt to degree route, when looking at this in a bigger picture think back to the housing boom 2005....what is it we are seeing? Tons of individuals moving into real estate, hearing of great compensation, easy credit, easy this, easy that. Personally, while I understand we have an influx of baby boomer patients who are aging, what happens lets say around 2020, when you have all these nurses, and buisness slows down....a bubble begins to burst. It does scare me to think about the fact that nursing is now becoming a buisness, and a buisness I believe for the wrong reasons. Everywhere I go, resturant, bar, park, public place, its all to often I hear someone say, im in nursing school, im going to be a nurse. Now, what im not saying is im passing judgement, because i dont know these people so I dont know what kind of person they are so thats not my job. However, Im just seeing alot of factors here, and things just arent adding up, It's not making any sense. While I just graduated in june, and now im studying for boards, even friends of mine who graduated in 2010 are still presently not hired, looking for work, even grads from 2009 can said to be in the same position. At this point I feel its best to diversify my career outlook, based on my personal intuition that this is gonna be a problem 15-20 years down the road, and we should'nt put all our chips in one basket for a career *as if the last few years havent taught us anything*. However, dont get me wrong, nursing is my passion, my life, and it always has been since I was medically discharged from the navy in 2003, it has taken me years to get to this point and it was and always has been a calling. Although, I wonder if the person who is sitting down at home thinking about going to nursing is really seeing this at all as I am given the new prespective I have on the entire industry. Any thoughts? :)

Wow, reading alot of these uncompastionate, over zealous posts just gets my blood boiling. To look at someone as so bad for getting dui's without looking at them from the view point of a nurse is so brain scrambling. People come from different backgrounds, childhoods, experiences, and have issues that do concern alcohol addiction. Just because somene has a problem doesnt mean they wont and cant be great nurses. All this higher then art thou bullcrap I read is just astonishing from many of you. Your the kind of nurses that are at the nursing station bad mouthing the homeless IVD, or alcoholic, for their conditions. HOW DARE YOU! your entitled to your opinion, but this goes against everything nurses stands for in my opinion. For the Board to have a strict attitude toward it is different. its their decision to allow people to have a liscense, 2 or 3 duis, whatever have you based on what THEIR job entails as BRN. No one looks outside the box, we have cars with seat belts but no mechanisms standard measure to check for intoxication in cars. My lord people.

lol, while i only read some of these posts and agree with some of the information. Right now the only thing i have to say is dont be afraid to ask questions, or rather ask yourself WHY, always ask why! because there you will NEVER know it all in nursing there is far to much to know and you will always be learning. For you students who like to talk in post conference and class, dragging on the class! please just stop this! we hate it! we want the info we need to be successful, not your stories, and we want the time managed well! not dragged on for your sake! As for the older people, the moms with children, those of you who have so many responsibilities, I look up to you so much! because i know you are working that much harder! keep it up! One last thing, if your in this job for the money! and you cant stand the site of certain things! GET OUT NOW! the pt.s dont want you here, I dont want you here, and you wont be happy here! thank you and good luck to all! keep up the good work!

I feel it was harsh, thing is after I told her it had been awhile kindly, and told her I felt a bit rusty having it been 6 months since I gave insulin, and having us not given it during psych. Thats why she told me to draw up the 5units "air" for practice and show her first to see If I knew what I was doing, and that is also why with insulin you always verify with another nurse to avoid errors. The RN verified and denied it to be correct, then my instructor handed it back to me to correct, which I did, and then she allowed me to draw 5units insulin and administer SQ without incident in front of her. What I think is happening here as I spoke with my first year instructor and she agrees and spoke with my instructor about it. Is that the instructor with whom the incident this happened, for my instructor to fail me based on what is word of mouth and her not really hearing the whole story or seeing it and having been there how is this? Thats what my first instructor talked to my current instructor about, is how is she going to go on the simple fact that I made an error without all the facts, like #1 I was tested first to see if I knew after 6months #2 I corrected the problem #3 why then was I still allowed to administer the med ? this all is not rational.

I agree to that. Umm...fair yah. But to problem #2.....that I would argue isnt my responsibility to teach myself a computer system even when I mentioned to my instructor I needed the instruction weeks ago and it was never given. When I think about it, Perhaps I didnt think long enough about what I was looking at in terms of the syringe, I did feel confused, However, I felt so confident having done it so many times successfully. What a ****** situation yea, yes this mistake wont be made again, but damn I dont get a second time to fail clinical or anything for that matter as I've been told.

Welp, today it happened, I was failed by my clinical instructor.Im going to be speaking with my dean on the situation as I and other students feel the situation is wrong. Heres the background: On friday, At LAC+USC I was doing a make up clinical day because I missed my regular day due to being sick. On my make up day I was with a different instructor, this instructor teachs the lecture part of the course. It was 1100am and insulins were coming up, My RN did the FS and b/s was below coverage as ordered by doctor, so the pt. had a maintenance dose of 5units ac. The clinical instructor asked if I had given insulin, I said yes confidently, as I've given insulin since my first semester in my first year. I told the instructor it had been a while since april/may this year i'd given insulin so she then asked me to just draw up the 5 units of air and show her. This is where the I encountered the problem/confusion on my behalf, the insulin syringe I used all my first year was the 1/2 cc for 50 units or less. My first year med surge instructor had us only use this syringe the whole first year and never were we familiarized with the others. At county they only use 1cc 100 unit syringe. I looked at the syringe confused at first because it did not seem familiar to me, however I drew up what I thought in air was the 5 units and made the mistake of drawing in 50 units air. My instructor said am I sure thats 5 units, and still I wasnt totally sure but said yea, and my instructor had me show my RN per protocol when working with insulin only it was (AIR). the RN laughed and said no it wasnt 5 units. I then re-examined the U-100 and noticed my error and fixed it. The instructor then told me I just engaged in unsafe practices that harmed a patient, but then told me to go ahead and draw up the 5units fast acting insulin. I drew it, and with my instructor administered it without incident. Afterward the instructor talked to me and asked me if I was oriented to the syringe and what I did and asked if it would happen again, and I said yes i understand and no it wont happen.the day carrys on and nothing happened all day. 12/06 comes around and im in my reg clinical day at USC+LAC with my normal instructor. Immediatly she pulls me to the side to have me explain to her what happened on friday, I begin to tell her that there was some confusion on friday with the syringe. I told her that the syringe i had been used caused me a bit confusion, she then sent me on a goose chase throughout the whole hospital to search for the 50 unit 1/2 cc which that hospital does not carry. With no luck I return and she dismissed my defense and nothing else happened. At end of shift she pulls me aside and tells me the situation isnt good and she doesnt know what is going to happen to me, tells me to go home sleep and dont worry and for me not to even try to build a case in my defense. 12/07 I meet with my instructor on campus for her final decision, she then tells me she is failing me because insulin is very serious with incidence of high mortalitys. I told her I understand that side of it, but yet still even though it was air and we were at bed side, and the whole situation happened at the nursing station, I was failed for reason #1 being the 5units air. #2 being that I didnt finish my charting, having not completed a 2nd assessment and end of shift summation on the computerized charting system. Mind you, in regard to #2 I had never been to county before, I have no county ID badge, instead I use a temp. I never have been trained or received material from my instructor on how to chart nor was I given a login by her to chart. On the first or second week of clinical with my instructor, she asked who was new to county and who never used the system. I raised my hand, and she said she would show me. That very day, lunch came around, I approached and asked if she would show me and she said no, dont worry about it, goto lunch. Thus I was never shown. I then missed a clinical day, and on due to tahnksgiving we never had a clinical that sunday during holiday. On the day of the syringe incident, it was finally THAT instructor that created me a login, and vaguely showed me how to use the system. Point being, I never knew the system, nor was instructed in it, my normal instructor is a big CYA type instructor and will always contradict herself and cover her own ass in everything! so she gave me #2 for me having not asked that day on how to use it, despite my efforts to try and use it based on what the other instructor showed me. And even though I didnt chart at the end because I didnt know how to start a second assessment, I went to my RN and told her the situation with me and the computer charting system and I gave her a verbal report for all changes noted on the second half of my shift. So after having spoken with my first year med surge instructor who agrees with me, and believes that the instructor shouldnt have failed and should have orientented me to the differences in the syringes at county and aboard. I feel having then if the instructor did that and I did the same thing again then it would be fair, cuz then that would be full competency. How then does my normal instructor fail me for something she was never there to see, and how then is she being so harsh? why is she being so defense in telling me to go home and not make a case because I have none? what is she afraid of? and why is she dinging me for #2 when I made efforts to seek her instruction and she never tended to them nor did her part? this is ********.