minirn

Other new nurses - don't let the 6 months from OP scare you off. I wish I had felt that confident at 6 months. My cross-over point was about 18 months. Of course it was worse in the first 4-5 months, but I felt a real surge of confidence at the 18 month mark. So hang in there and you'll get there!

There were several good comments here with some good ideas. (I love the scavenger hunt idea) But annual inservice or not, nothing beats repeated hands-on exposure. And if you work on a floor that doesn't get many codes, you are still going to be fumbling around at a critical time. Volunteering to restock is good too. We all get better with practice. Imagine if we only set up a new IV bag once a year - how proficient would we all be?

I see some prints that I think look nice. Personally, I don't wear them. Kind of old fashioned but my hospital dictates (and I still love) All White. Many, many patients tell me they love the nurses wearing all white. They say they know we are the nurses and, with so many different people coming into their rooms all day long (respiratory, dietary, PT, IV team, residents, med students, PCT?CNAs)- they never know who is who - but when the nurse comes in - they know it. I think the white looks sharp - and with nursing being a very tradition oriented profession, I love carrying on the tradition. OK - to a point - No I don't want the caps to come back :))

I found the BBB rated these guys an 'F'. I received a wrong size and color, but since I didn't receive a confirmation email I didn't have a record to prove what I ordered.

NEVER order from these guys!! I see some of these posts are old, but the company has not gotten any better. I recently ordered 3 scrub tops for my new job - paid $34 to get the 3-day delivery. First they didn't get the order ready to ship for 48 hours (which unfortunately is listed as their policy) so although it sucks, most companies stat up the quick deliveries. And because their 48-hours was at 10pm, UPS didn't pick up until day 3 - and now my tracking number shows delivery to me on day 8. I will never buy here again. I was on hold for 35 minutes for customer service and never got thru. I wish I would have searched here first.

Doesn't bother me at all what "terms" people use to describe their level in schooling. Some nursing schools include the "prereqs" right into their curriculum while others make your finish prereqs and then apply. As long as you are seriously in school to become a nurse - what is the problem with saying you are "in nursing school" or "in school to become a nurse" It's just terminology. This annoyance over ther terms is the beginning of fighting between nurses. I want to embrace anyone wanting, working towards or already learning to be a nurse. If we worry about these differences now - how will we feel when some nurses want to be involved in admin, case management, ICU, ER, Community Health, Home health - is any one better than another. To me, if we worry that a pre-req student calls themself a Nursing Student - we are really worried that we are not getting full "credit" for being a full Nursing student.

Although the original poster said no lecture needed - and I see we got lots of lectures - I urge the OP not to be upset about these comments and advice. Even though you and your relative may not have needed it - the feedback is none the less helpful to others. Obviously we all need reminded about the importance of HIPAA. And the reminder of a close call (meaning it happened to someone else and we are only hearing about it) sometimes hits home more than a legal session at our hospital. I know this opened my eyes. I'm sorry for the nurse it happened to, but thank you for posting.

I agree with what someone else said. Often the older people are doing this because they want to - different from the some young people that might just need a job. You said you feel sorry because these people should be done "struggling". In my nursing school, I am friends with several younger people that are really struggling. I'm 48, breezing thru nursing school, having fun and doing it because I've retired from my first career and now wanted to do something different, interesting and helpful. We are taught in nursing school to be cautious of making assumptions - so be careful about your assumption when you see someone who is 50 and you think "it makes me think they must have lost thier job". I can't imagine feeling sorry for anyone going down the path to be a nurse. What a great path to choose!!

I agree with the "cheaper the better" approach. I don't think it matters where you go to school - what matters is how you perform once you get a job. The only exception to this if if you just want to be an academic person and only do teaching. Young people often think they need a well known or big school behind them. If you have good grades and are a good interview - the job will be yours. You'll find that once you are working - soon, nobody cares about what you did in school - it's past history.

I think you are taking the comment too personal - get over it.

It sounds like you eat out A LOT - so it sounds like you have a lot of money to waste on that food. It's expensive to eat like that. Take that money and fill your house only with healthy food. Of course you need good support from your husband and hopefully he can give you that. The way I prevent eating out or grabbing stuff from the vending machines is to NOT keep any cash on me. I don't have enough self control much of the time so I do these two things to help 1) keep only healthy (real) food in house and 2) i don't keep cash on me to be tempted to stop off and buy somethings quicky. This helps me to think before I eat.

Several people mentioned the old "candy striper" volunteers as a solution to the many non-nursing activities we do. I'm curious if anyone here has suggested or implemented such a resurection, did they have any success and how did they go about it? thanks for your input.

thank you - it was very interesting.

as i stated in my first post (and yes i am a new poster - i hope that's all right) this was just my opinion. i did not mean to demean anyone. and i did not say anywhere that a nurses union was unprofessional. just that we are a profession under the definition: ""a profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain" . from the latin: "to swear (an oath)". and in accordance with this definition i do not think we are linked together with truck drivers and factory workers. they do good important work and do so safely - it just so happens that nurses fall into this category of professionals. i do not use the term "professional" in the colloquial manner to indicate if they do their job well or "professionally". please recognize the difference - i meant no disrespect towards other jobs. i just have different ideas. when i see that somethings needs to be done - i do it and if we are understaffed, as happens, i just do those things more often - it's my job. if i need to speak up and make a point i do so. - i just don't like to be lumped into a union, that's all - it's my opinion, ok? sometimes things change and sometimes things don't.

I am opposed to Unions in the Nursing profession. We are professionals. It's humiliating to me to be lumped in with truck drivers and factory workers. Is that how we want to be perceived? It is possible to make changes and impose regulations without forming a union - take the accounting profession. They have a set of standards they follow without forming a union. I am able to speak and stand up for myself. Don't get me wrong - I do see a time and a place for some unions. They were necessary in many industries - especially back in the 1930's 40's etc and I'm sure are still necessary in other areas today. But Nursing? Come on. If you need to invoke change in your workplace, then make a strong case, present your facts and work together to implement it. If administration is not listening to you - then you need to listen to their objections, and counter with facts from your side of the argument. When I see news articles with nurses going on strike and threatening their workplace and patient care, it makes me sick - just as it does when I see my local teachers going on strike. Just my own opinion - I'm sure there are others with opposite views.