bunrab

nsg is a second career for me. first was for ibm, then i was an exotic dancer, and when i started getting too old for that, i became a nurse. the beauty of nsg is you can do so many different kinds of nsg and can work just abt any shift you want, altho days sometimes takes a few years to get enuf seniority to get to days. there are 8 hr, 12 hr, baylor (wkend only) and per diem (when you want). it can be a terrific career choice.

Yes we do use military time. In fact I use it even when I'm not working, force of habit I guess.

I was an exotic dancer (best job I ever had!), but knew that as I approached my late 30s I'd need another career, so I went to nursing school. Thankfully I like nursing almost as much as stripping.

i too have birkenstocks, bostons, and altho they were expensive, $103, they last forever (two yrs and going strong), so they are actually less expensive than the sneakers i was replacing every three to four months.

we take turns, full and part time alike, and altho no one likes it, we do it if all else has failed, i.e. blast paging all the nurses on our unit for the available shift, trying to split a shift, i'll stay 4 hrs if someone else will come in 4 hrs early, whatever creative solution we can come up with. our union got us double time pay for 4 or more hrs over your scheduled shift, and time and a half for coming in on your day off, so we've had good luck covering our holes and call outs. they also got us the right to refuse once in a twelve month period. on the down side, one night when all four of us couldn't/wouldn't stay she told us outright she didn't care who did it as long as there was a body to do the mandatory overtime. we all got written up for that (before the right to refuse).

wow, that's an awful way to be treated at such a difficult time. that rn needs a reality check. my experience was the complete opposite, thankfully. first let me say the rns at the kent county hospital er in warwick, ri are the best. altho the surgery for ca was a success, the post-op infection was what sent my husband to the er. we had had the discussion abt dnr/dni/cmo and i knew that's what he wanted. course at a time like that all reason flies out the window, as does nine yrs of nsg. i told the rescue guys (the capt was one of the guys responding and he asked me outright what the orm [orders for resusitative measures] status was) even before we realized how serious things were. once at the er, they had a tough time getting an iv in and drawing blood, so after an hour in the waiting area i "put on my rn hat" and insisted on going back to be with him. the rns were great, explaining that they were having a problem (and didn't take offense when i pointed out a vein i thought they might get, which they did), and getting me a chair, and then getting the md when i had a bunch of questions abt the labs. long story short, my husband died within an hour and a half of my going back to be with him. the rns realizing he wasn't going to make it, made sure i had privacy, that i was a comfortable as possible, and gave me time to say goodbye and be with him a while after he died. then they rallied around me, making sure i was okay to drive home (it was 0300 when he died), and offering me a shoulder, decaf coffee, even chocolate birthday cake. they talked to me gently abt calling a funeral home, with an arm around me shoulder, kleenex in hand. i cannot say enuf good things abt the rn staff there. i make sure i convey that same attitude, sympathy and empathy to pts and families when i work.

outstanding...just when i was beginning to get a little jaded.

wow. i'm going to pass that one along.

nurses who say aw-toe-log-us instead of autologous. emphasis on "log" instead of "tol". nurses who say orientated instead of oriented. people who don't know the difference btwn good and well, as in i did good on that test instead of i did well on that test. i know they are silly, but butchering the english language drives me nuts.

Repat, you are so right!!! That was my 4th admit today, "I gave the list to the doctor downstairs". Since I'm on the unit, not the ER, I have the luxury of simply asking the pt (after they say "the purple pill for my stomach, the white one for water, and the pink one for my nerves") what's the name of the pharmacy where you get your prescriptions filled and calling their pharmacy to get the correct info. I also love it when they tell you "My doctor knows all that stuff" when it's Friday night 11:00 pm and of course the doctor's NOT IN HIS FREAKING OFFICE YOU MORON!

canoehead is right. i had a horrific day friday (new computer system, slow unit secretary). i ended up leaving three blood transfusions, two units each, and two central line dsg changes for second shift. know what the pm rn said to me? that's whay there are three shifts, don't worry abt it, i'll do what i can. as long as you don't make a habit of it, your coworkers will forgive you for the bad times. usually i would have stayed til the blood was up and the done the dsg changes myself, but friday i had to leave at 3:30 and she understood that. god bless her.

ortho, 10 years. fell in love during nsg school, two ortho rotations and as a float cna when i'd ask to float to the ortho unit. discovered during school that i like surgery better than medicine and that respiratory (trachs, sputum, mucous) is my downfall. i wear my skeleton earrings all year long, proudly, not just at halloween.

bunrab = bunny rabbitt, my stage name when i was an exotic dancer. also the lic plate on my car, a reminder of the best job i ever had.

when i knew i was getting too old to be an exotic dancer, mid thirties. i worked for ibm for many yrs, and when they closed the local office i needed to make good money fast so i became a stripper, and then went to nursing school and became an rn ten yrs ago. thankfully i enjoy this (ortho) almost as much as being a stripper.

knee immobolizers, 19 inch and 24 inch cpm machines that can convert to pedi sizes (short legs, assorted hard collars (aspen, miami j, etc) soft collars cast shoes, aka rocker shoes ice (don't laugh, one ice machine may not be enuf) a pt belt to help get a patient out of a chair or off the commode and at least one rn who isn't squeemish abt leeches (if you use them. we use them for reattached fingers, and i'm the only one who'll handle them. i love them, even give them names as i apply them them)