inkedRN

Oh trust me, I can fly by the seat of my pants just fine. But they aren't paying me as staff to be down there. They are paying me to orient. Now you can toss my into a room with a critical patient and I will know what to do for them, but I won't know the protocol for the ED. I'll know the protocol for the floor. I'm not talking about learning how to take care of a sick patient, trust me. But if my manager expects me to place orders appropriately, know where to get a venti mask or a rapid sequence intubation kit, know that Dr so and so likes his labs one by one while Dr this and that wants his labs once everything is back, then she should expect me to pay attention to those things as they happen to the people around me. Example, another new RN sent a pedi up the other day with a tech instead of taking the pedi up herself. That is against hospital policy and she got in trouble. But no one told her in orientation that an RN needed to go with a pedi. She never paid attention to it, so it was her own fault. And no, they did not give me a general orientation of the policies. It's expected that I will learn them as I go. So if I take 10 minutes to ask another RN, MD, or Tech about how something is done so I'm not making stupid and needless mistakes, I'm not sure how that's a bad thing. Anyway, I spoke with the educator and she saw what I was saying. She agreed, this was my chance to absorb as much as I could and if I was learning by watching then that could be a good thing. I told her I certainly wasn't holding back because I was afraid or cautious. She said she didn't think so, because she had heard plenty about how I work from the floor LOL

I should clarify. I DO help out. I start lines on people, I pushed Etamadate on a patient that needed to be intubated and assisted with that code, I've helped with pedi patients, I put in foleys... trust me, I help. And keep in mind, I've officially been down there 5 days lol. But I also talk to the MDs, other RNs, Techs, ect about how things are done. And I watch how they do them. If I'm just flying by the seat of my pants all day long I will be a crappy RN. I feel like I need to learn, not just get tossed down there and told "Ok, just do whatever". I guess I could understand if I had been in the ED for a few weeks, but it's been 5 days.

If by educate you mean give a parent information that they don't have so they can make an informed decision, I would say do just that. Discuss their concerns and feelings, give them info, answer questions, etc. Find out why they are not vaxing or they are delaying. They probably have some valid concerns. If by educate you mean convince an informed parent that what they're doing is wrong, simply put; don't.

I'm going to talk with the Educator tomorrow and come up with a more specific game plan. When I started they said they wanted me taking 2 patients at a time, which is what I have been doing, so I'm not sure what else is expected. I mentioned to a co-worker today that I can just make myself look busy, that's easy. But I want to be able to actually learn, kwim? And I learn a lot by observing. I should also mention this manager is notorious for rushing people off orientation. My friend, who was a floor RN for 10 years, just moved down to the ED. They kicked her off orientation after 2 months even though she told them she didn't feel at all ready, and then when she makes mistakes the manager is upset with her.

I haven't been a RN long enough (especially an ED RN) to judge you on your thoughts and opinions of your patient but I have been on message boards long enough to judge you on your lack of typing skills. Holy eye gouger Batman.

I've been a med/surg RN for 18 months. I recently moved into the ED. I've been on orientation for just under 2 weeks. I've been in the EDon orientation for a total of 5 days. I had floated to the ED a few times before, but on nights and now I am doing orientation on days which is a different thing. My preceptor says I am doing good. Today my manager pulled me into her office and said she had some concerns that I was "sitting back too much". I told her that I did do a lot of watching of how things are done, since it's a totally different flow than the floor, obviously. I've been taking 2 patients at a time, I do work ups, labs, put in orders, communicate with the MDs, etc. Right now I try to focus on the patients that I have, so that the things that I need to do become more instinctive. Sometimes this leaves me with time to watch other RNs or Techs, listen to the MDs, and just pay attention in general. I ask lots of questions (as I have been encouraged to do) and if there's something I haven't seen I try to get in on it. However, sometimes with the RNs being overwhelmed with their patient load they can't safely teach me and do what needs to be done, so I sit back and watch. So here's my question. What would you expect an RN with 18 months of floor experience to be doing at 2 weeks into ED orientation? I don't feel like I got much direction from my manager, so I will be discussing the expectations with the ED educator tomorrow, but I just thought I could get some feedback here as well TIA.

I never said I wanted to be a teacher. My English instructor encouraged me to get my degree in English and pursue a writing career. Writers don't make money lol. I would make a terrible teacher anyway And where I live it's near impossible to get a teaching job, where as I have 2 RN jobs and will make around 6 figures this year. So yeah, going with Nursing made me more money. That's not to say I went into nursing for the money alone. It was just one of many factors, including the fact that I love being a nurse. ETA, the average RN salary in CT is $59,000. The average High School English salary is $37,000. Just an FYI

You won't get much in the way of complaints about my job from me. I love being an RN. I have 2 very good jobs that support my family. My husband got laid off in October 2008 and if it wasn't for my jobs, we'd be screwed. I work lots of hours. I really like almost everyone I work with. Of course you have some bad apples, but you get that in any profession. I like learning new things. I like the excitement. I like helping people.

Nice! I'm jealous! I'm almost finished with my upper sleeve and I have a great Nurse Bettie Page on my calf. :redbeathe

Long story short, the patient was in acute renal failure which was unexpected. No history of it. pt was sent in by his PCP because he felt pt was in CHF, hence the Bumex. However, when pts original labs were drawn (mind you this was all on night shift at a small hospital with a covering APRN) pts BUN was 125 and Creatinine was 5.5. BNP was >1000, he had crappy sounding lungs, and +4 pitting edema to his lower extremities. So pt starts to become hypotensive on the Bumex but the PCP couldn't be contacted to DC it. So the house APRN opted for the Dopamine, at a renal friendly dose of course, in hopes that it would maintain pts pressures long enough to keep the guy stable so he could be transfered out in the AM for dialysis. Originally I had given vicodin for the patients pain, but it wasn't touching it. It was decided if we could maintain pts pressures greater than 100/60, which we did, pt could have a single low dose of the morphine to keep pt comfortable until transport was available. Trust me, we all knew we were just spitting in Niagra Falls with the whole thing but it was what it was and it actually worked out quite well. Pt got sent out for dialysis early in the AM, as soon as everything was set.

1) I can agree that not just anyone should enter nursing, however, I am yet unclear what that has to do with someone being a scruffy ex-factory worker. You (and the OP) say it as if the type of person she described won't make a good RN because of their background. I'd argue that and say that a factory worker who has struggled to provide for his family, decided he liked nursing enough to go to school, study, and pass the NCLEX after losing the job that supported himself/herself and his family may just make a better nurse and a damn hardworking one at that. 2) Yeah, sorry but you absolutely need to be educated to be a nurse. You can be the sweetest, nicest, most caring person in the world but if you don't have the education to manage meds, disease processes, and everything else that goes along with nursing you are going to be SOL. Strictly for the income? No, I would say that isn't going to make the best nurse. But if income wasn't important, we would all be working for free. Maybe you love you job enough to do it for free but as much as I love what I do, I have 3 kids, a husband, and a mortgage. I need a paycheck and that factored into my path to become a RN. It doesn't make me a less caring nurse because I decided I'd make more money doing this than I would getting an English degree. Also, as far as nurses not wanting to be considered blue collar; personally I am damn proud to be a hard working, scrub wearing, a$$ wiping, blue collar RN.

I graduated about a year and a half ago with my ADN. Originally I hadn't planned on getting my BSN because I didn't think it would matter. I already had a job lined up before graduation (what a different time that was) and I planned on staying in the area I'm in. Now, with the way the job market is, I plan to make myself as marketable as possible and that includes getting my BSN. Not sure when I'll get around to it, but hopefully it will be soon.

I don't know where you live but around here, unless you have a BSN, you won't get much of a job if any at all. I work at 2 hospitals in CT, one in the ED and one in Med/Surg. Both have hired new grads, but they won't even interview someone who doesn't have a BSN. They don't care if you have a Bachelors in something else or not. They either want experienced RNs or RNs with a BSN.

Depends on where you work. I'm from CT and where I work BSNs do make more. $0.50 more.

Is that you in your picture there? What do you have for tats? I have 8, so far.