germjunkie

"Joe, I need to talk to you about our new team building initiative RIGHT NOW. You can chart this later. "

That'll teach him to miss report.

Hi! I'm getting myself ready to apply! April 1st is the deadline. I just left my job as an HIV care management nurse, and I'm hoping to be able to get into the condensed plan of study. I can't afford to take off more than 18 months! Plus there is such extreme need in my area right now. We have 3 nursing schools here, so competition for RN jobs is fierce.... But there are currently 22 open fpmhnp positions in a 50 mile radius. Good luck to you! Let me know how that CAS went for you.

All I can say is thank you for all of this support. It really helped me get through today. Without crying! I was able to shut another nurse down when she started to lecture me in front of the ID doc when I was giving report. I made a mistake Friday... Ordered labs for a patient that didn't fit the standing order. Reported myself as soon as I realized it and the interim manager was really nice about it. Got the incident report filed, told the doc (he was like... Who cares?) and felt a little bit vindicated because the same nurse was trying to lecture me about it in staffing...Anyway... I KNOW I can do this until I find somewhere else. The interim manager wanted to know where the training materials for our program are. I think I she just realized there isn't one. Maybe it will get better after this. But yes, I still need to go!Thank you once again for being so helpful... :)

I hear you. I'm working a job I loved at first but hate now. Not LTC but chronic case management with difficult coworkers. Terrified of the hospital but couldn't get hired anyway with no acute care experience. I'm looking for an LTC job to try and get more clinical skills but I'm hating every shift now. Hang in there. I can only get better right? Good luck.

Thanks. In my area, all of the state stuff is contracted through non profits... Including the place I am at now. I'm also looking for something inside the parent organization. There's just not a lot out there.... I went on an interview for a similar position in another clinic, but I got the feeling that my one-disease experience isn't quite enough. This place is looking for a care coordinator. It's a family practice, including pediatrics. I work in HIV management. I haven't heard yet, but I don't feel great about the interview. My confidence is shot for sure.

I'm actually in a clinic right now. I see patients with the dr two days a week and manage everything else the other time. It's chronic disease management complicated by drug use, mental health issues and homelessness.

Oh, and my title is PHN but I'm not certified. Just have my RN and BSN. When I left school I was ACLS and PALS, but let those lapse.

Thank you. Bottom rung is more how I'm feeling... I was just wondering where I can start over. I was thinking LTC, if I could just get a good orientation. I do have skills, I just don't want to be made charge at this point.

Right out of nursing school I was recruited by the clinic I did a senior practicum in. It's a medical case management job and for the most part it's been good. The personalities are a little tricky but I haven't ever had trouble fitting in and it went fine for a year or so. Then everything in my family went to hell. My autistic son's problems at school escalated, requiring a good deal of time off (all time I had coming) but I got behind on my charts and never felt like I quite got caught up. Then my husband started drinking a lot, and decided he didn't want to be married anymore. Fortunately, he was able to stop drinking and really turn it around... Our marriage is better than ever. But then my stepdaughter showed up on our doorstep, addicted to meth and having been kicked out of her moms house. I got her into rehab, and then completely fell apart. I couldn't make it in to work without bursting into tears on the way, and I couldn't handle one more thing to do. I ended up taking fmla to get my depression and anxiety under control. Just prior to this, we had half of our staff out for fmla for medical issues, including my manager. She's still out. I started back to work on January 3, and the environment is so hostile I can't bear it. I know I wasn't doing well before I left... That's why I left. I feel able to do the job now, but I can't open my mouth without someone jumping all over me. It's awful. I feel like they want me to quit, so I told them I would be resigning in a month. Then HR called me to see if there were any medical restrictions placed on my return to work, and I said no, of course not, I am here for now to do the best I can. Which was translated to my coworkers that I will not be leaving. I felt totally on the spot when they confronted me about it, so I said I would like to try to stay... Then they jumped all over me. I know I need to move on. I feel like an idiot for not trying to find a med surge job right out of school... I can't get hired anywhere and I've been trying for 3 weeks. I don't know how long I can stay where I am at and keep my sanity. Plus I know it's even harder to get hired if you are unemployed. Where should I be trying to find clinical experience? What's the bottom rung for a washed out medical case manager/clinic rn with a bsn to start over. Our hospitals aren't hiring new grads right now, even though we have three programs in town pumping out grads. I'm not a new grad but I have less current clinical experience than one. I feel so low. I want to walk away from my degree, default on my loans and go wait tables. I keep hoping "this too shall pass"... But I don't see how.

I'm in this same boat... But two years later. My public health rotation in nursing school was an HIV clinic. I enjoyed it, and they recruited me like crazy... It was my first nursing job. Very few hands on clinical skills. Now I find myself needing to work nights... And feel like a new grad all over again, but in need of a good deal of review (IV's, cath, assessments). I don't even now how to begin to find a floor nursing job as an old new grad.

It's not illlegal. Currently equal pay based on gender is under debate (again) in congress. Plus, if the employer says "$25 is what he demanded and we're short of nurses," then it's not discrimination, it's free enterprise. We as women need to recognize that business is business, and be prepared to value ourselves enough to be able to say "this is what I am worth." If it's a matter of jobs not being available for her to leave to, then the situation sucks. But that doesn't seem to be the case is they are willing to pay someone with less experience more. Employers are not there to reward us for our hard work, they are there to try and exploit our hard work for the best price. Stop selling yourselves short and demand compensation that matches your level of expertise and value to the employer. In this economy, the businesses will pay the minimum they can and not a penny more. You're the commodity, you set the price.

I don't know about Tri-cities, but the Yakima simulation lab is grossly understaffed and the equipment is not all that up to date. The staff they do have is smart, helpful and wonderful, there just aren't enough open hours for independent study. Administratively, you will get much more help if you call Spokane or Pullman, the front office is understaffed and there really is not any privacy or confidentiality. What you tell the front office staff is pretty widely known in short order. I recommend going to Spokane if you can possibly swing it. But, if like me you have family obligations that keep you in Yakima and you don't want to mess around with a 2 year Rn degree, its a nice option to have that I am thankful for. Just expect to have to be more independant and manage your own education.