QTNurseBSN

Thanks everyone! I totally agree with wearing business/interview attire. Just wanted to get the viewpoint of others. I guess the recruiter stated scrubs could be worn because the tour does consist of various patient care areas (but we've all interviewed and received a tour of the potential unit in interview attire and not scrubs). I'm thinking scrubs would only be more appropriate if this was a job interview with shadowing on the unit for a couple of hours as part of the interview.

I will be attending an Open House at a local hospital for nurses. It will consist of a hospital tour in various patient care areas, but no formal interview. What's the best attire to wear, scrubs or casual dress? We will tour patient care areas and meet with Nurse Managers. The recruiter said either scrubs or casual attire is fine. What would you wear to an Open House? Thanks!

You're welcome! Good Luck!?

Sometimes it depends on the type of Case Management that you do in regards to the money you can make. For instance, in a Workers Comp you can make a lot of money, especially if you work in the field and travel a lot. WC involves billing your time for all services so it's easy to bill over 40 hours per week, thus leading to overtime pay. Then there's the mileage reimbursement from all the travel. But working long hours during the day and into the night can dig into your family time, but there's also flexibility depending on how your appointments are scheduled. The same thing applies in Home Health as a Case Manager. You may be salaried or paid per visit. But there's also the possibility of mileage reimbursement. Sometimes you have to take the pay cut to make yourself both physically and mentally happy. You may have to adjust your lifestyle in order to make it work for your family with less money coming in. Take care of the main priorities first like mortgage/rent, utilities and car payment. Maybe eat out twice per month vs twice per week. Rent movies to watch at home that are new release vs going to the theater. Have your kids pack their school lunch versus buying lunch. Disconnect your land line phone and just utilize your cell phone. Shop at thrift stores or consignment shops versus high end stores...you'll be amazed how many nice things you can find and some with tags still on :-) There are lots of ways to make this new job work. But if you're looking for flexibility for yourself and a good family life, work balance then you have made the right choice. But on the second hand if your bills and living expenses cost you a certain amount of $$ per month and there's no way to tweak it and your new salary is not going to be enough, maybe you should stay at the hospital PRN for extra cash! Good luck!!

You make a valid point in regards to online degrees. That seems to be the "big" thing now versus the traditional brick and mortar school. I was looking at Walden University, they are CCNE accredited, which is a good thing , I guess. There is a local university in my home town but they have now transitioned their MSN into an online program. Working full time and going to school part time is nothing new for me but I want to be sure the money spent is worth it. Walden University does offer a discount for Veterans and their cost per credit hour ($425 before any discounts) also includes the textbooks, not a bad deal in my opinion!

I am eager to further my education for my own personal gain and pursue my MSN. At one point, I thought I wanted to do an FNP Program, but my focus now is more on Leadership or Education. I don't necessarily want to teach at the college level, but that could easily change the older I get in my nursing profession. I do enjoy patient education and staff education. I am a Case Manager and I work outside of the hospital or clinical setting. I am trying to decide which path is more feasible as a Nurse Case Manager, MSN in Leadership/Management or MSN in Education. I work a lot of hours as a case manager, so I am not even sure if I can mentally or physically enroll in a MSN program and be successful! If any Case Managers have their Masters or are currently pursing their Masters Degree in Nursing, what track are you taking or what track do you feel is more beneficial?

I am a nurse case manager for an outpatient mental health clinic and my position is probably less than 1% nursing and the remaining 99 % is secretarial (phone calls, emails, paperwork, paperwork). You don't have to be a nurse to do my job. I do miss the patient care and patient interaction. Not sure if hospital case management would give me more of that, but the outpatient clinical setting does not. The majority of our clients are Medicaid recipients, which is a primary funding source. I have to get approval from Medicaid for services and do a lot of state reporting data. I dislike strongly working Monday-Friday, but I like my autonomy and my weekends and holidays off. This job works well for my family because I also have flexibility, but sometimes I wish this was a three 12s or four 10s kind of job so that I can have more days off during the week. I'm trying to hang in there so I can become a CCM and see where that leads me in the future. I will meet my two year mark April 2014 to qualify for the exam.

the change = menopause blue balls = vasocongestion in the testicles "the runs" = diarrhea

"Low blood" which would mean anemia or low iron. I've heard people say to me "you must have low blood" because I tend to be cold natured and freeze a lot :-)

The travel can be extensive and the nurse has the option to choose the credit card or the mileage reimbursement. Ideally, most new nurses take the credit card while they are building up their caseload. Once the nurse has an established caseload, the nurse may see in the long room she benefits more financially from the reimbursement due to the excessive travel. However, to switch options can only happen twice a year. The pro of having the gas card is that if you don't have any money of your own (maybe you're between pay periods) you at least have a way of putting gas in your vehicle for travel. The con would be if you are filling up your vehicle more than expected because of the excessive travel ($100+/wk for gas), you may have to pay for gas out of pocket towards the end of the month that you won't get reimbursed for because of the credit card option that was chosen.

Hello everyone, In regards to mileage reimbursement where you could be traveling to see clients outside of a 30 mile radius several time a weeks, would you rather take a company credit card for a set amount of $500 per month or receive mileage reimbursement at a rate of 51cents per mile?

The community agency I work for offered me a position that is part telemedicine for our clients that do not have a primary care physician and part home visits for med management and education. These clients will be referred from within the agency and will have dual diagnosis to include history of substance abuse. The primary medical focus for now will be hypertension, diabetes and respiratory issues. The telemedicine aspect is very interesting because the physician will be in another part of the state. We will utilize a secure polycom and have special equipment to include a stethoscope which will allow the doc to hear, via headphones, the clients heart and lung sounds. Plus equipment to visualize the clients eyes, ears, nose, throat and skin close up. I'm pretty excited to be a part of this. Home visits will be similar to our ACT team but different. I've been advised that home environments are not always the best, infestations are common (roaches, bed bugs) and to always wear scrubs! I may even opt to change clothes before going home when visiting the infested homes. Are others doing telemedicine in their outpatient psychiatric clinics? How do you prevent bringing "bugs" home from clients homes. All advice and/or suggestions are welcome.

Jehovah Witnesses believe that the Bible prohibits ingesting blood and that Christians should therefore not accept blood transfusions or donate or store their own blood for transfusion. I thought that most MDs, to include surgeons, have had Jehovah's Witnesses as patients and understand that they can NOT accept blood products as part of their religion to include red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets or plasma. It is a non-negotiable religious stand and those who respect life as a gift from God do NOT try to sustain life by taking in blood. Giving blood to a patient, after they have provided a signed refusal for blood could very well be grounds for a lawsuit! Regardless of what the surgeon would've wanted, if the need for blood did arise, you as the nurse would have been held accountable for administering it. I personally would've refused to hang the blood if that did happen, especially knowing that the patient has refused and provided a signed refusal. I know several Jehovah Witnesses and they are NOT allowed to accept blood, doing so would cause intervention by the Elders of their congregation and thus cause them to no longer fellowship with other members of their congregation, thus resulting in being shunned. Now if this was done in an emergency situation (for example, car accident and patient is bleeding out and unconscious) that would be totally different as the patient did not give consent or refuse administration. Most JW will carry this documentation in their wallet for this reason and will even give copies to members of their family. For future reference, if this ever happened again, I would definitely consult with my manager or attempt to resolve the issue while patient is still in Preop. The surgeon needs to understand the religious and legal issue plus respect the patients wish, explaining that death could possibly be the end result, which they already know and accept.

GrnTea, Once again thanks. And I appreciate the correction from Workmans to Workers Comp. Your information has been very valuale

GrnTea, Thanks for your comment. Flexibility is extremely important and I agree that it is more important than money, mostly all of the time. I have a pretty flexible schedule at my present job. I think it will be challenging and exciting, all at the same time.