justchill

We are nurses but...We give you small, sometimes sad little smiles as you leave for the night, letting us know that your mom or dad or grandparent is ready for bed. We nod and smile then tell you that we'll be glad to help them back to bed. Once you're off the unit, we sigh gently and look at all the medications, wound dressings, orders and other tasks we need to perform on up to 6 (at least my workplace) patients for the 12 hour shift we're about to endure. Sometimes...we forget that we're doing these "tasks" on your mother, father, grand-parent. We're people too. We have parents and grandparents too and for some of us, they are alive and well. They aren't a stroke patient who has left side paralysis and a PEG tube. They don't have delirium with a UTI requiring frequent doses of Haldol, a HiLo bed and q15 minutes checks. But we're people too. We often get reminded that this is your mother, father or grandparent when they talk about you, or ask about you after you've left or even confuse us for you. We smile and inquire or reorient them to their surroundings. We help them get to bed, turn and prop them, make sure to float their heels and set the bed alarm after taking them to the bathroom one last time. We haven't peed or drank in hours, but we're nurses. We smile at you in the morning as you come back to visit, with small tired smiles. You ask how the night went, we lie a little. We don't tell you how your mother, father or grandparent punched the nurse aide while trying to clean up their incontinence. We say, "Oh they didn't get much sleep but they weren't any trouble." We hurt, our backs hurt from turning and lifting, but we're nurses. We sit in corners, talking to patients with addiction issues letting them know as much as they love heroin, it doesn't love them. It's okay to love yourself again. We smile and laugh with you, no matter the issues you have outside the doors of the hospital. We tell you things can get better and that we'll help you because we're nurses and we hope that we're right about it getting better, even if we see you again. We write names on death certificates and listen for the absence of heart sounds. We look up at you with a little nod of the head to let you know your mother is gone. You're relieved that she's no longer in pain but your heart hurts. Ours does too, we're thinking about our mother because we're people too. We drive home, perform some more homely tasks on auto-pilot and sometimes stop for groceries. Cashiers see our badges that we've forgotten to remove and say, "I could never do your job." or "So-and-so was in hospital last month and they fell." We smile and nod and shrug. "It's not so bad." We're tired and we want to go home, but we're nurses outside of work too. We shower, crawl in bed and think about the man who cried to you after his daughters left because he found out he has bladder cancer and he hasn't told them yet. We think about how we made time to walk with him in the hall, watch the end of the baseball game with him and remind him he is NPO after midnight for his TURP in the morning. We stare at our ceilings, thinking how the procedure is going and we just can't sleep.... We care, because we're nurses but we're people too.

I graduated from them in 2012. The instructors have changed around a little bit since I've left but there were great the whole way through. There were only a few (it's a big staff) that caused issues but the Director of the program is good about protecting the students and such. As for books, they are included with your tuition. You don't need to bring them to class. They expect you to be prepared, on time and ready to ask questions. It's really a good program.

Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your summer. On my unit, as part of shared governance, I'm one of the editors for our monthly newsletter. We're a med-surg floor. Right now the newsletter has been very basic with just some updates on the unit such as No Pass Zone and flu vaccines etc, etc. I just wanted to brain storm some ideas to make it more interesting. What have newsletters on your unit looked like or included? I want there to be something educational included, even if it's something just pointing them to a free CE somewhere. Or staff spotlights, etc. Any experiences would be appreciated.

I almost always dilute all narcotic IVP meds, but in general if it needs to be diluted I go one of two ways. 1) If I'm using all of the dose from the bottle, I just put a needle on a flush and draw up. So our dilaudid comes in 1mg/1ml ampules so I just take a filter needle on a 10cc flush that I've already wasted about 3ml from and draw up with the flush with a filter needle 2) If I'm only using a partial dose from the vial and need to dilute, I use an empty syringe to draw up the amount needed then inject into a flush. I dilute regardless of fluids running, especially if they have LR or something other than NS running, just gives me some peace of mind. If they don't have fluids running, I always bring an extra flush so it doesn't sit in the line at all.

My username is positive reinforcement =) I need to get a bracelet haha. Thanks a lot. I'm just waiting to hear back now. crossing my fingers

I recently got an interview for a job in which they had my original resume. I had updated in the mean time applying and getting the interview. I took the newer one to the interview. The newer one doesn't contain the job I had as a teenager(I'm only 20 so it was recent) and I added a job that is very PRN and isn't an RN position. It's health screening. I had a job during college that is still on there. So my question is, did I hurt anything by adding that job to the new resume? I never thought of putting it on because it's so PRN but the manager told me he would allow me to use him as a reference because I am on very good terms with them. Or am I just really over thinking it? I really want this job and it was my first interview as an RN so I can't help but to think of all the things I may have done wrong =( They are doing background checks so I won't hear anything by sometime next week and it's killing me!

Thanks for the feedback. I just had my first interview Monday, I applied to that job with an older resume but gave them this one included in my portfolio. I think it went okay. I was nervous ekkk crossing my fingers.

I overhauled the whole thing saying pretty much Thank you for your time and consideration. I enjoyed having the chance to interview with you. I look forward to hearing from you soon and added a sentence about a point we talked about in the interview. I think it was four or five sentences

Thanks. I was short and simple and added a little personal part to it. Hey, it can't hurt my chances.

I bet they don't to be honest. I only got interviewed by the manager so its easier. I am a card person and they drilled that into me in school as well so I hope it works. Thanks!

I have trouble with putting thoughts on paper. That sounds great actually. Thanks so much. He said I can expect to hear anything by the end of next week because they do backgrounds before they make offers. I think the interview went well save for in the beginning he asked tell me about yourself and I feel like I fell flat ? its a new grad position so I'm hoping to get it. I really like the hospital.

Very true. I was just always taught to restate my interest in the job and touch on something talking about in the interview then about I'm a good candidate. Thanks for your advice. I see how it sounds a little like a resume. What do you think about my sentence on the management of the floors? We really didn't have any personal moments.

How does this sound? Dear Mr. ABC, Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to interview me about the registered nurse position at the..........Regional Medical Center. I highly appreciate your time and consideration. After speaking with you, I believe that I am a great candidate for this position, offering adaptability and strong desire to learn. I value how you manage your units in a combined fashion, making teamwork a strong priority. I am very interested in working for you, this institution and caring for its patients. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. Please feel free to contact me at any time if anything further information is need. My phone number is 000-000-0000. Thank you again for your time and consideration. I changed things for identity purpose. The last line is something specific from the interview to make it more personal. The interviewer is the manager of four units (small hospital) and he told me how he operates them together so they are able to help each other with staffing and such so does that line make sense to any of you?

First Last RN 123 Main St Anyway USA 90210 867-5309 [email protected] Profile: Compassionate and motivated registered nurse candidate with hospital training. Strong communications skills that contribute to building therapeutic rapport with patients and to work well with team members. Excelled in clinical rotations demonstrating patient-driven care. Licenses Registered Nurse, State of Pennsylvania, License # Basic Life Support CPR certificate by American Heart Association Education 2012-Current Pennsylvania State University - RN to BSN degree Reading, Pa 2010-2012 The Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences - RN program Reading, Pa Cum Laude, final GPA 3.53 Achieved Director's List four times Clinical Experience Total hours completed = 745 at The Reading Hospital and Medical Center 140 hours in preceptorship - cardiac telemetry unit Managed and coordinated patient care safely, efficiently and independently while under the supervision of a co-assigned RN Administered medications including intravenous infusions and pushes Facilitated communication with interdisciplinary team members to determine pathway to optimal health outcome for individual patients [*]Remaining hours performed on various medical/surgical units such as stroke, ICU, cardiac-surgical PCUs, pediatrics Employment: 09/2012- Current Principal Wellness Company Health Screener Assess client's weight, height, blood pressure, BMI Perform finger sticks lab tests for glucose and cholesterol profiles Educate clients with important health information based on their results for awareness Advocate for wellness and health maintenance 07/2011-07/2012 The Reading Hospital and Medical Center Reading, Pa Student Receptionist Monitored front entrance security Answered multi-phone line system Greeting visitors and directing them to desired location References: this instructor that manager It looks nicer on Word obviously. My dilemna is using a profile statement instead of an objective but I wanted to try it out. Right now, it's just over a page so I'm debating about talking away from my clinical eexperience part but my preceptorship is very important to me because it was hard work and I'll make my references available upon request. Please give honest feedback and advice. It'll be greatly appreciate. I've been job hunting for a month.

I have been working as an indepedent contractor for a health screening companies and it's very PRN so I never thought of putting it on my resume because of that. I want to now put it on my resume because I don't think it could hurt my chances in job hunting. My question is how do I denote that I am an indepedent contractor on my resume or is that something I just say in the interview and just list how long I've been there like every other employer? By the way, it's not technically an RN job; anyone in the healthcare field can do this so I don't want an employer to think I've had 6 months of RN experience when I really have not. I'm a new grad looking for my first job so that's important.

Reading Hospital program = full run of that hospital. I can't tell you how much cool things I got to see and pulled to because I was a student of that hospital.

At Lehigh Valley, are you still considered a GN if you have your license but never worked?

I wasn't sure where to put this question, so I put it where I knew the most people would be able to have an input so if I am in the spot, I apologize. I live in Pennsylvania and I recently got my license in August 2012. It expires in Oct 2013 so not a full two years, am I still responsible for the full 30 CE hours? I'm not really sure how to submit and and so on. My school wasn't very clear about it. If any nurses from PA have an input, I'd greatly appreciate it. - Britt

That's actually the program I'm interested in. I recently graduated from their RN program. I'm having trouble finding information about it. Could you PM me with details?

I've seen this before and it looks amazing. The only downfall in my case is it requires a BSN. I just graduated from hospital-based diploma program.

I've searched and searched and really got no answers other than Hershey Medical Center. I live in southeastern Pa. I'm looking for a hospital-based training program to apply to. I'm a new graduate; taking NCLEX later this month.

Thanks everyone. Those of you who have interviewed, did you leave a copy of your portfoilo with the nursing manager or anyone? Or was it something you had them look at right there during the interview?

Just wanted to bump this because I would love to know too!