jekisslpn

PLease do yourself and everyone else a favor, don't go into nursing! Whatever you have heard about future potential was basically a lie. A BSN will become the minimum which means you will go through school to get a start, not be at the top. You also seem to have a romantic idea of your potential contributions to the field, which will be dashed in short order. Most of your time will be spent with paperwork, in time consuming meetings that accomplish nothing, and trying to figure out how to pack 24hrs of work into 8 while short staffed. Good luck with whatever you decide, but if you don't take care of yourself, you can't help anyone else.

As an LPN who has had over a decade of Home Care experience I will say this is a common error for RN's. During several H1N1 clinics I noticed it is a common practice for paramedics/emt's to draw each other's meds. Not sure what it is in RN training, perhaps it is too focused on being in charge and not actual practice, knowing the law and having to practice it are two different things. Home care is a special experience which allows minor errors such as yours to slip by un-noticed, but is also able to expose you , as a nurse ,to take blame for other's errors, that is probably why the other nurse was so harsh. Be very careful in your current situation, the homecare nurse is like a janitor, if something happens in an office,the guilty party is most likely to scream "it was the cleaning guy", in a home care situation you will be the scapegoat. Good luck and pay attention.

The real problem with nursing right now is all the people who could not find any job, saw the nws articles saying be a nurse, and decided why not. The field is now flooded. 5 new nursing schools hve opened within 50mi of me in the past 3 years. 2004 saw nursing homes starting at $22/hr with $6,000 bonuses after 6mo, now the same jobs are $18/hr. Experienced nurses are being let go in favor of cheaper new grads. If a nurse is working right now they should hang onto that job because they will find it very difficult to get another. New nurses are happy to get a job and will settle for anything. Hiring entities are aware of this and are more than happy to pay less than ever before. It will take decades before this will straighten itself out.

Actually to calm your nerves I suggest you leave off any designation from your name such as RN and don't fill out the company name. Those are two things the security in the building has no need to know. Without that info nobody who looks at the log will be able to assume anything other than you are a visitor.

Have been watching this post for awhile and *****. Not one of you belongs to or supports a professional organization, yet you ***** when there is nobidy to help you . You all deserve what you get from the free site that has nobody who has a clue about your situation. Can't wat to hear you tell me why I'm the idiot. Free is worth everything you pay, and advocates cost money. If you decided to be union, what you are paying a good buck for is worth even less that free advice. God bless you all.

I will try to be nice. I am amazed at the people who appear to be totally clueless, not only what is happening, but what has transpired in the past. a 15% pay cut was proposed in 2006. The Ohio Home Care Council, LPNAO and Ohioip.net fought and had that rescinded. The real victory was when they were able to get a 3% increase due to take place Jan '08 and another 3% Jan '09. The then governor Strickland decided it would be easier to deal with SEIU than independent nurses and gave an Executive order that would insure IP's would ony be able to deal with the State through SEIU. The pay increase was delayed until SEIU started negotiating so they could take credit for it. SEIU did all IP's a huge favor when they agreed to forego the 3% increase scheduled for '09 and instead opted for a 3% cut, taking IP's below what they were making before. :confused:Organizations like Ohio Home Care Council, LPNAO and Ohioip.net have not been supported by the people they represent in spite of nominal membership fees; LPNAO, the oldest LPN organization in the country, is only $75/yr; and are unable to staff so they can lobby for us. It is amazing that one respondent said she would contact her union. I think 1.75% of your pay would warrant them contacting you, but they don't care if you make minimum wage as long as they get their cut. Professional should always support their organizations, and since the nurses working as IP's haven't done so, we are left alone and quite frankly deservedly so. Ohioip.net had one of the most wonderful pages for pt's and nures to connect, but when posts started making fun of the site:lol2: because of the selfish nurses getting pt's without having to pay anything, that feature was dropped. LPNAO was founded in 1942 and is responsible for LPN's being able to be nurses. Their membership barely is able to keep an office open, there are over 5,000 LPN's in Ohio, membership is under 800, at one time they made a call to the membership that filled the statehouse. In spite of this a core group works the best they can in dealing with Legislative issues, but can't keep on top of everything. Allnurses, while a great site and alot of fun, has nobody who is an expert on anything. Instead of messing around here, :idea:how about finding out who, regardless if you are a paid member or not, represents you, and send them a check. Remember, our ability to practice can be wiped out with the same pen stroke that gave us that ability.:redbeathe

Based on the way I have been treated as a criminal by Carestar personnel for the past year I decided that I will only be willing to be an IP for 2 more years if I am still with the same pt I currently have. Now I realize I may go back to the higher paying profession of office cleaning sooner than I had expected. To do this job with the unnecessary microscopic scrutiny and additional work required after hours for less money will not make economic sense. It will be nice getting into a job again where I show up, put in my time,and collect a paycheck without any worries about the job when I'm not on the clock. Bottom line is the economic downturn has apparently hit nursing harder than any one else So many newbies have flooded the job pool that you now have BSN's willing to work for $11.00/hr in "internship" positions. Flipping burgers for $10/hr is much more attractive-free food- than going into debt for more advanced training. The future looks no brighter since it appears most people I run into who are in school now are there to become nurses.

The Nursing field has always gone through ups and downs. The current Nursing grads who are flooding the market will drive down demand for years. Couple that with those who are waiting to enter school and in my opinion it will be at least a decade before demand picks up. The good news is that most of the newbies to nursing will quit as soon as they are able to secure other employment and those left will be in a great position to market their skills. Remember this is not an easy job, but te media has colored it as the surefire profession for the future. The only people benefitting at this point are the new for profit schools and the organizations employing us since they can pay much less now than 5yrs ago.

Here is the legal opinion : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2427218820080124

The bottom line for Marijuana use by anyone whose profession dictates they be recreational drug free, Doctors, Firemen, Police , and yes Nurses will still not be able to claim their use is valid with an Rx. You will still be subject to the terms of your licenses and subject to discharge.

I was far from an A student before I went to Nursing school, but I did very well on the admission test. Once I got in I was an A student. It all depends on your study habits and I found helping others understand helped me a great deal. My shool did not graduate anyone with a less than a B average.

I would have become very "concerned" and told her I will have to contact Social Services regarding he inability to care for herself let alone a baby, and perhaps they could both be placed, her in a nursng home and the baby in foster care. She would have shut up immedialtely because my experience is the baby will be her lifelong excuse for sympathy help and financial aid.

Funny to hear this because I did the same thing 7 years ago when I started school. My house hasn't been clean since!