jyoung1950

OK, so the hospitals cut back on ancillary staff, such as food service, housekeeping service, central supply personnel. I don't know about you but I wonder who will pick up the slack to pass the trays around, empty the garbage, get supplies and so forth. I guess the already overworked nursing assistants and techs can go do all that stuff. These hospitals need to look at their management personnel and the bonuses they give the higher ups first before they get rid of a single $10.00 an hour employee who is helping with patient care, even if it is indirect. The more of those folks that get cut or those departments that get weaned, the more work load on direct caregivers.

Call all of the nursing homes in your area and ask to speak to their hiring department. Ask them if they need a weekend CNA and if so, would they consider hiring you. Other than that, I don't know what more you can do.

Congratulations! Welcome to the world of healthcare and medicine. Don't feel like you are too old. After having worked in a 9-5 Monday through Friday world of office work all my life, I went to work as a CNA when I was 51. I thought about going into nursing, but my major in school now is medical coding. I work in a hospital now. If you are interested in nursing you are not at all too old to get into that. I wish you the best of success!

I work in the ICU at our hospital and we swab on admission, on discharge and every Tuesday morning we swab all the patients.

healthcare is never "free" if it's supported for by tax revenues. i have noticed that when posters write about their excellent healthcare system in canada, australia, france, etc., they often add that people can elect to buy private insurance in addition to what they receive (and pay for through tax deductions) from their government healthcare system. why is there a necessity to buy private insurance if this government provided system is so much better than ours? what is the private insurance providing that the taxpayer funded healthcare isn't? and if private is eliminating wait times, allowing more "elective" surgery and all, then doesn't it reveal that the folks who can't afford "private insurance" are missing something? i appreciate any and all insight to this. please don't respond by informing me that our u.s. system isn't any better, has wait times, etcetera, etcetera as i am aware of our own problems. i want to know about your healthcare system. if i, as a taxpayer and voter, am about to decide who to vote for regarding the u.s. healthcare issue and if, in fact, universal healthcare such as is found in the europeon countries and canada and australia is the way to go, i need to know what i am in for. thanks so much!

I have wondered how a government run health care system would affect salaries. If hospitals and all are still private, and take care of their own administrative policies and procedures, I foresee either cuts in healthcare workers' salaries or a long, long time before a raise comes through. In this day and age, we are seeing extreme greed on the part of our CEO's and Presidents of many companies and this seems to run rampant in healthcare. I doubt very much that they will adjust their salaries and benefits lower to help the hired help (i.e., registered nurses, radiologists, respiratory therapists, etc.). And, if a healthcare (or any business, for that matter) business is required to contribute to the universal health care as it has to for medicare and social security, this country is in for financial ruin and high unemployment.

www.upmc.com - go to careers. They show all of their job openings at all upmc locations.

i do.

Please don't suggest that those of us who recognize that this issue can cause hardships down the line for Americans are uncompassionate. I really am tired of people telling me that since I don't want to open the doors to let people take things that I have paid for that I need to be more compassionate. Do you really think that I sit at home and smirk and laugh at the poor plight of people in countries that abuse their citizens. I hate that the world is like that. But I need to survive too and I wouldn't be much good to anybody, including myself, if I emptied my pockets and my very means of survival to every poor soul. And collectively, this is what is happening to the citizens of this country. Americans are more generous to other countries both via government charity and our own personal charity than almost any other country. I refuse to have someone insinuate that we are all a bunch of cold-hearted misers. So please don't ask again that we need to be more compassionate.

. . . . . I don't know how many people y'all have talked to, but all the illegal immigrants I've met, worked with, talked with, etc. would MUCH rather be here legally. But under current immigration law, they have no realistic chance of doing so. . . . . Why not? I work with many people who are from other countries who became citizens of the U.S. under the current immigration law. Rather than spend a whole lot of money over our border, the way to solve things is to fine companies who hire illegals. That is against the law also. And they probably are also paying them bare minimum wage or probably alot of them under the table. And in this situation, is it right that jobs that used to pay more than minimum wage are out of reach to citizens of this country. I've read posts on this board concerned that foreign nurses could quite possibly bring down the wages of the rest of the nurses who were born, raised and educated here. Looks like it's a big deal when it comes to our choice of occupation but too bad for the American carpenter or landscaper or farm worker. Too bad for those who used to like the work they did but can't do it or afford it anymore because of the influx of cheap illegal immigrant labor bringing down the wage. They are here because their own country - Mexico - won't enable an environment of fair wages and work. That is a terrible shame, I agree.

. . . . .The only question is how much we owe our undocumented immigrant workers. First, those who do not remain to enjoy the benefits of old age in America will have to be reimbursed for their contributions to Medicare and Social Security, a . . . . . I'm a little confused. Since when does anyone get reimbursed for their contributions to SS & Medicare of they aren't around to enjoy the benefits of old age? For instance, if I die when I'm 55, my heirs don't get a reimbursement on all the money I've contributed to SS & Medicare. Is this magazine suggesting that illegal immigrants should get all their money back?

I am all for using marijuana for medical use. After all, so many of our medicines are derived from plants. Morphine is an opiate, isn't it, and isn't that from poppies?

And why people continue to think that universal healthcare is "free" is beyond me. That old saying, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" comes to mind. If a service is going to be supplied by the government it has to be paid for somehow. And that is through taxation. Higher taxation for all of us writing on this thread and in this forum. Now someone told me some time ago that Hilary's healthcare plan back in 1993 involved our corporations anteing up alot of the monies for universal health care. As he told me, employers would pay about a dollar and some cents per hour of work per employee. As I didn't pay any attention back then to Hilarycare, I can't say if this was the truth or not. I'm sure someone on this thread remembers the facts. Regardless, if that goes through, we all can also kiss our raises goodbye.

I spent some time on the url you posted and read about MM's contribution of $12 grand to help the wife of the owner of the moorewatch site. The owner - I believe his name is Jim - wrote further down on the website that many, many people (some with some relative fame)sent money to help the couple and only MM made it known that he donated money.

(because i believe there are accredited reputable schools that don't take a dime of taxpayer money or assistance), north of pittsburgh, pa is a college called grove city. doesn't take any federal or state monies.

Patients brought to the ER did not have IV's. Most were transported by volunteers who just drove the "ambulance". And the ambulances were station wagons!

This post isn't specifically about nursing but what I remember of medicine "back in the day." I grew up in the 50's and 60's. I remember our family doctor would come to the house if any of us were sick. My grandfather was hospitalized a number of times for heart problems back in the late 50's when I was still in grade school. Under no circumstances were children under the age of 14 allowed in the hospital. And visiting hours were strictly adhered to.

Whenever a patient said they'd say a prayer for me, I always considered that the best thank you gift I ever could receive.

Great thread! People often mistake assertiveness with rudeness. Not only patients and families but even our co-workers. Women, and most hospital workers are women, have been encouraged to be assertive (not aggressive) and there are umpteen books and seminars, etc to teach this skill. Yet when we use our assertive skills, we are blasted for being rude. Yes, it is only a matter of perception. But from what I've read here, perception or misperception by a patient or family member (or co-worker) can jeopardize your job, your very income (write-ups = no raise), your very sense of confidence. I worked at a long term care facility a few years ago. There was a nurse there who had worked there for 15+ years and always was considered a great, caring compassionate person and worker. One difficult day, one of the residents continued to hover around her and her med cart, continuous talking, grabbing at stuff. The aids would distract and move the resident over and over again, but she would continue to follow this nurse around. I guess the nurse was finally frustrated because the distraction was causing her to lose her concentration on the med pass and she asked the resident "Please be quiet, Mrs. so and so." She made this statement in those exact words. A family member overheard this, complained to everyone she could and the nurse was fired. Now this nurse has this scarlet letter "F" on her record and history. It's a shame there are people in this world that can affect a person's very life by their perceptions and management that are so scared of offending anyone that good people have to work on egg shells.

A-ha!! Makes a little more sense to me. Thanks for the information. And no, I've never worked for the fed's.

Alot of the problems at Walter Reed appeared to be on the order of maintenance and housekeeping. The general got fired because he couldn't fire those who weren't doing their jobs right. Why can't federal employees get fired?

I know that UPMC cut the weekend differential at Passavant when they took over.

Thank you for your great words of inspiration - and I sure need - like probably we all do - people behind us, encouraging us all onward!

I work, sleep and go to school. I'm really not having to sacrifice anything. I outgrew the weekend partying years ago. I have no children. I am not married and not involved with anyone. I have a cat. I don't make a whole lot at my current job so I can't go on shopping sprees anyways. That's just how my life is; yours may be different.

I noticed you were trying to find full-time work while going to school. Why don't you try to get a job at a hospital? If you have clerical skills, you could seek employment as a unit secretary (some hospitals call them health unit coordinators). I started out my health career (mainly because of job security - long story) by getting hired at a nursing home that trained one to become a certified nursing assistant. I worked there 2 1/2 years and learned a ton of things healthcare wise. Be forewarned, it is backbreaking, hard work. When I felt that I had a good handle on that job I went to work for a local hospital. At the hospital I knew there were many different fields I could get training in via on the job and college. Big plus - tuition reimbursement! I've been back and forth deciding whether to go to nursing school or not. Currently I'm in college for medical coding. But I do like the patient interaction part of it too. I've gotten excellent evaluations when it came to patient care and communication. Well, today, a nurse from another hospital presented a meeting about their nursing school and I decided - I'm going to take the plunge. I plan to take the pre-admittance test (NET) in January. This nursing school is full-time, 22 month program. And on top of it all, I am 56 - I'll be close to 59 when I graduate. The health care industry is one place you won't have to worry too much about age discrimination. As one nurse said to me recently when I wondered about the age issue, "Well, do you have a pulse?" Yes I answered. "Then don't worry about age."