SalineFlush

It frightens me that your hospital doesn't have monitors in the room in a unit that it designates as "Step-Down". Scary. I can easily answer your question on what was my (most recent) experience floating to a floor without monitors in the room. It was Hell. Perhaps more frightening was the lack of cardiac knowledge among the nurses. I floated to one floor which is supposed to be "Progressive Care" about a month ago and before I could even get report, the charge nurse told me that I was getting a patient that had "brady'd down to 15". She said that the ICU charge nurse said they couldn't take the patient yet because the bed wasn't clean but that since I was an ICU nurse floating over I could take the patient until they did have a bed ready. I refused. The unit did not have the equipment to properly monitor a patient with those sort of arrhythmias, and I was certainly not taking a patient having those pauses with three other tele patients. Someone said "Oh, well we can transcutaneously pace him". I said, "Oh no we can't!". I don't think she had the full grasp of what that involves exactly. I was ready to walk.

I've always had a horror of having someone collapse or need medical attention and being expected to tend them outside of the hospital. I can do CPR but without my medical equipment and colleagues around me, I suppose I have a fear of failing to save them. Earlier this year, I pulled a woman out of an overturned car and waited with her and some bystanders until EMS and police arrived. I never told them I was a nurse. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not one off the clock. Just a bystander.

Of course I know what HIPAA is really "about".

I attribute everything to HIPAA. Patient: "Where do you live? Me: "I can't tell you. HIPAA..." Patient: "Are you married? Do you have a girlfriend?" Me: "Can't say. HIPAA..." Patient: "Please tell me you're not voting for ______!" Me: "Well...it would be a HIPAA violation to discuss that." When you think it best to avoid providing an answer, blame HIPAA. Never forget your lifelong right to remain silent. It has served me immeasurably, and it has become a bit of a mantra always on repeat in my head. I don't lie about myself to patients...but I don't necessarily answer completely or elaborate either. Often times, I just pass on answering at all.

Actually, there are differences. That isn't opinion, it is fact. I've worked in telemetry, and I've worked in Intensive Care. Shake your head till the cows come home if you want.

All nurses should be protected by a union. When we aren't, we are the perennial sacrificial lambs and long-suffering servants of the hospital.

I see no reason to force LPNs to obtain BSNs as LPNs and RNs traditionally perform slightly different roles, but I support having all BSN-prepared RNs. It is in the better interests of the profession. In my state, most LPNs are in long-term care, and that seems to be where they thrive and make the best money. My hospital doesn't have any. Many offices have moved to CMAs. I'm not sure if the 2016 time frame for the BSN requirement is entirely practical, but it would be great to have it happen by the end of the decade.

Actually, it is that ICU is "somehow worth more than med/surg or OB", and I am an ICU nurse. The care we provide carries more risk for harm and liability. Nurses in med-surg and or telemetry may have more patients, but they are doing less for them than we do. There is a much greater risk of liability when you are caring for physiologically unstable ventilated patients, running CRRT, managing vasoactive drugs like Levophed, continuous sedation and paralytics, an aortic balloon pump or hypothermic resuscitation than passing out sleeping pills, Percocet, and walking patients to the bathroom. So yes, we should be better compensated. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. It's an insult to the profession as a whole, however, and not just to those nurses working in the ICU.

Get out of the South. I'm leaving. I've been with my current NC hospital for 3 years and my base is still less than yours ($22.44). I'm tired of working nights, and I don't feel that we should have to work "overtime" to bring home a decent wage. I see nurses all the time pulling extra hours and my question is "Why?". There are people in manufacturing with no degree of any sort making more money on the hour than we do. It's sickening. I had a great realization earlier this year that if I stay where I am, I will never get these student loans paid off while still being able to enjoy life as an adult and have the normal that people seek (i.e. my own home, a decent car, vacations, etc.). It doesn't quite jive with me either to incur more educational debt before I've got the debt from my first degree paid off. Therefore, I've decided to move on. The South will always be behind.

That sounds like hell. Nurses at my hospital are never scheduled for 16 hr. shifts, certainly not on the floor. 12 hours is cruel enough---16 hours is torture. Nurses only work 16 hour shifts in extenuating staffing circumstances when there is no one to be found to relieve them, and even then approval for the extra four hours must by policy be obtained from the Service Director.

More guns will never be a solution to the gun problem.

Floating can really stink as it never makes for confidence when you are pulled into an unfamiliar environment and made to care for an unfamiliar patient population with unfamiliar staff. I am also an ICU nurse, but at our hospital, while we can float to the big telemetry and medical floors, we have a four patient limit. If it were suggested to me on a float that I was to take more than four patients, I would call my director and raise civilized cane. If that didn't work, I would probably refuse. It isn't safe, and while the hospital can always replace me as a nurse, my license is my livelihood.

Well, I was a traditional college student when I obtained my nursing degree. I went straight from high school. I don't think there is any other profession that allows for more direct amelioration of the lives of others, and I wouldn't trade that aspect of the job for anything. That being said, I sure as heck wouldn't be doing this for free! There are many who pursue the field exclusively for a reasonable paycheck, and as long they are professional and care for their patients as they are supposed to do, there should be no judgement of that. Bedside nursing doesn't pay that well, and it is often unpleasant...we should be glad there are so many people willing to do it.

You never mentioned what your ultimate goal is for your nursing career. I would say establish a goal of being away from the bedside within a few years. I am also a 2010 graduate, and I haven't been in love with either of the two jobs I've held since I graduated, though I didn't hate the first, and the second is okay. Moreover, I know that I want to be away from the bedside within the next couple of years--it is exhausting, the pay (in the South at least) is a joke, and you're saddled with great responsibility while holding little power. I know that the work I do is a means to an end. Write out your goals. I would also say, if feasible, get as far away from LTC as possible. I was a supervisor at a facility that sounds similar to yours for a couple of months last year and the workload for nurses working the floor was outrageous. It was privately owned and they also had issues with supplies and staffing. The director was possibly in need of a psych eval, and it was a bad situation, hence my resignation after about 8 weeks. You've gotta have a plan.

Black suits are a tad funereal. Wear gray or navy, but do wear a suit. Dress for the way you want to be viewed---a serious contender with confidence. Moving into leadership moves one away from a clinical focus and into a business focus, so a tailored suit is appropriate. A tuxedo would be bizzare however, so only do that to show comic aplomb--tails will be sure to get you some laughs.

Well...if you don't like your environment, keep looking for employment elsewhere. There is no need to be in an environment that you find culturally insulting and unacceptable---however, your initial description of exactly why you feel the way you do doesn't give readers much to go on.

As most physician's offices offer RNs insulting pay and the office vs. acute care difference in clinical experience is vast, I would encourage you to continue to assiduously seek employment in acute care. Physician offices are not conventionally desirable starting points for nursing careers (although I understand your need for employment post-graduation).

Had it not been so important to my mother, I wouldn't have even went to the actual graduation ceremony. We didn't have a separate "Pinning" ceremony as those who purchased pins received them during Graduation. Five years of college was enough, and I was over it. I wanted to take a break from all things Nursing for a couple of weeks (which I did), because after that it was time to buckle down for NCLEX review.

A class that is 6 hours long with no break? Sounds like hell on earth . I suffered through 3-hour long classes with two 10 minute breaks and thought it was miserable. Don't miss Nursing school at all, no sir.

You find it hard to believe a male patient would want another male to perform his perineal care? Well....I am male, I am a nurse, and I would prefer another male to perform my perineal care if I am unable to do it myself, thanks. And I would have to be paralyzed and/or comatose before I'd delegate my personal hygiene to anyone else. As for performing perineal care on women, I avoid it if I can. I don't have to get into that side of nursing very often with my patient population as they are usually able to tend to their own hygiene, but when the necessity presents itself (very rare), I usually try to get one of my female colleagues to do it in exchange for me taking care of one of their nursing duties. If that isn't feasible, I rally myself and get to the task at hand. I feel much less awkward performing personal care on men than on women as it seems so much more straight-forward. The first time I had to start a foley on a woman (and it was a multi-nurse job) traumatized me for life. I was still a student and the woman was morbidly obese with a terribly pendulous belly and over age 65, so one nurse held the left leg, another nurse held the right, and I, by the grace of God, managed to start the foley while pretty much going in blind. After the whole scene was over, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry .

No idea why you would first wait 8 years to take the NCLEX and then expect to be treated differently than any other nurse with 0 years experience as an RN but... I think there are multiple factors going on in this unprecedented hiring environment (and the format--the online, faceless BS-- through which we apply for jobs now combined with the peculiar economic situation does make it rather unprecedented). I am fortunate to have been hired this on July 9 after graduating with a BSN on May 13, 2010. Here in North Carolina, many of the hospitals want all applications of May graduates in by March 1--on March 1 I wasn't quite sure where the heck I wanted to be and was getting so pooped with Nursing school that I really didn't care--so I didn't submit any of mine until mid-March. Though I placed first priority on the hospital at which I completed my preceptorship, their dim hiring prospects made me broaden my search, reconsider my preferences and consider leaving my college town (which I did not want to do) for job opportunities if necessary...mercifully, this didn't happen, but I've gleaned and pondered over the following: 1.) How can a process possibly be fair amongst a slew of BSN-prepared candidates when many aren't even given an opportunity to interview and are only considered based on their Résumés, which in the case of New Grads, despite the different formats they take, will largely be THE SAME. 2.) I received two official rejection, both online---no call or even an e-mail, and of course no opportunity to interview--had to go to the hospital websites to look under my account and see my HR status--complete BS! On the bright side, I was hired for the first job for which I interviewed 3.) I read an article a couple of months ago about how the best-looking new grads were getting hired first and that more average looks were being passed over (and I'm sure implied in that were candidates with academic records--perhaps more hospital experience as techs, etc.--were getting passed over for the pretty girls who scared us all in nursing school with their lack of technique and sometimes compassion ("I don't WANNA change his wound dressing!"). In my case, being male helped bunches---when I did receive an interview at one of our local hospitals, I felt throughout the entire process that the Director, Nurse Educator and Assistant Director were all trying to sell ME the job more than I was trying to sell myself (something I'm not particularly keen on anyway). My looks didn't hurt either--but I also graduated magna cum laude, I have CNA experience, I'm a member of Sigma Theta Tau, and I didn't have to worry about ADN competition as this particular hospital is no longer taking ADN-prepared New Grad candidates. Several of my friends who graduated with me but are in their thirties have had great difficulty securing positions--one has received over 8 rejections, starting with the hospital at which she completed her preceptorship. She mused to me that she wondered if her weight had anything to do with it as she is about 100 pounds overweight...but she is also very bright, she graduated with honors, she has about 10 years of work experience in pharmaceuticals making real $$$, and she's been literally all over the country looking for work (interviewed on the West Coast, in AL, and in NC). Another friend in her thirties has struggled to find a job in this state, perhaps for different reasons, but one of our classmates, a man well-into his 50's had no trouble securing a position in the ER in which he had completed a summer externship and worked a few months as a CNA II. Having years of experience in the hospital but not necessarily as an RN will probably not help you get an interview--sorry, just won't. Actually, it's my suspicion that these hospitals prefer the unexperienced, typical new BSN graduate (around 22 years of age). Long résumés don't help either---a former Nurse Recruiter and current professor at our school gave one of my older friends some advice to trim her résumé as it was too long and would likely be passed over on a Recruiter's desk. If given an interview, you'd better come with your best face AND best business clothes on--physical factors like obesity can't be changed in a matter of weeks, but for God's sake do your best to be enthusiastic and ultra-positive without seeming fake, even if the job you are interviewing for isn't your first, second, or third choice. If you're like me, student loan repayments are coming due soon and it's time to pay bills. I'm blessed---got a job on a great unit with a supportive staff and an involved director--start orientation this coming week. For those of you out there still searching, stay positive. I know it's difficult to not take any rejection personally even if it is strictly professional (and it can't be anything but if the HR department has only seen your résumé right?). If you are given the opportunity to interview, Recruiter and Director will pick up on vibes telling them that this particular job isn't what you really want to do (if that's the case). Don't over-reheorifice, but make sure to know your selling points when you walk in. Good luck :).

I'm sorry but I don't understand you. When I logged into the board's website, there was a red message at the bottom telling whether or not my results were available for viewing but perhaps its different for every state---I'm a North Carolina nurse.

Here for a few minutes.

2010 BSN graduate here. I took the test on Jun. 25 and learned I passed via QuickResults on Jun. 27. My advice: It's probably too late, but for all the students taking the test in the winter or next summer: Don't let companies like Kaplan frighten you into shelling out hundreds of extra dollars on review courses. It isn't necessary. I purchased a comprehensive review book by Saunders (NCLEX Review-RN) that came with a CD loaded with over 4,000 questions. It was all I needed. I shelled out over $30 on a box of 300 medication review cards that I never really got around to studying. After I graduated on May 13, I decided that I wanted to take a break and didn't schedule my test until near the end of May and didn't begin studying until around 2 weeks before my exam. I took 75 questions on a Friday morning, spent an agonizing 48 hours wringing my hands and pacing before I saw my online results Sunday morning and shed a few tears of relief.