SalineFlush

I understand you fully. Bedside nursing is what I consider the trenchwork of nursing. It can be miserable and depending on where you work and your own constitution, psychologically and physically debilitating. I've reached a breaking point myself ...

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...

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...

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...

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, an...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 floa...

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 as...

Med-Surg/Telemetry is hell on earth for most nurses, and many that I have met on such units are unhappy. I graduated in 2010 and I've said many times that if I had started in med-surg or general telemetry, I would have probably left the field in the...

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 sinc...

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 tailo...

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...

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 des...

My hospital does not hire LPNs and generally speaking, LPNs are only utilized in non-acute care settings in my state. In my humble opinion, for the advancement of Nursing as a whole, LPNs and ADNs should go the way of the rotary phone. Those unwil...

I wear white every day, and I am a 24 year old man a year out of nursing school. I committed to wearing a white uniform at the bedside while I was still in school, and I don't find scrubs flattering on anyone. The other option would be wearing a li...

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 ...

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 t...

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 (an...