tgedward

Hello all. In the Birmingham, AL area, there are still plenty of RN positions open. The main factor in that is because, there are 6 hospitals in the area and a large medical school/teaching hospital as well. Talking with some of my new RN grad friends, they report for a night shift rotation, the starting pay is around 22.00 an hour. With the cost of living here, that is a pretty decent wage. Also, for the matter of experience, the US Army reserves is accepting RN,s with an ADN. The active component is not, only BSN or higher. Check out the Army's website and you can get info on that such as pay, tution repayment, insurance ect..

Same here. I ALWAYS wear gloves no matter what.

Only the idea of a non physician wanting to be addressed as Dr from the patient. In the non hospital setting, I would not mind. There is no harm in telling the patient that you have a doctorate in nursing..ect as long as they are completly aware that you are not a physician. Call me a traditionalist, But I think the only ones on the floors being addressed as doctor should be a physician.

The only reason I mentioned that the quality of care could be reduced is on the patient self care side. If the nurse is a doctor and the therapist is a doctor and so on and so on, the possibility of the patients confusion will grow. Who does the patient listen to? Our elderly patients could get so confused that they simply won't follow any orders or get them mixed up. The old saying about too many cooks in the kitchen could apply here. Don't get me wrong, I am all for advancing the level of training for ALL healthcare workers and they should be recognized for that additional training and expertise. But, lets not be caught up in titles. We should focus on whats most important, our patients!

I would tend to think that the gay to straight ratio would be the same as in most other professions. Except hairdressers and makeup artist.. and drag queens.

Once again the stigma of a male nurse working on female patients comes up. Medical professionals are just that, professionals. Either male or female, we need to get away from the gender based concepts of medicine and take GREAT care of the people who need us the most.

As far as the titles used, I have a slight issue with nurses being called DR. near patients. I understand the hard work nurses have to undertake for their degree. However, I don't want patients to get confused who the physician is and who the nurse is. Which can lead to patient confusion and lower quality of care.