kauainursing

At least you are fortunate enough to know that you will specifically be on nights. I have been working in my dept (mind you I am not the lowest person on the totem pole) for several years now and just recently my work schedule looked like this 7p-7a for 3 nights, one day off, 7a-7p, 7a-3p, off, then 7p-7a for 2 nights. It's not very often that I get a messed up schedule like this, but yes, it did take a toll on my and especially my children. I was like a zombie for most of the week. On top of all that, my commute is an hour each way! I say hang in there and just keep trying to apply for a day job if that is what you truly desire. Did you ask any of your co-workers if they are happy with their day job?...they may be willing to switch with you. Good luck and yes, invest in very dark thick curtains, earplugs, and if you must an airconditioner. Here in Hawaii, the thick curtains, block out not only the sun and some of the sound, but also the air. Definitly, SHUT OFF your phone.

There are 2 labor rooms and 3 PP rooms. There have been times where we have about 30 or more deliveries in a month, and sometimes its very low. When the unit gets "busy" they will sometimes use the nursery as a delivery room or even overflow into the isolation units on the med/surg floor. I guess for our hospital that would be what you call "busy". We are somewhat equipped to do complicated deliveries, if there is fetal distress, the staff have been trained with the NRP course, just to stabilize the baby long enough for the the transpost team to fly over to bring them to the appropriate facility, either the larger hospital on the island which is an hour away, or to the the larger facililty which is on a completely separate island.

We have that same situation at my hospital. Our hospital is a small community hospital and we only require 2 RNs in the OB Dept at all times. They take care of L&D, Nursery, and PP. Our main problem in hiring is that they are always looking for experienced nurses because we don't have enough "seasoned" nurses to buddy-up with the new hires. I do agree with you though, how can you learn if noone will hire you to teach you. All I can say is hang in there. Have you thought about looking outside of your hospital?

I say go for it. This is your opportunity to learn in a specialty field. You won't lose your skills in M/S. Think of it this way, you will have skills that some M/S nurses will never be able use. They may say they learned it in school but never be able to perfect. M/S nursing is the fundamentals...I am sure you will be able to apply that in LnD nursing as well. Good luck on your board exam. Luke the others have replied, you won't know until you try!

In my facility, at most, it is a 1 RN to 7 acute patients. On a 12 hour shift, we have the luxury of having sometimes a CNA and an LPN who will pass medications and do treatments. For the night shift (11p-7a), there are 2 LPNs scheduled, and its very helpful because in our facility, the LPNs can basically do everything except IVP, start IVs or access central lines. Overall, this works well for our facility.

In most of the SNF/nursing homes that I have worked in, we require a 2 step PPD. Yes, it does delay the admission process, however, it beats exposing the other residents to the disease. As far as acquiring past records, sometimes we are not fortunate enough to have all that information, as previously noted, placing the PPD will not harm the patient. At least, by placing the PPD, you will be one step closer to knowing whether your patient is positive or not. In my current facility of employment, only RNs are allowed to read PPDs.