CAL05699

home health, outpatient centers and doctors' offices all are 9-5.

No contract can require that you work a job you don't want -- that is called slavery. There can be liquidation damages but only if they are specified in the contract and only if they are justified, such as repayment of some training cost. If the contract does not mention such a penalty, then there is none. If you want to quit, you can quit.

Hi MarBug, I have some of the same concerns that you do about acute care. My unit is chronically understaffed and management is not supportive. I felt that I stopped learning and growing, and was not having any fun on the job. Night shifts were very difficult on me, and day shifts were so hectic that I often didn't eat, drink or pee for 12 hours. So I recently took a job in home care -- I start in 2 weeks -- and just gave notice. I will value the autonomy and the one-on-one with my patients, and I got a small raise to boot. I do not think you should be influenced by what your friends and family think. They aren't the ones doing the job. You don't owe them more than an "I didn't like it anymore" or "I felt like a change", and if your new offer is paying more, then that is also a good reason for a change. By no means should you consider it any kind of failure if you don't like the hospital environment. Quite the opposite, you are being brave and taking care of yourself by moving outside the environment you know and doing something new and challenging. Good luck!

Or the obituary itself listed the hospice.

My understanding is that it continues forever. An individual's interest in privacy accrues to his estate. I am a nurse attorney although, to be honest, have not researched this issue specifically. Other privacy interests (such as the attorney-client privilege) continue after death and are owned by the estate.

I was once written up for following "improper lab procedures". I sent down a tube of CSF to the lab without all the proper labels attached, or something similar. I thought it was ridiculous. Nothing got lost and I asked everyone on the floor what to do first (the charge nurse was off the floor). The unit secretary insisted he knew the procedure and actually did it for me (while I watched). Then the lab had a cow. It upset me a lot at the time.

LPNCubby, thank you for the encouragement. I actually have an interview set up with my local hospice tomorrow. They did not mind that I only have 1 1/2 years of experience and thought that I'd be a good fit. So hopefully everything in the interview will go well and I'll have a job offer. I work with a lot of dying patients at work on the oncology unit, but that is with all the support that a hospital brings. It will be very different assessing and treating patients just on my own. It seems quite daunting, though I know I can do it. I remember talking to a new nurse at the hospice's inpatient center a few years ago when I was volunteering -- she had been in gynecological oncology for 20 years and still felt really overwhelmed when she started hospice. (In fact, I wonder if this might actually be somewhat easier for new nurses like yourself since they haven't grown accustomed to the support of a hospital!) But I am ready for the challenge.

I work as a floor nurse on an oncology unit, and we have many hospice (and other terminal) patients on our floor. We give them the utmost care and attention, especially if they are alone. They are given a higher standard of corifice than other patients. I would like to think this is the norm in other hospitals as well.

RockinChick, Your post could have been made by me. I also have wanted to be a hospice nurse for a long time, except I have only 1 1/2 years of oncology experience. Most hospices want two years, but I went ahead and applied recently. I am hoping they'll consider my application anyway since I volunteered there for a long time before I attended nursing school. I really feel that hospice is something I was meant to do. I really enjoy the comfort care cases we have at work.

I have been an oncology nurse for one year and just recently passed the test. Most of the questions seemed to be oncology-related, and we do so much palliative care on the unit that I was familiar with a lot of the questions/answers from work. I studied the core curriculum book cover to cover and it is essential. A lot of the questions involve things like medicare reimbursement and also some psychological theory that you wouldn't know from the job.

I am an RN but get very little practice doing IV starts, maybe 2 per month. When I had the opportunity to do them, I'd be nervous (especially if family was in the room) and often get another nurse to do it. I finally became so annoyed at myself that I signed up for a one-day session through Gannett education. It was pretty good -- we spent lots of time on vein identification which was my weak point. You only practiced on a dummy but I gained a lot of confidence. The phlebotomy certifications cover a lot of things that you already learned in nursing school -- the circulatory system, basic precautions, infections, etc. -- so if you don't need the certification, you might just want to do the one-day class. To see if the class is legit, I usually just go on the vendor's website. If they are offering 40 classes per month in 10 states, at least you know that they are not fly-by-night.

The link you provide actually states that it does. The job duties of the traditional "learned professions" are exempt. These include lawyers, doctors, dentists, teachers, architects, clergy. Also included are registered nurses (but not LPNs), accountants (but not bookkeepers), engineers (who have engineering degrees or the equivalent and perform work of the sort usually performed by licensed professional engineers), actuaries, scientists (but not technicians), pharmacists, and other employees who perform work requiring "advanced knowledge" similar to that historically associated with the traditional learned professions. It is my understanding (and I am a JD/RN) that RNs can be declared exempt regardless of their supervisory status. Most hospitals do not consider their RNs to be exempt, but they may if they choose. You will be told this at your interview.

I work both nights and days now, and enjoy them each for different reasons. At least at my hospital (25-bed oncology unit), the pace is much slower during the night. But, the lack of resources makes up for it. I am usually busy but not crazed at night, with the opportunity to have a peaceful dinner break and check email. During the day, unless I have a lot of discharges and no new admissions (fat chance), the entire day is crazy.

It is not like that at all where I work. There is no competition and very little cattiness or gossip. The nurses are supportive of each other and genuinely like each other. It is not like that everywhere.

We are going to all-navy-blue for nurses. I was disappointed at first but it will make scrub-buying a lot easier. Guess I will save my other colors in case I ever get a new job.

I am 52 and made a career change a few years ago from the business/legal field. I did well in nursing school and have not had any adjustment problems with being a floor nurse. I think I did better than most new grads at handling both the stress and workload. I think that older nurses (like me) have all kinds of varying experiences with the new career, just like young nurses do. I do not think that older nurses necessarily tend to have a harder time with the workload because of fear of error, making mistakes, etc. I think that, with respect to myself, I approached the job with more confidence and maturity than did my younger counterparts.

I am in my early 50s and did not have any trouble. I think that most employers realize that your experience definitely helps you as a new nurse.

I also started my nursing career in my 50s. I actually found that I was able to keep up pretty well physically (pure adrenalin), but the crazy pace of being on a busy unit during the day was such that I did not feel I had time to learn or be a good nurse. I didn't think it was related to my age, but maybe it was. Anyway, I moved to nights for several months to have a chance to learn basic nursing skills in a more calm environment. I actually have more patients at night than the day shift (6 versus 4/5) and have a lot of admissions, but I have time to get my charting done and leave by shift's end (versus always staying over 90 minutes) and even read the charts most nights. I never had time to read the charts during the day, beyond new orders. I hope to move back to days in a few months and hopefully can keep up with the daytime pace a little better. I realize that not everyone has the opportunity to move to nights, and that some of us have young children and can't sleep during the day. And in some hospitals, the night nurse-patient ratio is such that you're crazy-busy. But it was a good solution for me at least. When I move back to days, I will be more able to participate in managing a patient's care, feel more confident in speaking to doctors and other professionals, and be able to get my work done in a 12-hour shift (I hope!).

This is an awful situation for you, especially in a small community. But I don't think that the school itself has any interest in making its graduates look bad in the community. It is unlikely that the school proper (in the form of a dean or on a letterhead) is making any statement about you at all; most likely a former clinical instructor who is friendly with a nurse manager at a local hospital said something. That would not set up the school for any liability, and a letter to the school may backfire by just raising the visibility of the whole situation. Anyway, it is not "illegal" to give an opinion on a former student, whether it be true or false. You can't complain to the cops or the attorney general. At most it potentially sets up the speaker for a civil suit by you based on slander. Keep in mind that the limit in most small claims courts (depending on the jurisdiction) is usually under $5000. And most small claims courts do not allow you to take discovery or subpoena witnesses other than the defendant itself. You could sue the school, but you'd have to provide proof that person X made the remark, that person X was speaking on behalf of the school in a representative fashion (was an agent of the school), that the remark is false, and that the remark was the direct cause of the hospital not hiring you (ie, that you were the superior candidate and would have been hired but for the comment). That is a tall order in any court, but impossible where you have no ability to take discovery. And no hospital would want to hire a litigous student who sued her nursing school anyway.

It is a very bad idea to have any nurse (but especially a new one) alone at night. Most of your learning will come from other nurses, not from patients. With no one there to discuss things with you, answer questions, show you procedures, I think it is a poor learning opportunity, not to mention a dangerous situation.

I also am a former HR exec and agree with RNJoinMI's advice. The most important point is that your enthusiasm FOR THAT JOB must come through. That is why your letter/resume really have to be customized for each job. There are so many new nurses applying for each position -- if a resume shows genuine passion for that position (because you love oncology, or you love that hospital, or whatever is relevant) I would look at it. And as Illtap says, talking to professors is extremely important these days. Most professors still practice a day or so a week in a local hospital. They love to place their former students at their hospital (they look good to the students, school and hospital for doing so) and are eager to help.

We never, ever straight cath a patient who is urinating on her own for a UA. I was never trained to do that in nursing school or elsewhere. Your preceptor and the nurse manager should protect you from this witch, who doesn't have a clue and is a bad nurse. It is too bad people like that are out there.

I graduated last year and share your pain. I applied to over 60 jobs before I found one. This sounds really lame but you have to just keep trying -- apply to everything that comes down the pike, drs. offices, nursing homes, home health. I ultimately found a great job in my chosen field, through a connection I made talking to someone at a nursing home which was not hiring. It is extremely discouraging to have graduated, done well in nursing school, and then not be able to find a job. But you have to keep your head up and keep trying.

I had done a practicum on an oncology floor at another hospital, and that probably helped me get an interview for the job.

I have not run into much cattiness/bitchiness and certainly no bullying at my workplace. Some people like to gossip, some don't. They usually target people on other floors, not people they work with. I am sure this behavior takes place, but not in my unit. We don't have time for it anyway.