WIN007

Something less stressful. Like air traffic control.

I see your point definitely and all things being equal I agree. howeever the thing about NOT being salaried is that they can call you and cancel you based on the census. I'm unaware of any other degreed professional that has to live with that.

Excuse me. Professional nursing organizations are on the frontlines of everything from standardized clinical languages, evidenced based practice, infection control, patient saftey, knowledge dissemination, NIC, NOC, careplans, certifications it's hard for me to think of another profession that covers as much ground so diligently. PS - I don't disagree with all your points. Clinical competence is paramount for nursing and I certainly wish the nursing programs had given me much more preparation than I got.

I agree anything you post on the internet can and will be used against you by employers and potential employers.. and more. (I wouldn't join an online diabetic support group if I had type 2 and were going to be getting bids on health insurance premiums either for example.) I wouldn't post anywhere non-professional under my real name but if someone really wants to know the ip address handed by your provider for your session is effectively your personal signature. using 'bologna2011' for a handle doesn't disguise you. while it can dissuade the laymen though just keep in mind anyone who really wants/needs to know can trace you. another difference is while other sites pages may be accessible publicly, they are typically preetty straightforward in telling you exactly what will be disclose/aggregate. With facebook there's been a lot of blurryness there and they've gotten quite a bit of headline for that. It's obvious really; they have hundreds of millions of members knowing their age, address, interests and dislikes, health, religion, age of your children, marital status, etc etc - it's an aggregate data goldmine.

I'm so glad you learned without losing your job. I've said this over and over: NOTHING you post on the internet is private. Facebook particularly is not as it is one of the first places employers are scanning for what they deem as 'risks' or risky employees doing things that may create a real or potential liability for them. I believe internet Social media is just NOT the place to talk about anything work related ; I also would pick connections /friends very carefully and think real carefully about work peers no matter how much you may like them. I don't even have a facebook account anymore. Interestingly I saw in CNN today that Facebook is losing millions of Americans in membership. I'm kind of glad given all the headache I've seen it create - not to mention the hours it sucks up when people could be doing things so much more productive . If you really want presence and to be noted and impress your employer, start a professionally oriented blog instead and invite comments.

You've gone well beyond your responsibility, saw a patient need and tried to fill it when teh odds were well against you and then not giving up, you found a viable solution. On behalf of someone who takes care of an elderly parent where neither one of us are loaded, I want to thank you for caring and being innovative. I think your company AND patients are lucky to have you and expect you'll do very well as an RN and beyond.

I agree with everything you said. 3 seems ridiculous but six is reasonable, barring serious medical/family leaves. I don't think they can use FMLA anyway so it pays to get that documentation if that's what's going on. Repeat: Get your FMLA documentation from your doctor. I especially agree with your (and other persons) points on the call-in's increasing stress on others. Unfortunately there ARe the abusers. I used to know a young nurse who would fall behind on her class work then call in sick , not do her class work anyway, call in sick again two or three hours before her shift. Of course then when she WAS sick she had no absencses left and went to work sick as a dog caring for post-surgicals. Throw in with that she also was in posession of one of the most indifferent attitudes towards infection control I've seen. I truly felt disgusted to the point I couldn't be friends with her anymore. I can understand why hospitals protect their nurses and patients from persons like that through policy.

re: 60% of federal spending goes to social entitlement payments. That is bad. PS - I agree with you. Though I admit I get testy when people call them 'entitlements'. Something one paid for is either ours or it isn't. If Medicare is an 'entitlement' for me than the 7 million dollar and upward mansions purchased by the primary benefactors of those bush tax cuts should also be 'entitlements' and up for grabs. Liquidate THOSE and paying the national debt is actually no different than bilking people who paid into a health care program yet interestingly those born again stalwarts of balanced budgets, the teabaggers, have yet to make that suggestion. I do agree 100% the USA healthcare system is a financial shipwreck in need of renovation and streamlining and that's the plan. What I don't see as a sensible plan is to bilk people out of healthcare they need and paid for without doing a damned thing to fix the inefficiencies in the system and counting solely on deprived access and slashing healthcare workers. Also, reason medicare exists is a lesson already learned in the nations history. Private insurance companies don't WANT to insure old people they're guaranteed to lose money on. Take care of yourself all you want but you do reach an age where things age and break. Period.

I don't think Walmart is famous for how they treat their workers either. But your point noted. If it was that bad I don't think I would have a problem saying something like " Excuse me but may we please conclude this now as there is no value in continuing onward like this while using my time and the company's money when I clearly am not in consideration for the position"

It was an obnoxious way to treat anyone who took the time to interview. But, unfortunately in these times where there's a lot more workers than jobs, it seems that even basic courtesy has gone out the window. I concur with the other responders in that you would have been miserable working with someone who obviously leaves a lot to be desired in the respect and consideration department. Remember too you're at an inherent disadvantage when you interview in that you don't have the inside scoop. It could be that he had the position filled with someone he wanted to hire and is just going through the motions of interviewing to fufill some company policy requirement to interview a certain number of people. You don't know and you can't take it personally. Best wishes with your upcoming one.

Hi, I can't comment on your previous jobs. But on this, I dont' think it's just you. Near everyone is saying what you say. A lot. I think the economy and the loss of patients with premium insurance having elective surgeries is really hitting the hospitals hard and the easiest solution is to cut staff. My old facility was doing that by attrition rather than layoffs although cancellations on shifts were frequent as well. In my area there were so many health networks that built lots of fancy-dancy new modern facilities in the early 2000's right in time for the economy to tank and they are trying to break even at a time when insurance companies and CMS (Medicare) are microscoping every claim while at thee same time competing hard for a smaller pool of premium insured patients among each other. It may get worse before it gets better tho I do think it will get better as EMR's and healthcare information exchanges help reduce costs in ways that are much better than in slashing staff. Meanwhile I think maybe if you can find a unit in an outpatient facility or in daybeds, where they contribute positively (financially) it may be better staffed and more pleasant to work in. the other option might be to specialize. If you can find a niche that really interests you (cardiac, icu, ed, maternity, oncology, et al) you might like it better. you could also look at auxillary nursing such as case management,education, diabetes clinic, dietary et al. PS - I also don't want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong but your partner doesn't sound so supportive. Nursing is hard work and can be extremely stressful and it's important you have a support system.

there was one at one point I thought, kalevra. I can only guess as I'm not union. I find it an interesting topic given my experience with loads and working conditions and it's intersting to see what different people's experiences have been.

i think it's great that they would get involved in the union and take leadership positions. it's interesting too that nurses from other countries are standing up for nursing rights here. i'm grateful for that. i also have noticed that phillipine and indian nurses very frequently go on and get msn's. i find that really inspirational. i would be glad to work with top quality professionals wherever they are from and healthcare providers have every right to seek the best of the best.. that's not my issue. my issue is when they are brought here by the boatload specifically displace american nurses by a hospital that wants to get rid of their nurses because they had the nerve to ask for better working conditions. that's wrong. nurses are entitled to a fair return on their investment in education and experience and everyone is entitled to safe working conditions. it really sux when a company can pay hundreds of millions for a manager but can't pay 29 bucks an hour for a nurse.

possibly but to do so the foreign nurses would have to get the same pay and benefits as American nurses do. Something tells me that if the healthcare companies had to pay them the same as Americans all interest in having them here would be lost faster than the speed of light.

I don't see anything wrong with nurses lobbying for healthcare funding that most all of us are going to rely on whether we want to admit it or not. the reason medicare exists is because private insurers don't WANT to insure old people they're guaranteed to lose money on. I'm glad these nurses have the guts to do it. Most people don't obviously. I think unions give to democrats because they're friendlier to labor. period. so what? The Republican party has all of corporate America to fund them. if someone doesn't agree with what their union is 'doing with their money' then they have the option to not be in it or to find a non-unionized hospital. not like they are hard to find.

I so agree! There was so much rudeness in my class. People texting and/or talking throughout the class was practically constant. Students were also hostile towards each other; many of them engaged in what I wouldn't hesitate to call something close to mob behavior. Worse, they seemed to do it to the students who didn't have a clique of friends in the program with them, were older, or somehow seemed easy prey to them. I'm not sure where that leaves a vulnerable patient if they're having a bad day. I don't see how people change their personalities when they graduate or walk through a hospital door. I know more than once I thought, God forbid any of them end up taking care of my family.

Unfortunately I suspect that's how it is too frequently. I worked two units where the tech's were similarly surly and felt all you did. though I can see where two techs for 40 or more patients makes just getting vitals and to the bathroom a full-time shift for them, et al, the fact is if you have to do THEIR job (answer call lights, fill water jugs and get your patients to the bathroom) then you can't do YOUR job (charting, assessments, knocking off orders, physician consults, chart reviews, et al) and your license is at risk. There's no job, I repeat none, worth losing your license over. Don't regret leaving. You more than likely did the right thing. Network, look at the outpatient surgery centers, physicians offices, et al. And learn to do something else for extra money that would not cost too much or be too time-consuming that you can do on your own schedule. Massage therapist maybe?

Right on! Doctors don't want to be general practitioners. It doesn't pay as well as specializing and of course God forbid, there's decision support engines and standardized care plans they're held accountable to now. Can't have that. I've worked in a number of areas in health cares and industries, and while I hate to generalize, doctors of medicine are at large the biggest whiners in town.

I do think it's a combination of all of this. Having the let-go probably isn't helping among local providers. And the industry is very biased towards younger nurses to my experience. A 23 year old new nurse gets her hand held and everyone willing to bend over to help her, but a 45 year old nurse is expected to presumably assimilate everything through osmosis and transition into an independent nurse without any help, and not infrequently into a hostile environment. The grand irony of it is to my experience it's actually the younger nurses that are more likely to leave an organizaton in a few years (marriage, pregnancy, better offer, etc) and older nurses stay put for 15 or more years. Look beyond your area if you can. It could be someone from your prior mentioned job is trashing you and that will matter more to local facilities. Specifically I woudl say network network network . talk to people everywhere you go and let them know you're a nurse in need of a job. On the train, at church, in line at the grocery store. Everywhere you go. Find out how to volunteer for the flu shot administration programs and get prepared to do that. Attend the state nurse chapter meetings. If you're not a member of the ANA then join and attend the meetings! Call your nursing school instructors and let them know you're looking. Etc.

dp100; At the time Obama took office the economy was shedding 750,000 a month. he inherited a two-front war, a tanked economy and a 5 trillion dollar deficit for 2009's budget which is set by the prior Administration. There has been far less of a spending spree such as a long term loss of revenues both in the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and a chronically displaced middle-class workforce which WAS paying taxes. Outside of a much needed stimulus of which 60% was more tax cuts supposed to create job hiring incentives, he actually hasn't gone on a big spending spree. I'm not a big Obama fan; he was not my choice of candidates but I see no value in blaming problems 10 or 30 years in the making on the man either. The tea party's chantings , which ultimately end in default on the national debt will cause far worse crisis. Don't buy it becuase you'll lose everything if that happens. Geithner is not lying. The bond market will collapse , stock market will collapse,, currency will be worth nothing, inflation will be runaway and the housing and job market of today will seem like a paradise. Nor is deficit spending inherently bad. If it's invested well and you get a return on it that's fine. microprocessor, the arpanet (internet), nanotechnology, much in biotechnology are all examples fo this. there are other times to deficit spend as well; epidemics, unanticipated crisis like war and national disasters. It's absolute silliness to suggest a nation can run it's affairs like a household. If you can see three legs to an economy: consumer spending, business spending and investment and govt spending, then if the first two are flat than that ONLY leaves govt. Thus as near every economist in the nation has said, slashing the govt workforce or state in a recession is only going to make things far worse yet. The slashing and burning of the budget is evident in the late unemployment spikes as hundreds of thousands of govt workers and vertical industry workers hit the unemployment lines. Well, we told ya.

health care costs are astronomical and a huge expense so I would think any corp would that could eliminate this and offload to an exchange would be happy to do so. to me that's not a bad thing as US companies have to provide health benefits makes us inherently more expensive and less competetive with global workforces. for me as a taxpayer it's cheaper to have the exchanges than it is for legions of uninsured to use the ED as their PCP.

naive religion-like faith sounds a lot like you're continued interjections on a project you clearly aren't informed about. I have more faith in Vt. to implement this successfully than I do in a misinformed commenter. Vermont has been working with the best physician-based informatics group in the nation and already had several successes. As I see it they've gotten fed up with the radical right obstructing all meaningful healthcare reform (or in Romney's case, ensuring that it isn't adequately funded) and recognizing HIT is what truly will save their budget, have moved on with the ONC project at a state level in expectation that the Republicans will defund the ONC efforts on the National Information Highway Network. Kudos to them for that. I am not a socialist leftwinger nor a rightwinger but a pragmatist. I will embrace whatever solution seems to fit the problem irrespective to ideology and would never let an ideology interfere with the access of healthcare to people who need it. So far I haven't heard the hard right offer much other than the same ridiculously disproven assurances that some undefined market-based service will solve the many problems with our healthcare without a single proposition to address the runaway costs outside of denying access and slashing staff. In fact even passing legislature preventing competition as favor to their pharmas and insurances donors. In Tennessee, a state with virtually no taxation no regulation, that 'free market' turned out to be a disaster with three quarters of the state without insurance , all people who would have no insurance were not TNCARE/medicaid available. TN now has an exchange that at least is holding the damn up for now in the Memphis area. many other states aren't as fortunate.

dp100; My take: Don't fret. Mass is in better shape than most states! Near all state and local governments are in a devastatingly bad spot now contending with high unemployment, and reduced revenues. I can't really comment on Romney's governorship as he was strategiecally careful to quit before the going got rough. Pity the governors of the heartland states for the past 8 years. Romney care didn't work as well financially as expected because the economy tanked reducing revenue and increasing demand for services, and at the same time he exempted employers with deep pockets from having to pay into it even as they unloaded droves of formerly provided employees onto it. Also, outside of the economies of scale (administration) which take time to realize, there was not much to address rising healthcare costs. Vermont has many very smart people working with them. They have one of the few profitable HIE's in the nation already intact which will have tremendous impact on holistic records, reduced fraud and redundancy. I bet their banking their savings there and in administration will actually reduced the current outlays on medicare. I hope they have some sort of residency minimum for eligibility though. then again perhaps they're counting upon the cost of living in vermont as sufficiently prohibiting? :-) Should be interesting to watch anyway.

Actually he wasn't and he inherited a 3.5 trillion dollar deficit from a President who himself had inherited a 300 billion dollar annual surplus. But somehow I doubt any of this will deter you.