wanderinrn

Good luck on your upcoming NCLEX and new job...I hope you have a wonderful career. I think oncology is one of those fields that require a special kind of person. I am afraid I would be too depressed if worked that all the time. I work in a preop/recovery and we see lots of cancer pts coming for port placements, bx, lumpectomies, mastectomies, etc and I have a hard time with that. So I don't think oncology unit would be for me but I'm glad there are nurses like you who excel at it!

Conjured up the same image for me, oneofthegoodguys! LOL.... But, on a serious note, I have noticed among ppl...patients as well as general population that there seems to be a 'stigma' attached to being labeled MRSA. I get the feeling ppl think they are going to be thought of as being 'dirty' or something. I think the more the general population is educated about this the better.... But for sure they need to be educated not to wipe boogers in wounds....LOL...again just joking with this last comment!

Have you ever thought of trying PACU?...you usually do have some call....but if you work in a large enough facility with a larger staff then it rotates and isn't that often.. I am part time.....and work in a small facility...do call about one night every week...sometimes every two weeks and usually only one weekend per schedule which is 12 weeks....and about the same for full time, really. Otherwise it is M-F...or if you don't think you would like PACU maybe do the OR? Where I work call time is time and half...so maybe that would help to offset not getting the shift differential which I am assuming helps make your pay rate what it is?

I have heard that ND is really booming as far as jobs of all kinds are concerned, I heard their unemployment is about 3% or something.....

I am hoping to start a travel assignment about Nov 1st. We have an RV, a 39' bounder, that we bought with the intention of using to winter in warm places. Hoping to get an assignment in a smaller facility PACU/SDS which is what my most recent experience is in. I have worked endo, cardiac cath, radiology, med surg, rehab, psych. I feel the pacu or med surg will probably be the most marketable. Any recommendations re: staffing company to go with? Thanks for any info!

Upon further thought, I have realized that maybe the charge nurse just told the supervisor that I was sick and 'had to go home'. If we go in and work at least four hours, it doesn't count against us. But, I had just clocked in, and then was told I should 'just go on home since I sound so bad and there isn't much going on.' Now I think maybe the supervisor thinks that I just stated I had to go home. In that case, I can see where she is coming from. But, yesterday was so busy, and I was coughing a lot, to the point I was embarrassed to have pt contact, and no one ever said I should go home. The charge nurse and supervisor both saw and heard how miserable I was, but was never suggested I go home. I am feeling worse today having worked the past two sick. Am off now til next Wednesday and will probably have to spend all that time recuperating....uggghhh. I feel like I really pushed myself the last two days for my job and then get really no appreciation. I'm sorry, I'm just being whiny and venting....not normally like this..just feeling really bad, and sort of used. I think I will call the supervisor and just find out exactly the situation was presented to her. Thanks for your input!

I have been ill recently with a sinus/resp infection. I worked last week Thur-Friday, was on call for Saturday then was scheduled for work M-Wed. Managed to get thru the call day Saturday...Found someone to cover my shift for Monday. Was still pretty sick, but improving Tuesday. I went in to work, but was coughing a lot. The census was very low, we had no surgery pts coming in thru our outpt surgery center, but did have some pre-admission teaching/testing pts scheduled. So, I was told I could go home since there wasn't much going on. Well, yesterday my supervisor comes to me with a absence slip to sign. I was so stunned I didn't even question it, just signed it. Later I called her office and asked if that was considered a regular absence like a call in and she said it does. I mean, I went in to work, because I knew there were already three nurses going to be off. I had no idea the census was down, until I got to work. I assumed since i was told the census was down it would be considered a low census day....It really makes me have bad feelings about my place of employment. There is NO WAY in heck they would have offered to let me go home if we had been at our regular full schedule! AEB my having to work all day with a persistent cough and and having to run every few minutes to blow my nose! I feel this is so unfair. Does anyone else know if their facility would handle this situation in this way?

I was in a similar position, as I had been PRN in SDS/Dismissal for about the past 9 or so years, while running a seasonal business. I have returned to working 24-32 hours/week in the SDS/PACU. My main reason for doing this is to get up to speed with my skills again in the hopes of traveling in the next couple years. I oriented to the PACU, but don't work in there regularly, but am on call for PACU. I signed up online for a free subscription to Healthcare Traveler magazine, and within an hour my phone was ringing off the hook with recruiters. I had put in the profile that I submitted that I was looking to travel in the next 1-2 years, but they were calling with jobs to start ASAP. Now, I don't know how many of the jobs would pan out if I were in a position to apply for one at the moment, but I continue to get emails and calls from them, just touching bases with me. On the other hand, I did read in the magazine that the jobs are fewer and more selective, and the ones I've seen the pay rate posted, in some cases are less than what I make currently. I just decided to bide my time and continue to brush up on my skills and when the time is right, then I will see what comes to pass!

My daughter's friend is a DH, as of last year. She first worked as DA, and went to school while she was working. So, once she graduated she already had the job. I have suggested this career to a few ppl lately, and got the 'Ewww...I couldn't stand being in nasty mouths all day'. But, my thinking is, folks who come in for regular cleanings are usually the ones taking great care of their teeth so their mouths wouldn't be all gross? Well, anyway, I think if I were doing it over I would have gone for DH. At least that was what I was thinking last week when having to renew ACLS...being all stressed with that. But, going thru ACLS and learning new stuff, (have had ACLS certification since the '90's but still learn new things every time) just made me realize how much I really do like nursing. I think I have a love/hate relationship with my career! LOL

Where I previously worked I did. Anything after 3pm during the weekdays I got shift dif and also for OT. I think that is a federal labor law, if you work more than 40 hrs they have to pay you OT. At least that is what I was told when I asked about it at that facility. I thought I didn't qualify for OT, but was told otherwise. Never worked holidays or weekends, so don't know about those times, but pretty sure I would have gotten the weekend shift dif, the holiday one I am not sure about.

I agree with IIg....that is an excellent way to handle the situation. Hope it all works out well for you!

First of all.....I would never think it would be ok to ask a person to lie for you, even if that person were a close friend. But to ask someone that you are 'not too close' to would, first of all, just be plain wrong, and secondly, good give your former nurse manager ammo that she could possibly use to very badly discredit you. what if she were to mention to the prospective employer that you had asked her to lie for you? I think that statement must surely have been the 'voice of desperation'....

This happened to me once: where I worked we did 12hr shifts, but for holidays we each worked an 8 hr shift, like for Christmas it would either be christmas eve, day or evening. I was scheduled to work Christmas night, which was fine, since we did all our stuff on Christmas eve. Some of us were joking around and I said I thought I was going to be 'sick' Christmas night. Well, bite my tongue, because sure enough I was down with a horrible case of bronchitis, had to go to ED, and called in sick. Well, I felt so bad, the next night, a Saturday night, 12 hrs, I was determined to not call in sick. Well, I went to work and spent the worst 12 hours I've ever felt at work. Then, the next night had to call in again, so counted as 2 episodes, instead of one, had I just stayed home and gotten well. If you are sick, you are sick, and you need to take care of yourself to be well. And, you are right, it is not fair to expose pts to whatever you have. But, I know. They tell you 'stay home when sick, don't expose everyone', but then give us a hard time if we do call in....

Ok, I have had to deal with this in the past. I worked on a floor that was very similar to what yours sounds like. They would always give us that crap about clocking out. But, I never did get written up and was often having to stay late, just because of the stuff you are talking about. As you say, no one was more eager for me to be out the door than I myself was. But, I was darned if I was going to work off the clock. I think it is a legal issue. If you can show by documentation, and by staffing quotas that you absolutely have to be there, then there is little they can do about it. They either get enough staff to take care of what needs to be done, or they get off your back and let you do what you have to do. What my former place of employment used to really hate was fractional overtime, where staff would clock out just past the time where it would add another quarter hour to their time for the day. And there were a few who would do that.

Thanks for the input everyone. That was exactly what I thought, and as I even told the pt. I was 99.99% sure he wanted the macrobid to replace the bactrim, but, since I am not the doc, I HAD to verify. I am all about CYA!