arak1547

_________________________________________________________________________________________ "The other issue is that most of these policies are claims made policies. In claims made policies the premium starts low and rises every year until it stabilizes. This is because the first year (whether new grad or not) there is little exposure for the company since you have not treated many patients. Every year after that the exposure is whatever you did prior to that year plus what you did that year. This policy also requires a tail (this covers you in the future for issues that come up while the claims made policy is in force). This usually costs about 2x the final years policy. Make sure this is part of your contract." __________________________________________________________________________________________ This makes sense and is probably what she is talking about. Thank you all for your input.

Is it true that malpractice premiums for NPs increase drastically after the first year? One of my instructors for my BSN program didn't test for NP (after taking all the required classes) and stated that it was partly due to the high cost of malpractice insurance. I've found some information that supports her claims, but would like to hear it from those of you who are out there practicing. Thanks.

Sorry to hear about your predicament. I would think that as a paying customer, it shouldn't be an issue. The issue may come down to who ordered the test and If that order is valid, i,e, established procedure or policy. If this is the case then this lab woman may be in the right.

Sorry to hear about the CM position. I had my first interview yesterday morning with a specialty hospital in NE Ohio. I think it went well, but ya never know. My problem is being on a travel assignment right now in CA and won't finish until July. We'll see. Good luck with the chart reviews.

I can relate! I've been a nurse for the last 13 years and have seriously considered getting out of the profession all together. The problem is all those years of experience going to waste and starting over from scratch. I'm working on my BSN and will graduate this December. I've recently started looking for CM positions just to stay in the field. I'm hoping that the change will rekindle my passion for nursing and relieve some of the frustration i, e, burnout I get from bedside nursing.

Thanks for the info. I think it would be a great experience.

Does anyone here have any experience with nursing in Saudi Arabia? I'm seriously considering it. They have one year contracts available through Med-Hunters. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have just recently taken a position as RN night supervisor in a local LTC facility. I've been nursing for 11 years; most of it in hospitals. I switched because I wanted the experience of being in a leadership position, knowing what and who I will be responsible for that night, as well as low resident turnover rate. This particular facility has just opened 10 more beds and now has a total of 176! I've only been on the job three days and it has been very enjoyable so far. IMO, LTC facilities are the wave of the future and will continue to serve their communities as larger portions of the population need a place to convalesce. My facility offers assisted living, skilled care, and general long term care. I am very excited about the possiblities of becoming a D.O.N. administrative director, and/or opening my own facility at some point!

"Thank God for my LPN who probably saved my butt that night." I agree that having an LPN on the team is a great asset IF they are allowed/able to function as nurses and not glorified CNAs.

All I know about the subject is anecdotal and not in an LTC environment. I worked at a small hospital in CA this past January where LVNs were utilized. The CA standards severely limited the role of the LVN to the point that they weren't allowed to do assessments, could not administer any IV medictions, (however they could "flush" heplocs), and were not allowed to be "assigned" patients. They could not interpret lab values and not even allowed to recopy the med sheets for the next day! They were basically being used as glorified CNAs. This was really frustrating when, according to the California Nurse Practice Act, an RN could not be assigned more than five telemetry patients at any given time. However, if an LVN was on the "team", an RN would routinely be given 10 patients. :angryfire

It does sound like a disaster waiting to happen. Is it like this in other area hospitals? I thought it was only Southern states where these kind of conditions were the norm.

I agree! Way too many for me as well. Are the nurse aids able to do much of anything in the way of accu-checks, foleys, and that sort of thing? Sometimes that can be a big help.

I'm working Southern MO at this time and it isn't uncommon for the night shift to care for eight monitored patients during the shift. Seven is about the norm. It's interesting to note that this hospital doesn't consider telemetry a "critical" care area. It's considered a med/surg area. In OK the telemetry floors are considered critical care areas, but the ratio can be as high as 10 patients on the night shift to each nurse. California limited tele patients to only five per nurse, unless you had an LPN on the "team" then they could give you 10 monitored patients. (Which they routinely did and the LPN could not be assigned any of these patients.) Nevada tried to limit the ratio to a maximum of six patients on the tele floor, but it was fairly common to have seven on the night shift.

"It's hard to maintain the compassion and empathy that we expect from ourselves when we are worked to death and expected to sacrifice our own wellbeing for others." Well said! I've heard many times that nursing is a profession where, "we eat our young." I think a better mantra would be, "The nursing profession eats its own" (If you let it.) Burn-out is not a fictional assessment of experienced nurses, but more than a reality for the highly stressful environment in which we work.

Honestly, money was a factor when I started traveling. I saw it as a way to pay off some bills and see the country at the same time. I saw it as a great opportunity that nursing has afforded me and my family. Acute care experience is a plus and most agencies require a minimum of one year experience in your specialty area. (I worked a cardiac/telemetry floor for five years prior to traveling.) I work for Aureus Medical Group right now and they are really good about taking care of their nurses. Some of the others aren't. Most of the travelers I know work for several different agencies. That way they aren't limited to the area a particular agency covers. If you are serious about traveling, check out www.nursetraveler.org. They have a lot of good information on getting started and has been a big help to us. I hope this answers some of your questions.