Irock

I am currently working on a tele unit, and I have about 1 year of RN experience. I have been wanting to be a trauma nurse since I started nursing school, and I originally saw myself working in the ED. Then during school, I decided that I wanted to work in ICU (still caring for trauma patients). Here's the situation now: I just interviewed 2 days ago for a position in the CCU, which is not my 1st choice, as I want SICU (where the traumas end up, typically). However, I was willing to take CCU, to get my foot in the door of the ICU Dept. BUT, I had also applied for an ED position, not thinking I'd get a call. But, they called me and I interview tomorrow! Both of these positions are in the hospital I currently work in, so I'd be transferring, not leaving the facility. I'm leaning towards taking the ED position, IF I am offered it, but if I do, and I change my mind, will an ED experienced nurse have a hard time getting a job in an ICU position 2-3 years down the line? BTW, I work in a Level I trauma center, which is part of the reason I picked this hospital in the first place. Any advice would be appreciated. Not sure if I'll get an offer from either dept, but if so, I'm torn about which one I'd rather have...

I was just asking because I thought there was a chance that someone here might know the answer. Nobody's home at MONA on Saturdays, and I will call them Tues if I can't figure it out before then.

I was in the trauma room and we needed a rectal temp on a trauma patient, and I lubed up the probe & handed it to the Dr (resident) because I couldn't reach around her, and she said "Where do I put it?" The patient was already log-rolled onto his side, bootie exposed...what else did she need to know?

I can't log in to the MONA website. If I paid for the full membership of ANA, including a state membership, does anyone know how can I log in to the state site? TIA!

Thanks. I am looking at the ANA website right now, and I have another question. I live in KS, and work in MO, and I have a 2-yr contract, so I will be working at least another 1-1/2 yrs in MO. I am looking for a PRN position on the KS side. Should I just pay for the MO full membership? Not sure what to do...

I am a fairly new nurse (graduated in Sept last year, and passed boards in Oct), and I am currently in a nurse residency program working as a Clinical Nurse RN on a step-down/telemetry unit. I just had my name placed on the wait list to get transferred to the ICU as soon as I can, because my ultimate goal is to work with trauma patients. I am looking to join a nursing organization, and was wondering which one would be best for someone in my position, with my goals. I was thinking about the ANA, but didn't know if any other organization would be better. Eventually, I'll probably join more than one, but wanted to pick a good one to start with for now. Any input/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

I graduated from nursing school 6 mos ago, and I got hired in Jan at one of my top 2 hospitals of choice! However, I applied for days, and they offered me nights, which I accepted, just b/c I wanted this job so badly. I've never worked nights in my life, and I have a feeling it's going to be a difficult adjustment. I am finishing up orientation on day shift, and next week I start 3-4 weeks of orientation on nights, before I go totally on my own on night shift. The other day, someone told me that they know a night shift nurse who takes Tylenol PM in the morning when she gets off work, so she can sleep all day. Not sure if this is something that a lot of night shift people do, and I hesitate to do this. Can you night shift nurses please tell me what YOU do to make the switch to staying up all night? Obviously, I need to keep my room dark and sleep during the day, but any other advice would be great. Thanks!

Uhhh...wasn't going to bury my nose in a book. Just wanted a quick reference for drugs, labs, etc.

I'm looking for a pocket reference for tele nurses. I'm a fairly new grad, and I work in a tele/step-down unit. I wanted something with the most commonly-referred to info for cardiac meds, labs, etc. What do you recommended? (BTW, I prefer the ones that have spiral at the top (vs the side), but of course content is what matters most). I know there are lots of them out there, but I wanted input from someone who uses one and knows which ones they like. Thanks!

I am SO excited! I just got a nursing residency position in the telemetry department at a big teaching hospital in my area. I graduated in Sept, and have been looking for a FT RN position like crazy ever since. This hospital just started a nursing residency program, they only took 35 new nurses, and I'm one of them! I am going to work 3 12s at night, 7p-7a, which I've never done before. I wanted to get as much advice as possible about how to make night shift as easy as I can for myself. I have 3 small kids, the two oldest will be at school all day, the youngest will be in preschool until noon every day. I also have a PRN position in a LTC facility, which I am going to try to keep working at once in a while. Any advice would be appreciated!

So, did you kiss this doc as he was on his way out? I would have!

I start orientation at my 1st position tomorrow in a local LTC facility (while I look for a FT job in a hospital). Even though I'm disappointed not to have a hospital job yet, I am starting to get excited for tomorrow! I'm also very nervous. I enjoyed my LTC clinical rotation in school, so hopefully I'll like this job. I have a combination of excitement, disappointment, and nervousness. Anyway, I'll be charge nurse over about 30 patients. I am looking for any advice you all can give. I want to do a great job, and I want to learn as much as I possibly can. Any suggestions would be appreciated! (What to do or what NOT to do). ;-)

Wow. Our clinical instructors kept us in line a lot better than some, apparently. The students in our group NEVER would have taken a chair at the nurses station. We would have gotten our butts chewed (and rightfully so) if we had been caught standing around talking, or whatever. Our instructor printed up sheets that said "A BMC student has this chart in the conference room" on bright yellow paper, and we were instructed to place this where the chart belonged if we needed to take the chart to the conference room. Some instructors wouldn't let us take a chart anywhere but to the nurses' station, and even then we had to stay out of the way. And meds better be passed on time, or else. My critical care instructors were the best. Our lead instructor told us "You aren't shadowing nurses, you're not observing, you are WORKING. You do whatever needs to be done for your patient, and if you need help, let me know. But you're gonna work your butts off for the entire 12 hours you're there. If you don't, I'll send you home." We appreciated the nurses and learned a lot. I'm glad we had instructors with high standards. If we had sat around texting, we probably would have gotten kicked out of the program on the spot!

I've applied for a bunch of jobs in the last few weeks. I think the 10 year gap in employment (due to being a stay-at-home-mom) is my problem (not to mention no one seems to want new grads). I am going to try addressing this on my next few applications, and putting something in my cover letter and/or resume, so people don't just see "Oh, she didn't work for 10 years before nursing school", and toss my app in the trash. I googled this, and everything says to put down your volunteer experience, etc. I had 3 kids in 5 years, I was too busy to volunteer! LOL! So, can anyone please give me some suggestions? I applied for a few jobs and didn't put down any work history at all, but still no dice. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Don't be hard on yourself. You could tell her what you just told us, and then say that you will go ahead and reposition the patient in the future. I just finished nursing school less than a month ago (yippee!), and I will tell you one thing I learned: You had better start developing a thick skin now, b/c you're gonna need it when you get to school and start taking care of patients as a student. For some reason, student nurses get treated pretty badly by a lot of staff (but not all). Just let it roll off your back and learn from it. Some of the lessons I learned the best were from getting sniped at by someone. At least this nurse seemed to be respectful about it, and talked to you directly. A lot of nurses would have just badmouthed you behind your back. Don't take it personally. Just learn from it and move on. Good luck with school - it already sounds like you will be a great, caring nurse!

I'm the charge nurse for one "side" in the nursing home. I'll have a med aide (the med aides there do narcotics, too) and an LPN. I'll do accucks, insulin, treatments, wound care. I'll get more of an idea on Friday, when I go in. I already did the UA while I was there, and they called references already (my best friend called me after she gave a reference this afternoon). It's a 90 bed facility, but their census is down to about 60. There are about 30 patients on each side (a lot, I know). The facility is very clean, and nice. The staff that I spoke with were super-friendly. They know I'm a new grad and that I want to work in a hospital, which is why I applied for PRN. Sounds like I will get great experience there (I hope). Pretty excited! I liked my LTC clinical rotation a lot, so I'm looking forward to working. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dying to get in at a hospital).

Thanks, everyone. When I said "nurse recruiter," I mean the ones that are actually employed (as HR) at the hospitals themselves. I will keep looking and try to be patient.

I just posted a while ago about being disappointed to start my career in a LTC, b/c I have a passion for critical care. I went ahead and decided to apply PRN at a LTC facility that is about 3 minutes from my house. They were super nice, and hired me on the spot! Starting pay is better than I hoped, too! I will be charge nurse, but they know I'm a new grad, so they said they'd give me a longer orientation if I need one. So at least now I'm going to be working. I'll still keep looking for a hospital job, but at least it's a start!

look for FT work in a hospital. I have nothing against LTC facilities - my mom has been an RN who specialized in gerontology for about 35 years. Even though I dreaded my LTC clinical rotation, I really enjoyed it. However, it's just about as far from what I want to do (critical care/trauma in a big hospital) as I can get . Please tell me I won't get "stuck" doing this? I am NOT giving up on getting a job in a hospital, but I'm just disappointed. LTC is not what I had planned on starting out with (if I even get hired).

I graduated from school on Sept 24th, and passed boards on Oct 14th. I am SO thrilled to finally be an RN! I have been applying for RN jobs left and right. Almost all online, I've send a few hard copies to a couple of unit managers. My question is, would it be a good idea to call the nurse recruiters at the hospital so I can talk to them and maybe make myself stand out? I have my AAS in Nursing now, and I have a B.A. in Psychology. My work history is very weak, though. My ex-husband was in the military, so most of the jobs I had were shorter term, and then I was a stay-at-home mom for the last 10 years. So my resume looks good education-wise, but my work history is from about 10 years ago, and not that great. However, I am very outgoing, mature, have an excellent work-ethic, and I feel like if someone would talk to me directly, I would stand out as a good candidate. My dream is to do ICU or ER/trauma, but I'm willing to start anywhere if it gets my foot in the door at a hospital. What do you think? If I call nurse recruiters, what would I say? I've already applied online at the hospitals around here...in most of my online applications (which I'm sure go to HR), my cover letters were addressed directly to the unit managers already. I want to stand out without being pushy. Thanks for your help!!!

I think the chances of you getting even one question about how to do CPR on the NCLEX are slim-to-none. You still need to know what to do, of course, but I wouldn't lose any sleep about this being on boards. Good luck!

I'm not sure what to do now. What some people (like myself, for instance) think of as "taking the initiative", other people think of as "underhanded." How is it underhanded to apply through HR online, and then also send a copy directly to the unit manager? Anybody can do it. Just because I was assertive enough to do it doesn't mean I'm trying to be sneaky. It's so hard to know how people will interpret things, I guess. I send hard copies to some unit managers, but most of what I've applied for was just online through HR. I guess I'll see what works!

Holy crap. I was asking about mailing one in, not parking my @ss in their face on the unit. Thanks to everyone who gave reasonable answers to my question, which is really all I was looking for. Sheesh.

Ooh, thanks! That's good to know! :)

Cool, that's what I figured. Thanks!