Santa,RN

Michelle, NO, not a downer at all. Just wondering if I should make huge efforts at this point to try to get on there. And yes, I am in Ohio. I did receive Treatment in Lieu of Conviction. One felony count for "theft of drugs" a fourth degree felony. The hospital I worked with was very generous, they could have charged me with so much worse. Thankful to the Higher Power for that! How long of a probation did you receive through the criminal court? I am lucky enough to be working right now, but at least half of what I was making in Nursing. Like you, we are holding on to everything right now. My husband is still employed and has been a **saint** about the entire thing! I don't know what I would have done without him. :) There are some private dialysis companies here so I might try to get a tech job there. Just want to start securing something so that when I do get my license reinstated, I might be able to just transfer to RN status. I do have quite a few contacts at the Davita place here, so I was going to call on them to see if they could put in a good word for me. I have 15 years of critical care experience, mostly ER. I have read some of your posts, and I think we have a LOT in common....looking forward to talking to you soon.

I taught first year students for an RN program for 3 years. What an experience. I went into it thinking I was not going to be one of "those nursing instructors". I changed my tune after the first two quarters. As an instructor, you do have to establish that you are the"alpha dog"! I couldn't believe some of the behaviors from some of my students. I never thought I would send a student home, but seriously, some things just have to be taken care of. Yes, I have sent students home for no name badge, no care plan, improper dress, etc. The way I came to see it is this..... you are going to literally be performing life and death care some days. If you cant be bothered to come to class prepared- I know, I know, you have a job, kids, boyfriend, husband, yada, yada, yada- then how can I trust you to give potentially lethal medications, decent bedside care, pay attention to your assessments, etc? Seriously- put the damn cell phone away! Do you really have to be told you can't text in preconference? Yes, I sent someone home for that also. I am teaching EKG interpretation this quarter, and one of the girls in my class was one of my nursing students last year. She was kind of teasing me about how much nicer I was as an EKG instructor and was telling the rest of the EKG class what a strict nursing instructor I was to her. The rest of the class couldn't believe it because I really run a fun EKG class. She told them all I was "no nonsense" about everything nursing. I considered it a compliment! But I think nursing is serious business, and you have the responsibilty of setting the tone about that from the beginning. There were some students that I just really couldn't stand at all. One girl was going ballistic about one of the other clincal nursing instructors because she called her on some of her poor behavior during lecture. Right in front of me she called her a B**** and so on. She said she just didn't understand why nursing instructors had to be so nasty, etc. When I tried to explain that she wasn't being nasty, just controlling her class, she snapped at me in front of the rest of the class. I was LIVID. I 'excused' her for the day, called my nursing dean, and we had a little meeting at the campus. I just know she is going to be one of those new grads who are impossible to work with! Anyway, didn't mean to ramble on .... just come to class prepared, dress professionally, do your job and the semester/quarter will be over before you know it. Good luck with school!

Grrr- this kind of behavior makes me batty! My advice- kill them with kindness. Before you even start your report, grab a few pieces of Halloween size candy out of your locker. Yes, you are going to get a bag just for these occassions When you sit down to report, give the nurse a few pieces. Like candy to a baby! Then you are going to lie to them if you have to and say something about one of their patients from last week saying what a nice nurse they had been to them. How you appreciate that they did the dressing change, passed a med, whatever you can muster up. Any kind of sarcastic responses only fuel their fire. They know they are being nasty, and if they have the implied support of their nurse manager (another thing that makes me nuts is the acceptance of lateral violence in nursing units), they have no reason to make changes in their behavior. Kind of like High School, isn't it? Don't fall prey to it! I have worked days and nights, and both have their good and bad habits and both shifts think their way is the right way. In reality, there is good and bad with both shifts. I primarily worked days, but at least once every few months, I would pick up a night shift to 'keep in touch', so to speak. It endeared me to the night shift and made me more tolerant of their different habits. Try going into report with a spring in your step, a smile for everyone, IGNORE the bad behavior and set a good example. I know, it is really difficult, and it won't make it go away overnight, but I swear, the kindness thing really works! But letting it eat at you only hurts you and encourages their bad behavior. Hope this helps! Good luck with your house hunting!

ok, to clarify- "blowing up" is a little graphic, lol. :) When you inject air into a vial, the extra pressure helps when you draw the fluid out. Before drawing fluid out of an ampule, you break the tip off and there is now an unsealed opening- if you inject air into it, it will force the fluid out of the ampule and you will lose your medication. I think your friend who "blew up" the dilaudid vial was probably using a single dose tube. Those have a little rubber end on them, and if you inject air into them, it will cause that little rubber end to shoot off the end of the tube. Oops, again, you might lose your medication. Did that clear things up for you? Good luck in school!

Hello all.... I have been attempting to gain some sort of employment while I wait out my situation with the BON. Due to my diverting meds from work, I was charged with one felony count for "Theft of Drugs" a forth degree felony. I qualified for a Treatment in Lieu of conviction program, so no "conviction" of a felony shows on a background check. However, it does show a pending felony case that is unresolved. This will be removed once I finish my probation, but that will be at least 9 months from now. I have applied for several positions at Davita, and have gotten two calls from two different offices. Both conversations were with the hiring manager and both seemed very interested in me. I have interviews set up with both offices. I know that Dialysis seems to be recovery friendly, but what about the felony charge? Do they have the option of hiring despite that, or since they are such a big company, do they have a policy of not hiring anyone with a felony issue? Should I just give up the idea of working there at all? Thanks for any input you may have for me.