TylerDurdenRN

IF...you have no kids and no day time commitments like me, just live 7p-7a even on your days off. It really isn't that bad, you'll never fully feel normal on night shift if you revert to normal sleep cycle (day shift sleep pattern), you always will feel like your staying up late working, rather than just plain old working. Plus its healthier on your body.

Why didn't you run the piggyback by gravity after the pump malfunctioned? Seems like that should have been the first step.

Ok so you are pointing out a perceived problem, what is your solution to that problem OP? Its easy to point out a problem but hard to find a solution. I don't think interviews are that bad.

As a Nurse who is a male, I say, Yes, I would marry a Doctor who was female, now only if they were willing to marry a nurse.

I am assuming a lot would have to do with hospitals, and magnet status. That, and the fact that with the influx of new grads, why pick a Diploma/ADN when you have more than enough .....QUALIFIED..... BSN grads applying. Just seems like simple logic for management to me. May not seem fair to some new grads of course, but the logic is very simple. If two new grads apply, have the same GPA, both interviewed well, and basically have the same resume', except one has a BSN and the other does not, who are you going to hire. SP they are making their lives easy by just putting up "BSN required".

I agree with The Commuter. This is my Career, it pays the bills, I do it for the paycheck, I wouldn't do it for free, if I won the lottery I'd quit. That doesn't mean I don't care about the patients, it doesn't make me evil, and it doesn't mean I am not passionate about my job. I am a caring individual throughout my every daily life no matter the situation, as are the majority of people I know. outside of nursing. But I've bills to pay, school was not free, also the car, rent, ect.... All these, "you shouldn't do it for the money" people need to kinda get a clue. If its not for the money, then do it on your off days for free while you work another job for the money. If its a passion or some calling, that shouldn't seem like a ludicrous remark I just made. I work in a university hospital, the paycheck is signed by the president of the university. So the University pays my salary.

I think its annoying being called a "male nurse", I'm a nurse. I think people will find any excuse or arbitrary reason why someone got the job, promotion or better pay over them, whether it be fact or fiction. It's a classic self defense mechanism.

I can understand your feelings, I worked days and still do, on a 3 weeks nights, 3 weeks days basis (awful I know, but such is life). But I will say, nights is a different kind of busy, you really have to work it a while to understand. I respect both now because of this swing shift I work. Days are crazy indeed, I remember saying that same stuff in my head, but I've seen the other side and realized its just different. I like love and hate both for different reasons, know what I mean?? I'm equally beat from both when I head home. I also want to state that I am extremely mad at myself for posting this, ever since that day every night shift has been awful, very sick unstable patients and multiple admissions and crashes. Like some people in my community read that and said, "you know, them lazy overpaid RN's do nothing but sleep and play games at night in that brand new ICU they built, well I'm gonna eat 3 chocolate cakes, throw away my insulin, turn off my Bipap for 5 nights in a row and turn off my home 02, and I might as well finish this bottle of percocets now, there's 20 left and they expire tomorrow" Touche' Patients. You won this round.

I work ICU and It was interesting, a real eye opener to what happens in the ER before you get them in the ICU, gave me perspective about what to expect and what to prepare for. Because some times things are lost in translation in report, and cross training and now working contingent in our ER lets me know exactly what they look for, what they will know and what they are concerned about most. ER nurses are amazing at dealing with triaging what's important right NOW, and getting things done fast, and amazingly efficient under high amounts of stress. So you should be pumped, being able to see the complete hospital progression from ER to ICU to Medsurg/step down really improves your nursing skills and your understanding of the way different specialties of nursing think they way they do. I volunteered, but they should make it mandatory, for reasons I just stated, no nurse would be worse off, everyone no matter the experience level, would learn something. Good Luck!!!

Amazing, haha, I am going to try that for sure. How low were you able to get it?? You have to give me something to shoot for.

Hospital states 2 RN's on any ICU floor at all times. Orientee RN's don't count. We only had 2. Come on guys I don't need a lecture, I was hoping to hear what other funny things you guys did in this type of situation.

So I worked christmas night in a MICU and we only had 2 patients. Only 2 RN's were on staff so it was a 1:1 ratio with both patients doing well and sleeping most the night. Also we had an RN on orientation so really we had 3 RN's. I was up most the day doing normal christmas visiting so I got minimal sleep. I got tired fast, and I found myself doing the most ridiculous things to stay awake after the conversation ran dry with my fellow employees. I was drinking as much water as I could, hoping it would make me have to pee, which would keep me awake, While in the med room around 2am I did about 50 push-ups, that only made me more tired after about 20 mins. Also I was sore the next day, sad, I have to get to the gym, wait I have to get a gym membership first. I cleaned every room to perfection(and I'm not one of those neat freak RN's) I would sit in my chair and try to sing lyrics in my head word for word, my coworker saw me at one point slightly rocking my head to the beat in my mind. She got a good laugh out of it. I was slightly embarrassed.... I called the ER about 6 times to talk with some former co workers. I think they realized why I was doing it and gave me a few "wake up" calls as they so lightly put it while they all laughed at me in the background. I think I checked on my patient 1000 times, she must have felt I was a pretty creepy nurse walking by that many times. She told me at one point that she wishes she was sicker so I would have something to do.(I love patients with a solid sense of humor) I wrote a record amount of nursing notes. I mean seriously, I had time to proof read them all, Charles Dickens ain't got nothin on my nursing notes. I would pray for a call light to get me up and moving. It was like a race between me and the other nurse when one did go off, like the chair caught fire beneath us both at the same time. I'm pretty athletic, I usually won. I played with the ventilator with the RT for about 15mins to try and learn some more settings and things. If I was a little more bored I might have intubated myself and set up the vent just for giggles. Or research....I've always want to know how awful it must be to be on a vent. I drew some pretty good art on the back of my kardex. Mostly of 3D cubes and blocks with shadows, I'm still drawing at a 1st grade level. I wiped down every surface there was in the whole ICU.(again I'm the farthest thing from a neat freak), It was gross how brown the wipes would be. Seriously, I might turn OCD after that night. In the end we got an overdose at about 530am and it got me wide awake and saved me. I really hope the review this chart and documentation of mine because it was immaculate, I mean, Florence Nightingale never charted or gave patient care the way I did that night. I do rotating shift so it seems like I go through this the first shift on my rotation through nights every time, and looking at all the things I do, I find them hilarious, almost embarrassing, but mostly awesome. SO..........what do you guys do on those days that its not that busy and you didn't get much sleep, I know you all are usually busy as 99% of the time we are too, and never face this, but when you do, what crazy things have you done to stay awake and alert?

In the end will still all pass the Same test. I've seen the difference in classes for ADN and BSN, and those 12 classes (at least at our program) are money makers. Ones like Leadership Issues in Nursing?, Research in Nursing? Ethics in Nursing? Transitions in nursing? I remember all those classes and they were truly worthless. Argue to they death that that are worth something and I will still disagree. I wish I would have done Diploma or ADN and worked while doing an RN to BSN for those 12 classes. Rather than going strait through with my BSN. Because honestly, as a BSN grad, I will be the first to admit that it was more of a pride thing for me, being able to have RN BSN on my badge. Never once did I notice a difference between me and that 2 year diploma grad in leadership skills, ethics, or any of those dumb classes. Those are skills my Dad taught me, not something Penn State University taught me. So I say, it doesn't matter, and my bosses have agreed every time I ask them about it.

"Maverick" nursing made me laugh out loud. Awesome. And I agree, if parameters are not written, and the order says a generic start at X and titrate to maintain MAP > X nursing judgment has to come into play when titrating such drugs. If i saw an order that seemed out of range, especially with a drug like vasopresson, I would not only of course assess the patient for why such an order was written, I would check the MD's notes, call up the pharmacy and ask about dosing and possible adverse effects(we have amazing pharmacists who go out of their way to find everything possible out for us), look in a drug book, and call the MD to ask their opinion. I have no pride about these things, calling the MD's and saying "I don't completely understand this order, please explain it for me" not only educates you, but its just safe for the patient. But seriously, the nurse that went up that high without calling an MD or at least doing some research and talking to other employees, needs to seriously be called into question.

Is this a rhetorical question? It is obvious she was joking, you even stated she was joking, right after you ranted about how much you despise this person. Which to reiterated multiple times. Reading the examples I saw no true disregard of patient safety on her part, lack of professionalism perhaps. You personal opinion that she is no the best worker, and is arrogant, over confident, and rude, are just that personal opinions. I can tell you right now, you are going to run into tons of people the rub you the wrong way, thats a fact. But you have to sit back and ask yourself; Are they causing blatant patient safety issues, are they causing staff safety issues? Or is it a personal vendetta you feel about this person clouding judgement of a situation. She was joking about the camera, I think you already know that. Her comments at work, if they are exactly as you post do come across as pretty unprofessional, but trust me, those type of comments will catch up with her, as more people will get fed up with it over time, and more people you work with will start feeling just like you, and that girl will either have to change, or eventually see the consequences of her actions, either by discipline, or a floor of co-workers having little or no respect for her. If you absolutely must say something, talk to her first, don't go behind her back to MGMT first, thats very petty and unprofessional if you ask me. But be forewarned, going to talk to someone about their own personality, personal comments, or actions is dangerous territory, know how to handle it first. Especially if its someone with a lot of pride, like you have described. But as a very opinionated person myself, I would much rather have my co worker approach me about my attitude, rather than HR, and I know I would try to change, even if i at first would be upset with the person calling me out. In the long run I think I would respect them for not getting MGMT invovled and letting me work on it myself. Lastly, I appreciate a good vent on this site, and I understand what its like to work with someone you described. So I can understand where your coming from. But my 2 cents, keep it to yourself. Sometimes you gotta let these type of people burn themselves. If you see a lapse in patient safety, talk to her personally, if she doesn't respond professionally, then take steps to have MGMT evaluate the situation. But until then, just keep on working at your highest level without worrying about her.

It's always been WHO you know that gets you in the door, thats another fact people must face. Hard work, intelligence, and experience are extremely valuable, but when managers hire they are also judging character, whether it be perceived character or true character. So if they know you, or know someone who they trust that recommends you, you better be certain they will call you over Joe Blow's resume sitting on the desk. Because now they have a character reference to go on, or past personal experiences with you to judge you on. You ever notice that guy/girl always saying hi to everyone, telling a joke, always going out of the way to talk to managers, and "brown nose" a little. Annoying yes, but isn't it funny how they are the ones usually getting that promotion, or new job opening. You should learn from that, not frown upon it and complain about it. Call it unfair, call it unprofessional, call it whatever you want, but its the way the world works, sometimes you just gotta get out there and politic a little, go outside that comfort zone and sell yourself, meet people. Its all about PR, the more people you know, the farther you'll go.

Actually the perpetual negative attitude displayed in every "new grad can't find a job thread" is becoming very old. I graduated not that long ago and even then I had known in school that finding a job was going to be difficult. I prepared for the realization that I may not find a job right away and I may need back-up plans and ideas for what was going to be my future. most of my class mates did not, they fell under the blanket of people who believed there was always just going to BE nursing jobs out there for the picking. I worked prison nursing out of school after the job hunt went cold. I hated it, every minute of it, but they were taking new grads, and I knew I needed the money and even that experience, is experience enough if you know how to work a resume and talk it up in an interview. What ended up happening was an RN i worked with there had a good friend who was a manager at a rural hospital south of a large city west of us and said they had some positions that were not even posted and gave me her number, called, emailed my resume, and she called me in, built some report on the interview and got offered the job. I had to relocate, and move away from family, and basically start new, but it was a sacrifice I was will to take. What my real point is, that more than 10 of my other classmates knew about this prison nursing job and said "I would never do anything like that", "I went to school to work in a hospital", "Thats too far away", "I dont want to work midnights", "they make you work 16's there" all kinds of excuses why they wouldn't work there. But in the end I ended up finding a hospital job before them, and had a well paying job in the meantime, even though I did work midnights, I was forced to work 16's back to back, and I did move. Plus I learned a lot of valuable lessons working a job like that. So sending in applications, and calling HR is what everyone is doing, but what doesn't work needs to be replaced. Make a sacrifice, perhaps relocate, work an awful job to EARN an awesome job, stop posting on here how horrible the economy is, we know, we all work in it. This thread is right, YOU WILL find a job, Things work themselves out if you put the work into it, but it is possible to fail, no one is going to GIVE you a job, no one is going to hand you anything. This economy is capitalist, those who work hardest usually succeed. Perhaps you need to re-evaluate your job searching technique. With out pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing. We all went to school, we all have debt, most new grads found jobs...thats a fact, instead of complaining about it, get out there and figure out how they did it, and you will eventually succeed, I know most of you are already doing that, so keep at it.

I agree with everyone above, I work in a facility south of multiple Level 1 hospitals and a major University teaching hospital. I admit we do send a lot out to them by helicopter and ACLS ground transport due to lack of specialty surgeons and limited weekend MD's for specialty cases. But when these "tough" patients are at our unit, we are basically left doing ALL the care, running the code, assisting or placing lines (we do have training), intubation, everything you can think of. So I have to know at least a little of everything. On the other hand, we don't see they crazy stuff as much as the big facilities for the same reason, so although I may see a little of everything, I don't get to have it everyday and thus I don't get to really master everything I perhaps could at a larger facility. So really, although we both are ICU RN's, its a different kind of nursing, while being very much the same. Both are extremely highly qualified. In fact at this time I'm looking to get into the major hospital to increase acuity to sharpen some of those skills while remaining at the rural contingent, which will help me, and my co-workers as I can bring back my learning and teach them, helping us and the patient.

Personally I think all new RN's should have to work the floor on med/surg first for at least 6-12mo. You would be surprised how much you learn that first 6mo., and trust me, internships and fellowships are nothing like being on your own making critical thinking decisions . I know all new grad RN's have their sites set on ED, ICU, Trauma, OR, but as with every job, you have to earn that with a showcase of knowledge and experience gained on real life job experience. And with the market now, the high influx of new grads with minimal positions available, and experience RN's being force to work rather than retire, you should be excited with any hospital offer, no matter what it is. However, it can't hurt to try to apply for ICU, especially if your hospital offers some kind of ICU new grad program that offers classes, advanced clinical, and eases the new grad into ICU situations. Because school clinicals, no matter how much you think they prepare you, are nothing like being on your own making your own choices, being held accountable for everything you do. Interviewing for the ICU should be treated like every other interview: Research your potential employer, know how many beds, typical patient diagnosis, what type of charting they use, know patient satisfaction scores, stating your strong on something the hospital is weak in is key. know about other departments too. Its impressive when the potential employee comes to me and is able to show they did their research about our unit and hospital. Make sure you are ready to explain everything on your resume, seems simple enough, but if I ask, "I see you worked at XXXX hospital on the CCU as an intern, if you had a patient come in with XXX diagnosis, what would you expect the doctors to order and the immediate action of the nursing staff?" I always ask a scenario questions, I don't mind if the potential employee doesn't know everything, I understand they are new to the department, but I like to see how well the critically think on the fly. On the same track, if I interview a new grad I always research the school they came from just to see what type of clinical they had, and how much bedside time they actually had, BSN to me is fine but some of my best RN's are hospital based diploma RN's, the amount of bedside experience they leave school with really makes SOME...BSN schools look weak. SO be prepared to point out the strong points of your clinical with examples ready. Browse this website, look at what these ICU RN's are talking about, research some high discussed topics on the internet in on paper, so you don't have ICU or RN experience, but a least being exposed to what the typical ICU RN deals with day to day will give you an advantage over the person who comes in blind to the interview without knowing much about what its really like in the ICU. I see things on this website all the time that I learn from, even with my experience. Have examples in your mind ready of memorable work experiences, all types, one where you made a mistake, and most important, what you learned from that experience. Dress nice, Men where your best pants long sleeve dress shirt and a tie, shower, trim up the hair, shave, Women, same thing, look nice and professional, well put together, It at least lets us know you care enough to present yourself as a professional, cause thats what you are, a professional, and thats what I want representing my floor, a professional, and make sure you don't use slang, and talk proper, full sentences, be articulate. Great everyone with a smile and a firm handshake, for me interviews are part of my job, so when someone comes in and is able to present a good resume, and is able to do everything I talked about, what separates it for me is being able to show some personality. don't be afraid to pass a joke, not overboard but something to show you have some personality, we are a team and part of being a team is being able to get along with others. Now I do stick with my previous statement, everyone needs Med/Surg experience, not only clinically, but for organization skills, communicating with MD's, delegation skills, and well, If you can survive Med/surg, you should be able to handle the stress anywhere in the hospital, I have so much respect for med/murg RN's. I did it once, it made me the RN I am today. So along with applying for ICU's, make sure you apply for some general floor positions, if only as a back-up. But most of all, good luck, its a tough job market out there, so research all over ways to separate yourself from the thousands of other new grads out there. I hope you get what your looking for. If you cared enough to post this topic, I know you'll put everything in to upcoming interviews. Just be patient and it will happen.

Just as the level of talent in athletics or intelligence levels, everyone is different. Some people will gain weight easier, or faster than others, just as some people will learn something faster, or get better at throwing a baseball faster. However, not everyone with talent uses that talent, not everyone that is able to run fast, trains hard and runs fast, not everyone that has the genetics to gain weight easier, gains weight fast or is overweight. So yes, genetics obviously play a role role in a persons body figure potential. But the fact is that you have the choice to not exercise, you have to the choice to ignore a proper diet and self control, you have the choice to ignore that fact that some people will have to work harder than others to maintain a healthy weight, it may seem unfair, but in general life is unfair, we as humans, much work ourselves to even the playing field. If you must run 1 extra mile compared to your buddy to get the same effort, DO IT, if you have to monitor every calorie while your buddy eats everything they see, well DO IT. Genetics may play an obvious role, but the role is limited, we have the CHOICE to address the Genetic factor or ignore it, as most people do. SO, I believe that we have an obvious CHOICE that effects obesity. Blaming obesity on genetics alone is very american, and just another way for someone to pass blame on there own faults, to something else. Just my own opinion.

WHere is the right "stage" for humor, should we ban Fat jokes cause it may offend a overweight person, should we ban lawyer jokes cause it may offend a lawyer, should we ban all political jokes cause it may offend a politician. Do you see where Im going. Are they breaking HIPAA laws? are they even hinting at patients names, hospital names, coworkers names? Or are they just creating jokes off what could be real and hypothetical situations of nursing? What makes you or anyone else the singular authority on what everyone else considers funny and appropriate if the jokes do not violate any laws. There are jokes I think are beyond the point I consider appropriate, but others find quite funny, so I let it be, cause it did no harm to me. Jokes made in my name, if it has done no real harm and is good humor is also fine, cause again, what harm has it done. NONE. People has a narcissistic point of view on there lives sometime that is frustrating to understand, if someone makes a joke or is making fun of a situation, they are not talking about your situation, but you relate to the situation, and thus feel connected to the situation and become offended. Why? WHat harm? What result are you hoping for by reporting this? An ego boost? A sense of satisfaction? Perhaps you can forget about the website, move on and continue being the RN you are today without worrying about what some random 1 of a trillion website has posted. Being thick skinned is probably one of the greatest assets of human can have today, and the appreciation of everyone else's varying sense of humor along with your own may help too. Now if the site is using real patient names or hint toward names, and using hospital names and staff names, then some censorship probably would be for the better, if not, let someone else laugh. Cause we all do something that probably offends someone somewhere, but we just don't know about it.

I agree she violated HIPAA laws in this case and it needed to be handled as such. Really should never vent about work, patients, bosses, MGMT on facebook, but venting altogether should not be disallowed, free speech laws do protect some of our speech (just not as much as people think) What about a case where a facebook user from a hospital is facing disciplinary action for personal opinions online posted on facebook regarding an article the RN read outside of the hospital on his/he own time, got on facebook, vented about it (the articles topic) and used strong opinions against the subject matter, including vulgarity and what could be perceived as offensive and rude language against the subject matter. One of the RN's co-workers saw the post and reported it to management who forwarded it to HR and the employee has been placed off work while they investigate. I must note the subject matter was about a diagnosis of a pain disease which I know is a very hot topic pro and con, and the RN's post was very strongly against it ending it with "I believe it is a waste of my @$%@ time and effort." With an F- word thrown in I believe. I also must state: 1) it in now way was related to the hospital, an employee, a patient, MGMT, HR or any hospital related happenings 2) it strictly was in response to an article the RN read in a medical journal. (apparently the RN posts replies on facebook to family and friend from far out of town who are also medical professionals as a way of banter, and friendly arguments between them) 3) The RN did have place of employment listed as the Hospital in the Info section 4) The site at the time of the post was only viewable to friends (th highest setting of privacy I believe) 5) The hospital has no social media guidelines in place at this time, but of course as any employer has policies about representing the hospitals name at all times. My questions, can they truly discipline a person based on personal posts that in no way touch on patient information, attacks on coworkers, MGMT, or the hospital name itself. Can you simply discipline an employee for using dirty words and acting unprofessionally on their own time, away from the hospital. To me I would see a lawsuit stemming from this faster than a bolt of lightning and the hospital being in big trouble, but I could be wrong. This RN simply went home on their own time read an article formed an opinion and voiced it on facebook (which I agree there are better places) using terminology that someone deemed offensive, and now faces the loss of a job and career over someone else's strong opinion against his strong opinion. If I were a lawyer I would be drooling over this.