dehoo

Thank you, Pinkdoves, for sharing your thoughts and feelings. In response to your question of when you can leave bedside, my short answer is whenever YOU want. Having said this, I do have some questions for you: 1) If you hate your job so much why are you not actively and aggressively looking for another opportunity? 2) I read that you were interested in VAS nursing. What about this opportunity seems appealing to you? I was an ultrasound guided IV nurse for about a year and could share with you about my experience if you have any questions about it. In general though, for me, becoming pretty good at PIVs took me awhile (6 months of doing it regularly maybe? Averaging 10 attempts a day? These are just my guesstimates). 3) What exactly are the things that you hate about your current job? What are a few things you like about it? 4) What are some other areas besides nursing that you have been considering? I’ve been a nurse for 9+ years now and have worked in 5 different departments (med surg, oncology-infusion center, gastroenterology, picc team (vas), and pediatric clinic), and I have still not found “the area/dept” for me. The nice thing though is that through my experiences I now have a better understanding of what I like and don’t like to do. For me, it really took actually doing different things to figure out what I liked and utilized my greatest strengths. If you really dislike what you are doing now, take note of it, and maybe consider moving on ASAP. There are so many opportunities in nursing and so little time. It is also worth reiterating what others have said here though: a lack of experience also will most likely limit the kind of opportunities that you may be offered....for now. I look forward to your response, Pinkdoves and hope that through this message thread that you are beginning to gain some clarity and direction for yourself. Take care.

First, thank you cookie123d for sharing your experience and opening up such an important topic. Team dynamics and how it can affect individuals, teams, patients, and beyond is something that I wish was given more attention and value too. Having worked on teams where everyone got along and ones where most people just tolerated one another, I was able to not only see the difference, but also feel it. In this specific scenario, I feel like there are a few questions to consider prior to engaging: 1) Are these nurses, staff that are considered subordinates, equal, or supervisors to you? I believe depending on there position, there are different ways to approach it in a professional manner. 2) How often has this happened to you and have you witnessed any other incidences like this? Depending on your answer, this situation may require immediate action on your part or possibly just further observation to see what exactly is going on with the nurse, the team, etc. if this is happening to others, it may be worth talking to them and working together to figure out a way to professionally resolve this issue. 3) Personal question: How important is this job to you? How much do you really need or like it? If it matters a lot, figuring out what to do will be very important versus not so important because you could just find another job. (From my experience, some workplace cultures can be very difficult to change, and if this is just the culture of the nursing home, it may be better to just go and not put too much of your energy and time into this- I wouldn’t consider this running away from a problem, it would be more, finding better ways to allocate your resources..we don’t live forever). 4) Introspective question: how upsetting is this for you? Do you feel it is proportionate for the situations? If it isn’t, why do you believe it bothers you so much? Your answers to these wouldn’t necessarily help with how you would approach the issue, but it may help with how you process everything and also being able to handle the situation in a professional manner. Without having the answers to these questions of mine, my general approach would be to continue to observe as long as there are no safety issues involved or to say something short, straight forward, non emotional, and professional (there have been some great examples of this shared already) the next time something happens to see how it is received. I haven’t read all the responses yet, but I am interested to see how this plays out for you, cookie123d! take care and again, thank you for being open enough to share your experience!

Thank you, Dtwjj, for openly sharing your thoughts and feelings about your recent struggles at work. In response to your question (am I overreacting?) at the end of your post, I think the only person who would be able to answer that question is you. What are your thoughts on your reaction to the events that took place? Did it feel like a fair and normal reaction to you? I think it’s always important to consider as many factors as you can when you question a reaction you have to something because this process may uncover some underlying issues or non work related pressures that ultimately played a role in it (E.g. are there any other things causing you stress in life? Any lifestyle changes- sleeping habits, exercising less, eating less healthy, etc.?). Although I am not sure how sensitive of a person you are in general, I know I am, and if I were in your situation, I would be quite upset too. Doing the charge role to be a team player? Taking on the additional pressures of the role when the unit is short? I have been a nurse now for 9 years and have worked in a multiple nursing specialties (primarily outpatient), and one thing that I have seen as a consistent issue between management and front line staff is this mentality of “sucking it up” or some other form of it (e.g. “just do your best,” “others can handle it, so you should be able to too,” etc.). This is not safe, unacceptable, and irresponsible. Safe, high quality and compassionate health care for all should be the basic standard for all hospitals regardless of where you work, and when “sucking it up” is the best that management can do to support frontline staff to do their jobs, it is inconsistent with working towards this standard. I applaud and admire nurses like you, who are willing to speak your truth and fight for what is right. Unfortunately, there are not very many nurses whom I have met that are willing to “rock the boat” to create change for the betterment of our hospitals. Dtwjj, I hope you don’t forget these recent upsetting moments that you have experienced because if you’re experiencing them you are most likely not the only one, and only through people like you will impactful changes be made. Best wishes to you and know that I appreciate and acknowledge nurses like you. ?

Thank you, Nurse162, for sharing your workplace experience with all of us. My initial thought while reading your post came from a Ted talk “how not to take things personally” that I recently watched because the speaker discusses what we can do when others are verbally aggressive towards us. In his talk, the first thing he says to consider is this: 1) Is it about me? or 2) is it NOT about me? Without knowing more about your situation, it seems like Erin’s issue is about you. The next step to take, if it is about you, is to give yourself empathy (if you feel like you actually have done something wrong) and to speak to the other person about how her actions and words have negatively affected you and what your professional expectations of her are. I would personally do this without anyone else, especially management, because I believe it is important to create a comfortable and safe environment for her and yourself to share your thoughts and feelings. From my experience, these talks are more difficult the longer you wait to have them because the incidents and problems will be harder to remember, and there is also the possibility of new issues arising. Good luck, Nurse162, and I look forward to hearing about how everything goes. Take care.

has anyone know of an apartment complex that is less than $1100, near cedars Ive checked the websites and have found some possible spots, but I was just wondering if someone might have a stronger lead, since I trust word of mouth over an advertisement. PM me if you want. thanks!

no no best part is we are PAID to sit!

coconita, did you have any type of connection at ucsf? what degree did you have and previous healthcare exp?

yea, i have a classmate that got a job in the PICU and a friend that got a job in med surg oncology....i didnt get the position because i didnt score very well on the scenario questions...i have a feeling some people who "nailed it" knew the questions before hand. All good though, UCSF prob aint the place for me...it was a nice hospital though...damnit!

that email was not solid at all....imma call tomorrow just to make sure myself

did anyone get some sort of rejection email for their online job app? I was called to start on 2/28 and just got an email saying they wanted to consider other people or something. ????

My interview went okay I think. It was 8 interviewees for one position though with two people who are already working as CNAs on the unit, so I'm a long shot. They asked the usual interview questions and a couple of clinical questions relating to nursing interventions for general scenarios. No real tips here...just dress nice, be ready, and be confident.

I stayed at my friend's place which was about 6 miles away from the hospital and it took me 40 minutes to get to the hospital at 2pm on wednesday for the interview. Craigslist seems to be like a solid bet.

thanks for the info again obiwanjj

I just got a call today to interview for the acute care unit. I don't have prior healthcare exp, but do have a BSN. My interview is this friday. Any more tips besides what's been said already on the site? THANKS

I think you can just call someone in HR and just ask them straight up. When I asked them to check on my application status they just told me I was in the March 14th cohort and asked if I could do Feb 28th instead. Good luck!

thanks for the update obiwanjj!

I called HR today and they confirmed the whole ($28 x 8 hours + $28*1.5 x 4 hours)/12 hrs = $33.5/hr and the differential if you get nights. Can ppl that got into cedars private message me their email addresses? I can try to start an email thing for a possible meet up in LA.

yea, i just worked it out too and yea thats right.....but that means we get OT technically, but nursevn said we didnt get OT 33.5 is definiitely liveable are any feb 7th start date ppl interested in hanging out at all? I'd like to know how things are in the beginning, so I can be prepped when I start feb 28th. I plan on being in LA around the 16th of feb

i was also told 33.5/hr for bsn......not sure what this 8 hour thing is

28.71/HR? for 12 hours this works out to be 42/hr for an 8 hour shift. I'm confused. The numbers don't make sense to me. can anyone 2nd what NurseVN is saying?

For our health screening does anyone know how that is paid for? I don't have health insurance right now.

I called them today because I got a job offer somewhere else and needed to know ASAP. Cedars is gonna try me out! 2/28th start date. I just have to pass my background check and health screening they said. They also said that they are calling ppl for their first february cohort at this time and not working on the March one yet. I'm just wondering how they're gonna handle 90 new grads.....I mean even stanford is only taking 9 and UCSF taking 30. Maybe one of you are gonna be my preceptor????

I didn't have any connections at Cedars....had a 3.84 gpa, BA in math, BSN

yea, im stressing out. I just checked my phone at 1030pm because I thought cedars might of called me while I was taking a shower.

congrats nmh586! I havent heard anything yet =(