kelluvanurse

Thanks HappyNurse, it is always good to hear from someone that works full time and has 4 kids and is making A's! That makes me feel better! I just got an email from Frontier saying that my file was complete and ready for review so atleast I know they have everything and now I will just not expect anything until the end of June. Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I have applied. But I submitted the online packet last friday and just mailed my packet today. They should receive it by Sat, which of course, wont be until Monday. I did get email confirmation that they received my online stuff and I just went ahead and faxed my nursing license. So, everything is done and hopefully I will get the email confirmation next week that they have everything. I have been checking facebook but nobody has posted anything recently. I was thinking about getting on and starting the dicussion back up. I'm sure it will be some time before we know if we get in or not. Can't wait! Thanks for your help. My name is Kelly and I noticed that you were talking to another Kelly on facebook. Lets get together and talk on facebook.

I also called and she pretty much told me the same thing. But she did tell me that if I didnt have all my stuff back by Friday to go ahead and submit my online stuff. So, Im going to hit the submit button tomorrow. I have some of my stuff back but not all. Hopefully by the first of next week. I did check out the FB discussion and read alot of the other posts and there is so much info. I get so excited when I think about it but so nervous at the same time. Thanks for your info and maybe I will talk to you on FB! Good luck to the both of us!

Yes I am applying for class 92! I know that 2 classes don't sound like a lot but some online programs will let you take one class at a time. I know that the MSN portion will b very busy but I will have lots more time after that first yr b/c my boys will graduate. Thanks for letting me know about the FB page, I will most def check it out. I am so excited! I have my essays questions ready and hopefully I will b able to submit my app in a few days. Do u know if you can submit your online app before you send in your packet. I think I will give the admissions office a call tomorrow or maybe I can found out on FB. Good luck!

Working on an application for the Aug term and I was hoping that former students of the Bridge program from Frontier Midwifery and Family Nursing would give me an ideal about how busy the first year is. I know that it is full time with 2 classes each term which seems like a lot and I will have to cont to work full time and I have 3 children. My boys will be seniors and my dtr will be 11. Is it doable, to work and be a full time student with their bridge program?

Thanks, I have decided to try and get into the Frontier RN to MSN with the FNP track. Should take me about 3 yrs. It is 11 hours from Oklahoma but I will just have to fly to Kentucky for the campus trips and I have to wait until Aug to enroll but from what I read on here it will be worth it. So, hopefully I will be able to get into that class and I will just have to be patient!

I posted elsewhere regarding which route to take as a ADN to FNP and I came across this old posting and it sounds like an answer to my prayers. Just wondering if anyone would estimate about how many hrs a week you spend doing parttime. I really think Im going to apply to this school, I have been a RN for almost 13 yrs and my GPA was a 3.7 so Im thinking I should be able to get in but there are no classes open until Aug! Thats a while to wait but Im thinking it will be worth. I was thinking that maybe I could do some general ed classes at our local college until then. Thanks to everyone who responds and congrats to all that have been recently accepted!

I know this question has probably been asked several times but I really couldnt find anything to answer it. I have been a RN for over 12 yrs and I want to go back to school to be a FNP. I have my ADN so I know I have alot of school in front of me. I just cant figure out the best way to go about it. I will have to do online and cont to work. So, my question is what do you all recommend? Should I go RN to BSN and then enroll in a MSN with a FNP degree or should I go RN to MSN and then do a post masters in FNP. What would be ideal would be RN to MSN with a FNP option but I have not been able to find that online. Actually one was Gracelands but they require alot of clinicals for the BSN and the MSN. Okay, I have researched this quite a bit and Im at a loss, hopefully someone can give some advice, thanks in advance.

If your loved one had a terminal illness such as the late stages of alzheimers would you want them to die from the illness itself or from the uti that they developed which could have been prevented if treated. Hospice should not take measures to stop progression of the terminal illness but anyone can develop a uti. Hospice is not there to speed up the process by not taking care of other things that come up. If they develop a temp, arent you going to give them tylenol. When I worked at the hospital and I had a pt who was a dnr and something would come up I would get so mad when I called the physician for something and he would say"why are you callling me, they are a dnr!". Hello, they may be dying but lets let them die from the terminal illness itself instead of something else, that is just pure neglect.

oh my gosh, I thought I had it bad. I say you cant run fast enough. It is getting really scary in the world of nursing:o

Well, after the day that I had yesterday, talked with the new manager(her third day), she called the area manager and he is bringing himself and another RN down tomorrow to help us get caught up on foot checks and comp assessments. So that makes me feel better that he cares enough to come and try to help us out, so Im going to hang in there for awhile.

I have been in and out of dialysis for past 5 years with a total of about 3 years of dialysis. I have done 2 travel assignments at Fresenius clinics and they were both great experiences so I accepted a full time charge nurse position with Fresenius at a new clinic close to home. I have been there 4 weeks and Im regretting the decision because they are working me to death. We are a new clinic, we have 20 pts, 2 shifts on m, w, and fri. Its me, 2 techs, one is seasoned the other is new, cant even do caths yet, and my clinical manager just had back surg and is very limited in what she can do, no secretary. anyway, they say I cant have another tech until I get 5 more pts:angryfire. Im feeling very frustrated at this point, very busy, im going in on days off to get paperwork done. We are getting admits every week, but looks like I will be taking my own row and doing everything else Im suppose to do, not to meation those lovely IDC assess that are due on everybody. Just want to scream! Anyone else feeling my pain!

hello everyone! My last day is April 13th and I start with a new hospice on April 17th. They have promised me a very thorough orientation, it is only part time but they are growing fast and I really think it will be full time in no time. Im just trusting in the lord and I know that he is leading me in the right direction. Thanks to everyone for all of the advice and replies.

Unfortnately, Im telling the truth. I never have to take call because we do have a nurse who takes call for us but she is getting really frustrated about not getting paid extra and Im afraid that she is going to leave soon. Like this weekend, she had to go to the daily dressing change and I know that we lost 2 pts over the weekend and so I know that she was called out to take care of that and she will get her flat rate and mileage and nothing else. But in the past weve been slow and she might not get one call in 2 weeks and I always take care of everything at the end of the day so that she is not left with anything. And there are days that I dont leave until 6:00 or even 7:00 esp when we have IDT and I have to get all those papers done. And can you believe when I asked for a day off and I meationed that I have stayed over she says, we do not keep an official total of extra hours, if you stay late you may come in late the next morning but you cannot use the hours at a later date you must use your pto. Needless to say one week I stayed over late on several days, didnt have lunch and had to leave early for a doc app and I had to use pto, that was very irritating. I appreciate everyones input, it will help me make a very informed decision esp when they beg me to stay and ask what can we do to help and then I can throw all this info at them. I should be hearing from that other agency tomorrow and hopefully they will have good news, the only thing is that I feel so responsible for my pts, they will have a fit if they think Im leaving, and thats really one of the things that keeps me trying so hard. Thanks again.

Hey Reg Read, thanks for your post. 47,000 per month wow thats alot. When I told my administrator that the wife was very upset and had commented on how much they get paid per month based on what she has recieved in the mail she says "people just dont have any ideal how much money it takes to run a business". But anyway, I have finally convienced them that a nurse needs to to it, after the aide saw the tumor undressed she was really stressed about doing it so I will continue to do it daily and the oncall nurse will do it on the weekend. But, Im looking into working for another hospice but all they have is part time right now but I know a nurse there that I have worked with and trust and she recieved a very lengthy orientation and is very happy there. Right now they are so busy she said that I could probabley just about get enough hours just not benefits but that is okay with me. Hey how does oncall usually work. Our nurses get a flat oncall pay of 50.00 per day and nothing extra if they have to go out and they get 175.00 for the whole weekend starting at friday evening until monday morning. Does that sound about right? Oh, what is the average pay per hour or per visit because right now Im on salary?Thanks for your post because I was kinda feeling that way about my administrator, she is all about the numbers and not very good at patient care. We have a pt on marinol and is doing very well on it and she has been wanting us to wean her off of it and try something else that is just as effective but more cost effective, yeah right, I told her that I just couldnt take it away from her and that I would discuss it with the physician but of course I havent and Im not going to. I have sort of just forgot about it. There is no way that megace and compazine are going to provide the same relief that marinol has and who cares if she is addicted at least she can go about her day without pucking her guts out. Oh dont get me started on my soap box!

Hey Im with you, I love this job but I just dont know how much longer I can do it. My organization is very organized there just isnt enough of us and they dont want to hire anyone else. Im checking with another hospice about just working part time and maybe Ill do something else partime. I just dont think I can do this day in and day out, I always take it home with me and I really just want to be done at the end of the day. If I were you I would most defintely talk with corporation about what is going on, just think about how poor care the pts are getting. Good Luck!

Hey, I finally found time to respond. Thanks everyone who replied, we are up to 14 pts now and Im still the only case manager. I told them last week if they did not get me any help that I would probabley be leaving because I cannot handle the pressure. So they have asked our oncall nurses to help out with some visits so that will help some, I asked for another case manager but they said they just couldnt do that right now. Im really thinking about throwing in the towel because when I get home Im stressed out and I have 3 school aged children and we are very active and I just cant deal with all of this. Weve been slammed with admits this last week, my supervisor has been helping with that but its just not enough. I have a daily dressing change on a elderly man with malignant melonoma and she's having a fit because we have been doing dailys she said we should have never started that and now she wants the aide to learn how to do it and now the wife is very upset. Oh well, maybe things will look better tomorrow. Oh, this company has been around for 10 yrs but a little less than a year in our community. thanks again everyone for the replies.

Okay, Ive been doing hospice now for a little over 2 mths, I had very little orientation and Ive had a case load of 9 pts since the first week and now Ive got 12 and I fill like Im drowning, Im behind on my paperwork and I have 3 recerts due next week. Im doing about 16 visits a week and traveling about 300 miles a week. I work in a small office and therefore Im the only nurse except for my supervisor who has been doing most of the admissions but thats it, I went in today and told her that I was overwhelmed and needed help and ask for another nurse, prn or a lpn to help with visits so that I could have some office time, well her solution is for me to fill out my paper notes and then someone else will put them in the computer. Yes,that will help some but Im still overwhelmed and feel cheated out of a real orientation. I love what Im doing I just wondered if everyone else recieved real training or did everyone else have to figure out the dying process and all that it withholds on their own.

The calling part is definitely a big help. There is so much to learn and to think I was afraid I might be bored. There is never enough time to be bored. But, at the end of the day I always feel as if Ive done something to help someone and to me that is what nursing is all about. No wonder Ive never been satisfied with anything Ive done has a nurse, Ive been in the wrong place all this time!

Hello everyone. can you believe it, Ive been at this for over 6 weeks now. I do love it. There are times that I feel so overwhelmed. I work in a very small office and Im the only staff RN and I have a caseload of 9 but last week we lost 3 pts but I admitted 2. I cant get over how busy it is. I have not yet been there when the pt died and Im a bit anxious about it but I have everything wrote down step by step that needs to be done and I think I will do okay. Oh, I just got the symptom control algorithym hospice book that was recommended on this site and I love it, well, what Ive been able to read thus far. Just want to say thanks to everyone on this site for the encouragement and support you all offer, I really think that I have finally found my spot in nursing.:)

Hello everyone. Im in my second week and things are going well. My pt load is very small right now and that is making it easier for me to comprehend everything. Thanks for the encourgaement and advice. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on and visiting this site as often as I can. Ive already discovered that the transition from curing to comfort is going to be a difficult one but one that I welcome. Another thing that is really confusing, how do you keep up with everyone's meds and making sure they dont run out. Right now Im using a calender for each pt and updating it with each visit. There is so much to learn! But, right now I love it.

It is good to know that Im not alone. I go in to tommorow to spend the day with the nurse that is leaving. I feel good about my decision and most people are positive about my decision but occ I hear Oh, are you sure you can do this, you sure are a sensitive nurse. But I feel in my heart that this is the direction that the Lord wants me to go so Im going for it and I trust that he will lead me in the way. I appreciate the replys and Im sure I will have plenty of questions in the future.

I accepted the Hospice position and will start full time next week. Im very nervous but excited about it. Anyone have any advice about what I should be doing to prepare for this position? Im anxious about the pain managment aspect, will this be difficult for me to learn. What kind of things can I read that will help me to be a better hospice nurse? Thanks for any info that anyone can share.

Thanks to everyone who replied, I look forward to my interview tomorrow and I will let you all know how it goes.:)

Hello everyone, Im new to this area but recently I have felt a call for hospice and there is a position open for RN Case Management with a local facility and I have an interview tomorrow morning. I am a Christian and I really am feeling drawn to this area of nursing. I am very tender hearted and very empathic toward my patients and I am afraid that I will be depressed all of the time but at the same time I feel as if I have something special to offer to these pts and thier familys. I am currently working in dialysis and really ready for a change. Any advice? I am a very upbeat bubbly personaility and Im not sure that I will fit in this kind of environment.