Awesomepossum

I have the same problem, I'm on a med/surg ward with a lot of complex cases, like people who just had all of their guts taken out and are getting chemo. I routinely have 6-8 pts on a "good" day (we're only supposed to have 5 but hey, why keep nurses employed, we're so easy to replace right?!) and 8-12 on nights. Note many of these people end up on the unit because they're so unstable. I can't quit because if I quit from the big company I can't get another job in the area and I don't have enough exp to transfer or get hired at the good hospital. I'm just screwed.

Yeah good luck seeing everybody when you have 7+ patients on daylight or 10 on nights. I'm lucky if I see everybody once every 4 hours let alone every 1. I do try to see everybody regularly...which is probably why I haven't had a break or lunch on the job in 3 months and always get out 2 hours late.

It's nobody's business what you do in your own home. Politely decline to answer. After all, nobody asks nurses if they're STRAIGHT do they?!

My floor is like that too only usually we have 40-46 patients, but only budget for 36 surgical so we end up with 5 nurses on days and 4 at night with 2 aids on days and 1 (if we're lucky) at night. Do the math...very dangerous patient ratios! Everybody is miserable and nurses drop like flies. I"ve been here 3 months and we've lost 5. I wish somebody would tell me a way to make med/surg not hell but I think it's just the worse speciality! I actually like the surgical patients, y'know the people with problems you can fix, not the chronic med cases. Hate 'em. If I have all surg people I have an ok night shift. As things are now tho I hear your pain, I hate my job to the point where I have daily panic attacks and actually cry in the car to (And from) work every day. Does it ever end?! And no I can't get another job in my city. The mega corp I work for owns ever hospital in town but one and won't let you transfer or get rehired with them without a year of exp, only good union hospital doesn't hire new nurses and since it's the only decent place to work nobody quits. They've only posted 2 nurse jobs in a year.

At my hospital nrew grads aren't allowed on nights all the time since "The floor is busier during the day and you need more experience" Um ok. I have 7-9 patients at night and we don't get breaks or lunches. I never leave my 7p-7a shift before 9 for the most part and days are WORSE! I can be on all nights after a year but I don't intend to put up with this place after my year ticks by

I work in a city where if you say the word "union" the giant mega corp who owns the city (no really, they do!) will fire you and you never work in town again! I prefer nights...but at my "lovely" hospital we routinely have 7-10 fresh post surg patients and medical people who should be on the unit but aren't on nights, and on DAYs we may have 7-8! NOT SAFE! I had one night the other month where I had 12 people, by myself, at night AS A NEW GRAD! ****! The surg part is fine but I hate medical, hate it so much, and hate this floor. We call it the 8th level of hell for a reason.

Which is better for a floor nurse RN with a BS in another field? I don't want to stay on the floor ugh. My destiny is in the PACU/ICU/Surgery and eventually off the floor. But I can't decide which masters (if any) to get. I feel like getting my BSN is a waste of time when I already have a BS I can leverage into points towards a masters. Any tips?

This is why I use an assumed name for everything online, even facebook. I don't list my true town, where I really work etc. I also DON"T friend people I work with either. I had a problem with a back stabbing coworker a while back so now I'm extra extra careful. Sigh how do I miss the long gone days of internet anonymity

We are not here to judge; if you want to judge someone else's business save that for church. We're here to save lives, not souls as it were. The way I see it it doesn't effect ME if someone is a drug seeker. Don't sue me and whatever.

WOuld have been nice to know that there were no jobs back when I started but now I only have 1 class left so it would be stupid for me to stop now when I'm so close. Course I should be used to the no job thing as there were no jobs for my old degree either. That's the plight of the fresh grads these days: no jobs anywhere

Yes we are all very aware of the lack of jobs and how screwed all of us ADN students are even with another degree under our belts. HOWEVER it does nothing to help other people or yourself to spread all that negativity around! Maybe that Debbie Downer attitude is what's keeping you from getting a job? Please keep all that toxic hate to yourself and try just for a tiny bit of positivity. Whatever energy you put out comes back to you so all that negativity isn't good for anybodyl

slavery is rampant in this country, we just call it customer service, volunteering, community service, and nursing school clinicals ;p

So I'm graduating this winter and currently am going on 2 years of being a pharmacy tech. I'm worried that my lack of actual nursing experience will keep me from getting a job. I've tried to get an aid or tech job for two semesters but haven't been able to get one where I can still go to school and the pharmacy gives me some experience and much better pay than I could get elsewhere Anyway my question is are there any certifications I can work on that would give ma chance at getting a job as a newly graduated RN? I'm updating my BLS this summer and trying to find ACLS certification as well but any suggestions would be great. Even if volunteering would help. I already do hospice volunteering but it's not patient care, just moral support. Just another terrified soon to graduate nurse desperate for advice!!

I did have a very hard time trying to get the stethoscope to lie flat. Where i could feel her pulse was right there on the edge by the thumb. Does it work better to listen a little further up on the arm where it's flatter?

So this week I had a patient who I needed to do a forearm blood pressure on and I just couldn't hear a thing with the manual cuff. I've practiced and practiced on other people and I just can't get the hang of it. Upper arm (normal blood pressure) I'm much more confidant with. I know not being able to just do it perfectly makes me look like a bumbling fool so any tips or tricks? I've asked my lab professor and he said it's a very hard skill and he couldn't tutor me on "It's more than just listening hon" So...any tips and tricks? I'm practicing on whoever I can get my paws on but I need something to boost my game as it were as right now I'm stuck.