mariahlily

The real answer was “if you can afford it, talk to a lawyer.” This was slander. Resulting in a serious blow to her employability. a lot of lawyers would probably say “you’re SOL.” But a few might say she has a case considering that she made her own statement to the charge, and another staff person was sympathetic to her. So there could have been other witnesses as well who overheard him making contradicting statements.

This answer was a joke, right? ”Think about your role in this conflict”? When she was falsely accused and wrongfully terminated.

I for one am shocked but not surprised at the responses you’re getting from other nurses here. But it makes sense. Nurses tend to be less forgiving of students’ mishaps. The mistakes you made were fairly minor. Yes, you need to knock on patients’ doors before you go in. Yes, you need to concentrate better next time. But you did not endanger anyone here. Saying that you’re irresponsible or judgmental, simply based on this, is a bit unfair. So you fumbled. And your instructor possibly got annoyed with you. I once had an instructor who got annoyed with me even when I followed her instructions to a T. There was no pleasing her. She would hand me a lunch tray and tell me to take it up to the soiled utility room. Then refused to tell me where it was. All my other instructors liked me, but not her. It happens and it isn’t the end of the world. You asked permission to do a med pass. You were told “no.” Apparently a lot of other posters here didn’t have the reading comprehension skills to see that. I kept scratching my head, wondering where people got the idea that you were passing meds when it was clearly stated you weren’t. If you want advice, then the solution is do your best to follow instructions better next time. Teachers like to see when they’ve made an impact on their students. If you come away from this course more focused and attentive, she’ll be proud of you. In the mean time, figure out what you need to do to be more awake and energetic. If you have trouble remembering spoken directions, jotting down notes could be worth your while.

I'm about 18 months into PCU/med/tele nursing, and I still don't feel completely comfortable. Definitely more competent and knowledgeable than when I started, but I'm not a "grown up nurse" just yet My preceptor told me it probably won't be until 3 years solid. I think she's right.

Ruby Vee, I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is terrible advice."just avoid your own home" is simply awful. Your home should be a place where you take a deep breath and think "I can relax now." Work, relationships, and life in general are stressful enough without having housing issues. It's the only place where you're guaranteed privacy, naps, and a place to recuperate from seasonal cold bugs. Coming home to be even more stressed out? Terrible Paying a bunch of money every month on rent, just to avoid relaxing there? Waste of money If you can't rely on your home to offer you those things, you aren't guaranteed to find them at Starbucks.

AB staffing-definitely avoid. They do a lot of contracts with Native American reservations. I interviewed for a clinic position on a reservation in New Mexico, got accepted, then the contract was canceled a couple of days later. I figured it was just an issue with the Indian Health System. Then I interviewed for and got a position on a reservation in South Dakota. Everything seemed fine up until the day before I was supposed to drive from Texas. My recruiter called to say the contract was cancelled. Even though I had already ended the lease on my apartment and paid for my stuff to get moved out, they just dropped me. They said they would try to get me something else ASAP, but I said that wasn't good enough. Because now I was unemployed and homeless. Thankfully I was able to send my resume out to permanent job openings and got something else right away, but I'll never call AB ever again. Or work on an Indian reservation.

I'm not sure if it's annoying, but I'm always surprised when grown men and women complain about very minor issues. Like an ID bracelet that's just a little bit too long and occasionally slides down their arm an inch Or they coughed twice and now want a throat lozenge. Or cough syrup with codeine Or they drank too much soda and now feel bloated so they ask for a simethicone If I'm bloated, I just sit up for about 15 minutes or massage my belly. If I have a minor cough, I drink tea (or do nothing....because it's just a minor cough) if my headache is 3/10, I don't even care about Tylenol. I only take pain meds if it really frickin hurts And as for minor annoyances, like a plastic ID bracelet that slides a little....I mean I have bras that need readjusting every 2 minutes. Always tugging at the shoulder straps and don't get me started on people who can't take the time to flip through the stations to find their own channel. If we're out of TV guides, they ask me to help them find that channel (not dementia patients...healthy, with it adults)

Has anyone said they trust their employer yet? I like my current job. My coworkers and charge nurses are all kind. The nurse managers are supportive However, my first real nursing job was a train wreck. That particular institution did a whole song and dance number about how they wanted to lift us up and support us when we made mistakes--they didn't want to punish us. That's what they told us during orientation and staff meetings. But the culture was very much one of thinning the herds. Even minor mistakes on my part (like accidentally putting my initials on the wrong space on a form) were framed as a "lack of critical thinking skills." When one of my nicer, most helpful coworkers was such suddenly fired, and no one else showed any emotion about her departure, I knew to watch my back. Actions speak louder than words If your institution is trying to verbally reassure the nurses that they can talk to you with impunity, they need to show their trustworthiness first. Managers and charge nurses have opportunities every single day to show the nurses that they're on their side. They need to do it, and keep doing it to gain their staff's trust Btw why is it that you trust this place? I have to wonder why they specifically want nurses to talk about "mistakes" There are a 101 ways to get stressed out at work: bullying, patient deaths, exhaustion, anxiety, grief. but if management is only expressing interest in getting nurses to open up about medical errors, it's a sign that this is out of interest for the institution, not the employees

Only two weeks orientation? For someone brand new to nursing? Sorry but that's just nuts.

I worked as a mental health worker in a psychiatric hospital before nursing school. I handed out medications, offered basic therapeutic intervention, and called doctors and other providers if the patients had medical problems. it was low paying--the kind of salary that you settle for right after college when you're waiting for your first grown up job. But I learned a lot You can find similar roles in rehabs and group homes for foster kids or disabled adult You should also look into jobs as clinical research coordinator. Sometimes this is an RN role but not always. CRAs just handle the overall organization and management of clinical research (e.g. Drug trials in humans). It's mostly office-based, as your main job is to help with applications, schedule research meetings, comply with ethical guidelines, and contact and consent research participants You can also be a social worker in a hospital, hospice, or other settings. If you *lost* your nursing license, the reasons why might be pertinent. E.g. Drug use, patient endangerment. For that you need to be completely honest when asked about it, give great references that attest to the fact that you're not the same person who made the mistake. If you just didn't follow through with completing your license, that shouldn't be such a big deal. But you would have to show that you're not the kind of person who jumps ship after a short period of time Good luck

I'm currently a new grad who got her first job at a regional hospital. I got two months of preceptorship and then I worked on the floor on my own. How was I consuming a year's worth of educational resources?

I really don't care how nurses choose to say it, as long as they give me the info. it seems pretty petty to laugh at "fluffy" or "for me." You're able to do your job, aren't you?

I'm not sure why people are outraged at the ideo of a student "volunteering their services." That's what I did in nursing school. Act as an extra pair of hands to my nurse mentor (taking vitals, answering call lights, changing diapers).

if you want to talk about oblivious nursing schools, honey, look no further than my alma mater. A big-name New York City nursing school. I graduated this past May, was license shortly thereafter, and it has taken me almost exactly a year to find a job (700 resumes emailed/handed out. not kidding). About a month before I moved out of NYC, I went back to some of my old professors for advice, including one of the program directors of the school. When I told her that I haven't been able to find work, she didn't believe me. She smirked and said "Everyone else has found a job" (not true, of course) "So why aren't you employed yet? Did you take some time off or something?" by that point, I had *only* sent out about 500 resumes, gone to 4 career fairs, and spent about 20 hours physically walking into hospitals to ask about work....but I resisted the urge to strangle her. I just matter of factly said to her "I started networking and applying to jobs 4 months before I graduated. So, no. I never took any time off." And she just looked down and sputtered "Oh. Oh, I'm sorry...that's--that's too bad." I spent my entire time in nursing school, speaking with every single one of my professors and preceptors. I would ask them "I really want to get some work experience instead of going straight for my Master's degree. Do you have any advice about how to find work?" The answers ranged from "Google hospitals" to "find a place that hires new graduates". And there were a few "You're such a great student! You'll definitely find work." Idiots.

Mississippi and Tennesse are good for new grads. I also heard rumors about some parts of North Dakota.

what I've heard is that in some hiring situations, even if there's one person that they for sure want to choose, they still have to interview other people. one nurse manager once really wanted to hire me for a job where I had NO qualifications whatsoever, and she said that even though she wanted to pick me, if she received applications from qualified people, she had to interview them, whether she wanted to or not. I don't really understand that...some HR departments have really bizarre protocols. ..but the point is, even if they want to hire you, they may still have to wait to get the other people in and speak with them. so it could take a while for them to get back to you. honestly, this person who spoke with you sounds a bit goofy. they don't really have any business telling you not to accept other offers. and then when they ask you a question about you preferred start date, and they respond like you answered presumptuously. weird.

addicts seem to come up with a lot of different excuses to not follow through with rehab. when I was a guardian ad litem to a foster baby, the biological mother would tell me one day that she was about to jet off to a rehab, then the next day she would be checked out because "she didn't like the early morning walks" that she was forced to go on. if it wasn't that, then it was the fact that the place didn't have coffee, or cigarettes, or tv. or whatever.

there was one comment who said you should have just kept your mouth shut and immediately brought in the DON, to avoid talking about the nurse. then there was another comment who said that you should have talked with the patient about the nurse, and should not have dared bring it up with the DON. two completely different ideas about how to solve the situation. and both people insisted that they're right, and anyone who deviates from that course of action is wrong and unprofessional and unreasonable and deserves repercussions. sigghhhhhhh.

are there any courses you can take on safety in the healthcare setting? like crisis intervention, de-escalation, etc. it could make you feel more confident, just in case you do get a patient who flips out. A lot of people can be calmed down just through therapeutic talking (unless, of course they're on meth or a psychotic bender, but those courses should also teach you ways of keeping yourself and your patient safe even then). BTW it would be really nice to have more nice people in critical care. It's necessary to have the tough-as-nails personality around, but some patients need a more gentle caretaker if they've just come in with an emergency.

i'm kind of for the testicle-pliers thing, to be honest.

she sounds pretty bold if she's willing to say "you're mean" right to your face. that kind of confrontation should be saved for really bad bullying-type behaviors, not when you patiently explain that you're too busy to take on extra work.

My two cents to this whole conversation is that it seems that your professional team really makes or breaks your job-satisfaction. A lot of nurses on this site complain that they have to report to overly strict bosses. I definitely saw that on one of my clinical sites- the manager would publically berate all of her employees for the most minor details. After that, I precepted on a floor where the manager practically let the nurses get away with murder. One day, I let one of the nurses know that her patient told me he was having chest pain. Even though I gently repeated myself and asked "Do you want me to help you with anything?" she just glared back at me without saying anything. Her manager was standing right next to her the whole time, and after about 15 seconds of her just staring at me, he had to gently persuade her to go do an EKG. If it had been any other nurse manager, she would have gotten her head bitten off. For all I know, she's one of the venters on this site, complaining about what a "mean" taskmaster she has to work for. And maybe the actually-mean nurse manager is also here, venting about what "lazy" people she has to work with.

Firstly, take a step back and reread my post. Did I not write clearly enough for you? At what point did I say that volunteer work was preferable to working? What I said was that many volunteer departments will NOT call you back if you disclose that you're an unemployed nurse. They have no interest in being used as a job training tool. I did get a call back from a cancer treatment facility eventually, but only because I said I was a social worker on my application. And as I said, not all volunteer positions are going to help you with your nursing skills (hint, pushing around a book cart on a nursing unit). Secondly, if you're going to volunteer to help your job search, you might just end up wasting your time if you don't choose wisely. If you do it just to make recruiters overlook the employment break, then a non-medical position is not going to count. As I said, you can spend 8 hours a day pushing a book cart around a nursing unit, but to a recruiter, that's the same as nothing. It does nothing for your skills. If you're volunteering because you want to network, then is the position actually going to put you in contact with the right people? Doctors don't hire nurses. Nurse don't hire nurses. NURSE MANAGERS hire nurses. You're going to need a place where you'll get to know professionals who have hiring authority (so doing art projects with pediatric patients in a waiting area isn't going to give you the same amount of networking opportunities as you would have in a nursing unit.) And then you also have to consider if that facility is hiring at all: if you volunteer for 8 months, hoping that it will turn into a paying job, then you better hope that there won't be any hiring freezes or lay-offs. Seriously, I should write a book about all the bad, incomplete advice that new grads give each other. "Just volunteer" is one example, for all the reasons I just laid out. If someone had bothered to explain to me all the ins and outs of the hiring process, then maybe it wouldn't have taken me 9 months to find a job.

what??? nursing isn't all campfires and rainbows?? I seriously could have sworn that's what my preceptor told me.

FYI: In a lot of states, even non-hospital venues like nursing homes and prisons are asking for 3-5 years of experience. Check your facts before you personally attack someone. That being said, the tone of your post is childish. The OP is struggling with this economy, she's dealing with student debts, and your first response is to call her names??? Seriously, I feel bad for the patients under your care. I can only imagine that they get a boat-load of attitude, judgment, and nastiness from you. It really terrifies me to think that people like you work hospital caring for vulnerable and oftentimes scared patients. Lord, please promise me that I will never have you as my nurse.