cogath

I an a dietary worker at a hospital and just came back from a shift feeling a bit like this . My day consists of any number of tasks including collecting patient's orders, helping prepare the meal trays, delivering the meal trays, setting up the patient so they can eat, and returning to pick up the finished meal trays and documenting the intake and output on a sheet posted in the patient's room. If any one of these steps goes awry, I also field complaints and manage other matters on nutrition. I consider myself a very reliable, hard-working individual who strives to be polite, and respect the patients as well as other staff. I always leave the room so that nurses and other staff can work with the patients, step out out elevators to allow other staff to utilize them. I am basically at the bottom of the "totem pole" of hospital staff, but it doesn't bother me. I enjoy what I do, and I know that my work is much easier and much less complex then what other staff such as nurses have to do. (I will hopefully graduate with my BSN this May). Most of the nurses, nursing assistants, HUCs, and doctors I encounter are very pleasant and kind. There are some nurses that I know must just be unhappy people because I can be sure that I will be yelled at if I have their patients. However, some nurses and nursing assistants and other staff act annoyed, ignore me, or simply are rude when I am working with the patients. Today I was yelled at twice when going around to clean up my patient's dirty trays. Both times I knocked on the door, introduced myself, and asked if I could take the dirty tray. A nurse glared at me and asked me if I had "two eyes" or could I not see there was anything in the room. If I had not done this, there would surely be a call down to my department complaining that the trays weren't being collected. It just feels like I can't please anyone. What can I do to help? I have a job to do, but it is so hard when there's a lot of others competing for the patient.

Congrats! One week and semester left in my BSN. Can't wait to be in your shoes and hoping that I get there in once piece, fingers crossed. I won't say "when" I graduate I will say "if" I graduate because you are right, 1000 things could go wrong from now until then!!

Clean clean clean. Donate a lot of junk I don't need. Work. Volunteer. Attempt to transfer jobs at the hospital that I work at. Update my resume. Practice NCLEX questions and get prepared for boards this summer. Sleep. Spend time with my boyfriend, family, and friends.

We started with 100 people and have 80 left at this time with one week left in third semester, however I'm sure we will loose about 5-10 after grades are posted.

Congrats!! So jealous, hopeful May grad here!!!

Yes, as well as several of my clinical sites. A few students were car-jacked while parking this semester. As in grand theft auto: Get out of the car or we'll shoot. We are in a big city though and many of our clinical sites are in even worse areas, working with vulnerable populations.

I really enjoyed my Med-Surg classes and am looking forward to Critical Care next semester, which will be my last class to take. I think that I am getting a little bit of senioritis too and becoming antsy to be finished.

I just wondered in anyone else shares these feelings. This class is mostly BS and the material is completely obvious. You could pass the tests without even cracking open a book. What makes this class almost painful are the hoards of pointless, long papers that we have to write, and the care plans, which are boring me to death. The clinicals were also extremely boring and drawn out, and mostly pointless. I have one left and I am agonizing over this care plan, I would rather chew nails then finish it. Sorry for the negative energy, I am just sick of this pointless class

Scholarships pay about 50%. The rest I find in loans and out of pocket. I am 80,000 in debt. Think twice before you choose loans or an expensive school like I did.

Never at work. However, I have plenty of times in nursing school. I need to be active and moving, which is part of the reason I choose nursing as a career. Sitting in a room (often for 3-4 hours at a time) that is hot and in the very early morning (I am a night person), listening to a teacher drone on and on makes it a struggle for me to stay awake. My classmates always tease me about sleeping during class. One day I worked a 3-11:30p on Sunday night and had class at 8a the next morning. We had a test that day, so I stayed up late reviewing. After the test we had 3 hours of lecture. I have no recollection whatsoever of that lecture and no notes at all. It's like I blacked out or something.

Nursing school is such a hyper-regimented environment, and a lot is crammed into such a short period of time. The thought has crossed my mind frequently what would happen if I broke my leg, got into an accident, or had some other incident that resulted in my inability to participate in school and/or clinicals. I'm always worried that this will happen and will set me back by a year or more, when I am very ready to be done. What experiences have people had with this, or thoughts on this?

I am so grateful that I haven't gotten severely ill during school or work so far. This has been my biggest fear. Mono was going around last year and some students missed a week or more of class. I can't image recovering after missing so much. Thankfully I have been very healthy. The last illness I had that really knocked me out was actually the week school ended. I slept a few days straight besides work and then got a bug. This has happened a few times. I figure when I'm constantly busy will school my system is on hyper-drive and is ready to battle whatever comes its way. Then, when I finally get to rest, my body lets its defenses down and that's when I get sick. That's my theory anyway.

If your parents are being so generous I would accept the help. There was and is abuse situation at my parent's house so I moved out during nursing school. Therefore I need to work. Working and going to school is exhausting and drains you. But it can be done. I worked usually between 15-25 hours a week depending on the semester. This semester I will be working about 25 hours a week.

I know exactly how you feel. It's tough when you have to work to pay the bills and your schedule is convoluted. There's also those unspoken days such as clinical prep time that you have to account for too. I also cannot wait until I have a completely free schedule so I can start working full time.

With 4 credit classes, I wouldn't recommend taking more then 12 credits of nursing classes. The most I've taking so far is 12 credits of nursing classes and 4 credits of a nursing pre-req I was finishing, and it was brutal.

I am in my last year of my BSN. I had completed my pre-reqs for medical school and was a few classes short of finishing my degree and taking the MCAT before I switched to nursing. Standing in one place in a cold OR is not what I want from my career, and as another poster stated above doctors work like dogs. I still think about going for an MD every now and then but I really don't have the dedication for such a time-consuming career path, and I think if you want to be an MD your heart really has to be 100% with it. Good luck to you whatever you decide. With your score and your experience I'm sure you could do either.

You know what? I don't doubt that looks play a role in hiring. However, I have been testing a theory. I have glasses that I sometimes wear to see far distances, my vision is good without them, so I hardly wear them. Well whenever I wear them to interviews, the interview goes much better and I end up getting the job! When I don't wear my glasses, I haven't ever gotten a job. I wonder if employers think that glasses=smarter, more docile, more reliable, thus more hirable. So maybe it's not attractiveness but something else.

Today my manager called me to inform me that I had made a careless mistake last night on my shift as a CNA. It was not a mistake that involved patient care, but a mistake that caused some expense to the organization due to equipment. This is my second major mistake as a CNA in three years. The first one happened earlier this year and could have cost me $5,000 due to carrying a patient's possession home in my pocket. Thankfully I called right away when I realized it and the possession was not damaged. But I narrowly avoided a write-up. Although neither of these mistakes endangered patients, when they happened I felt crushed. Both were such careless mistakes, probably because I was out of routine or trying to hurry. It makes me wonder whether or not I should be responsible for patients and makes me doubt my own abilities in nursing. I feel like in this job, mistakes are so much more risky because they involve people's lives. I am afraid one day I will forget something or get too comfortable and careless. How do you handle making a mistake in nursing? How do you prevent mistakes from happening?

Code on a pt in dialysis

$60 grand here at least, I know how you feel.

I always pack my lunch. I don't cook or anything, and I find things that are easy to pack. I also have a good collection of tupperware. Things that I usually pack are sandwhiches, fruit (berries, grapes, banana, grapefruit, orange, apple), veggies and dip/peanut butter (chopped celery, carrots, raw broccoli, sliced tomatoes), and a protein source (cottage cheese or yogurt portioned into tupperware, a piece of string cheese, nuts). I avoid things like prepackaged crackers, cookies, snacks, chips, etc. 100% natural as possible. I find that I'll eat whatever I pack, because there's no other choice. So at least I get one nutritious meal in for the day. (can't always say that the rest are as good, lol)

I moved out with my boyfriend the summer before nursing school. I worked part time through nursing school and went full time in my BSN program. However I have a lot of money saved and my grandmother passed away last year, leaving us some inheritance money. If you don't have anything saved it may be difficult, but I haven't found it particularly hard finanically. On the other hand, working and going to school at the same time is grueling. I had no time for anything else in my life and at many times I felt very overwhelmed. First semester I worked 20-30 hours a week, and second semester I had to cut down to about 10 hours a week and even that was challenging. However, if I hadn't moved out, I would have never seen my boyfriend (who works full time), and also I was in a bad family situation and needed to get out of there. So in the end it was worth it to me. But be prepared to be very busy, and on top of all of that you have a place you have to clean and care for. Sometimes the chores were neglected if there wasn't time and that was a struggle for me, as I like having an organized home. I would look at the cost of rent and how much you have saved. Bills can add another $100 or more to your monthly cost. How often will you be able to work? What is your motivation for moving out? It can be done but it takes a lot of planning and cooperation. At this point, if you are still able to see you boyfriend while living at home, I would invest in another vehicle and save money instead of moving out. Good luck to you, whatever you decide.

I have another take on this topic although I also agree with the above posters. On weekend one of my best friends was leaving to go out of the country for one year. My friends invited me to go visit her before she left (she lives out of town, although not 10 hours away). I was distraught because I had a test in fundamentals that very same weekend (online test). At the last minute I decided to go. I did not regret that decision one bit. My friend was important to me and she appreciated it. So consider your options carefully when it comes to the people you love and cherish, school isn't everything, and how much would it really hurt to go for a short while. Will you remember the wedding more or will you remember sitting studying that chapter for acute care =/

I think that you are in danger of loosing your focus here getting caught up in all of this. You are paying to get an education not to make friends. I am a nursing student and I don't really have a "group" or any friends in nursing school either. I am a bit older then most of the other students, and have a life otuside of school. I am pleasant but just don't want to get involved with the drama. I wouldn't sweat it too much. Focus on your studies and doing well. Make yourself stand out. Your role in school is to learn and excel so that when the time comes for job interviews YOU will get hired and not them. Don't waste your time over petty stuff.

We have about 1.5 months until we enter our final year of a 4 year BSN program. I switched degrees so this is actually my 5th year. I am sooo excited :redpinkhe We have classes the 1st semester and then our preceptorship the 2nd. And then done with school!! Anyone else as excited as me to be finished?? I just can't wait to go back! I'm sure it is going to be an awesome year for everyone!!