lupin

Hello, I am an RN with 6 yrs experience. I am in an accelerated fnp program at my state university. I work PRN night shift at a local ED and have a 3yr old and husband. Feeling a little overwhelmed but trying to muck through the best way I can. Would love to hear from anyone else to gain advice or just to commiserate. Thanks!

I went to Cmcc and graduated in 2005. I felt I got a good education from CMCC. The instructors were very helpful and the clinical experiences were interesting (our clinicals were mostly at Central Maine Medical Center, D'youville, St. Mary's, etc). I lived in Brunswick at the time, so Smcc and Cmcc were going to be either direction for me. I had several personal issues that came about during my program but my Advisor really encouraged me and helped me get through them. I know by state standards, the school that has the most students pass the N-clex on the first try is rated the best in the state and SMCC was consistently rated #1 in the state, but CMCC was usually #2. It basically came down to who was going to get me in a program faster (I applied everywhere ) and CMCC called me two weeks from the start of classes saying there had been a drop out and I was first on the waiting list. Whatever you do, when you finish, go back and finish your bachelor's. Easier if your already working as a nurse. No change in title but will make a difference in some job situations.

Not really this week, one was sick, the other was at FEMA training, and we were also down a nurse. But we made it through .

We have two CNAs with phlebotomy training do our labs and we also draw some labs ourselves depending on the amount of labs or if we are working up an STD pt.

Hmmm, not getting any results here. I would really like to hear from you NH nurses. This is one factor that can make a difference in where we move to. Any help is appreciated.

Hello, I am an RN currently residing in TN but looking to move back up north, possibly to the Lehigh or Lancaster area on PA. I'm looking to get any advice about where to apply for a good job with benefits, good pay, and a flexible schedule, plus to see how PA nurses feel about your jobs there and how your nurses' union support is. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Lupin

Hello, Iam an RN currently residing in TN but my husband and I are considering moving back to New England, possibly to the area around Boston. I am looking for any advice regarding where to go for a job with good benefits, pay, and schedules, possible neighborhoods that are safe for kids, and how you nurses feel about your state's nurses union support and your careers in general there. I appreciate any advice. Thanks, Lupin

Hello, I am an RN currently residing in TN, but my husband and I are considering moving back to New England, possibly to the Portsmouth, NH area. I am curious as to how the NH nurses feel about the pay and nurses' union support in your state. I know there is a salary clculator on this website but I don't think it tells the right story just the best case scenario. It told me that the current state I am living in had an average salary double what I've found out nurses actually make here. And can anyone point me in the direction of hospitals, offices, VAs or other places to apply that have good benefits, schedules, and pay? I really appreciate any advice. Thanks, Lupin

There are nights I come home from work and feel like calling in for good before my next shift. I have had bad nights run through my head over and over again (Tyleonol PM is a great thing). When I very casually asked a long time RN who I trusted in my ER about debreifing he told me to never talk to anyone in Admin because they would track me down and ease me into another area or out the door. His advice was when it became too much, transfer to another unit or specialty where ER experience was important, like ICU or L&D or OR and then after I was over being shellshocked then I should look into ER again. Not promising. But I do feel that if someone told me I'd still be where I am today when I retired, I might just scream and run off into the mountains.

Oh, so many favorites! Let's see. My-Primary-Doctor-is-the-ER-doctor patient Mean Drunk (male or female) Redneck trash-talking woman (the type that think snapping their fingers gets them attention) The oh-so-popular misdiagnosed bipolar(actually borderline personality disorder) The I-want-my child-to-seize-from-a-fever-so-I-didn't-try-tylenol mom and subsequent 4-10 other siblings she brought in "for a real quick check". The comatose OD who we have to peel off the ceiling after about two hours. The either deaf or dumb "huh?" patient who says "huh?" after every question I ask them in triage, including what they're in for. Last (but not least) the People who have no medical history but are on insulin, BP meds, have a big CABG scar on their chest, and of course, are on benzos and narcs.

While all nurses see problems with patients' health caused by their own poor choices, none to me is more heartbreaking than when it affects infants/children. It is so easy to get angry and furious at them and most of the time they are in such denial we end up on the legal side of it, but we have to just keep plugging away at the education part and their choices still remain their choices. Take good care of yourself and stay focused on the fact that YOU did what you could do for her and the baby. Perhaps next time she will pay more attention to what the diabetic education tells her.

I was a bottle fed baby and while I'm not the smartest or richest person by far I don't think I turned out too badly. I fed my son breast milk and supplemented formula for the first two weeks of life, but I didn't rest enough, hit the baby blues HARD, didn't drink enough water, and at the end of two weeks had to switch to formula because I ran out of milk. I swear I did everything but stand on my head and spin to get milk out but I'm just not a big dairy supplier. That stressed me out even more and perpetuated the cycle. My child is four pounds heavier than when he was born 8 weeks ago, smiles occasionally, can turn his head to listen for mine or my husband's voice, loves to stare right at my eyes, and has started cooing so sweetly I wish I could tape record it. From what I read in the parenting books he is pretty much on par with where he should be developmentally. While I still wish I could have breastfed him, I don't feel he is starving by any means.

I can't help but feel that a lot of these women are so uneducated about their options and are so desparate for some kind of family unit they take whatever they feel they can get. The men seem to prey on this too. I don't think it's subconscious either. I hope every man out there that does this to a woman and his child some day wakes up ALONE and SAD because he let the greatest thing in his life slip through his fingers and I hope it eats him up. And I hope every woman who falls for these guys someday wakes up and kicks his butt or whatever junker they're with at the moment (because when one is done with her she'll find another one just like him).

An earlier poster stated that c-sectioned women "bounce back" to their pre-pregnancy shape earlier than vag delivered women do. Pray tell how, because after eight weeks, my body is in "Snapdragon" condition--half of it's snapped and the other half is draggin'. And as far as saving herself pain-my labor pains were annoying but far from intolerable. My little guy's FHRs just kept dropping and my O2 sat was in the toilet, but if it hadn't been for those problems I think I would have been okay at least up until time to push. I thought I was dying after the c-section. Next time I'll just ask for general anesthesia instead of a spinal.

1. Press Ganey (goes without saying) 2. Drama Queens/Kings 3. EMTs who don't know how to start an IV and have fluids running through an infiltrated line. 4. Restarting IV sites on pts who came in via those EMTs (they stuck me in the ambulance, why do I have to have another one?) 5. Mean Drunks 6. Mean redneck women who think getting mad and threatening us gets them what they want. Look, hon that may work with your husband or kids, it just gets you kicked out here. 7. Mean men who think because they're bigger than me they can intimidate me. Kiss my a&& now these really big male nurses will help you (out the door). 8. People who ask for tylenol and motrin scripts while they talk on their cell phone and replace the pack of cigarrettes in their Coach/Vera Bradley/Doone & Burke purse. 9. No foley kits/tegaderms/alcohol pads/etc in the room (or the next five).