leekaye

Thanks. Yeah, I wasn't aware of it when starting and there's nothing in the manual. Was just wondering if this is common or a new trend in pay policies among hospitals.

The hospital I'm at pays $7/hour less for all nurses in orientation. Since I started during the holidays, I found out there's no pay or extra PTO accrued during holiday weeks. Now I find out there's no shift differential either during orientation either. Is this common?

There have been days when I didn't even get to PEE much less eat. I've frequently gone 13-14 hours without sitting (charted standing up) and have fought hard to get to the bathroom just to sit for 60 seconds. After I report that I am going to pee and get permission, of course. How can employers get away with that? It's so ridiculous that I'm even sometimes a little jealous of the patients. I spend hours helping people to the bathroom but don't get to go myself. And I find myself staring at the patient's food trays because I haven't eaten in 12hrs or had a drink of water because we're not allowed to have any cups anywhere but the break room. Ha! I didn't realize nurses were NPO too. Yes, we are told we can have that break but there is pressure never to leave the floor if there is anything that needs to be done. And with management decreasing staffing and demanding higher Press Ganey scores, there is no time. Still, according to management, it's your own fault if you didn't take a lunch. My question is are they aware and simply don't care? Or are they disconnected from what really goes on in the unit and really believe it's our fault for not getting a lunch?

Why do I work from 7-7:30 (12.5 hours) but only get paid for 12? This happens EVERY shift, not just once in a while. They say it's our responsibility to take a lunch but it's almost never possible. Some shifts I don't even get to pee and do my charting standing up during a spare minute between tasks. If we have 2 RNs for 14 patients on a busy med-surg floor with frequent admits and discharges, when IS there time for a break?! And how is it ok that you're required to show up for a 5 hour morning class and then come to work for another 13 hours that night? And repeat it the following day as well? Is this the norm for the industry or do I just have a crappy job?

I've been in the corporate world for decades and am a new nurse so I'm not blind to the fact that there are politics, rude people, sexism, cliques, low pay and long hours in most every career depending on the organization. That said, there are certain things I must deal with as a nurse that I never had to deal with in my 9-5. I became a nurse to help people. And the moments I've been able to do so were as great as I'd hoped. But those moments are far and few between as I spend most of my days being yelled at by demanding patients who complain that they're going to file a grievance against me because they wanted a DECAF coffee or didn't get any salt because they're on sodium restrictions. I didn't expect to be kicked in the face while trying to change a gangrenous seeping wound. I didn't expect to hold in my pee so much that I had a near constant UTI. I didn't expect to have families excoriate me because they didn't get a food tray too. I didn't expect 12 hour shifts to ALWAYS be 13-14 hours. I didn't expect to be called to task by my boss for taking 5 minutes to talk to a patient about her grandkids. I didn't expect to have to eat naproxen like candy every day to get through the physical pain of each shift. Sure, I had sexism and the old boy network and demands to cater to the whims of management but I had a small modicum of control over my day and was allowed to have a cup of coffee. I could vent with coworkers at lunch if I had a horrible day and get a breath of fresh air to regrip. My eyes have been opened to the fact that nursing is a business. I wanted to really make a difference but the constant "customer satisfaction" mantra and incessant drilling by administration over HCAHPS seems to make my bedside nursing job simply meeting unrealistic demands by complaining patients at the expense of the truly lonely, sick and hurting ones. There are the same "My husband KNOWS so-and-so" or "we pay YOUR salary" from customers that you get in the corporate world, the same politics, the same cliques, the same overtime demands. So if nursing is truly not about caring for someone and making a difference, I might as well work in the corporate world where I can pee, call in sick if I need to and eat more than a two packs of saltines in 12 hours.

1) Ohio 2) $18 with $1 differential nights and $1 weekends 3) New grad ( 4) Med Surg

I see your point. Our classroom work was very rigorous, but I do feel that I personally did not get enough clinical hands on experience. Other than passing meds and a handful of observations, we mainly did the CNA jobs as the hospital cut back to one CNA per floor on days students were there. It was not uncommon for us to step off the elevator only to be handed sheets and instructions to clean up a patient before we even had our coats off. It wasn't so much our instructors as the hospital admin reducing the student scope out of liability fears. I lost track of how many times I was told "We used to let students do this until one student screwed up so now students are not allowed to do that." I saw little difference from my first clinical to my last in regards to what I was doing. It was unfortunate.

Are you saying that new nurses are stressed because they're just not well educated?

Thank you! I appreciate the encouragement! It's all been helpful.

What other career besides nursing says that it's normal to be depressed and anxious and physically ill during your first year on the job? I've been working at my new job Med-Surg NOCs in an inner city hospital for 7 weeks now. Obviously, I have a lot to learn so I'm dealing with the newbie stress and anxiety and having to learn so much. I work my butt off and give my utmost, but like most new nurses, I'm depressed, anxious, sleep deprived, yelling at my kids and my hair is beginning to fall out. In short, I think I'm heading for a breakdown. Worse, my kids are 13 and 15 and are begging me to quit because they don't want to be alone at night. (The job only pays new grads $18/hour so I can't afford to pay someone to stay with them and I have no family.) Our 12 hour shifts always turn into 14-15hrs too. Everyone has said that the first year is pure hell for a new nurse. I didn't like clinicals and had suspicions that bedside wasn't for me. Now I suddenly have a job offer in my old career which pays more and is a day desk job. But everyone has told me that I should just stick with this bedside job and that it would be a complete waste of my nursing school if I quit now. So here's my question: Is it a rule that you MUST suffer a nervous breakdown for a year in your first nursing job? Will I never be able to use my nursing degree if I don't work bedside for a year? And has anyone just ever got that degree and said it wasn't worth it and done something else? (I know people say keep going to school for more options but at my age, I don't really have the desire to go to school until I'm 60 and I wouldn't be able to recoup the cost of the additional education since I don't have decades before I would retire.) What other options are there for a new grad? Has anyone just say f*** it and gone on to a different career after getting that nursing degree? (Thanks everyone in advance for your advice! This board is awesome.)

The school I went to was one who received a grant through ARRA to train nurses and IT personnel in HIT in order to help meet the need for the new meaningful use requirements. I was accepted into that short term program which expired in 2013. The school is offering an HIT (Health IT and Lean Six Sigma) for about $5k now. Not sure what that involves. That said, I don't think the certification is the same as CAHIMS.

I just graduated with an ASN, will be taking the NCLEX next month and plan on pursuing my BSN this fall. I actually come from IT (30 years experience) and attended nursing school with the intent of going into informatics. I have "HIT Support Specialist Certification" (a 6 month program). I'm curious as to whether I can get into the field now with my experience and as a new RN or if I need to get my BSN first and/or go into a clinical setting first to get that experience. " Also, if I don't get my clinical experience right after graduation, will it be impossible to go into bedside at a later time if I decide I want to do that? Thanks!

Interestingly, I posted about the problems with registration two days ago. Today, the upcoming classes had to register and the Tri-C Nursing Student board is alive with complaints that they could not register. Again.

AssociateDegree, you sound like you know the inside workings of Tri-C. I hope that what you say is true. Nevertheless, I stand by my points. I don't blame Tri-C for a broken gas line, but I do feel that the facilities are often disorganized. On three separate occasions this semester, either some or all of our chairs and desks were missing from our classroom. One instance was on a test day. During the winter, the great majority of the class didn't bother taking off their coats because it was so cold. And, yes, this is at Metro campus. I didn't have this many issues at the other campuses. I also hope that IT works out the issues. However, I remain skeptical since these problems have existed for all of the semesters I have been attending without improvement despite promises to the contrary after every registration that the problems will be fixed next semester. I think I presented a fair review highlighting the biggest positives and negatives that my peers and I discuss. I've also highlighted the positives about the program. I'm proud of the nursing program and feel confident about taking the NCLEX. Nevertheless, I hope that the recurring problems can be worked out in the future for the sake of the upcoming students. Nursing school is stressful enough without the headaches of administrative issues.

About to graduate from Tri-C and I'll share my advice garnered the hard way from the past 3 years. THE GOOD: 1) The program is rigorous! The workload is a bear. Be prepared to study your butt off, but they have a high NCLEX passage rate for a reason. Even though you may only have lecture for 4 hours a week, there are 30-40 hours of study, Breezes and homework. If you can get pre-reqs out of the way before starting the nursing program, you'll be glad you did. 2) There are lots of opportunities for scholarships. Tri-C has stepped up its scholarship game in the last couple years. 3) There are some fantastic professors, lab instructors and clinical instructors. Just like any college, there are some bad ones, but overall, they've been knowledgeable. Don't let people tell you that Tri-C's education is subpar. My microbio prof was a highly recognized, published microbiologist . My current prof in 2501 is one of the contributing editors to the Iggy Med-Surg textbook. And take -------------- if at all possible. He is amazing! Read the reviews at Rate My Professor before signing up for class. Grading rigor and teaching ability can vary widely. 4) Tri-C seems to have a great reputation with the hospitals. We've heard many times from hospital staff that they love the graduates from Tri-C. If you're going for an ADN first (you'll pretty much need your BSN to continue to work at the Clinic and University), Tri-C still garners respect as a school. THE BAD: 1) The Nursing Admin department has a reputation for losing papers, sending out erroneous and repetitive emails and being unresponsive. There is one person in the office that has been polite and helpful when contacted, but my overall experience has been terrible. Ask any current student about how many times their paperwork was lost, or how the office sent out erroneous emails to the clinic instructors about ineligiblity due to up to date records, or an email that they've been "deleted" from the program (accidentally) or how they've been curtly told to "read the email" when they stopped in to ask a question. You will get emails that say "Thank you for your patients in this matter" and it's not a pun. During the accreditation loss fiasco, most of my peers agreed that the administration was less than forthcoming with info. The consensus among all my classmates when we discuss Tri-C is that the worst part of the nursing program by far is the admin office. There is a new nursing dean, however, and things seem to be changing so don't get too discouraged yet. 2) Registration is terrible. The servers crash every time you register rolls around (usually scheduled at midnight for some reason). People are shut out. We've twice had to reschedule registration for classes/clinicals because the system went down so people who did get in the first time were angry about losing their first choice the second time. Every semester, they promise to address the issue and every semester it happens again. 3) You will constantly be asked to pay for everything. One of the downsides to the affordability is that you are asked to pay for everything from your kit to your HESI, even your scantrons at marked up prices. Some professors will refuse to let you take the test if you did not prepurchase and turn in your scantrons. They will try to get you to buy the e-book package. Think twice about it. As a tech geek, I bought them and still ended up buying books because the e-books were hard to navigate and read. 4) Management of facilities is subpar. Don't be surprised if you come into class and there are no desks or chairs because they needed them for a breakfast meeting elsewhere on campus. We've sat on the floor for class before. Classes are cancelled due to no heat or watermain breaks. Like any college, it has problems and strengths. Good luck as you start and enjoy the ride! It goes faster than you think.

The school I'm attending has gradually reduced the amount of in class lecture so that in our final semester, we're doing 2 hours in class and about 20-30 hours of self-study using PowerPoint presentations and reading. I would understand if it were a hybrid class but this is supposed to be the classroom option. While I appreciate the flexibility of not having to be in class as often, I'm often uncomfortable with how little actual one-on-one time we are receiving with our professors. We scour YouTube, Lippincott and Lexicomp and read, read, read. We're expected to know how to do certain lab skills in our HPS simulation (such as Swan-Ganz calibrating or arterial line blood draws) by simply reading about it. It's not taught in lab. We often joke among ourselves that we are just handing over our tuition and getting a diploma at the end. The rest is up to us. That said, the program has a great NCLEX passage rate. But I do feel that is partly because only a minority of the original class is still able to do the self-teaching and score high enough on tests. Is this the norm for most schools?

I do get that we're taking up time out of their hectic day so I'm always sure to thank them for whatever they include me in. We've had some very nice nurses. And some who make us nervous just being around them. One nurse went to my instructor and complained because she saw me crying when a patient died. I realized I was going to cry and put my head down and walked quickly and silently to the bathroom so as not to disturb anyone. I dried my tears and was out within 3 minutes but I got chastised for "unprofessional behavior on the floor" and it was written into my mid-term evaluation. The instructor even said she thought it was ridiculous and we SHOULD feel compassion but she had to include it because the nurse said she was going to report me to her manager. Do nurses really get written up for silently shedding a few tears?

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. I have since spoke with a good friend of mine who is now Director of Nursing who confessed that a professor told him, "You're not smart enough to pass the boards." He was initially very discouraged but decided the professor's comment didn't matter and he went on to pass on the first try. I take things to heart and am very hard on myself so when others point out my mistakes, I feel doubly mortified. I need to remember that the place to make mistakes is in simulation lab and better to feel stupid there than on the floor. There will be enough instances of feeling stupid when I start on a floor, I'm sure!

I used to believe I was an intelligent, capable person before nursing school. I ran a department, taught myself languages and graduated top of my class in college. But since I've started nursing school, I've felt completely overwhelmed. I figured I'd get it with time but now I have only 8 weeks to graduation, and I still don't feel confident with nursing skills. I'm getting little to no practice in clinicals and even though this is last rotation, we're still basically changing sheets and walking patients. What really undermines my confidence, however, is that other students seem to be grasping the skills quickly and have made comments such as "this isn't rocket science" and "I can't believe you don't know this." A handful have bragged about how easy the tests are when I scored "only an 84" and said that anyone who can't pass that test shouldn't be a nurse. I know I'm thin skinned and have a confidence problem which stems from other issues. So I'm trying to determine if I should really listen to that voice in my head that says I'm not cut out for this or whether I'm merely doubting my abilities. Today during HPS, I became flustered hanging insulin on a patient with CVA running LR and my mind literally went blank and I froze while the student playing the charge nurse was yelling to get it in the patient STAT. Another student stepped in and when it was over and the instructor was chastising me in front of the group, the students nodded when she said we should have this down. I've never thought of myself as incompetent or dumb before. I've been able to do everything I set my mind to but this. Does this mean I shouldn't be a nurse or I'm overwhelmed or lacking confidence? How do you know which is the case?

Actually, they knew I was a student because my instructor came in with me giving me instructions as we entered as well as the 5 clinical students who decided to come in and watch and one said loudly she "always wanted to see one of these." So it was pretty obvious and the patient's son asked if I was a student and promptly said no thanks. I think that would make anyone nervous. I completely understand.

Perhaps I could have worded that better. By obligation to teach, I only mean that these are teaching hospitals and it is in the job description for all RN positions within the hospital to "provide regular teaching and support to nursing staff, medical and nursing students." I would think if they prefer not to do this, another hospital or unit that doesn't have a constant influx of students would be a better fit. At the very least, they can remember that they were once a student. They should remember how it felt to be so nervous and alien to the floor and how an overworked nurse spent a bit of time with them or, at the very least, wasn't overtly rude to them. Although I realize hospitals don't have to allow students, I do think the hospitals benefit from students and it's not merely an act of charity to allow them in. They get free patient care from students, even it its just changing sheets. I was told by the nursing manager at the hospital that they book fewer CNAs on the days students are on the floor. Additionally, hospitals benefit from a trained student workforce. I doubt they would hire a nursing grad who had never set foot in a hospital. I've disgressed from my OP. My point isn't really to argue over whose "fault" it is, but to determine if our experiences are the norm and, if not, the best way to address it so we are well prepared nursing grads.

Agree 100% which is why we want to be prepared! But some nurses and hospital policies have made it difficult as well. Some nurses don't like students and the hospital is not enforcing its rule that nurses train us. While the majority of nurses have been great, during one rotation the nurses were openly hostile, complained loudly about us in front of us stating they didn't understand why they had to train students (so they simply didn't). At another, the hospital assigned us to an understaffed unit where the RNs said they simply didn't have time to work with students. Due to liability, many of the hospitals are also implementing policies hindering what students can do. Every time, it's due to an unnamed "previous issue" so a blanket policy affecting all future students is instituted. One unit forbid us from assisting any patient to the bathroom. At our current rotation, we are forbidden to do glucose checks. Additionally, there has only been one rotation where we had badge access to supplies. Last rotation, we had to get someone to let us in to the pantry just to get patients popsicles, juice, coffee or saltines. At our current rotation we have to get someone to open the door for us to get supplies for a bed bath. I understand not giving us access to the Pyxis room but linens? Dynamaps? Chucks? Bath wipes?

It seems to be due to a combination of both your clinical instructor and the expectations of the nurses on the unit. Some floors have been hostile to having students on the floor while others at least let us shadow them. And some instructors have been bad time managers and overwhelmed splitting time between 8 students. Since we can't do anything in their absence and they're only with us for about 1 out of 8 hours, we can't do much of anything. When I mentioned my concerns to the instructor, I was told that you learn all the technical skills on the floor when you're hired and this is all about just learning to think like a nurse so observation is all we should be doing. But even so, we get to observe perhaps 5-10% of the day and the rest is really just cleaning up messes. There's very little interaction with the patients.

I'm set to graduate in 2 months and am in my final clinical rotation in oncology. I have yet to start an IV or foley, change dressing, do teaching, suction a trach, draw blood, put in an NG or any of the skills we've been tested out in other than giving meds. I have seen nurses do it but have never done it myself. We started in our first clinical doing bed baths, emptying bedpans and giving foot rubs which I did gladly. However, 2 years later, that's still pretty much all we're doing. Since our first day on the oncology floor, we've been directed to change sheets, get coffee and clean up feces and vomit. We haven't done anything else (except vitals and the occasional meds). I don't even know why are we coming in an hour early to get patient assignments since we barely do anything with them except food trays and bedpans. To be fair, our instructor almost gave me an opportunity to put in an NG tube yesterday but the patient said she didn't want a nursing student. I don't mind doing these things but we're starting to feel that we're not actually learning ANYTHING in clinical. Isn't that the whole idea? Is this common?

Faculty: Not everyone is cut out to narrate Breezes. Listening to all the "ums" and "ers" and heavy sighs is like nails on a chalkboard. I sure wish schools would just let the good narrators do them all.