DeacJn

So, here in the northeast we are starting to feel the beginings of layoffs in both hospitals and LTC facilities. Everyone keeps saying the same things "medicare funding is being cut" "hospitals are are inefficient" yadda yadda yadda. But as a second carrer nurse, who worked in administration, personnel management to be specific, of a large not for profit, I was wondering, has the nursing "business" simply outgrown itself? I mean there seem to be many nurses who are in roles other then direct nurse positions, case managers, discharge planners and on it goes. YES I know its all part of the nursing "process" and please believe me when I say that I am not advocating anybody loose their jobs. But similar to teachers who move up in the Education bureaucracy and do "consultant" work but never teach, why pay them as teachers? And it is at least worth thinking about that as the level of education for nurses has risen, and more and more highly educated nurses try and enter the field, I wonder if the powers that be will simply decide that all the acquired education is not worth paying for. In speaking with some of my co workers in these types of positions, they see themselves as nurses, fulfilling an essential nurses role. So do I. Problem is I don't think management does. Yet with mandates from medicare, JACHO, DOH and on it goes what else can be done. As the title says I'm not trying to start anything, except perhaps a discussion.

Give your self a bit of a break...it is better to take 4 hours to med pass then to rush and have a med error. It took me about 3 months of FT work on the same unit to get the med pass down. Now I generally take about 2 - 2.5 hrs for 20 pt. who I have to search out for, lots of OTC meds as well as the usual Narcs and other meds. Don't stress it as a new nurse take time to learn, it does come. I didn't think it would but it does. Best to you.

Don't know if this will help, but the advice I got from one of my Nursing School Teachers was NOT EVEN to consider taking the Nclex until you answer at least 5000 questions in preparation. I thought she was crazy and I would never do it. but after school was finished I did have time, and committed to answering 100 questions per day at one time. I was able to use one of the CDs from the Nclex study guides and put the random function on so I did not know from which area the question would come from. Doing this faithfully for about 6 weeks got me to the 5000 mark. I read each wrong question rational and made myself take note on it too. But what I really got out of doing this was HOW TO READ THE QUESTION. Remember the test has no intent toward you. It is essentially a random question generator. That said there was stuff on my test I never heard of. I heard of people who had concentration in Rx or Labs mine was kind of all over the place. Sorry for the long ramble, but I had a class mate who failed the test x4, I told her about thisway of preparing, she committed to it and passed on her 5th try. Best to you

Thanks for all your replies...I'm really just feeling down right now. BTW, there is NO way I can utilize my rather good private health ins. (which I pay for!). Since its WC it has to play out with them. In my state, they just this past Dec. changed their protocols for Dx tests. Lucky me. I know another ED nurse who was assaulted in the ED by an "unhappy customer" and her family, was cut and broke his wrist. WC delays have now resulted in bones fusing in the wrong way so Sx will be needed. I really hope these are exceptions. You know I've never had anything to do with WC in all the YEARS I've worked. Crossing their path makes me feel like I did something wrong. Kind of like a home owners Ins. coo that cancels when you put a claim in and your only previous contact with them is to pay the bill. Anyway, thanks again for listening

Greetings all... So here I am a Nurse who was injured at work about 3 months ago. Workers Comp is a new experience for me. Never injured on the job like this. Got a Neck injury supporting pt. (very large) from hitting the floor. Yes I know we are not supposed to "lower them to the floor". But who can do that? I mean it was a reflexive action to stop another human being from being hurt. Anyway, here I am and to tell you the truth, I'm getting to the end of my rope. No nothing like that! But the level of frustration at not working is getting to be to much. I will not even get into economics - Workers comp rules state that MRIs are only utilized after other treatments have been tried and symptoms persist. Well PT, Trigger Point Injections all done and symptoms persist. Now I am being sent to an IME (Indep. Medical Exam) to be examined by yet another MD...its maddening. I told my Ortho that if I got hurt in a car accident, I would have had the Dx tests needed, treatments and be back to work. Yes, I've called the Ins. Co. who politely told me their hands are tied with new WC rules. Okay enough complaining, thanks for listening