UPSBossman

For the TL;DR crowd, after just half ofmy L&D rotation, I'm having a freakout about ever having afamily. This is me venting/looking for advice. Many of my classmates have alreadyfallen victim to Nursing Student Syndrome - that moment in everystudent's life when they realize that they have everything they arestudying at the time. But I, being of sound mind and judgment, knew Iwould never fall prey to such foolishness. And being a (G0:P0) male,I was pretty sure L&D wouldn't pose much of a risk so I let myguard down, and they Syndrome got me. At the start of this summer, Iwanted children at some point after graduation, now I don't - atall - ever. Its not a lack of desire to deal with offspring, or thechanges in my family dynamic that comes along with children that hasput me off to the idea, its learning about all the things that can gowrong. My wife and I are about 5 years apart,and she has told me several times (back when I wanted kids at somepoint) that she doesn't want to start having kids until she is 30 atthe earliest (putting me at about 35.) So many of the complicationsof pregnancy are exacerbated or more frequently seen as the age ofthe parents increase. New research is showing as much as a 30-60%increase in chromosomal anomalies as the father's age approaches 40.Maternal complications increase dramatically after 30 as well. Toquote my A&P professor, "Ladies, have all the children you wantuntil you are 30, then stop. You are done. It isn't worth the risk."Now I understand that he was speaking facetiously, and that womenhave healthy and undramatic pregnancies after 30 all the time, butthese words and statistics stick with me. Compounding all of this, is the fastthat my twin brother and his wife were pregnant this year, and gavebirth this summer. They had a very challenging pregnancy, that endedwith their children spending almost 2 months in the NICU. Now afterlearning about and seeing all that can go wrong, I feel like it WILLall go wrong for me (and my wife.) Hell, I'm so bad now I'm terrifiedto hold - or even touch my new niece and nephew. It has me sonervous, I feel like it would be irresponsible of us to try to havekids, and my desire to have a family one day has shut down. Now I don't want children at all. Ifind myself constantly trying to talk myself into the idea that a"child free lifestyle" is what I want, even though part of medoesn't believe that at all. I feel guilty about it, as I've spent myentire adult life wanting them at some point and my wife still wantsthem when she is 30+. We discussed it and she said if, in 5 or soyears I still fell this way then we will just not have kids (becauseshe's awesome and super supportive) but I feel bad every time shereferences something in a "when we have kids" sense. My fears are completely irrational andbased on "what if" scenarios, which I make a habit of notbuilding my life around. But as silly as they are, I can't seem toshake them, and they're changing who I am in ways I don't like.Stupid nursing school. Anyone have advice on how to get over this?

I take my first ATI med/surg test next friday (first semester, WOOT!!) I'm hitting the same scores as you... 64% and 61%, so now I'm very interested in how you end up doing :) Best of luck, and let us know how you do! I'm finding studying for the test very difficult, because the practice tests they have are asking about stuff that we have not covered at all (pharmacology), or about things which we didn't cover we we had classes on them (ATI endocrine practice test killed me) I'm not sure how to study material I've never seen before. When we discussed it in class today, no one has yet hit a 70 on the practice tests. I have an A in class right now (commons) and don't want to lose it to ATI. (I got an 89.7 in fundamentals, and want my A this time!!)

I'm a student nurse about to finish my first semester. Per my understanding, after semester 1 RN students can (generally) work as techs/aids to gain experience. I want to go this route, but I'm unsure how to go about it. The units I'd like to work on are ICU or ED, or a similar, higher acuity unit (big surprise, right?) My question is, how do I go about trying to get one of these jobs? I'm not sure if they even exist, outside of a CNA job on a medsurg floor, which I don't want to do. Can anyone offer up advice on how to make a resume for a student tech/extern job (We are somewhat lacking in experience, after all) and/or how to go about asking around a unit to see if they would be willing to hire us?

I work for Baptist health system [baptisthealthsystem.com] We're hiring nurses at all 5 of our facilities right now. Its a pretty good system. Pay is a little higher at Methodist, but the employee satisfaction is higher at Baptist (and arguably we have better benefits.) Both systems are pretty good.

I decided to go into nursing because my wife is a recent (one year ago) graduate. She was an LVN prior to that (2 years, while we were dating.) While she was working in health care, I worked at UPS and a restaurant, and went to school. My typical day was 9:00 am - 11:30pm M-F, and 9:00am - Midnight on Saturdays. I made pretty good money, but I never saw my wife(to be) and had no time for any hobbies or anything other than work. I liked both jobs, but hated working them. I my wife working 3 days a week and thought, "Thats what I need." So I changed majors in persuit of nursing (AS degree # 8) and killed all the prereques. I loved the classes. I was excited to go, and looked forward to the next set of classes. Thats how I knew I was making the right choice. Now I've been accepted and will have to find a job in 2 years when I graduate as an RN. I have no disillusions that finding a job will be easy: I expect it to be the most difficult job I've ever had to get, and expect it to be highly competitive. But what that job means to me after I get it, having a life and time to spend with the woman I love, is worth the challenge. I wouldn't worry about getting into school. I had a 3.2 GPA and got accepted. I applied to only one school, because its the only one I wanted to go to.

You dont have to eat every 2 hours. I'm a hard gainer and used to eat every 3-4 hours. I never managed to put on much muscle, and my lifts never improved much. Since I started eating paleo I now eat 3 times a day, some times I miss a meal (I'm almost never hungry anymore) but I'm lifting more than I ever have at the gym now. It could be partly that I'm training a bit different now, but I'm still not eating every 2 hours and doing fine.

I will be going to Bapstist School of Health Professions (Wife & several friends graduated from there, and I work for the system now) 3.2 GPA (3.8 in field) 88% on TEAS

$40k isnt bad money, and if you need more then you can work a 4th shift one week (which would be all OT.) My wife made over $45 last year, and she wasn't working as an RN until mid April. OP, why are you asking? From some of your responses, it sounds like you're trying to justify working as a nurse based on the pay... that's the wrong reason to be a nurse. Its good enough of a reason that there are a lot of nurses who do the job just for the money, but they're the nurses who end up on my desk [risk management] often and end up bouncing from facility to facility for related reasons. Look at why you want to be a nurse. If the only thing you come up with is green and fits nicely into a wallet, please don't care for my loved ones.

I'm in San Antonio, Tx. My wife is a RN (1 year now) and we both work at the same system. Here, RNs are starting around $21.50, a little more if you have experience (2 years clinical, 3 years non-clinical)

i'll chime in i suppose. i was wondering, why are nurses in such bad health to begin with? i'm not yet a nurse, but i work in a hospital doing risk management. so many of the nurses here are obese (to put it "lightly,") smoke, i know of several who do drugs... pretty much some of the most unhealthy people i've ever met. and yet they work in an industry that is supposed to encourage people to be healthier. i don't get it. as for diet and hunger, i switched up my diet about 3 months ago, and have had 100% positive results. down to the lightest i've been in 7 or so years, down 2 sizes on my pants, an inch off my belly, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and i almost never feel hungry. that's the weirdest part, never feeling hungry anymore. i have to remind myself to eat, or eat when i don't feel like it or i fear i will come in well below my calorie goal. i’m trying to get my wife to join me on the diet, but you can’t force a horse to drink. exercise is weight lifting 2 – 3 time a week, and 30 min dog walks twice a day. i’m hoping that when i start nursing school in august i don’t lose my way and start gaining, or fall into the unhealthy nursing lifestyle.

i work with nurses all day... a lot of 'em i can't understand how they became nurses. it seriously is one of those "if she can do it, anyone can" moments almost every day for me. every time i start to feel nervous about the program, i think of all of the nurses i deal with and fell much better about nursing school, and myself in general. engineering school is difficult. so far, every class i've taken toward nursing (all my prerequisites) have been much easier than even the entry level engineering classes. a lot of people say nursing school is so difficult, but i question their frame of reference. i really think its what you make of it. if you think its going to be difficult and let yourself succumb to that mentality and fear, than it will be difficult. but if you realize that this stuff really isn't that bad, its easy enough.

I've been an insomniac for more than 10 years, at some times going 5+ days without ANY sleep at all (my longest was a 7 day sleepless bender!) Changed my diet and got more exercise and it cured me. And on the rare occasion that I still can't fall asleep I just use the time to study.

i'd have a field day with your classmates. an entire program full of gullible people who take spoken word as gospel? make up an awesome back story for yourself and slowly hint it to them. feed them slowly like you were reluctant to tell the truth. you're in witness protection or something like that. have fun with 'em. as for them reporting your failures and not your successes, have someone else recognize your successes. when you do something well, ask one of the seniors "is this great or what?" then talk about how well you did it in class. just put the word out there. if the instructors are as gullible as the students, just tell them you did awesome and they should believe you. i know its not that easy, but work with what you've got. also, be careful with your sarcastic comebacks.

My advice would be to wait a week or so for a call, then call the manager back and ask him if they were interviewing yet. Explain about how HR got an attitue with you but you want to work there. He's the one who decides your fait, not HR

Lots of resume services online. My brother writes for one of them from time to time. Prices vary. Look into another job in the mean time. Something disposable to let you keep your apartment and your freedom.

I start school in August. Weight train 3X per week right now, and I hope school doesn't get in the way of that. Recently changed my diet around and have dropped 15lbs! I'm hoping to lose my "desk job physique" before school starts.

Breakfast: Take some eggs, beat them in a bowl to make scrambled eggs. Add some cheese, and meats of your choice (if you use ground beef, make sure you brown [cook] it first.) Get a muffin pan (like for cupcakes) and put the paper liners in it. Pour the egg mixture into the paper cups, filling them about 75% full. Bake at 350* for about 20 min. This makes mini-quiches that fit in your hand [muffin sized] that travel well, store well, and can be frozen then nuked for a quick meal. Two or three of 'em are a good breakfast for me, and cost you less than $2 in parts. Lunch/Dinner: Take a meat of your choice (less processed meats are healthier for you) season however you want and start it cooking in a skillet. After it is partly cooked [browned] add in some veggies of your choice. (If you are using frozen instead of fresh, thaw them in the microwave first, or add them with a little water earlier in the cooking process to give them a chance to thaw then warm.) Cover, and let it simmer for about 10 min. Prep time is +1 for a crock pot. Get a roast ($3/lb if you get the GOOD stuff) put it in the crock pot. Add roughly chopped veggies (onions, mushrooms, carrots, ect.) Add enough water to cover everything. Turn on the crock pot and leave for the day. Dinner is ready when you get home. It literally does not get easier than using a crock pot.

i have worked for a health system for a little over a year now, and start rn school in august. the system offers a scholarship where they pay for your schooling in exchange for 3 years of service after you graduate. my wife did this option, and i want to do it as well. the system also pays you as an "experienced" new grad nurse if you have either 2 years of clinical, or 3 years of non-clinical experience in healthcare. since i have 1 year of experience now, and 2 years of schooling ahead of me, i can have the 3 year criteria satisfied by the time i graduate, which means a $3-$5 pay increase over a new grad. i like the sound of that. so i sent out applications to literally every job offered within the system that i qualified for (and a couple i didn't qualify for, just in case.) so far the only department to call me back was evs (housekeeping.) while i can eat some humble pie and be an evs worker, the pay won't be very much, and i don't think i will get any relevant experience out of it --> it wouldn't be value added to me in a nursing sense. but it would allow me to keep up my employment in pursuit of the 3 years mark. our system has a 1 year minimum term of service before you can transfer to a new job, so after the first semester of school (when i would be able to work as a tech or cna) i would not be able to transfer to the better job because of the transfer rule. i also work at a restaurant right now, where i average ~$21-$25/hour, significantly more than i would make as an evs worker. and the evs job would probably mean i had to quit the restaurant job which i enjoy doing. so i'm torn. should i try to keep a healthcare job so i make more as a new grad? or do i say to hell with a lower paying job and keep the fun restaurant job while i'm in school, but make less after i graduate? i can't decide. any advice?

Look at SmartCell mats. They absorb more impact than foam, do not absorb fluid, and have minimal deflection under weight. Its very similar to the flooring I pitched a year ago. As for rounding, our system rounds every hour (in theory) although I don't think that happens. We have a lot of things in place, and I think most of them are pointless. A sign on the door marking a PT as a fall risk isnt going to stop a A&O X 0 patient from getting up

I've been trying to solve the problem of falls since I started in healthcare a year ago. I quickly decided to approach the problem differently from the rest of my health system, assuming that falls can not be eliminated, so we should try to lessen the ill effects when they do happen. I came up with a proposal that would install a reactive, minimally deflective floor in the patient's room. In English, a floor that absorbs the impact of a fall (instead of the patient) but does not distort when you walk on it or roll a bed over it (not a tripping hazard nor does it make it hard to roll anything on it.) The floor did not absorb fluids, and was anti-microbial. The brass decided it was too expensive, and the project died on the table. Unable to leave it alone, I'm again trying to figure out a solution. I want my new proposal to include fall prevention tactics as well. Online searches have been very generic: "Education and family involvement" is apparently the solution, but this doesn't work for my purposes. I'm curious if any of you would be willing to share with me fall prevention tactics that work. Is there anything you've seen done that actually had a positive impact on the patient? Strategies or a technique that have reduced the severity or frequency of patient falls in your experience? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me on this!

as someone who works in risk management, here's my $0.02 -disclaimer- laws vary by state, so what i say may not apply to you. per my understanding, once something is charted, it can not be changed. i agree with the above statements that you should write an addendum and add it to the chart, but do not remove anything. these are legal documents and can not be removed. on any notes/addendums/changes that you make document the date of the changes so it is clear this was not part of the original chart. if your employer insists that you re-chart everything, ask them to show you how this is legal, as you will be changing part of a permanent legal document. put a statement at the bottom of the chart saying that your boss has informed you that the re-write is legal and that the chart was recreated at their insistence. if its at all "gray area" your boss won't want to sign anything like that, and that should be a flag. or, for the best answer you can get, contact a lawyer who practices healthcare law and ask them if its legal. most hospitals probably have one on hand (risk manager or similar position.)

Got my letter yesterday, accepted to my first choice school. I almost fell down the stairs when I read the email (I wasn't expecting to be emailed my letter!) I'm not sure who's more excited, me or my wife.

A&P I in a summer [FLEX] session should be fine. Don't let people scare you. They told me that taking MicroBio (without having taken general bio) and A&P II and Psych all at the same time, while working full time at one job and part time at another was a recipe for disaster. But my grades say different. Just take an honest look at your academic skill, and take it from there. If you're the kind of person who just "picks thing up" then no problem. If you need lots of intense study time, then a flex session isn't a great idea.