tmcolema

Thank you so much for your comment. Unfortunately, here in the Panhandle of Florida opportunities are few and far between. I have thought about joining HIMMS and maybe volunteering for committees, that may open some doors and help me with contacts. For now, I will focus on my BSN and hopefully an opportunity will present itself if I keep looking and putting myself out there. Do you think it would be helpful to work on some kind of certification such as Database and E-commerce IT cert while I purse my BSN, or would that simply be a waste of money and time?

Hi all, I have posted on here regarding this topic but really have not gotten any responses. I am in need of advise. I have been doing a lot of soul searching and have decided to study Nursing Informatics. I have been an LPN for 20 years, will graduate from an ADN program this December. I will start my BSN program this January and plan to go on for my DNP. I have done so much research on Nursing Informatics trying to find out how to break into this industry. I have reached out to my Informatics director, I emailed twice and called and LM but never received any correspondence back. I was hoping to be able to volunteer as a super user or serve on IT committee of some sort to get experience. I have also reached out to the Informatics nurse at the hospital I did my preceptorship with but yet again she never responded to me. All I want is advise on how to best prepare myself and set myself up for a good career. I'm feeling very discouraged that I cannot get anyone in the field to so much as respond to me. Anybody on here have any advise? Thank you so much in advance for any advise you may be able to give.

Hey guys, could you give me some advice? I have been an LPN for the last 15 years. I have finished my AA and am taking the last 3 pre-requisite classes I need to apply for BSN program. I am planning to apply for the Navy Nurse Transition Program early next year, I have already spoken with a recruiter. In the meantime, I need to get volunteer experience as well as leadership activities on my resume. I was the President of my Student Nurse Association while in nursing school but that is the extent of my leadership activities. Can you guys give me some ideas of things I could do that would look great on my resume? Im open to anything.

Hello to all you wonderful home health nurses!! I have been an LPN in HHC for 5 years now and I know how hard you all work. I need some advice on the practices of my current agency. As a HHC nurse I really love the ability to have independance and flexibility in the workplace. It really does offset the cons of HHC for me, however, I feel increasingly undervalued as a clinician. I understand that HHC is a business like any other but shouldn't employees be valued for the hardwork that they do? The nurses in my agency, including myself, routinely work very long hours. A typical day for me starts around 7:30am and ends around 8pm at night. Patient care is usually done around 5pm, but the paperwork involved can be daunting. I have accepted that this is just part of homecare, but beacuase of recent changes Im feeling maybe the sacrifice is simply not worth it. I have a question for you guys. 1. All the nurses in my agency rotate weekends which is perfectly reasonable to me. We generally rotate in every 4 weeks. I was recently advised by my employer that since I was an LPN, on my weekends I would be required to work a 7 day stretch so that they could avoid paying me overtime. Now I should mention that I am a pay pay per visit employee like all other clinicians. All other clinicians are scheduled with one day off before their weekend and one day off after their weekend. When I questioned my employer why the policy was different for LPN's I was told that even tho I was pay per visit, I was considered an hourly employee so I would be required to work 7 days straight. I have no problem with hard work, I have been a nurse for 15 years, but 7 days straight with 12-14 hour days? What do you guys think about this practice? Should I just suck it up, or do you think I have a real grievance? Can employees be required to work a 7 day work week?