kalevra

Congratulations, and welcome to the club. I respect your decision to place your family and health before others. It is a difficult decision to make, but at the end of the day, you must take care of your own first. Corporate healthcare is the face of the modern American healthcare system. There will always be martyrs willing to throw themselves on to the patient care pyre. Luckily enough, you wont be one of them. Helping patients does not necessarily mean working at bedside. It also means managing their care from a computer of managing staff and resources. Good Luck and I wish you the best!

LOL is the Original Poster serious?!?! Another, "Everyone else except me is a crappy nurse/cna". How many of these threads do we come across on a daily basis. OMG, hahahahahah You honestly cannot be serious? Watching this thread devolve into trolling is going to be funny.

Be careful of what you say, there are some in the nursing community that do not like the idea of having an Associate prepared nurse serve as a manager or director. Many academic faculty I have worked with in the past try to keep "lower" degree holders out of "leadership" positions. This is due to the idea that the more education and more letters you have in terms of education, the more prepared they are for directorship and management. I never liked the way these types would shun associates nurses like me when I started out. I had to play their game by their rules to get anywhere in the organization. I do not believe just because someone holds a masters in leadership, that they can actually lead and inspire groups of people to work as one cohesive unit. There is a lot more to leadership than what is on paper.

Try getting into the OR. Keep in mind there is bull-work no matter where you go. The level of bull-work in the OR is nothing compared to the level of bull-work found on the telemetry and med-surg floors. DO NOT stay on a floor you hate, it will only eat you up inside and carry over to your personal life. Imagine coming home every day and just complaining to your spouse, being angry, being sad, and irritable for days of the week. DO NOT let work run your life. DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU! The hospital will look out for its own best interest. ONLY YOU are responsible for your best interest. Think of the hospital as a profit driven entity (which it actually is). Business will always come first (which it actually does). SO, go and handle your business. Would you ever do business with a place that makes you feel miserable? Would you ever agree to terms that make you feel like poop? I empower you to not fall for the guilt trip some nurses may place on you. I empower you to make a change for the better and live a happy and successful life. Good Luck

Does your hospital or facility have a DNP that is in charge of policy and procedure? I ask because most of the senior leadership hold an RN license. Perhaps the RN leadership are not properly informed or not aware of the inconvenience these new "best practice" interventions are causing. I highly recommend communicating you message to senior leadership so as they may help facilitate with work flow. I recommend putting it in writing and in terms that a child will understand, not to insult anyone, but rather to deliver a clear concise message that cannot be distorted.

Northern California, average low end of the start rate for new grads is $40. We hire a lot of travel nurses. I highly recommend getting your foot in the ER or ICU experience for 1 year. Get in with a travel company, pick up an assignment in Northern California. I have travelers that are taking home $2,000-$3,000 a week (after taxes). Living stipend can range form $1,000-$1,800 a month, which is given to the traveler for their housing and food costs. I have had many Midwestern and Southern travelers state that working in California is much easier compared to their home states. It is a very good time to be an ICU or ER experienced nurse at this time.

Being floated to different units, when one is contracted to work in one specific unit, is a really pain in many cases. It will all come down to you as an employee. I speak specifically of how much "crap" you are willing to take from managers. If you are being treated as a "chair" how much longer are you willing to let other people sit on you? As an employee, you have to voice your concerns in a direct manner that will not be misinterpreted as something else. The Leadership Team requires that employees communicate their needs, so that they may come to an amicable resolution to the problem.

Are you talking about a geographic earning cap? I know in the West Coast, regular bedside staff nurses make $100,000 a year right out of school. I can tell you this from experience, our new hires start at $47.60 working 144 hour a month. Once you factor in the mandatory holidays employees have to work, they can break $100,000 easily. I am a numbers person, the return on investment must justify going through an advanced degree. The simple answer is NO, 100K is just a start. You can make way more money. The hard answer is what are you willing to do? Are you willing to move? What is your cost of living? Etc.

I do no think unions are necessary. I believe RNs can sit down with their managers and come to an amicable solution. As a profession, communication, negotiation and collaboration is key. I believe unions create very strict rules that prevent the creation of creative problem solving and restrict the maneuvering room required to solve these types of workplace issues.

We have had RNs on staff who specialized in quality control and case management, who became CNLs taking on the role of policy review/implementation specialists. Advancement of education is a good thing for our profession. We should not dissuade one another for wanting to go beyond an Associates or Bachelors degree. There are other, just as important, positions away from bedside care.

Usually the Physician gets a very "stern talking" to and usually this kind of behavior stops. We have had doctors make unwanted "attentions".

I highly recommend not to post on any social media in regards to one's personal view on staff/workplace setting. These days, it is too easy to find someone on social media. A colleague once told me that every RN is linked to every other RN within 7 degrees of acquaintances, much like Kevin Bacon.

We have had distraught family members in the ER bring in a gun and threaten to shoot staff. My advice to everyone is to NOT BE A HERO. It may seem "cool" to tackle the armed assailant or "judo-throw", "superman-punch", "flying-guillotine", but this is not the movies. An accidental discharge can cause a bullet to go through curtains, people and walls. Deescalation, finding cover or concealment and calling proper authorities is the best chance you have. Most hospitals are soft targets, with the exception of hospitals who have armed guards continuously present on site 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Before anyone wants to act like a hero, think of your own family. Do you want to die a hero? Or do you want to live and see your spouse and kids? Only the individual can make that decision.

Exactly so! I must have not been clear enough in my definition of bedside. When I speak of bedside, I refer to the usual bedside responsibilities of staff nurses who are included in the count in terms of patient care and existing census. A CNL is not to be showing up to work and given a patient load in order to provide coverage for patients on the floor. Their responsibilities are not to include passing out medications, enemas, getting consent, transferring/picking up pt. Rather, their responsibilities are focused on educating staff and patients, researching new implementations, investigating/applying new policies and protocols etc. It is a rather complex role, and with a Master's degree it allows them to take directorships or higher level positions. My hospital requires directors to either have 4 years experience as a unit/house supervisor or a Master's in Business/Nursing. In any case, if someone does wish to be a CNL and work as a bedside staff nurse with a patient load, I am sure it can be arranged.

Met my wife