cyb3rRN

Agree 100%! I couldn't do my job without my CNAs!

I'm not pregnant. I am working in LTC right now, graduated a little over a year ago and I'm looking to go somewhere else. I was also thinking of baby #3. Just nervous about interviewing while pregnant though. I'm worried that would work against me.

Interviewing while pregnant. Just hoping for some input here. Has anyone had experience with this? Heard of anyone or you yourself having trouble getting a job while pregnant? I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. :)

I have been working in LTC for almost a year now, started there as a new grad. It honestly was on the bottom of my list, but the first place after months of applying that gave me a chance. Im thankful for that. I don't mean that to sound offensive, I love the residents, my coworkers, (for the most part;) and the clinical part of my job. It's just not my cup of tea. That being said, we do care for some pretty acutely ill people, but I just feel that my brain is turning to mush! I crave education, challenges, growth, the ability to perform more skills. I wont lie, I'm scared out of my wits to do many things for the first time, but so excited to one day master them! Most days honestly I feel all I do is push pills...I look forward to dressing changes just for the change in pace. lol I've been considering reading my NCLEX review book to stay "sharp" on the things I'm not using at work. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has felt/is feeling this way and how you "stay up" on your education/skills when you're not using them? I'm going back to school online to obtain my BSN this fall and I'm hoping that will help me get into a local hospital where I won't feel like a pill pushing zombie. Just wondering what to do in the mean time.

Sorry I hit send too soon. lol Didn't get to proof read or finish... I think that pretty much summed my story up. Just something to consider when making your decision. Good luck! :)

I second sweetpea. Get your BSN if you can. Im cant speak for Texas, but when I went to school for my ADN here there was no talk of "needing" a BSN unless you planned to do management. Here I am a few years later and most hospitals in my area, including the small county hospitals ate "strongly preferring" BSN RNs.(not to mention how saturated the market here is with new grads due to 3 new nursing schools in the area) I've been trying to get another job for a year and have had no luck. I think that's playing a large part in my struggle.

Pneumo, I think you're right. There must be some reason I am where I am. I'm working in LTC now...just trying to make the best of it. It's just REALLY, REALLY hard sometimes! lol

Thanks! I'll try calling Monday.

Thank you all fur your responses! I hope I'm just being paranoid. Bec, I didn't realize I could call HR and ask why I wasn't chosen. We did have a couple speakers come in during school to talk about applying and getting jobs, but they never mentioned following up after you've been turned down. If I call who would I ant to speak with? A recruiter? Just ask them for feedback on why I was not chosen for the position? This would make me feel worlds better knowing the reason, good or bad!

Trying to make a long story short... I worked at a hospital as a PCT for many years. Had wonderful reviews, good attendance, ect. I was/ still am (years later) in love with that place! The last few months of my employment I had lost 3 family members, was trying to go to nursing school full time, work full time, i could go on and on, but guess my sob story doesn't matter I realize we all have things that are hard to deal with and I handled this situation wrong... I kept good communication with my manager as to what was going on at home. He was wonderful thru my trying times. One day, feeling literally on the edge of nervous break down, I called my manager and told him that I wished to quit and was afraid I wouldn't be coming back. (Goodness if I had realized then what an awful mistake that could have been/is!!!) my managers response was "Ok, I'm going to take this as your two week notice that way if you wish to be employed here again in the future you won't have a problem." So, here I am. I haven't been employed there for years. I have been working as a RN in LTC for close to a year now and Have been looking to get out for most of that year. I have applied to several positions at the hospital I was previously employed with, with no luck. I did hear from a recruiter that said they "strongly prefer" BSN now. I have recently started a BSN program so that has been added to my resume, in hopes that I'll get back to my "dream facility". I guess I'm just asking for thoughts/advice. Please no harsh words, I realize now how unprofessional I was in my actions and I believe I've developed excellent coping skills since then. This truly is one of my biggest regrets. I'm wondering if it really is that there are that many more "more qualified" candidates or if I could have been placed on the do not hire list. Is there a way to find out if you're on such a list? Is it unprofessional/are you able to call facilities and find out? Like I said this place is what I think to be my "dream facility" and I'm just so discouraged and down about not even getting an interview while I've applied for about a year now. I guess I should add too that I've been turned down over that last year at numerous other facilities and I hear countless accounts of other nurses in my area taking up to a year to get a job. The market is very saturated where I am. Just looking for your thoughts.

It has been about a month since my post here and I just wanted to update everyone. When I went in the Monday following my error my ADON approached me and asked about the error asked if I knew how it happened, how to prevent it from happening again, and was going to let it go lol I was in tears and asked her if I could talk to her in her office. I told her how I was making myself sick over my error and she assured me that it was human, that it was taken care of corectly and that I was silly to make myself sick over it. LOL I am so relieved! I have since then tried to become more organized with my meds, really sticking to one system when checking my rights and rechecking any time I get interupted. I just wanted to thank you all for your responses...you all helped me thru what was a very scary experience for me! You have no idea the impact your responses had! Again, thank you!

Thanks all for your responses. I am just making the best of what I have right now. I've decided that I'm not going to do anything that I'm not comfortable doing alone (like some things for the first time) I'm going to be safe, slow down and breathe and take my time as much as possible, try to get more organized, start working on my resume again and looking another job, and until then try to keep my chin up. Thank you all for your responses, they are more helpful than you know. Its wonderful to know that I am not alone in these feelings I have. I'm just going to keep showing up and give it my all! :)

Hi all! I come to you once again despirate for advice. I am a new nurse, and have been working in a LTC facility for 2 months now and I AM MISERABLE! I had 10 days of training, 20 residents (at the least) to care for, I could go on and on with whats wrong there, but that would take all day. Basically I feel totally unprepaired, overwhemled, unsafe, there is not much help as all the other nurses are so busy, my schedule is a horrible mess, and I'm ashamed that I don't have more time to see the residents. I am working over probably 8/10 days that I work just barely getting things done. Its just a huge mess! I applied to hundereds of jobs, this is the first place to accept me after 3 months of trying so I basically felt I had to take the position. I have told myself over and over again that its just becasue I'm a new nurse and becasue its a new job and it will get better...ITS NOT! I guess my questions are...is this how all nursing is?! If so, I don't think I can do it! Its been my life long dream, as I'm sure it has for many of you, but I just can't do this forever! Is it better in the hospitals? I keep thinking that I would love to be in a hospital setting where things are more organized, there is a little more support, and goodness me a little more training! I am pretty sure that I have come to the conclusion that I need to find another job...should I let my DON know that I plan to look? She already knows that I want something full time (which they can't give me there) but how do you (or should I) tell her that this job just isn't for me? How will it look to other employers if I am looking for another job after being somewhere only 2 months? I appologise for my ranting, but as of this minute I am hours from going back in and have been crying on and off all morning...I feel stuck and helpless. Any advice at all would be much appreciated!

Thank you all for your responses! I think I just need some time. I know you all know where I am coming from when I say that I have worked SO hard to get here and then to mess up in such a short amount of time is just heart breaking! I'm so glad you all are out there in cyber land to support me as I am not yet close to many of my coworkers yet to be able to vent like this! I appreciate it so much that you take time to read my post and respond! LoBot, that article hit the nail on the head! It couldn't be more perfect! Thank you so much for sharing! I think I need someone elses persective...mine is out of order right now. lol

Wow! This has been such a blessing today! Thank you SO, SO much for sharing this! I made my first med error yesterday and I have been "just sick" (No pun intended) about it! I have been trying to talk myself out of all the thoughts of quiting and quiting nursing all together! I'm already feeling a teeny bit better having read this! I think I need to use someone Else's perspective until mine come back around! Thank you again for sharing!

I apologize for my post being so long, I just had to get this off my chest and look for some advice!

Hi all. I have been a member for a while and have come here to research things and such. I recently got my first RN job in the end of October in a ltc facility. I had 2 weeks of training and have been on my own for about a month and a half. Yesterday I made my first med error...involving narcotics of coorifice! My resident was supposed to get scheduled lyrica at 9am and scheduled morphine at 2pm. So, the coorifice of my day (and trust me I am not trying to make excuses, I know that I failed to work safely) as I know many of your days are probably similar...I had just started antibiotics the day prior for a sinus infection, touch of bronchitis, and an ear infection I wanted to call off more than anything, but just couldn't bring myself to since I am the new nurse and that would look horrible being there less than 2 months and calling off, I wanted to look dependable. I even told one of the other nurses that I felt "off" and "foggy" when we clocked in in the morning. Plus it was a weekend day which meant there are only 3 scheduled nurses so a call off would most likely mean a manager would have to come in and cover the shift. It was a usual crazy busy day... 20 residents to care for with 5 million meds, the aides coming and reporting things, one resident not doing well (will pass away any time now), family coming and going wanting updates, so on and so forth. So, during my 9am med pass I go to get resident X's meds. I check all my rights, someone comes up and asks me something (I can't even remember who or what it was now!) and I go on about my business. I take the medications in and give them to the resident. When pouring them into her hand I realize that they just didn't seem right to me. I go back out to my MAR and then it hit me!!! I gave her her scheduled morphine instead of her lyrica. Both are in our narc lock boxes and I'm just so used to giving her both it didn't send up any red flag for me. My legs immediately turned to jello!! I felt like all the blood had drained from my body and the room was spinning! I took a second to recheck my steps to make sure that I really did mess up and confirmed it when I looked in the narc book, I had signed the morphine out at 11am (I was super behind and always save this resident for last) So, I immediately ran to the senior nurse on duty to ask what to do. At this point I am already crying and having a mini panic attack. I was sick, tired, not clear headed at all, new, already overwhelmed on a normal day, and this just sent me over the edge...I couldn't keep it together! She instructed me on what I needed to do. First she checked out the error I made and said she really though it wouldn't harm the resident. I checked on her and then called the doctor. I don't know if this on call doctor is just normally nice or he could tell that I had been crying, but he was extremely nice and laughed after I told him and just said "Well, give the lyrica at 2pm and hold the morphine" I filled out my error report and put it in an envelope in my ADON's mailbox. (The senior RN told me that the supervisors don't want called for simple med errors on the weekends) I told the resident the error that I made (tried not to make it sound like a big deal because I knew I would break down in tears if I let on to the severity) and told her that I had called the doctor and what he said to do. Her response was "Thats fine with me." and took her afternoon meds and I went on relieved that I had told her, breaking out into tears throughout the rest of the day. I cried almost all the way home, cried on my way to work this morning and had so many thoughts running through my head!! I wanted to quit! To work at McDonald's and not have this kind of responsibility! I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide! Should I have had more training? HOW on EARTH did I miss the time when I was checking things so closely?! (I thought) Should I quit nursing? Should I switch to a slower paced shift? Ughhhh! So, here I am, the day after still feeling SO extremely incompetent! I was just beginning to feel a tiny glimmer of some confidence and then BAM!!! I mess up big. This just has me doubting myself unbelievably! I'm ashamed, scared, embarrassed, and so very remorseful, I could go on and on... I still still have yet to talk to my ADON, she will be there tomorrow and I really can't wait to talk to her. I just want to get it over with! I'm still terrified to speak to her not to mention all the embarrassment and shame I feel! How do explain something I don't even understand how it happened? I was just in a fog, I just need to be more careful. What will she say? What happens after that? Is the error keep on my record? Does the BON hear about it? I'm just looking for some support, comfort, or some direction in dealing with this. I have read a lot of the posts on errors and I keep trying to talk myself into feeling better..."everyone makes mistakes" "we're all human" but it just isn't working! Maybe once I talk to my ADON. I just don't know! I just can't shake this! Is this normal?!

Thanks for all your responses! Everything is so stressful just starting out and figuring out all the rules and relations, and procedures!

Really? That makes sense, guess I just assumed they meant all bodily fluids in school. Good to know. When you are exposed what should you do? Just wash with soap and water? My faculty hasn't educated us on anything like this.

Sorry, spell check got me. lol We got jobs at the same time, different places and she didn't bother to wash it off.

Ok, so a school buddy and I both jobs at different retirement communities and she was telling me today that she was spit on by a resident that received chemo yesterday (tiny droplet she thinks) So she continued to tell me that she had gloves on, but it was on her arm and she didn't burger to wash it off...theasked if I thought it wa ok. I said I thought it would be. So comes my mini lightbulb about how little I know about about exposure. Is she really ok? When do you worry when exposed to bodily fluids of a chemo patient? Just trying to educate myself more as I too someday will probably have to care for someone receiving chemo.

Ok, I have been applying for positions (probably over 100 easily now) for the last 2 months since passing the NCLEX and getting my ADN. Big hospitals, rural hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, behavioral health facilities, assisted living facilities, everything! I have gotten 1 interview! My "dream job" is a a hospital which I was formerly employed for close to 10 years as a PCA and quit 3 years ago while focusing on my degree. I have applied to about 5 positions there for which I have been turned down for all 5, including one that was on my past unit. (I'm pretty sure I never made it past human resources) I realize that this facility along with many others prefer BSN but recently 3 people that I graduated with were given positions there. So, my questions is, what now? Should I call HR and see if I am on a do not rehire list? (When I left my boss verbally stated that I was leaving under good terms so that if I was seeking employment in the future I would be able to do so there) I can't think of anything that would put me on that list though...I received great reviews year after year. Should I contact my former manager and just let her know that I'm looking to keep me in mind if a position should come open? SHould I just leave it alone and keep applying? I don't know what to do...I realize maybe it was some other factor as to why I have not been chosen, but it really is bothering me that I put years in at this facility and others are being considered and receiving positions. Makes me think I did something wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

Ok, for the last 2 years I have been focusing on school and caring full time for a family member in home who needs total care. I have experience with g-tubes, med administration, and insulin monitoring and injections. I want to include this experience on my resume. In my resume I have a section for "Professional Experience" would it be appropriate to include this here, as it is an unpaid position? Should if be considered volunteer work? Also, when filling out an application and it asks if I am currently employed is it lying if I say yes and include this as a job? This is an unpaid position and I don't want to lie, I guess I'm just confused about where I can include this since it is unpaid. Thank you all so much for your help!

Ok, so my resume says professional experience...which I would think could include Non-paid positions like this, but when filling out applications and it asks for work experience would it be inappropriate list this there? Does work experience insinuate a paid position?

I'm sorry. I've come up with another question...if I say home health aid would I then explain that it was an unpaid position with a family member? They usually ask about the company/ agency you work for, right?