Everline

Orientation is the time to leave if you see it's not going to work.

I give a lot of IM injections. I do not aspirate. I try to give injections as quickly as possible.

Yes.

I can relate to a certain extent. I hated clinicals in nursing school and my first nursing job in a hospital really made me miserable and drove me to drink. I wish I was kidding. I hung in there about 7 months, networked and was able to move on to an outpatient setting where life got much, much better. Don't get me wrong, it was still stressful and I had to work hard on my self confidence and self care. But I was much more suited to an outpatient setting. I eventually got a job as a public health nurse and that is what I do today and what I will continue doing for the foreseeable future. I can say I've been successful in my work, but I still occasionally have days where I fantasize about suddenly quitting and going to work in a grocery store. Nursing is a stressful profession and I am a person prone to anxiety. It probably wasn't my best choice for a career. But I found my niche and can function well and, for the most part, I go home at night peacefully and not dreading the next day. You will probably have to go through a job or two that will be difficult but you could find a place in nursing that suits you. However, you have to decide how much you are willing to bear and whether you think it will be worth it.

Yup, I get it. Since I have a BA in another field and didn't want the expense of another one, I applied to graduate school. To my suprise, I got accepted. Then just before class was about to start, I realized I have NO desire to basically ruin all my free time and peace of mind for a graduate degree right now. I like to pursue my own interests, nursing or otherwise, on my own time and direction. Plus, I like to come home and relax after a stressful day, not write papers and take exams. Not to mention going back to school is not a requirement at my place of employment. All that being said, since my employer pays my tuition, I did ultimately decide to go for my BSN. If I had to pay for it, I would not be doing it. I really dislike having to come home and worry about assignments, papers and etc. I know it's only temporary but it's not fun and I don't see yet how this will actually help my practice. I could be wrong though. Hang in there. We'll both likely be glad we did it when all is said and done. But yeah, it's a drag, for sure.

Oh, how people warned me that I would not be able to get a hospital job with an ASN. Put me in a bit of a panic. Turns out I had no problem getting a job. Not when I first graduated, nor any time since. My first nursing job was at a magnet hospital. I will say that I do have a BA in another field, but I doubt that has anything to do with it. I've never needed a BSN and therefore had no intention whatsoever of going into debt for it. The only reason I am taking classes toward it now is because my employer is paying for it 100%. Oh, and I, too, remember being told that practical/vocational nursing would soon be a thing of the past. That was 30 years ago...

I am proud and happy to be a nurse. However, I questioned my career choice nearly every day of my first year of nursing. To say I was miserable was an understatement. But something kept me hanging on. And I can honestly say I am happy with my career now and where it may go in the future. That doesn't mean I love every aspect of my job. For instance, I dislike the severe understaffing that has existed at my job for the last few months. It has really stressed me out. But it's temporary and will soon be over. In general, I love my job and my co-workers. I'm in a specialty I love. And I finally feel like it was worth it to go through the hell of nursing school.

I am a public health nurse who does direct patient care every single day. I have to chart, of course but I don't have an abundance of paperwork and there is not much that I do that could be called case management. The thing about public health nursing positions is they can vary a lot from one place to another. There are a lot of things a public health nurse can be doing. So you really have to read job descriptions and ask the public health nurses in your area what their jobs entail.

As has been posted, I am not subordinate to any doctor. I am subordinate to my nurse manager. In addition, doctors don't order me to do anything. They write orders for the care of a patient and I may or may not follow their plan, depending on its appropriateness and safety for the patient. I respect most doctors and their education and knowledge and look to them to use that knowledge to help our patient. They are not better than me and I am certainly not better than them. We are part of a team that consists of different people with different skills and abilities.

I left hospital bedside nursing quite quickly, in part, because of the customer service mentality that I believe actually harms patients in the long run. I have not looked back or regretted leaving for one second. I do understand that being sick and hospitalized can be a scary thing and that people may act in ways that they wouldn't normally. I have empathy for their situation. That doesn't mean i have to be anyone's verbal or physical punching bag and management should make that clear to all patients who think it's okay to lash out at nurses. And on the topic of customer service, I did not become a nurse to recite scripts that a hospital thinks will get it better ratings or scores. No, I don't actually "have the time" to attend to your family members sixth request for beverages, blankets and tv maintenance. Nor do I "have the time" to fix your pillow back and forth seven times in a half hour period when you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself. People can have incredibly entitled attitudes that are far outside the realm of reasonable. I work outside of the hospital and we do not have to put up with patients abusive behavior. I am actually very tolerant of a lot of attitudes but if you start cursing, demanding and being abusive you will hear the phone disconnect the call or you will be escorted out of the building. Thank goodness my manager supports us. Nurses are not human punching bags.

I don't sacrifice myself to make other people's lives better. I go to work, do what I was hired to do and collect a paycheck twice a month. It is not a selfless profession for me. That being said, if you find it to be so for you and you love it, well rock on then. Congrats on finishing nursing school and best wishes.

Thank goodness I never signed one of these contracts. They are an absolute outrage, IMO. I have no sympathy for hospitals with high turnover rates who resort to trying to force new grads to stay when they don't want to, sometimes for very good reasons, which could include the hospital being a crappy place to work.

Loved her posts and hope all is well with her and that she will come back here one day and post again.

I am employed by the state in a public health job. So I would just laugh heartily if anyone ever told me that. That being said, when compared to the salary of my non-nursing co-workers, I make a decent living.

My honest advice: Concentrate on your first year as a med-surg nurse and think about what you will do next later on. The first year of nursing can be very challenging. In addition, as you work you might get more ideas about what you do and do not like in nursing and you can use that to guide you. Congrats on your new job and best wishes as you enter the workforce. You will learn a lot about yourself and what you might want to do next along the way.

I've actually experienced the opposite more. That is, people think that because I am the nurse, I know everything and when the crap hits the fan I am the one they look to for help. They look up to me and think I can slay dragons. It's really quite unnerving. Very rarely do I hear that nurses just wipe ass or that we are dumb and nursing school is easy. On the rare occasions when I suspect that might be the sentiment of the person I'm communicating with, it is always a doctor who thinks EVERYONE is stupid and below him or her. That is unnerving too, but oddly, more easy for me to deal with.

I took a risk in the first year of my career. Less than a year as a hospital bedside nurse and I knew it was not for me. Everyone told me to stay, that it would get better and that I would have a hard time getting further employment if I left before the magic year. I took a chance and it payed off. I started working in an outpatient clinic and eventually became a public health nurse. I have NEVER looked back. The day I drove away from the hospital for the last time was the day I got my quality of life (and health) back. I love the specialty I'm in now and hope to stay in it in some capacity until I retire. I am still a new nurse (in my fourth year of nursing) and I'm so glad I listened to myself early on. I have no desire to work in a hospital as a bedside nurse every again. I am quite content.

Yeah, I don't get it. What do you consider L&D because I have always considered it acute care. Can't imagine how it wouldn't be considered as such...

I changed from 12s to 8s. I have no weekends, night or holidays, though. I do like it. I thought it would be a hard adjustment but it wasn't.

Sometimes when I pass through the immunizations waiting area at our health department I hear some of the conversations people are having about vaccines and it can make me sad and frustrated. I've heard people say that they think it's better to let their children get diseases like measles and mumps (even polio!) than to vaccinate their children. That is how much they distrust vaccines and they really hate that they are required for school. So I can imagine what an uphill battle you may deal with! On another note, I like that part of your public health nursing practice is to keep up with the vibe on social media. I love how public health nurses keep their eye on their community like that. I applaud you! That is the kind of thing that helps us know how to tweak our education and outreach. You mentioned going home and taking a bubble bath... I can tell you that I am finding that I have to do something to "let it go" when I get home. I don't have a nice bath tub to have a soak, but the idea behind it is the same. I have to do something to relax my body and mind from thinking about work. It's so important for me to realize that work is not all there is to life. We do the best we can for our clients and then we have to also do the best we can for ourselves!

I like what you wrote here about paying off in future generations to come. I agree with you that this is something I think is so important and we need to keep in mind. A lot of what people go through is generational. It just keeps going from parent to child on and on. If we can interrupt that process, we have done a lot. We may not actually witness the effects, but we can have a positive impact on what transpires down the line. If a mother had a difficult upbringing but learns to parent her own child differently, then things are changing for the better to break unhealthy cycles. Thank you for the work you do! When I do pregnancy counseling, I refer some of the women I see to programs like Healthy Start and it really makes a difference for them! In addition I wanted to comment on the idea of working on what the client wants to work on. That is to say, I can have a lot of hopes and possible goals for a client, but they aren't interested and I have to let that go because it isn't about what I want for them. I wish a lot of my clients would make better choices, especially the teenagers. I can educate them, provide them with medical treatment, help them to explore their options, connect them with resources, etc. But ultimately, they have to do what's necessary to make their lives better in the ways most important to them. I think what's important to me is knowing I've done what I could to help. I have to let it go if a client chooses not to follow through or take advantage of what is being offered to them. Most days I actually do feel like I've done some good. Most days, I really love my job.

This year. I should add, however, that I had to empty my pockets and lock up all of my belongings. I could not flush the toilet or wash my hands before submitting the sample.

In my case, it was not supervised. That is to say, I was told I had 4 minutes in the bathroom to pee in a cup. I was alone in the bathroom. Not sure if that is what you are asking.

This forum does not seem to have a lot of traffic, so I'm curious as to whether this topic will receive any replies. I'm simply interested in sparking conversation among public health/community health nurses. I'd love to know how things are going in your area. If you are a nurse working in public or community health or something related, tell us what you do and how you are feeling about your job. I'm a public health nurse who works mostly in family planning and STD clinics, with a bit of primary care thrown in. Public health is definitely my niche. I'm saddened by the rate of STIs in my community, especially among teenagers. I wish we had more funding for community outreach. I'm also concerned about the low level of health literacy. As much as I love what I do, I sometimes feel powerless, which is not a great feeling. If any of you out there feel like that too on occasion, what do you do to lift yourself up? I hope some public health nurses will come in and chat. :-)

When I worked at a hospital, I couldn't imagine being there more than 3 days a week, mostly because I disliked my job. I went to an outpatient setting but still only worked three days a week. For the past year I've been working in a clinic and now have "regular" hours with no nights, weekends or holidays and I am never on call. i thought I would have a harder time adjusting but after a few weeks, I was fine with it because I really like my job. The weeks go by quickly and I love having my weekends off to be with my family. I would not want to work 5 days a week as a hospital floor nurse under any circumstances. I would not want to work at any job I disliked 5 days a week. It matters how you feel about the job, your co-workers, your boss and the population you work with. Some situations require more days off for the sake of sanity. I'm not speaking for anyone else. Some people love working 3 12 hours shifts even when they love their job. I'd personally like to work 4 10 hour shifts with no weekends, nights or holidays if I could set my own hours.