becmeister

Have you considered getting a tonsillectomy? My son has had five infections since July, he is getting his tonsils out in April. Make yourself an appointment to see an ENT specialist

Ask yourself, where will you be in five years? Remember you are a new grad, think about how hard it would be if you get sick of dialysis? Remember the observation unit will help you develop assessment skills you will miss out on doing dialysis. My suggestion is do the observation unit, work it for a couple of years to get some floor experience, then do dialysis later on. You will be a much better nurse in the long run.

Of course they get a little upset, right now they can pay you peanuts and fire you at their will. With a union, you have a contract, they have to think about how they treat you for a change. Contact www.calnurse.org they can help you get a union started. We need Ratios across the country. If it puts your job at risk, that is what your employer wants, to put the fear in you so you don't speak up. Get going girl, we need you.

Babysitter, get a job traveling and figure out where you want to work. If you are back East, think again. I've heard from Travelers that their worst assigments were in Washington DC.

I get enough admiration from the patients I take care of. People do respect Nurses as a whole and I'm very proud to be one. I'm not ashamed to tell people I'm a nurse, but life comes with balances. When I'm with my family at a party and such, if people ask what I do for a living, I say "mommy" so that I can focus on being mom instead of Nurse. It is a stressful job, and private time away from the job is important.

And I bet the pay sucks! You guys need to form a union and get the pay and patient safety ratios you deserve.

When you become an experienced RN, you'll be telling people "I'm a stay at home mom" instead.

Geez, you couldn't pay me enough to work that floor, how awful for you. I'd work at Starbucks instead. You don't have to worry about killing somebody there if you make a mistake.

close but no cigar. I work in a major University Hospital in CA, on a step down. Our ratio is 2-3pts, CNA with 5-6 patients, float RN(no assignment), Unit Secretary and resource is out of count. We have a Rapid Response team in addition to the Code Blue Team to aid if a patient is going downhill. Our med-surg units are a 3-4 ratio, CNA, Float RN, Resource out of count. We staff by acuity, not the ratio law. I hope this helps. We have many traveler nurses that are signing on, they don't want to travel to the East Coast now where ratios are unsafe. You can thank Rose Ann Demoro for the progress. We still have a long way to go.