RN1Each

I think the worst part is not hearing anything AFTER you interview. It makes my mind reel: "what did I say to turn them off?" "did I come off as too standoffish?" "did the beard make them second guess me?" A few months back I interviewed for a per-diem BHU job, and one of my final interviewers during the group portion was a colleague of mine whom I had worked with several years prior. Seemed like a slam dunk, but then...nothing.

If it were me, I'd do whatever I needed to in order to ensure the patient was stabilized, up to and including sending someone out to the ER, and then worry about squaring up paperwork with the Doctor later. I'm alot more comfortable with being called out onto the carpet for taking matters into my own hands in order to ensure patient safety than explaining why a patient coded while I waited for a Doctor to give me appropriate guidance.

6 months, about 10 resumes, and 1 interview.

I ended up taking A&P 1 twice due to my misplaced conviction that I was an academic superhero, but doing so helped me to understand that spending ALOT of time in the lab can pay big dividends. Not only are you surrounded by the tools to help you learn and retain information, you are also associating with other students who are serious about their success. In addition, there may be come great tutors, lab assistants, etc. who are all available to bounce your questions off of whenever you need. And as a side-note, it takes away some of the mystery and anxiety of pending practicals, which will most likely take place in the same lab you are studying in.

My killer Spartan beard.

I work in upstate NY. I passed my boards in late 2011, and an instructor landed me a job at a Home Care office where she also worked. I was offered $20...and before I even opened my mouth to accept, my instructor said "I make $21.40"! So, with no other choice, the Manager offered me $21.40. Of course, my instructor followed up by saying "Well...I've been here longer than him, so now I need a raise!" Well played. Anyway, I received a $1.40 raise within five seconds of working my first job. I also did a very short stint of Private Duty Nursing, which I negotiated to $25 an hour. In 2012 I began working full-time on a Telemetry floor at a local Hospital at $22.68 an hour, with additional shift differentials of 12-30% depending on what shift I worked. (I chose overnights due to the high differentials.) I left the Hospital about a year afterword. Now, I work Per Diem in Corrections Nursing at a local jail. When I was hired in 2013, I made $24 an hour. We had a new contract as of January 1st 2014 with a new agency, and with that came another $4 raise. I also receive $1/$2/$2.50 shift differential, so most of my (overnight) hours are currently paid at $30.50 an hour. I have recently taken on some additional hours at a State Prison through a Staffing Agency, and I receive $35 an hour for that. This equates to a 57% pay increase in three years. The money will come.

Growing up, my best friend's Dad worked in LTC. He told us about a blind resident who would occasionally become agitated and then say "there goes that little guy" from out of nowhere. Every time he said that, another resident on the floor would pass away.

I graduated in 2011 and now work in a Telemetry unit at a local hospital. I tell everyone that asks that for me becoming a Registered Nurse really changed my life, for better and for worse. Better: At 36 years old, the pay is fantastic compared to any other job I ever did (including military service and logistics management); and I now work no more than 3 or 4 days a week, unless I choose to...I have all the overtime I want; I have autonomy in my day-to-day work; and nearly every other nurse I partner with is really helpful and genuine. If I don't like the work I'm doing, I can simply transfer or seek out new work at another facility. Worse: Nursing is usually critically understaffed most of the time, and as a result, we sometimes (oftentimes) have high patient ratios. In addition, the very high acuity and unpredictability of my particular floor have had detrimental effects on my ability to work. I have PTSD from my military service, and coupled with the aforementioned issues I actually had to go out on disability for 6 months. I'm now back to work, but I can only work in administrative nursing for the time being. However, I'll never blame my work as the root cause of the problem; most of the other nurses I work with deal with the same stressors I do...they just happen to process it a little more effectively than me. And even with these problems, there's still MANY jobs in nursing for me; something I'd never see if I still worked in logistics.

You were ME last November! I had my first job on a Tele unit at the Hospital; did an excellent job all around...was doing everything right and impressing my preceptor. I began to (incorrectly) link my level of competence with how long they were going to keep me on orientation. I was also on for 12 weeks, although I felt I could have done well with just 8. However, and PLEASE believe me here...NO ONE is judging your competence by how long (or short) you are on orientation. It's merely a point of pride to be able to say "yeah, I was only on for 8 weeks", but honestly, the other floor nurses might look a little more skeptically at someone who fought so hard to get off of orientation...perhaps thinking they only did it to stroke their own ego. In the long run, orientation is simply that...enjoy it IMMENSELY while you can. It has nothing to do with how well you perform your job.

I don't currently work for the VA. I just set up an appointment with HR to speak with them next week about my options; my hope is that they have something administrative.

Propanolol counters the adrenergic response; my B/P is thankfully pretty rock solid. I'm going to really push my Psych for some more time to complete this course of treatment, as well as a note that states something to the effect of: "DON'T put him on a floor! Let him ride a desk for a while." I'll update as I know more. And, thank you all for your insights. They really help.

Mix and match, as I do. It's all good.

I just need to vent, so here goes: I am a former Infantryman with long-standing and well-treated bipolar disorder incurred during my military service. Thanks to Vocational Rehabilitation I graduated as an RN in 2011 and was eventually hired to work Telemetry overnight at a local Hospital (they were the first ones who actually called back.) Anyhow, I made it a grand total of four months before I began having panic attacks before, and then ultimately during, my shifts. I had never experienced them before, even with the Bipolar diagnosis. I talked to my Unit Coordinator and VA Psychiatrist; both were extremely understanding and agreed to take me out of work for six months so that I could seek treatment. The six months are up in two weeks. Right now I have prescriptions for Ativan PRN, Propanolol PRN and Zolpidem PRN, and I am in the middle of a cognitive-behavioral treatment program which hasn't concluded yet due to both my previous provider moving to Boston and my new provider coming down with an illness that has him sidelined for a month...so I definitely haven't completed my course of treatment yet. I'm also starting to have dreams where I'm back on the floor dealing with just one patient, and it feels so overwhelming that I wake myself up in the middle of the night...and that's nowhere near my usual patient load of 5-7 patients. I clearly can't return to Telemetry (my Psych has already told me that), but the Hospital still has me on the books as a full-time employee. My nightmare is that they just put me back on the floor and then I decompensate again. Has this happened to anyone else? What should I do? I'm going to let my Psych know this when I meet with him next week, but frankly I'm nervous that the Hospital will just terminate me if I ask for an extension or a transfer to a "less stressful" (yeah right) department. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I know a new job is a possibility, but I'm not sure whether I should start calling around now or wait until I see what the Hospital and my Psych has to say. Any thoughts? I'll listen to whatever you have to offer...

Upstate NY Tele unit. Overnights I usually have 5 or 6 patients. One night I had 7. One aide for the entire 42-patient floor (if we're lucky...), no LPNs (they work the day shift.) I do ALL vitals, hang IV antibiotics, hang blood, transport patients to the commode or bathroom, do admissions after 2am (when our admissions RN leaves), chart histories and upcoming procedures for the morning shift, etc. etc. etc. California has 4:1 mandated Tele, AND $90K+ per year for RNs? Rethinking my former comment about being overpaid...

After graduating as an RN I was hired on a Telemetry floor at a base rate of $22.18/hr. I chose to work overnights (for the huge shift diff), and all told I average about $25.50 an hour exclusive of unlimited overtime. My highest hourly rate is $26.62 on weekend overnights. The most I ever made before I became an RN was $16.25 an hour as an overnight stock manager...and that was after slogging through 10 years in retail. I make alot more money now; and my family and I are eternally grateful. And I sometimes feel that as competent as I am, I'm still a bit overpaid for what I do . That's just my opinion: NOT looking for backlash here!