Pbelle

Still looking. I'm done with nursing.

I have taken the past two years off from nursing to nurture and help my two teenage daughters negotiate through high school. The oldest will graduate in June, and I've been looking to return to nursing here in the Twin Cities area, and despite numerous applications, cannot even get an interview. Last summer/autumn I had two interviews for a nursing supervisor position, and during my second interview, one individual asked why I chose to leave my last position, where I had worked for 22 months - "You look like a job hopper, to me" were his exact words. When I explained my decision, he appeared to not believe me. I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should return to my previous profession of sales/marketing, which I did for 20 years prior to earning my ADN and working in telemetry and then insurance nursing services. Are there really that many unemployed RNs in the Twin Cities who are vying for the same positions? Thanks for hearing me out!

Yeah, it is a bit unnerving. I remember question 76 coming up, and feeling like I was going to throw up in my mouth - I could feel myself start to panic a bit. Took a few deep breaths, kept going. When the 2-hour "do you want to take a break" screen came up, I kept going. When the blue screen popped up after question 120, I nearly cried - I was mentally exhausted. You know how they take a picture of you before you go in? There should be one taken AFTER you're finished - the "Before/After" pics would be priceless. I went home, cried since I figured I'd failed, then I went to a yarn shop and bought some tasty expensive yarn and chilled out!

Another alternative is MCTC - their 2 year nursing program is excellent, and I was told by some of the nurses I worked with that they preferred new grads from a 2-year school, since they had more hands-on experience in clinicals; apparently a lot of the St. Kate's/UofM nursing grads had more theory and management classes than actual clinicals - at least, that's what the St. Kate's BSN grads that I worked with told me. Now, before all you 4-year BSN grads start jumping on me, I'm just reporting what I was told. I already have a BA in another field, and am beginning an ADN-BSN program. I agree with the earlier poster, I wouldn't have my daughters go to St. Kate's for the ultra-feminist vibe there. The U of M's program is extremely competitive, especially the program for those that already have a Bachelor's in another field. Good luck with whatever path you choose!

Don't even bother with Allina's HR department - they rarely, if ever, get back to you, and they DON'T return phone calls (they state so on their recording). If you truly want to get into Allina, find out who the nurse manager of the department you're interested is, and contact them. If they have some interest, they'll speak with you. That's how I got my offer from them (which I declined, for a number of reasons, but I'd work for them in the future). Good luck!

I passed my MN RN boards with 120 questions. There were women in my orientation group that passed with more questions.

I only wish they had a psych unit - sadly they don't. I no longer work there, and don't miss this aspect of nursing at all!

What the above two posters said, plus morphine and other pain meds, especially for post-CABS. Don't forget Ativan and Haldol, especially if you have a confused pt that goes on the confusion/Haldol protocol. I worked on tele for 6 months, didn't really care for it, but you might! Good luck!

I've noticed that the older a couple is, in many instances the wife answers for the husband, even if he's A&Ox3 and fully able to speak for himself! What is the deal with this behavior?

Press-Gainey is a joke.

I worked on a tele unit and had a patient who had two daughters that stayed w/mom the entire time she was on our unit. We figured out fairly quickly that this was a case of 'kid-guilt', since according to another sibling, these two had had nothing to do with mom or her health for years. One had a notebook with her, and she'd record every.single.vital. One time the NA was taking her temp, and told me the temp in Celsius, to which the daughter said, in a very demanding tone "interpret". The NA and I looked at each other, and I said, "she's fine, her temp is normal". Then I walked out of the room. I just wouldn't put up with that BS demanding behavior. The kicker was when mom had a blood transfusion, and due to the fact the the daughters kept piling blankets on mom, her temp went up a bit, but nothing to think she was having a reaction. They starting literally screaming "She's Dying! Get the doctor". The other patient in the room rolled their eyes at me and said "Either they go or I'm going to call the DoM and get them kicked out!". I asked them both to calm down, since they were disturbing both their mom and the other patient. You'd have thought I had a horn growing out of my head. Somehow we got them off the unit to the cafeteria, stopped the transfusion and lo and behold, mom was fine, since once we removed the extra blankets, her temp went back to normal. These women thought they and their mom were the only people on the unit, and really made me rethink if I wanted to stay on the unit as a hospital nurse. Where did they think there were, the Hilton?:angryfire

I left the tele unit last month, after having found a job outside the hospital setting. Fewer hours, no nights/weekends/holidays, plus the ability to do cognitive assessments which I enjoy very much. My former co-workers do keep in touch with me, and I'm very happy that I made the switch. Most importantly, my family is very happy with this new position, and we are all much less stressed out. Do I miss the unit? I truly miss the people I worked with, but don't miss the politics and stress of working in a hospital. So for now, it was a great move!

I left the tele unit in late August, and am now working from home doing health history and MCAS (Minnesota Cognitive Assessments) from home for Nation's CareLink, and am much happier and very much less stressed out. No nights/weekends/holidays, and the most important part is that I'm home when the girls go off to school, and when they come home. My whole family is much happier, and even though I took a cut in pay, it's been well worth it!:balloons:

I graduated from MCTC's LPN-RN mobility program in December of last year. Great program, very rigorous. My only complaint was that the transition class that is required is a bit of a joke - I got more out of the clinical than I did from the actual class. As for difficulty getting in, I had a 3.8GPA from my LPN program, and already had a BA I had earned back before there were iPods and PCs. I believe they have one of the only programs were Chemistry is not a requirement, but the prereqs were definately tough (A&P, Pathophys), and some were not (Nutrition, which I found I actually liked!). Good luck with your attempts!

Thanks for both your replies. I have spoken with my manager about this; if I could find someone to switch shifts w/me, it would work out, which is fine w/me. However, due to my spouse's work schedule, eow is not an option for us. I've already mulled over the PRN idea, and if this other opportunity I have becomes reality, then I'll present that to them. This isn't my first nursing job per se - I worked as an LPN in a GI practice for 9 months before getting into a mobility program, so all told I have 15 months experience, not to mention 20+ years in another job before I switched careers. Plus I've come to the realization that I'm not a 'hospital nurse'. Some people are, and God bless them, but I'm not. So there you have it!