RNinDM

I agree with the posters who say to take the OB job. A year goes by in no time at all and then, with OB experience, it will be much easier to have the job you want in the city you want.

Not all hospitals have techs to handle things like getting the patients fed and other aspects of am care.

I think that you also should be aware that getting a nursing job these days is competitive. You don't want to spend all that time and money and then have trouble getting a job. Which happens to many people even without any felonies in their past. I think that your job opportunities may be very limited. You may be better off with some kind of counseling or social work job where your past could actually help you get a job. There's all kinds of ways of helping people besides being a nurse. Best of luck to you.

You can get copies of everything, but if you live in an at will state, the hospital can fire you for any little thing. All nurses do something wrong eventually and then they'll just use that little thing to get rid of you. They can even lie and you have no recourse. I know a nurse who was fired for being a minute late. She had worked for the hospital for years. Her new manager kept track of her tardiness - only a minute or two a few times over the previous months. On her 4th time, she was fired on the spot. The housesupervisor had to be a witness when she was fired. The house supervisor was in tears afterwards over how the fired nurse was treated.

The same thing happened to me recently. I was an ICU nurse for over 20 years, spent my last 7 years in one unit then transferred to another hospital, same job. All of sudden I was getting written up over crazy things. Should have seen the writing on the wall. I was fired for a very minor med error which I reported and no harm came to the patient, doctor was not upset. I was upset because making med errors is not at all typical for me. But, they were just waiting for me to do something wrong. It was horrible. I think some hospitals are just viper pits full of nasty people. I don't know if its possible to get over it.

Management wants RN's to be accountable, but who is held accountable when we are understaffed and overworked? Self-reported and was made to feel I was incompetent, even though the patient was not harmed and I did not have a history of med errors. We're disposable to hospitals now. I knew a nurse who was fired recently over a simple med error that didn't cause the patient any harm and she self reported. Other nurses I work with, when our hospital chain started becoming so punitive, told me they only self-report now if the patient has been harmed or they think someone will find out anyways. It used to be we could self-report and then work to come up with a plan so that it wouldn't happen again. Now,we get written up, put on administrative leave and fired for anything. (Unless the manager is your personal friend in which case you're golden.) Also, remember HR is not your friend. Those people have no idea what the job is like, they are just there to protect your boss and your hospital.

she stopped working 6 years ago,not in 93

We, supposedly, have a Code Lavender team where I work. There was a lot of PR about it. Supposedly, if a nurse is extremely stressed or upset, someone will call a member of the code Lavender team who will bring the nurse to a quiet place - that is not a restroom, and do a few moments of healing touch with some quiet music. The nurses who do this do carry around a lavender scented lotion. However, I have yet to see this actually happen. We do have several nurses trained in healing touch - just to busy to actually use it.

If you can't figure out which "meds should not be turned off", you shouldn't be turning any of them off. In the ICU, it's important to know your drugs and not just by a list, but by what the drug is doing. Before turning something off, figure out why the pump is alarming. In the ICU, you can't be just turning things off when they alarm. That, in and off itself, is alarming. If the nurses seem frustrated with you, instead of trying to change them, look objectively at your own faults, lack of training, or critical thinking skills. The ICU pace is fast and furious in most units. It doesn't sound like your unit is set up for new grads or new ICU nurses. You have a couple of options. First, even though there are successful RN's who started as new grads in the ICU, most ICU RN's have had at least one year's experience on another floor first. Try med/surg or stepdown. Develop some basic skills, knowledge and critical thinking and then start in an ICU new grad program - probably at a different hospital. You should have a consistent preceptor and a training program that protects you, your patients and your fellow nurses.