frail316

I need advice on what to do. I have court tomorrow and most likely I will have a felony charge (drug possession) against me as the first thing on my clean (not anymore) criminal background:confused:. Currently I have a LPN license. Anybody have any idea what my chances are for employment in the state of Illinois? I will begin the expungement process, but that takes about a year from what I hear before it all goes through. Any comments or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The value of good communication with my patients could possibly draw the line between life and death and, at the least, dramatically improve building rapport. Gaining trust, Erikson's first stage, is so vital to our work as nurses that it disappoints me how much it is not emphasized in nursing program curricula, as I think it should. I encourage you to post any stories (short, long, inspirational, or tragic, etc) that were affected directly by communication skills, or even lack thereof.

Just think of it like how kids sometimes have potty training regression. And also think of the saying "the customer is always right". Yea I know it sucks and we can't always put up an emotional wall so that we can avoid taking things personally, but we're all human beings right? Nurses will never escape your situation until they find their own special way of dealing with it. Did you ever try arguing with a child? Its pointless. All of your mean patients have regressed into children, which means the only way to handle things is with a rational attitude. They thew out any sense of compassion coming their way out the window once they've crossed a line. So, just picture these difficult people like snotty little kids that need to be taken care of. (not saying you should put them in their place) They obviously don't need to be pampered, but it might even be a bit funny if you act like they should be pampered like a little baby even. "Are you ok? Something more pressing seems to be bothering you? You sound frustrated. Tell me what you're feeling right now." (not saying you should push sarcasm beyond professionalism, but therapeutic communication never feels better than this when you're belittling them, JK!) Here's what always worked for me: smile and laugh it off when you leave the room. If you can do just that, then you won. Everything thereafter is just a continual embarrassment of themselves. I hope this makes some sense. SMILE!!! if you can't then SMIRK at least.

You are definitely going on the right track since it seems a good majority of males go into that field ultimately; including me hehe. So here's what I suggest. Be proud to be a male nurse; if you can't have pride in the work that you do and the label that you'll be carrying around then its just going to be that much harder, mentally, to continue with a world AND you against you. If you can't come out of the nursing closet then I hope you can just suck-it-up and deal with it your own way. The road to getting an RN and 2 yrs of ICU experience (before the CRNA program) is a long one so reserve alot of patience and confidence to at least get you through to your RN. Once you start working in the ICU I doubt you will have any denial issues or any issues at all being a nurse d/t the level of professionalism you will be dealing with. much props to you for choosing this path. good luck and never give up bro!

I guess looking at bedmaking in the technical aspect seems mundane and not related to anything significant. Wiping people's butts, cleaning emesis, serving meals, etc seem to also fall under this category even though we aren't being tested on it. I personally hated CNA training and even so I hated the work of a CNA. Might as well just wipe off all of this from the nursing curriculum for time better spend on actual nursing skills. But then isn't healthcare really a service industry with Nursing being the forefront of it? Its just the same as a soldier being able to properly march in the first weeks of bootcamp before going off to defend our country. If we can't make the beds look nice for our patients, which may give them a piece of mind in their time of disparity, then I don't think you can be called a nurse without really being one in the core. What good is it being a nurse if we can't humble ourselves to serve our patients.

Yours is a perfect example of a situation that I am not looking forward to experience in my future. I guess its most important to know that its not the convincing of the other kids that is important here since there really is no solution to it for kids at that young of an age. Remember that the focus should be on grounding your kids in having confidence in you in your profession. Once they ABSOLUTELY believe that there is nothing wrong with daddy being a nurse, then everything should fall in place. Yea, there will be some ridiculing no matter how much your kids defend you, but it does give your kids a GREAT lesson in life. There is no need for apologies. If anything, tell your kids that anyone that makes fun is just jealous of not being able to be as "smart" (understanding) as your kids are. hehe lets try to avoid any hostility while we're at it. Please keep me posted on your situation as things happen b/c i would love to hear more input in this area. THANKS FOR YOUR GREAT POST!!!

I have a poster that says: ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH . . . . . . TO BE A NURSE? in between there are male nurses in different extreme type activity outerwear with captions of their nursing profession/secondary hobby-occupation. its pretty cool how its being advertised.

I feel the the term Male Nurse is not necessary among professionals for the most part. But I feel that IT IS necessary from a patient's perspective. Most of the world is not ready to accept male nurses as a reality, thus the term is just a warning to the unprepared. How would you like it if you were told that a "nurse" was going to give you a (pardon the extreme) bed bath? Are you going to keep your eyes closed to make things right or are you a bigger person than that?

Doing LTC will definitely get you more money, but your brain will never forgive you for it since you will learn very little. You nursing skills might even deteriorate in this route. Experience in the hospital is never bad, but if you have it in you to complete the ADN I would suggest you focus and go all the way and save some time. Once you're in "school mode" its better to keep it in that mode rather than taking a work break and coming back much later with some difficulties getting back into that mode you were in. I doubt having that extra work experience will help you THAT much in completing your second year. This is from personal, current, experience.

My program's uniform forces us to wear all white. I'm not particular to wearing uniform that doesn't look like regular scrubs or colors that are eye sores. If you have the freedom to choose whatever color then I would suggest wearing simple colors that are easy on the eye. Don't wear something that might seem intimidating if you were a patient looking at the scrubs. I would prefer/sugguest a blue hue, maroon, or maybe even a green hue. Most importantly, wear something that makes YOU feel comfortable.

I guess the real question is: are you secure enough to be the only guy there? The answer to that is the answer to your question.

I worked at a nursing home as a LPN for a couple years and I loved it! Originally I never wanted to work in a nursing home ever, but working with a geriatric crew really had its perks. I don't think its a right fit for me in the future, but it was a good start. Currently I'm pursuing a position in an ICU or ER setting. Time flies, which leave no room for clockwatching. Whats better than knowing that the shift is over in a blink.

i've been doing cna and nursing clinicals in a some K-Swiss shoes. Their design is simple and most you can find are all white. I think they're pretty fashionable, comfortable, and humble at the same time.

Let me just say that if the top priority for a male to join this field of nursing is money, the second priority better be to help people. If helping people isn't even in the top 3 or 4 then they better not even consider this profession. What is the point of nursing if you don't sincerely have it in you to help a stranger out? If money is it, then you will probably get burnt out in the future and/or you will be giving subpar patient care for those that really deserve much more. Its like finding out your parents were paid to raise you and nothing more.

It doesn't matter really in the long run. Although, if you feel that you might learn more from having a male partner in lab, then by all means.