cathmarm

hello: there is a lot of information here and vary valuable, thank you. i noticed that accelerated programs may not always give you the hours required to work overseas. my question relates to a rnà msn program. i am a nurse of 28 years experience, with an associate degree in nursing.:redbeathe a lot of cardiology experience, ed, icu and med/surg. i am now enrolled with walden university in the rn to ms in nursing program, it is all on line. i am wondering how this stacks up for working as an educator overseas. my parents were missionaries while we were growing up and i wish to return after retirement here in the usa. i am fluent in spanish, have lived in peru, ecuador and bolivia. any thoughts on this subject? should i get a bsn as well as the ms degree?

Radiology Nursing is not the same as Interventional Radiology in the larger hospitals. Nurses make more money than the technologists, unless they have the CVIS certificate and the hospital pays a differential. Questions to ask yourself. Radiology nurse only, how big is the hospital, how many and what types of procedures do they perform. Interventional Radiology, (Cath Lab nursing) Interventioanl Cardiovascular (Cath Lab nursing) What specialties in Radiology do you want. CT, MRI, Radiation Oncology? Some Rad departments pay differentials based on passing cert. tests. Take a visit to the different departments and see what they do, ask the nurses about on call and call back. Ask your family, spouse if they will divorce for being gone too much when you get called in. I have seen it happen for busy Cath Lab staff. Good Luck

Here is some information for you to evaluate the competency level of the technologists you are dealing with. The old designation was Registered Cardiovascualr Invasive Specialist. (RCIS). There is a new one now. If the technologists are certified or registered by their specialty, they have additional skills that their peers in Radiology would not have. Here is a web site that provides information regarding their skill levels. Very few techs have this certificate. http://www.cci-online.org/apprvs.html I hope this helps you to weed out the skilled technologists from the others. I too would be afraid of practicing in a setting where my license is on the line based on my percieved level of delegation to other less skilled staff. :heartbeat:heartbeat

There is Portland Adventist Medical Center, close to Mall 205, just north of Division St. It is a 250 bed hospital, has all the regular departments with the exception of pediatrics. It is a conservative and a Christian environment, no red hair or black lipstick ;-)

I stopped reading this conversation due to a lack of real objective material pertinent to the question. There is no documentation regarding legislative action in any state? That is hard to believe. Is this topic in any agenda for legislative action? That is the real question and there are no answers. .....

I understand why they have so many "National Meetings" in Chicago, DC, Boston, and Florida, etc. There are certainly a lot of large institutions around the East Coast. However, bringing it closer to the West Coast would be nice for us. With budget cuts, no one wants to pay that kind of money to fly and stay so far away from home. So I guess we could take turns crossing the country. :redbeathe

:nono:Unfortunately, by remaining divided on the issue, we dilute the power that nurses could have on any issue relevant to us. We are not considered a profession as it is, because the educational standard, the minimum requirement to be considered an RN varies so greatly. As nurses, we will continue to serve as handmaidens unless we unite and at least meet the same requirements that "third world" countries have for nurses. Of course, in fighting is so much easier than taking action; I agree with Lindarn. We cannot demand respect from others while we disrespect each other. The argument is not which nurse is better, the argument should be, what we need in order for nurses to achieve a professional status. We need to stop thinking of ourselves and start thinking of furthering the profession. We need to grow up otherwise nothing will change. We will still be here years from now grumbling about this same issue.

WOW! Speechless indeed: What were they thinking? I would like to know how much and what kind of feedback they are getting from this segment, maybe the entire nation thinks its a funny joke. Our responsibility in this ...... Nursing does not meet all the criteria to be a "profession". Unfortunately because we are divided as a group, we will not advance further than we have. We should all agree as a national organization, and require BSN as the minimum standard of practice for an RN license. Other health care professions require a BS degree; along with it, comes higher respect and higher wages. Over time, perceptions would start to change. It would help to prevent others from viewing us as waitresses or stewardesses, or maids; over time.......

We are in Portland, Oregon. Just for your information, there are IABP classes offered by the ARROW and DATA SCOPE companies, which sell the catheters and pumps. We have them come once a year or more to give us a one day class or a 4 hour refresher. The ICU staff in your Hospital would know about them, better yet, contact the clinical nurse specialist for that unit. Good luck.

ERRNTraveler: I'll hire you. I have been in the cath lab for over 10 years. I left once and then returned 4 years ago to start the primary interventional program. I still take call, 140 hrs every 2 weeks; plus work full time. We don't get time off after working all night. I have personally been up and in the hospital for 40 hrs straight. It is tough, but I would not work in ICU or med surg for a million bucks. LOL. OK maybe for that much in a month. What I look for in a nurse is: ACLS 12 lead ECG acquisition and recognition, Cardiac assessment/treatment, ACS; CHF; AMI;etc. Hemodynamics (arterial waveform, swan ganz). This is the hardest to teach unless your hospital is big and does a lot of cases where you can learn on the fly. Pathophysiology. To be any good in the cath lab, get a good handle on this Meds, critical care setting Neuro (we do cerebral coils), Renal Peripheral stuff. Know the vascular system in and out. A&P. Excellent computer skills, all our equipment is Windows based. Word document competent, XL document competent, Networking savy. Study the language of the lab, rotablader, pressure wire, intracardiac ultrasound, fluoro, catheters, wires, stents,etc. Intra Aortic Balloon Pumping Skills. Gotta be focused, yet multi-task as well. I have a nurse that has ADD tendencies and it is too scarry to work with. Confidence, independent thinker and acts in the best interest of the patient without fearing what the MD will like or not. An understanding family, they hate the call and will "divorce" you. Communication skills, have to be diplomatic in a very volatile environment.It is a tough environement, it is competitive, a lot of type A personalities. I love male nurses, they bring balance to the unit, they are good problem solvers. That is all I can think of on short notice. It is hard and rewarding. :innerconf Where are you at? LOL:specs:

This has been entertaining. I specially like the little quotes at the end of the messages. We get a $25 gift certificate, and $25 to the company store. They have useful things like flashlights, blankets, etc. I put them in the truck or use them when we go camping. We used to get a fruit box as well which I liked very much. I always hear someone complain about the amount and the quality of the gifts. In some cases it would never be enough for some people. I am happy I get to send my kids to college and I like the work (interventional cardiology) and the folks I work with. :heartbeat :redbeathe

WOW!!! You should write (format) it as a poem. It is a beautiful statement of all the work we do as nurses, all levels of nursing. Nursing Management? Well I logged on to read this thread and learn. I appreciate both sides and I really liked Timothy's statements. As a manager I now have an ulcer just because I try to please too many people, all the time. Staff nurses can be hard to please. One day they ask for this and the next day, they changed their minds and don't want it. I really did not learn anything as a result of this discussion. I already take call; I already work when these wonderful staff nurses dump their shift/weekend for their own personal needs. Never mind my needs. Should you wish to make productive and constructive recommendations, well then by all means I want to learn to be a better manager. Otherwise, I am already doing all the things you asked for. Now I will ask you to tell your manager, that you appreciate him/her. I doubt the Hospital President was the last person who approved your requested days off, or defended you when you made a mistake. I am blessed to work with a group of nurses and technologists who stand and work together. We do not segregate based on title. Good luck with you League.

In regards to the demands for taking and responding to the "on call" status,... consider your family, your hobbies. I tell the nurses that apply for a job with us that call may be 12-15 days a month and that they need to discuss it with their spouse before making a commitment. I do not hire them until they have evaluated this with their families. A lot of the problems that we face are related to what the families expect from the nurse working these really crazy hours. The inconsistancy at which call back occurs requires a great deal of flexibility from that individual. All the nurses that quit within 1- 2 years, state it is a direct result from the call back issue. Good luck, JC

I work in a cardiac lab and a combo lab. We do interventional radiology cases as well as cardiac interventional cases. We currently have only two Radiology Techs. We have 10 nurses. The techs scrub in and manage the equipment. The nurses do the monitoring, and everything else. I would welcome additional techs or registered vascular techs. No offense to any nurses that are sharp and bright... but our techs are so skilled that at times they see things before the nurse does. It is imperative that the nurse have 3-6 month orientation (one with previous ICU experience) If the nurse is weak in ICU- ED experience, minimum orientation should be a year. Otherwise I will work with a skilled tech any day instead. :) Since I am the coordinator and make the room assigmenents, I make sure the mix is right for the tech and nurse involved. I will not place the nurse in a compromising position or leave the tech with two weak nurses. So the rules for me work both ways. I protect the nurse and the tech, but ultimately, we protect the patient. I will close a room if I can't make it work for us.