siRNita BSN, RN

I just heard a segment on NPR about how women make less than men and this disparity might be alleviated if there were more transparency from corporations. Yes it's taboo for us to talk about salary but that's a cultural thing that may change. I'm all...

Finn55, sorry to hear about your health struggles. That sounds like a terrible series of events. I'm sorry that you weren't treated with all the kindness and compassion you deserved. I hope you'll use your experiences to educate us on what works in t...

Don't do it especially with the job market for nurses as tight as it is... That's as much loan money as some people take out for medical school with less assurance of a job and less future earnings. Good luck to you!

OP, I'm sorry to hear about your brother. I might have done the same thing in a similar situation (depending on the circumstances). I hope you are doing okay!! In terms of CPR - haven't done it yet (knock on wood).

As a new grad float, I highly recommend floating for all the reasons other people have mentioned - variety, no politics, flexibility. I LOvE my job. You don't have to be an expert to be a good nurse. You just have to use your critical thinking skills...

My float preceptor, Jack, leans back in his chair by the computer. It is a quiet fall night on the orthopedics unit; our patients are sleeping, and pain medication isn't due for an hour. The unit secretary just turned out the main lights, so the hall...

I prepared for interviewing like studying for a test... A very personalized test where the goal is presenting yourself in the best light while using your experiences. I studied behavioral questions online, wrote down situations (you can use the same ...

There were at least 3 of us in my ADN class with a previous BA. Mine was in a humanities subject and I think having the degree helped in terms of improving the critical thinking and soft skills that are so important to nursing. Did it help me get hir...

I had an interview with 2 people sort of in a y configuration in a conference room. It was rather awkward and I felt like I was swiveling my head to try to make eye contact with both individuals. Plus one of the interviewers was nodding and the other...

I assume you are getting your BSN? Then I think you'll have pretty good chances. There are people from all over up here and they really like BSNs. Not sure about ICU but probably PCU and almost certainly med-surg. Just keep applying. They do phone in...

Thank you so much for sharing, TheCommuter. I really appreciate your open-ness about this issue and I also value all the comments from people dealing with the same struggle. Nursing is a very social occupation. I am an introvert, although I learned ...

The answer: the healthcare bubble. What it is and how to survive the "pop." Is there a healthcare bubble? The experts waffle, but facts are facts; between 1999 and 2011, government spending on healthcare increased 240 percent while GDP increased 62 p...

Would those be "lollipops" perhaps? ;-) like dumdums... But stronger...

Thanks for the responses. My post grew out of a feeling that healthcare was a little too top-heavy and unsustainable. I hope I am proved incorrect :) I was hoping with this article to put a positive spin on a scary possibility.

I run into this problem when volunteering at a clinic where I translate. There's not a good, easy way to say nurse practitioner in spanish. (See this website http://www.practicingspanish.com/nursepractitioner.html) For a lot of my patients it seems l...

I prefer 8's... I feel like 12's eat up the entire day! But if I were full-time, I might have a different opinion. My facility offers both 8's and 12's, plus a variety of FTE's. I'm .6 evenings and am really happy about that. I feel like 5 8's a week...

Let me preface this with, I am SO excited to be an orientee. I know it's going to be a great job, hard sometimes, but good. I've finished six weeks of floor nursing on med/surg units. Now for the first time I will be going to other units. But tod...

In our program, there was and has always been tremendous attrition in the second semester of four, a cardiac/pulmonary/endocrine-focused semester. Everyone got through first semester okay; then I think 10+ people failed second our year and that was h...

Thanks everybody for the encouragment!! I'm a big fan of brainsheets, I don't know how I'd get through the day without them! It's so helpful to look at the piece of paper and know exactly when I need to be where. I was glad the student was assigned t...

I had 2 letters of recommendation, one from a clinical instructor, one from my "manager" at a place I volunteered. I got the job... so I think as long as they are solid and you have some callable references lined up, I think that would be good. Quali...

I am going to school in Rochester and do my clinicals at Mayo. I haven't seen/experienced other places, but contrasting my experience with my mom's experience at a different organization, Mayo seems pretty great. They have good nurse/patient ratios (...