Hoozdo

If you are thinking of St. Joe's, ask them about their parking policy. I worked there for about 3 weeks approx 15 years ago and it sucked. You can not park on campus even if you pay for it. They bus you about 1/2 mile away and a bus comes Q 30 minutes. Yeah, like I want to wait for a bus after a killer 13 hour shift!

Yes, there are. I was recently hired PRN hourly in hospice. The hourly pay even includes drive time!

I highly doubt it. The wait has always been long to get in the nursing program. I don't think COVID will turn it around.

Yeah, me too. Another RN sat in the same room with me when I did my first start of care and then it was on me. I would say I really struggled for my first 20 hours of charting and then it gradually became easier.

Rattlesnakes do not like temps much over 95. They can't stand anything hotter and hang out in their holes. All bets are off if it rains though, they love the rain. I volunteer at a national monument in rattlesnake country in my spare time. I sometimes get involved in a on-going rattlesnake research study when a rattlesnake is caught at one of the 3 nearby national monuments. They are microchipped and released in a safe spot. Fascinating creatures.

Truthfully, I have not been at work since March 10. I am an organ transplant recipient of 20 years and do take immune suppressants. I am out on FMLA currently. I feel no job is worth my life. I do feel like I am letting down my coworkers by being out. Money be damned, my life is more important!

I worked as a surveyor for two years. There are some major cons to the job. - Extremely low pay. My state did not ever give salary increases either. I worked with some surveyors that had the position for 20 years and only had two raises in that time! - It is not a "low stress" job. If you are the lead surveyor on a survey it can be very stressful. There is major public speaking, running of meetings, and much drama that you are in control of at the facility you are surveying. - Constant travel. I was out of town for 5 days every other week. I got tired of living out of a suitcase. Your traveling may vary depending on how big a geographic area your state is. I can only think of two pros of the job. It is fun to eat out every night when you are out of town. The other pro is the job had excellent benefits.

Your new job sounds very similar to my current job. I work for the intake department for one of the largest county jails in the country. A large part of the job is triage. I assess the new prisoners/patients immediately after they are brought to jail and determine whether they are to ill to be in jail or should be seen in the ER first. Be very familiar with the criteria for accepting patients into jail at your facility. Also be familiar with what the level of care is at your facility. For example, is there an infirmary you can send them to or do they just service "normal" patients. Your psych experience will serve you well. One of the main concerns is if a patient is suicidal and what kind of housing they will need after admit. I would venture that about 85% of my patients are mentally ill in some manner. Know your drugs - generic and brand names. Particularly seizure medications, diabetic meds, and hypertension drugs. Google up the CIWA, COWS, and CIWA-B withdrawal scales and be familiar with them before you start. I see a LOT of wounds, from interesting police dog bites, to gunshot wounds. I have had wound vac patients but those are usually direct admits to the infirmary. I start IVs almost every day on pt's who have been in jail a short time that need to be emergently sent out via ambulance. I give a lot of Narcan IM. I enjoy the job very much and hope you do too!

Corrections: - No patient families - Tons of officers for security incase pt's misbehave in any way - No Press-Gainey surveys - If you don't feel like smiling you don't have to - If the patient is surly and uncooperative you can send them back to their cells! - Great variety in disease processes including many psych mixed with medical cases - You will see things you could never imagine or even make up with this patient population. Truth really is stranger than fiction!

Brownbook and Dexter'sDiciple, That is one of the main reasons I got out of ICU too. It seemed like I was torturing the pt's instead of helping them to recover. So many cases where recovery was never even possible but the doctors back out of telling the family and leave it to the nurse. It's kind of heart-breaking to convince the families to take their loved ones off of life support. I also found it very difficult to call a spouse to come to the hospital right away because the pt was very close to death. And even worse yet to call the spouse and say come to the hospital because your loved one is dead now. But the straw that broke the camel's back was the gigantus pts with sepsis I would get. I have arthritis is my hands had seriously difficulties moving these pt's in bed or pulling them with sheets. Good bye ICU environment, I don't miss you one bit.

@qimenglan9 Did you take the job? How is it?

**And if I speak up about abuse at work will I be punished for it? Will I be working with providers who don't care about the health and safety of my patients?** Yes, you will be punished for it in an offhand way. The management might start looking for ways to fire you because you cause too much trouble. As far as providers, I have spent about 3 years in corrections and I have never met a provider that didn't care about the patients. Most of them bend over backwards to provide excellent care with the resources given. I know in my jail system, (second largest in the country), as an LPN you won't have much time to be involved in patient care. You will be busy passing out thousands of medications and that is it.

Atomic Fireballs candy work for me!

Your experience as an LPN will not matter much wherever you're applying for RN in hospital settings. If you are talking Maricopa County, the schedule is not flexible as an LPN. You will be doing heavy-duty med passes. I can't speak to any other counties or jails in AZ.

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