gallllatea

Not everyone has these experiences and not everyone will love their job. Despite that they still might be good at it, and everyone needs a roof and to support their family. That's just life. It can't always be a Mary Poppin's world. Sometimes what's difficult can make you stronger too. Glad you're getting some positive feedback though!

I don't think how many questions it took you to pass the nclex has any bearing on employment. No one is going to ask you that in a job interview, but they will ask you a host of other questions. I'm finding that people in my program that are on the ball applying long before graduation have the jobs first, before even taking the NCLEX. Most people pass it and they care more about how you are as an employee. I guess what I'm saying is the early bird gets the worm, regardless of qualifications, they can't hire you if you don't apply.

no, but hasn't happened that often. I was more preoccupied with doing my job, not being emotionally wrecked.

I'm not sure experience has anything to do with it either. I've seen nurses with 30 years on the job write down a lot (because their memory is starting to fade, and yeah, it starts at 40), and vice versa. It's just an individual thing and a photographic memory sure would help!

I think it's called prioritization. Writing it down doesn't mean it'll be your focus either. I get critiqued by my clinical instructors for writing all the same kinds of details down. They make fun of me as the paperwork queen. The trend just seems to be "less is more." There is just no time to write a novel about every pt. and memorize it. But knowing the most important things and writing them down is important. I find that no matter the floor - cardiac, neuro, surgical, medical, NICU - same thing, sometimes vague, always quick reports. What I have found is that it's about liability too. You can't really trust what that nurse before you did or reported. You have to double check it all anyway because ultimately your ass is on the line. I've been told time and again, "yeah, we have to look it up again anyway"..Often they are totally right too. I think report is just a guide into a shift, but in the end you have to create your own research log due to time constraints, and it needs to be prioritized and brief. In the NICU, boy those women always double checked everything - no one trusted the nurse that was there beforehand - and I don't think it was always personal, it's just that they are so busy, mistakes are just far too common, so if that new nurse coming didn't see something on the computer as true (or see it happen in person), it didn't happen.

Dr. is appreciated. After 17 years in training for an MD and a PhD, my boyfriend gets pretty offended if someone refers to him as "Mr.". And technically it's not just an etiquette thing, it's just a proper way to address someone speech-wise. The general rule is that if they are called Dr. professionally, they are always to be called Dr., never Mr./Mrs.. If you send an invite to them as a friend (like a wedding invite), you would use the Dr. too. I guess it has to do with academic titles too. Same for PhD. But if someone attained a PhD and didn't use it, and went to work at Starbucks, no, it wouldn't be necessary to use the Dr. title ever. I'd just ask them what they want to be called. Of course at home, I like "Mr." when he (the Dr.) does something stupid like leaving the stove on with nothing cooking on it, or driving the wrong way down a one way street. It knocks his ego back into the realm of "you are human too! MISTER". It always amazes me how someone can have such a brilliant career and perfect track record with patients and yet have no common sense with other things in life. Same for surgeons I've known. Can barely keep food on a fork, slobby bobbies tripping over their own shoelaces, yet, true grace in the OR.

This is why I will never work in a nursing home. Did you try to talk to the CNAs before tattling on them? Good communication is a must. Since it sounds like you're not going to get a good recommendation if you leave, I would start reading some books on how to influence people and make friends...etc...Yes, it sucks, but learn how to get on their good sides, so maybe they (the CNA) can meet you in the middle. Don't just make demands and then do a write up. You're not going to get anywhere doing that and it's so easy for a CNA to report that you harmed someone with a false claim. I've seen DOCTORS get fired for the things that spiteful CNA's said about them. Like fake claims of inappropriate touching etc.. These are things that are subjective and need no proof other than saying someone did it.

I would be very careful with this one. If they say no phone calls, they usually mean it. To be calling weekly sounds stalker-esque to me and it will be viewed as such. Gone are the days of showing up in person to a human resources dept. to turn in a paper application, hoping to be viewed by a vip on the spot. Healthcare institutions deal with hundreds of apps, and they like the, "don't call us, we'll call you" philosophy for a reason (i.e. aforementioned 100's to 1000's of apps!). When I was in grad school, occasionally students applying for the program I was in would show up in person at some random event or in the dept. itself UNINVITED. Grad students in my dept. were not just students if accepted too - they started teaching as adjuncts right away, so they become colleagues as well as grad students with the other grads and professors. Anyway, YES, they were looked at as totally creepy and desperate for calling/showing uninvited. And it pretty much blew any chance they had at getting in. The professors would ask us about them too. I never met one that didn't do something weird while visiting either - maybe it's just an extrovert thing. Of course it's a different story if you are invited to call, know someone personally in management or hiring that is OK with you calling or they really do want you there in person (and this is in writing). Also, calling just to check on something isn't going to help. Most HR's are staffed with high school educated desk jockeys that are just shuffling paperwork and answering phones, they have no power or know-how to "spot" a wonderful candidate and put their name at the top just because of a phone call (and trust me, you're not going to be the only golden applicant). And these staff will be answering the phone or checking to see that your app was here or there, or whatever else regarding paperwork is present. Or answering general questions. The people that actually do the interviewing wouldn't be answering phones and dealing with paperwork.

Also, don't listen to the rest of these negative Nancy's. If you want to work on improving yourself and can admit you made *some* mistakes, barring you were assaulted or something totally insane, you should go for it and continue your education. Leave the state if you have to. Start over, be nice, work hard.

Good gosh - academic. Missing even one point on an exam can lead to academic expulsion. But getting expelled for behavioral reasons labels you as having serious issues with the safety of your patients or with authority. And studying harder to pass a test is reasonable if you want to go for an appeal and get reinstated by repeating a course. In my school, if you get expelled for behavioral reasons (administrative) you never get invited back. But many that miss a few questions on an exam and plead for re-entrance get to come back. Also, expulsion and dismissal are the same thing - you're kicked out and not allowed to return.