stephalina6

Prior to nursing, I worked in software support. I've been a nurse for 5 years now... just under 2 years at the bedside, trained outpatient providers on an EHR system for about 1.5 years, 1 year in Pharmacovigilance, and now I'm in quality improvement. I kind of stepped aside from nursing informatics (NI), but I have an interview this week with an EHR company for their Implementation team. They don't have any other nurses working for them. Am I making the right move by joining a company as the only nurse?? Just curious what others thought.

Where did you go for the application??

I have chosen to excel in Nursing Informatics and you won't believe how many times I hear that I "used to be a nurse", or "Why did you hang up your nursing hat?", or "Why did you decide to leave nursing?". I'm to the point where I giggle at it now and politely educate the person who makes the comment about what Nursing Informatics is. But believe me ... my blood would boil when people would ask me that. And these are fellow nurses and nursing students I worked with who would ask such questions.

I'm in the training department for a large clinic with over 300 providers. My job title is EHR Trainer and Development Specialist II. I just started this position last week, and was just handed the job description. They knew I was a RN and had said they always wanted someone on the training team with clinical experience. The job description states the education requirements include highschool/GED, and 5 years experience in a medical clinic. And I am the only RN on the team. I applied and interviewed for a major cancer hospital but did not get the job because of lack of experience. I was confident that this jump would be the perfect stepping stone in Nursing Informatics, but I second guess myself because this job did not require a RN license (again, I'm the only one that has a RN license). Did I make a mistake accepting this position or am I more on track then I thought to excel and grow within Nursing Informatics?

Just be firm with her that it is facility policy that all meds be taken in front of you. If she does not want the narcotics at that time, you will take them back and then she can ask for them when ready. If she was upset that when she asked for them and you were not available to run them in at that time, just explain to her that you were with another patient. Patients will complain all the time ... brush it off and move on to the next.

Same here with the BSN program...if all my transcripts get in on time.

I'm seeing these Health Assessment video's on YouTube for WGU C349/350 Health Assessment ... is this for the RN-BSN program?? Just trying to figure out if WGU is a good route for me but I already am questioning the program....this assessment test is something I did during my ADN program to pass Fundamentals. Thanks for any information. [h=1][/h]

Thank you!

Whew! Thank you!!

Quick background: I have my BS in Business, and made a career change into nursing. I spent 7+ years in the software industry and now an RN on a telemetry unit for 1yr3mo. After being at the bedside, I never thought I would actually miss the whole office environment. I've done my research and it seems like Case Management would be the perfect fit for me at an insurance company. However, the positions I'm looking into require a minimum of 2 years nursing experience .. and the thought of staying where I am for 9 more months makes me want to cry. I have applied to a few openings anyway (just out of curiosity), and have been turned down and I assume that's due to the lack of nursing experience. I was just browsing a few job openings around my area at a local hospital and the cath lab position caught my eye. I researched the position and spoke to a few of my coworkers that are familiar with the cath lab and now I have this great interest in working in the cath lab. I have put out a few apps and they are now in "under consideration" and I actually received a call to setup a phone interview. So my question is .... If I do decide to transfer into the cath lab, will this hinder my chances getting into Case Management down the road? Thanks for any advice. :)

I don't work in cath lab, also currently applying. I've done quit a bit of research and your background makes you a great candidate ... again, that's from my research I've done. I've bee on a telemetry unit for 1yr3mo and currently applying to a cath lab as well. Just curious, where are you located?

I, also, plan on leaving soon ... it's just hard to move on after 1.3 years of exp. My plan is managed care as a Case Manager at an insurance company. I've been applying but not getting any call backs yet. Congrats on the CM position!

Any ideas if they are still hiring? And where exactly in St Pete ... I can recommend some hotels to you if you need it.

I've been an RN for 1 year at a hospital in the telemetry unit. I've been thinking of HHC because I like the one on one with patients but we don't have much time for that in the hospital. But my biggest weakness is wound care. With wound vacs we have a dedicated wound nurse that works with all the wound vacs so I have very limited skill with those. We don't do much wound care on the telemetry unit period. And the one thing I like about the hospital I'm in is that everyone is real helpful, and from what I understand about HHC is that you're on your own. With all that said.... How many visits are actual wound care visits? And if my weakness is wound care, should I still consider HHC? What do you find the pros and cons to HHC? Thanks so much for any advice.

I'm an RN that is now working day shift from working 8 months on nights.... From my own personal experience, you may be better off working day shift. I was loosing so much sleep during the day in between shifts that I felt irritable like you mentioned, and depressed. I just could not stop crying some days! Now that I switched to day shift I feel so much better, there is a lot more help during the day than night, and your day will just fly. Day shift is a whole lot busier than nights sometimes, but ask your director if you can have a "trial run" for a couple weeks and see if that gets better for you. :)

I'm in a hospital about an hour north of Trinity on a telemetry floor and started a base pay of $23/hr (new grad with a BS in Business Management - nursing is a 2nd career choice for me). Hopefully a new grad working in Tampa will be able to compare.

Hi! Just curious if you are a new grad nurse? I've been in bedside for about 4 months and I'm learning real fast that bedside nursing is just not for me. Would love to get into case management to help out patients that way but not sure how to go about getting in with such little experience and only my ASN in nursing (I have a BS in Business Management). Wondering if I could follow your path with the nurse telephonics case management and transition to case management at the bedside in the hospital.

After tonight only 4 more night shifts, lol! Can you tell I'm excited? I'll be using these last night shifts to really work hard on my organization skills and time management!

My manager allowed me to try out days for 2 weeks and just the thought of working days is making me feel more happier. I told her about my troubles with nights and she did say there's a lot more support during days. Plus she's been keeping a close eye on me and believes that I won't have an issue with day shift being so busy, she sure does believe in me which made me feel real good! 6 more night shifts to go then days - just hope my 2 week try out really works out!! I've been watching YouTube videos about day shift routines and how to stay organized....my biggest fear working on days is the feeling of drowning every shift! I know some days will be better than others but hoping for more better days than anything else!

What exactly is a dosis advisor??

I'm still a new nurse, been on my own for 3 months on a telemetry unit. I've been having a hard time dealing with the confused patients, also the lack of staff during the nights. I'm going to be talking to my nurse manager about the possibility of trying day shift before switching permanently. I know the confused patients will still be confused during the day but there are a lot more distractions - meals, visitors (hospital staff or family/friends), procedures, etc. I know day shift is a lot busier than nights but with having more staff around there will be more help if needed. And I love the day nurses. I was wondering if anyone switched from nights to days and liked it a lot better....or please let me know if it was a mistake to switch. I know there are a lot of family visitors also who can be a pain but I'm a personal person so I hope with my personality and answering their questions will help ease their minds that they won't be an issue during the shift. Anyway....any advice/information you should share with me would be greatly appreciated. I just hope this switch is what I need to be happy again that I switched from the business world to nursing.

I would much rather take care of a needy patient that's on the call light for pain meds non-stop or want something to drink/eat vs an older patient with sundowners/dementia....those patients I struggle with so much that I'm about to leave night shift and go to days.

I wish we could give each other a hug, lol! I'm also on nights. Everything started out great but I'm learning real fast that I cannot handle confused patients at all, mentally I can't handle them (new nurse off orientation for 3 months). They pull off oxygen, start touching foleys, peg tubes, IV lines, trying to get out of bed. The other night I had 6 patients and one that was confused with all the lines I mentioned. These 6 patients had lots of night meds and IV antibiotics. The confused one had Ativan but didn't phase him at all. I had to sit with him majority of the night because I didn't want him pulling anything out. While I had a little old lady crying because she's being bullied by docs about going to an ALF which would mean she would lose her house (she lived alone). All this is happening while a group of nurses are having social hour at the nurses station and it makes me so angry. I was able to a couple nurses to help watch over the one confused one while I attend to other patients for meds and the CNA watched him while I went to lunch and had him use my computer to chart so he wouldn't get behind on his duties. I'm really thinking about switching to days because there are many other distractions - 3 meals, PT/OT, procedures, doctors visiting, family or friends visiting, etc. but I have to admit I love the night differential pay - that's going to hurt to lose that if I switch to days but I was in tears last night talking to my husband about all this wondering if I made a massive mistake going back to school for nursing. Anyway, so I feel your pain. I'm hoping for 2 good shifts this weekend, hopefully I'll have time to talk to my fellow night nurses about switching to days. I do work with a good group of nurses at night, but lately I haven't been scheduled the same nights as them and we've been getting lots of floaters who aren't very helpful. If this weekend puts me in tears again due to the confused ones I'll be staying behind to talk to my manger Monday morning. p.s. I'm on a tele unit

Thanks everyone. With restraints, our floor manager says we are not allowed to use restraints on our floor. Apparently, a few years ago, a patient died in restraints. I don't know the full story (going to ask someone next time I work) and not sure if the restraints were the sole reason of the death but that's the story. I've had to give Ativan 0.5mg q4hr but sometimes it doesn't even phase them. Same with Haldol IM. I asked a friend that works on another floor and she mentioned the folding of the wash cloths so I thought it was funny to read that again so definitely going to give it a try. We do have sitters available but we can't get one at 12am when the patient starts to get agitated - we have to wait until the next night shift. I love nursing for the teaching and comfort and helping the patient in any way I can.....but these confused patients really take a toll on me. I've been making some serious thoughts about switching to days because during the days there are a lot of distractions - 3 meals, PT, any procedures, visitors, etc. but when I talk to the day shift about how they like it during the day some say they've had moments where they feel like quitting. Here I am talking about how hard it is for me to handle confused patients but I've never been so confused in my life, lol. Switch to days or stay on nights.

1We have a great night crew on the telemetry unit and I love working the night shift. But I am having a real hard time dealing with the confused patients! The last 2 nights I worked I had 4 out of 5 patients that had dementia/sundowners/alzehimers and I couldn't hold back the tears on that 2nd night around 3am. I'll receive report from the day shift and will talk about how all the patients are A/Ox3 with no signs of confusion to massive confusion at night. I'm a new nurse with only being off orientation for 3 months but these confused patients are starting to make me want to switch to days.... but like I said I love the people I work with on nights. How do you all handle so many patients that get confused during the night?