Jabramac

How much of what you don't like about nursing would be improved if you were a DNP?

Living in MN I hate our winters, but I would rather take the MN winters then the hot summers of those further south.

The thing people fail to see is that we already all pay for all this care. Some pay more then others, but we all pay. We pay in co-pays, taxes, we pay in by purchasing products from companies that supplement their employees. The real travesty is that we pay more because we need to finance all those insurance companies, and we pay more because those with our insurance wait longer to go in, get sicker, can't be seen at the clinic because they can't pay, then end up in the ER with more complications and problems. What would have been better for us to pay- the $100 clinic visit when the illness started, or the $3000 ER and admission bill when the illness went unchecked for too long?

:banghead::banghead:

I think when people die around us, it is human nature to try to find justification. It's a coping mechanism. When we think about the truth, that death can be very random, that people who do everything right in their lives can have really bad things happen, we get really scared. It's easier, and more comforting to find fault. I remember one case when a 2 year old drowned in the bath tub, the childs older sibling was in the tub as well. Mom left the room to get a towel, and came back to find the child face down. Staff commented how irrisponsible the mother was to leave the child. But the truth was, we were all scared it could have been our child. When MVC victims come in, we want to know if there was ETOH, if there was then there is a sense that it couldn't happen to me. We had a teen die in an MVC and the medics reported he wasn't wearing a seat belt. I think that comforted us. Later on we found out the vehicle he colided with clipped the side of his car off and the seat belt went with it.

I think there must be a lot of variability that would make it hard to compare one to one. Cost of living has a huge range in the US, so just comparing one US city to another can be difficult. But comparing the whole US to Sweden has a lot more variables. Who pays health insurance, retirement/pension/social security, how many days off are earned, how much sick time is granted. How much is taken for income tax, sales tax, property tax, and what services do your taxes cover... My perception is that in Sweden people may be payed less, taxed highly, but are well taken care of by the government.

Our ER volunteers are not allowed to participate in any activity that might expose them. Not even changing linens. They can put clean linens on a clean bed, but can't take dirty linens off or clean the matress. That said, I'm not sure the type of pants effects infection control at all.

Interesting topic. In the last 5 years or so politicians have been discussing instituting the draft again (although, some congressman who have tried to push through the draft have admitted the reason they sponsored the bill was to get a reaction-- if other congressman thought their children might be drafted perhaps they would be more opposed to war). check out http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:s.89: "To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." I have heard politicians discuss that civilian services would be an option, and inpaticular, health care would be an option. From what I heard about the civilian service portion is that people would have a choice in what they wanted to do, clean parks, teach kids, work in a nursing home... It would be unlikely that nursing would be a choice as the education would cost the government too much, and the time in service would be eaten away in class. But, nursing assistants and what not might be an option. My understanding is that it would be like joining Americorps, only mandatory. Also, just to mention, we our country has had military drafts during peace time. The entire period from WWII to 1973 included the draft. Even further back in our nations history states and local govermnets were responsible for militias that often included "all able bodied men"even in times of peace.

We get a bonus of $300 a year for CEN, plus we get invited to a special dinner. Aftet taking and passing the CEN test they will reimburse us the cost of it as well. No other pay for any other ceritification.

This happens once in a while in the ER I work at as it is a small town. More often then seeing family is seeing friends and neighbors. Everyone I work with understands if we need to change assignments, swap pts, or maybe just have another nurse do a procedure when somehting like this comes up. I don't know of a specific policy on this, I see it as more situational. Taking care of a neighbor child with a cut finger was no problem, but a friend in with psych issues, I stay as far away as possible. Would I hook up and administer an IV med to my MIL? I would probably be comfortable with that. Would I give my MIL an enema? NEVER!

I read an article a while ago (I'v been searching to find it to post a link, but of course I can't find it again) that talked about the younger generation that is entering the work world now and how there is a feeling of entitelement. The author went on to explain that this is how we have raised our children- to believe they are worth the best, they deserve the best, not to put up with things that are sub par. We have taught them to find better jobs then we had. They have been told that family and friends are the most important things in this world, secondary to work. As a result, they don't want work to take up too much of their lives. They have been taught to say no to 60 hour work weeks and mandatory overtime. On top of that, there is also a feeling that parents can act as a safety net by allowing them to move back in if things really got bad. As a result, as this generation has been taught, don't be afraid to say no at your work, because if you loose your job you can move back in with Mom and Dad for a little while. The article ended reinforcing that this is how we raised our kids, now they are working with us and we have to learn how to deal with how we raised them.

I graduated before there was a service learning requirement, I think that must have come with the next round of grads. FHCHS is a Seventh Day Advitist school, but the religious componant is pretty minimal. Many chat sessions begin with a short prayer. The religious classes I was required to take included "Lessons on Living," which was really a fascinating bible study course. We would read some passages from the bible and then discuss what meanings might we be able apply to our lives. Specifically, I remember discussing the "golden rule." "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." Our instructor emphasised that the passage tells us to DO something, do good, it does not tell us to "Don't do unto others what you don't want them to do to you." Part of this class involved a project, I chose to attend an AA meeting and found it very valuable and eye opening. We also had to take a world religions class. I loved this class. I really enjoyed studying about Hinduism and Buddhism. The whole religion componant concerned me to start with, but there was never any suggestion of converting people, and a strong emphasis was placed on learning about other religions and cultures.

I graduated from FHCHS in April 07. I loved it. Be there no doubt, it is a lot of work, but doable. I continued to work full time and had my first child while in the program. I was sent down to Mississippi to help with hurricane relief for 2 weeks and the instructors were so accomodating with that interuption. I earned an A in almose every class. My impression was that the school really wanted us to succeed and would bend over backwards to make sure we did. A few classes were ridiculously easy, and required little time commitment, but then others were horrid and I found my self locked in my room studying fo the entire 8 weeks or so of the course. Statistics was acutally one of the easier ones. There was a health and well being that was really easy. Right now I can't think specifically which classes were really hard for me (I think I really need to go to bed). I remember thinking in the advanced assessment class that I must be doing the work expected of a grad student. And keep in mind that an online program is really heavy on the writing, lots and lots of writing. Many formal papers, lots of less formal discussion, but lots of writing. We also had narrated power point lectures, and in a couple of classes DVD's of filmed lectures. One thing that surprised me with this program is that it was a lot more interactive then I ever thought an online class would be. With the chat sessions and the discussion boards there is a lot of open communication between the students and the instructors really do read the responses and give good feed back. In a classroom setting you can sometimes sit in the back of the class and hide out. Not online, you have to contribute. I really liked that the classes were 8 weeks long. When I went they generally only offered one class at a time, which was nice for me to be able to really focus on just one, and before you knew it, it was over. This did mean that bigger projects moved fast and you had to be on top of them or fall behind quickly. But, after 8 weeks it was over and on to the next class. Now they have changed the format, I believe, and they offer more then one course every session. I had the same problem with the sales reps from pretty much every school hounding me. Heck, I still get e-mails and mailing even now, three years afterdoing the research. Congrats on continuing your education. I enjoyed the learning so much I am planning to start a masters program in the fall.

I applaude you for considering the long term financial aspects of these careers. I think what is most important for you is to consider which job you will enjoy doing the best. Interestingly, I have know many teachers who have become nurses, and many nurses who have become teachers. Since you clearly are an excellent planner, and you are keeping the long term goals in mind, I have no doubt that no matter which field you end up in you will develop your own plan for retirement. What about being a school nurse? Some districts (at least where I live) include school nurses on the teachers contract.

Fascinating and humerous. Interestingly, though, in school I wrote a research paper on blood letting based primarily on an article written in the late 1700's by Benjamin Rush, a notable physician at the time. Some interesting perspectives of blood letting is that there was research at the time demonstrating specific criteria that it was helpful for and contraindications. The biggest problem was that not all physicians went to reputable medical schools, and some didn't go to any school, and thus were not taught the methods researched that showed effective results with SMALL levels of blood removed. The result was many poorly trained Drs. thinking "if taking a little out helps, then lets take out a lot." Most intersting to me, though, is that we still perform blood letting, but we do it for labratory testing. Think of it, the sicker the pt, the more blood we take! A pt might get two sets of blood cultures, and 5-6 tubes full of blood. Sometimes this is repeated daily. If you think about using leeches, the method of blood letting used way, way back, we are actually taking out more blood then would have been removed with a few leeches.

This part of your post is exactly why many of us don't want to talk to those trying to call us in - trying to guilt someone about how their coworkers will suffer if they don't come in is not productive. The hospital's poor planning, short staffing and/or unwillingness to pay for agency staff are not my problem or my fault. A supervisor who says "I'm not going to work the floor" has immediately lost my respect. If you are a nurse, on duty and the patients need care you need to put on a pair of scrubs and help out for a few hours. Paperwork can wait and you'll find the staff willing to go a lot further for you if you do this. I know this sounds harsh, but if you ask you'll find this is why many let the machine do the answering for them. Actually, in my post I said I prefer it when people don't answer the phone. Usually when there is an open hole I have around 20-30 phone calls to make for open hole, so I don't need to hear reasons people can't come in, a simple no is totally fine. I certainly understand that people have other commitments, I get calls at home just like everyone else does. And I screen the calls and usually let the machine get them. I don't know how other supervisors have time to lecture and guilt staff to come in, because I certainly don't. In the past we have offered so many incentive programs for people to pick up extra shifts that if one was willing they could make a killing off of picking up extra, but it never seems to be enough incentive. IMHO we work in a field where almost all of us do not work full time. We all call in sick once in a while-- it's our right. But, part of that means that when a co worker is sick we should come in to help out periodically. Not every time of course, but once in a while. As for loosing respect because I'm not going to work the floor-- We get this all the time, and I would welcome anyone that wants to shadow me. I don't work the floor because I have my own work to do. As I said for each open hole on a shift I might have 20-30 phone calls to make, and there are many departments that each have their own open holes at my hospital. Besides filling in for staffing I also have to fill in for pharmacy, medical records, materials management, sterile processing, and any other department that is not in house on the evening, nights, or weekends. Some shifts I do have down time and I am happy to help out on the floors, but I can't commit to taking a patient load because my pager is going off constantly with each department needing this or that or having a question. On top of all this I have to manage every unforseen issue that arises in the entire hospital. One thing people on the floor often have a hard time understanding is that when the floors get busier, the amount of work that falls onto me increases. So it often comes down to -- I can help you turn and clean that pt up, but then you wont get your new medications you ordered until I finish with this--and, oh, wait I just got paged because ER has a trauma coming in and I have to counsel the family until the chaplin arrives, but maybe on my way down to ER I can stop and page maintenance at home because the call light just broke on 3rd floor and the pt and nurse want it fixed now. But, before I can do any of that OB just had a walk in and they need the OR crew called in for a c-section...

Actually I am a supervisor and it would have been either another supervisor or a staffing office person that made the call. I could have ignored this, and probably should have, but I was trying to stick up for the CNA. The CNA did tell me that she wanted this message passed on. I did decide to with hold her name. I replied that I was only suggesting we be sensitive with the terms we use when we tell staff they wont be working or making any money that day. I know if I needed to work and was called off I might be a little upset to begin with. I also told her I would leave it to the employee to discuss this with her manager if she wants more follow up. I am confident that she is safe from repercussions. I think this is one of the most constructive feed backs on this thread. From the responses I see that CNA's may feel offended, so maybe we should us a different term altogether. It wouldn't be the first time a term was changed to decrease negative connotations. Thank you! I really didn't intend for this thread to be a huge debate, but I did get an answer to my question-- CNA's may be offened at the suggestion they are not profesionals. I think rather then arguing who is and who isn't, I'll take this knowledge and use it to do my best to not offend anyone.

I work as a sup too and I got to say I can't stand calling in extra staff. I agree, we get yelled at, snarled to, and people who are just down right mean. I know it's irritating to get calls at all hours of the day/night, but I wouldn't call if they didn't need the help. We have a nice computer system that allows comments staff can request like "do not call before 8am... No night shifts... no extra shifts on the weekends..." These requests are almost always respected and it is really helpful for us to not have to call. I actually don't mind getting answering machines. It saves me from having to listing to some snarls on the other end. In this day in age I know that if someone doesn't answer the phone and I leave a message 1)they aren't home and probably can't work 2) they are screening the calls and wont work 3) they may take some time to think about it and decide the money is worth it and call me back later. Other wise, I don't really need everyone to call me back to tell me no. I also want to mention that when the floors run short staffed it hurts your coworkers the most. If no one can come in to work I'm not going to work the floor, I have my own work to do, so it's your peers that suffer. Administration doesn't care, they wont come in to work the floor.

Isn't that taking the approach again that NA's are really nurses in training and should thus understand our thought patterns? I'm not arguing either way, but I do believe that part of getting more education is learning more about interpersonal communications and how different things are interpreted differently by different people. As nurses, it should be our responsibility to continually promote better relationships with our colleagues.

I think I am getting the answer to my question. Some of our colleagues take offence at the notion that they are refered to as not being a professional.

I don't mean to turn this into a debate about wheather nurses are professionals or not. I think the heart of the issue is whether or not it is insensitive to basically tell NA's they are not a professional. One of the thoughts I had is that I can't stand it when people assume that because I am a male nurse I am actually somehow "working up" to being a physician. Not all NA's are aspiring to be RN's. With this one NA in paticular she is excellent at her job and she is able to spend a lot more time actually talking with pts then the nurses on the floor get.

I was the recipient of a complaint yesterday from another employee. An NA told me she had been called off before her shift and told on the phone that instead of having her work, the floor would run with "3 professionals." She took offence at the notion that she was being referred to as not being "professional." While I understand the callers true meaning was RN's and had nothing to do with "professionalism" it non-the-less offended the NA. I then wrote an e-mail to all the people who may be calling staff off and informed them that this might be offensive and we should monitor ourselves with what we say and to whom. I got a response back from a manager stating that this is an industry term and the NA needs to be "talked to." She also asked me to provide the name of the NA. Personally I know it that the meaning of "professionals" was not meant to be offensive and only referred to RN's. But, perhaps it's more offensive then I think? I would like to hear from some NA's if they would find it offenses that RN's are referred to as "professionals" and NA's are not. Tonight I have to decide how to respond to the mangers e-mail with out turning it into a huge issue, but still respecting the NA.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Warwick and Lancaster, but we might be in a dilemma if all three schools accept me. The schools all sound wonderful. We will probably not have a chance to visit all three before to make the final decision. Any advice on the differences on the three area? Cranfield, Warwick, and Lancaster?

Looking for some guidance. I have decided to go back and get a masters of business administration. I have always wanted to move more into management and administration. I am also open, and even hoping to move more into the corporate world. In my search for schools I discovered that the UK is "inviting" US students to study there. Well, after months and months of fantasizing and considering all the options I applied to three universities in the UK, as well as one US university. The kicker is, I am married with a two year old daughter, and they would come with me to the UK. I have done lots of research and applied to the University of Warwick, University of Lancaster, and Cranfield University. I have already interviewed with Cranfield and been offered a position there. I am waiting on the other two. I am also still waiting to here back from the US university. Some pros of going to the UK: the MBA is a one year programs as opposed to the US programs which are two, thus cutting living expenses in half. We would give up our car, so would not have the added costs of having a car like gas, insurance, repairs etc. Health insurance is a huge pro, covered under the NHS while in school there, in the US we might pay $10,000 a year for my family. There are definitely cons, like giving up being near family, starting in a new location with no social network, and the biggest of all, needing to either sell our house or rent it out while we are gone (this might be hard to do with the current market). I'm hoping some of you can offer some input on the three separate areas, Cranfield, Lancaster, and Warwick (by Coventy). Also, we plan to not have a car at all, how do you think that will work for us? It's hard to imagine not having a car for us, because where we live you must have a car, no mass transit at all.

We try to do d/c instructions on AMA pts, but not all are willing to stay that long. Some might leave as soon as they find out they are not going to get narcotics and refuse to wait for anything. Most just disagree with the course of action, like continued monitoring, further lab tests, or admisions. We take the approach that if the pt refuses the ideal course then try to find the next best thing the pt will agree to. Maybe a pt wont stay for cardiac monitor, but will take a holter monitor, wont get stitches but will take antibiotics and proper dressings. In most cases I always include in my d/c instructions that if they change there mind and things worsen to feel welcome to return.