cdthorste

It was hell for me to find my first nursing job. I did everything suggested in nurse beth's response. And more. Started applying and networking from the very first day of nursing school. I even sent out resumes and spoke to the nurse managers at my clinical rotations (kindly, respectfully, non-aggressively). Paid a lot of money to have my resume professionally rewritten. Went to every single clinical instructor I had and said "I would love to get hospital experience before I become an NP. Do you have any advice about how I can land a job?" I I went to ceus in what little spare time I had Got to know other nurses at my internship and felt like I fit in Applied to jobs that I felt that fewer, experienced nurses wanted (nights/weekends)....Always low balled it when the application asked me how much I wanted to make. Even if it meant living in poverty and renting out a shoe box Several times I dressed up nice, office-casual and made my hair up into a perfectly coiffed bun. Applied some light makeup, put on my heel-scraping dress shoes and walked from hospital to hospital. Going into any med surg unit that would allow me access. I handed my resume to nurse managers with a warm smile and a handshake. One of them was and said she'd get back to me. One of them told me to come back in a week. When I returned exactly 7 days later, she blew up at me. Threw the resume in my face and yelled at me for being so arrogant as to come back and ask about job opportunities. I smiled warmly and said "If you know of any. You have my number." Went to job fairs for nurses Went to professional career counselors who led classes on finding work and perfecting your elevator pitch Emailed and called my old professors and explained that I was still six months unemployed. They were sympathetic but had no ideas for me (one told me to apply to be a travel nurse.....With no experience.) I sent 500 resumes out. Nothing Then I moved to texas and got 4 job offers in a week. Quit giving out stupid career advice and just cut to the chase: go where the jobs are.

I'm a fairly new nurse- about three years' experience. But all my work experience has been non-clinical: in home health and research. I currently work in private duty pediatrics. Any advice about how to get a job in a hospital would be much appreciated. Relocation is no problem at all. I can pick up and move anywhere in the U.S. What hospitals would be most likely to train an experienced nurse?

His great concern for her life is her being one of thousands of anonymous posters. As long as no one gives patient identifiers out....or makes themselves identifiable to employers...what's the problem? It would be "wise" to consider what a bizarre concern that is.

Your story is similar to mine. Even back then, it was obvious to me that my managers were untrustworthy. I just wanted to tough it out....just because. For the principle of the thing. Getting fired, with a terrible reference can be devastating in the nursing world. And even worse if you're in a state where your terminator is automatically reported to the board. Follow your intuition, and good luck to you.

Meh. I probably would have been treated better as a busser than I was at my first nursing job out of school. happy ending--my current job treats me well

My agency actually does like me a lot. So I have that going for me. They also tend to err on the side of retaining nurses, as opposed to thinning the herds like some facilities do. So it's not them I'm worried about. But if a patient's family member just complained "I saw nurse X" asleep, and took it to the state board, how on earth can they justify filing charges against her? As I said, unless there's photo evidence, it's their word against the nurse's. in a court of law, it would probably be considered insufficient evidence. But I'm wondering if nursing boards have different standards for evidence?

I'm a private duty peds nurse who primarily does night shifts. While I've managed to stay awake at work, I occasionally feel a need to just close my eyes for about 5 seconds at a time when they get tired. No longer than that. When I do, I'm always sitting up, reading or looking at my iPhone when I do. my question is, if a patient sees me with my eyes closed, and if they report me to my agency and/or nursing board, how is the investigation handled? It seems like in these cases, it's he said/she said, so how do any nurses ever found guilty of this? I can always argue that I'm immediately responsive, that I'm always holding my book in a way that only a wakeful person could, but it's still my word against theirs. any thoughts?

Geez Louise. Another student called you up, said "everyone is talking about you," then ratted you out to the school? while I agree that the post was inappropriate, it sounds like the other students are nurse-bullies in the making. If it had been a crime, if a patient had been endangered, or some other type of imminent threat, then I would have definitely reported that to my superiors. But if it's something that's just lacking taste or professionalism, the tattling approach is uncalled for.

Get out of your current job and find some temporary work as a private duty nurse. That's what I did, and the flexibility is wonderful. You can choose your schedule, the patients you work with, and the areas you work in. With your past experience, I bet you can get hired at a decent home health company if you need a full time job with insurance, private duty nursing doesn't always offer that (in my company, we're not guaranteed 40 hours a week because patients can cancel shifts at the last minute). But at least you should consider this because it can give you some time to breathe. I might get paid a little less than a hospital job, but I've been able to travel, take classes and see my friends. It was a fantastic way to get over a horrible job experience. Look for a place that can give you a good schedule, say only weekend days (they won't say no to you if you offer to work weekends or nights). Then use uoir freetime to get some counseling, take yoga. Reconnect with family or contact a community center that offers job counseling services.

YES!!!! midwives need to put a baby-shaped light on their cars, like the pizza guy!!!

it's probably mandatory because the hospital knows what a huge lawsuit could be waiting for them if something bad happens. if a nurse passes a flu virus onto an immunocompromised patient.....the lawyers would come after all of you with torches and pitchforks. one quick injection is a simple way to that sort of tragedy. a nurse saying "I just didn't feel like getting one" isn't going to cut it at the malpractice hearing.

yeah, that takes me back to my year as a night worker at a mental hospital. the work itself was fascinating, but the schedule just crushed me. if you really can't get enough rest, then i think leaving your job or finding another shift is better for you AND your patients. but until then, this is what i did to sleep during the day: 1. take Nighttime sleep tablets. they're dissolvable OTC pills. they come in a blue box near the pain killer section at the pharmacy 2. drank one full glass of unsweetened cherry juice. some people think cherry juice makes you sleepy- maybe not, but the placebo effect really can 3. took a short walk outside wearing glasses before falling asleep 4. have an extremely repetitive routine in the morning before getting to bed. i did everything in order: feed the cat, brush my teeth, wash my face. even down to wearing similar pajamas every day. after a while your brain associates all of those things with sleep 5. learned how to meditate. when i couldn't fall asleep, instead of just lying there staring at the ceiling, i would focus on one mental image and let my thoughts float in and out of my head randomly. i would start to drift off after a while 6. wrap myself up really tight with a lot of blankets--a lot of other people i know feel very soothed if they "swaddle" themselves like an infant and of course, there's the obvious- exercise, eat right, don't let any sunlight get into your room, get a sound machine, etc. when all of that failed, the best i could do was to remind myself to double check everything i did and get a few copies of my apartment keys (or anything else important that you might lose, in your insomnia-fueld confusion) good luck to you. hope this helps