trueblue2000

Please help me choose the best answer for this questions. Thanks. 1 When a patient complains, what should you do? [TABLE=width: 90%] [TR] [TD] Find out what is going wrong and what you can do about it. [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] Ask a supervisor to get i...

This will be for sure a setback on your nursing career. It is not over, but, absent powerful family/friend connections in the desired hospital, expect future employment to be at much less prestigious facilities, locations, units, and shifts. Prove yo...

Just be careful for your creativity not to fall outside the nursing scope of practice. Some nurses get carried away. Remember that for some things THERE IS a strict protocol that needs to be followed to a T. Always remember that you need a physician ...

Nursing employment has been cyclical, you are right. But what is different this time is the number of nursing school graduates. Look it up, twice as many people graduate from nursing schools today than 10 years ago. 5,178 people graduated from nursin...

I am not going to sugarcoat this issue. Shyness will be a major handicap in your nursing career. Once you start your nursing courses, you will learn that being a patient advocate is at the core of nursing. This means speaking up for your patient, rep...

It is theft, plain and simple. Narcotic or nonnarcotic, prescription or OTC, patient or hospital supply; does not make an iota of difference. You are stealing. Can't believe some nurses think it is OK! Say you had contractors working at your home and...

I hear your call to unite and fight for nursing. In this respect, I find a pity that only about 5% of nurses are ANA members. After I passed the NCLEX, it was the first thing I did. And I consider my ANA membership my most important contribution to n...

The OP is (was) definitely mistaken in believing that being a male RN guarantees a job. But so are those who believe that gender has no effect in nursing employment whatsoever. The truth, I believe, lies in between the above extreme propositions. I, ...

You are forgetting workforce diversity. Employers value it. Since males are underrepresented in nursing, as are African Americans, Asians and Hispanics, it may give men an advantage in the hiring process. Not that it guarantees employment, but if the...

The fair thing to do would be to apply this policy across the board with all hospital execs and managers cleaning their offices and restrooms and all physicians responsible for cleaning their areas too. Selectively applying this cost cutting measures...

They are not thinking this trough. Was HR ever consulted on this? This is going to affect their RN recruitment and retention big time. Vandy is not going to attract the best and the brightest nurses with a job description that includes heavy lifting ...

If you are researching hospital benefits, it is crucial you get the terminology right, lest you get turned down when you apply for your perceived benefits. "Tuition reimbursement" is the term used by hospitals to describe reimbursement for eligible e...

SSM offers tuition reimbursement but as with BJC has discontinued its loan repayment benefit to RNs. In the STL region I think that only Mercy and St. Lukes still help you with educational loans prior to employment.

SSM will reimburse tuition up to $4,200 per year for full time employees. This is NOT a loan repayment program (SSM dropped that benefit a few years ago). People get confused about this. Tuition reimbursement is for school fees you incur and paid WHI...

Your sources are right. At SSM, for instance, new grads start @ $21.00/hr for days; $24.00 if you work nights (15% differential for taking on the graveyard shift!). And that is one of the best paying hospital systems in the state. Disappointing, I kn...

I disagree the new grad market is a game chance. To say that you mean employers randomly pick a resume and hire that person, and nothing a candidate can do will improve their chances. I do not think that is the case. Cynical people say it is a game o...

Fully expecting and prepared to be flamed for this post, I will say the following: You walked in the interview thinking you were the big shot - CCRN, major teaching hospital experience - and they sort of put you in your place. The big casualty of thi...

Two facts here. One, there is really no time to learn everything about a patient. You would have to arrive to work hours before your shift to go through and memorize the entire medical records of each of your patients. So do not beat yourself about i...

I think I will never understand why being care for by a person of the opposite sex means trowing one's modesty, comfort and dignity out of the window. If you think it is OK to discriminate someone solely on the basis of their gender, what is so wrong...

The answer to your question is found in Patricia Benner's seminal book "From novice to expert", where she explains the process of becoming an expert nurse starting out of school. I read this book after nursing school and really wished I had read it e...

Yes and no. It is not unethical or unfair to kick you out of the CVICU, even after only a month, even without screw-ups, if, in their subjective judgement, they deem you unprepared for the position. It is all about patient safety, as mentioned before...

You are the exception.

Secure a new position first then give your notice. You are much more employable while being employed.

With some additional training yes. Drawing ABGs, for instance, that is not something part of the nursing school curriculum or new grad orientation. Same with nebulizers. Also extubation; RTs do it and ICU RNs aren't trained on it. So there would be a...

Good post Larry, but how about unprepared interviewers? People who ask silly and contrived questions like "what are your weaknesses?" without having a clue about what is the relevance if any of such questions and and as a consequence have no idea how...