purplegal

Hope all goes well for you. Both of you have no idea how lucky you are. Might go without saying, but don't take these great opportunities for granted.

If you are already being offered a job on a unit that you want to end up on, go for that. Day shifts will likely eventually open up.

Could be a difficult one, but I'm going to aim for no more job applications. See if I can go an entire year without pestering other employers (especially one) with my applications and try to just focus on the job I have right now. I'll also try to focus on no comparison to others so my "need" for a new job decreases.

We have a report sheet that we take notes on that we carry around. On there, I like to write major medications I don't want to miss, who needs vitals, blood sugars, who needs a skin check, certain procedures like wound care and bladder scanning, etc. I leave room so I can add the results of these items plus make note of anything unexpected that happened throughout the day (such as episode of chest pain, patient sent to hospital, etc). As far as procedures go, I work during shifts that another nurse is around. I wait to perform the procedure until someone's available. Very rarely will I attempt a procedure after looking it up alone. Most procedures can wait until someone more knowledgeable is available.

Hmm, with LTC it's pretty hard to find a lengthy orientation period. I had 3 days of in class orientation which basically discussed charting. I was supposed to have 5 days of on the floor orientation but on day 3, I was the only nurse on an entire wing (although there was a supervisor in the building if I needed assistance). 19 months later, I am precepting new nurses, even though I am still learning new skills myself. The other day, my orientee and I both learned how to remove staples from surgical incisions. I think, if you pursue LTC, your success will depend on how receptive your coworkers are to teaching and answering questions. My coworkers are approachable and always willing to teach and brainstorm solutions to situations that come up. But it may not be that way everywhere.

I haven't heard any feedback from the jobs I recently applied to, but am almost tempted to withdraw from all of them. At this point, more applications probably show a lack in judgment and not a sincere interest in any position. It does make sense to not hire someone who repeatedly applies to job after job, with no regards as to whether or not they are qualified or a good fit for a position. If someone cannot critically think about what jobs may be a good fit, or lacks the judgment to stop applying once they are told the answer is "no," it may be a sign they would not be able to critically think in order to provide good, competent patient care. I'm just wondering if withdrawing from these jobs would be a good or bad sign.

My thought is, since you only have a couple more shifts with this preceptor, to not mention it to the manager unless the situation gets brought up. When you are new, you want as little negativity expressed about you as possible; if your preceptor doesn't mention it, I would keep quiet about it. Seems likely she wouldn't, as you would both be at fault. Yes, you missed a critical change in a patient, but you're right that she should have been supervising you and your patient. If not right with you, at least where she could see what was happening. She would likely get dinged for this herself, so she will probably be quiet, if only to keep negative attention off of herself. As for your next preceptor, that is great that you want to jump out of your comfort zone. I think a lot of preceptors appreciate that. However, make sure you have a good discussion with him or her as to what you feel comfortable with and what you do not. These patients are critical so it's important to keep patient safety in mind and not take on too much before you are ready in the midst of gaining learning experience. State exactly what skills/procedures you are comfortable doing and how you feel your assessment skills are, but also request that your preceptor be nearby in case your patients start declining.

The job that pays the most and is the most advanced, requiring you to use the most knowledge possible.

I do not often speak positively about my current position as a nurse in a skilled nursing facility that cares for rehab, long term care and hospice patients. However, although it has been a disappointing alternative to other nursing positions, it appears to be the position where I will be working for an indefinite amount of time, so it's not going to hurt me to say something good about the position every once in awhile. 1. It's hard to get people to come and stay in our facility, so the workers who have been there a significant amount of time do their best to help you out and teach you, probably in hopes that they can get at least some people to stay. They're willing to help you out when you need it, they'll answer your questions without constantly criticizing you, and they're more than willing to help you learn new skills. 2. Despite it being a "nursing home," there are a lot of skills that you would see on a med-surge floor. In fact, there are some skills you acquire that your colleagues at local hospitals do not since they have specialized teams for about everything, and we do not. However, even though there is a variety of patients, and a variety of skills, they do not come in overwhelming amounts. 3. The continuity of patients is generally helpful. It means you'll get some of the skills everyday so you get time to get better at them, you can figure out how to better plan and manage your schedule because you have an idea of what each patient is going to require/want, and it's easier to detect deviations in health condition because you have a visual baseline to compare it to. 4. Most of the time everyone is more appreciate of you than they are at the hospital, both patients and coworkers alike. Lots of criticism at the hospital with little to no feedback on what you're doing well. 5. Your schedule is more consistent. You are either scheduled days, evenings, or nights. You can choose to work other shifts if you like, but you're not required. The only time is maybe when the next person does not come in and you have to work a few hours of the next shift. 6. It's five minutes away from my house, and parking isn't nearly as restricted as it is at our hospital/clinic. I am not going to even start writing about the negative aspects of the job. I am already negative enough about the position, that I do not believe discussing the negative aspects of the position will be beneficial.

Landing a new job was part of the plan for 2017. Getting a full time position at a place I'd already worked part time doesn't count. I'm already far behind in my nursing career. Working a long time at a SNF is not going to help me achieve my goals, I need to get back into the hospital as soon as I can. Otherwise I may always work in nursing facilities and never achieve my by-age-30 goals. There are 23 and 24 year old nurses already doing what I hope to be doing before my 30th birthday. What a disappointment it will be to have never achieved what I set out to do.

3 months is better than 0 months like myself.

I have not yet been one yet, but it is my goal to be one by 2019. It would be a great achievement to work with the sickest of the sick and be good at it.

Never heard of this before, but it doesn't sound like a good unit. More than likely, the two or so ICU patients you are assigned will need all of your attention because of how critically unstable they are. I would not think you would have time to care for other patients, even if they are "just" general med-surg patients. I probably wouldn't take the job for that reason alone.

Not sure there's much you can do. You brought evidence forth, and now it's their decision whether or not to keep the student. It's not fair, for sure, and the fact that there were a lot of other students involved is not a good excuse (every single one of them should receive disciplinary action), but it's probably out of your hands now. Focus on passing nursing school and forget about this student. Eventually, things will catch up with her. She may end up failing the NCLEX or being fired as a nurse, because, obviously if she's cheating, she's not learning the material. She will not get away with it forever.

My plan is to have a new job by 2018. Maybe I'll get back into cardiac nursing, I've applied to a couple of PCUs. I will work there for a year and then move onto ICU by 2019. I will be an ICU nurse before I turn 30 years old.