Jiminocala

"the recession bringing out the true colors of nurses and everyone around them." Sounds like you have a low opinion of nurses and everyone around them.

I have been an RN for over 30 years and have heard all of this before, many times. The cause of your depression, etc. is largely your relationship with a jealous and controlling man who has stolen your dignity. You deserve better. You have made tremendous progress toward recovery and a better life, but it will not get betyter with him, for sure. Now finish what you started. Complete Nursing School, get a job and dump him. There is no reason to warn him. Just do it. If you don't get out of the relationship, his behavior toward you will get worse, not better after you graduate. Do what ever you have to do to protect yourself-- move to another state if you have to. The guy may be dangerous and you owe him NOTHING. Good luck and God Bless!

Problems don't solve themselves. Never make it look like you did nothing about a problem. Document everything. Don't c/o about the coffee, you may be old and weak yourself someday.

It was that way 30 years ago, too! My advice? If you can't be beautiful, at least look professional and be well prepared. Just maybe you, Nancy Nurse will beat out Betty Bimbo for the job!

I am male and graduated in 1979. My journey into Nursing began when I was seriously injured at age nine and spent a couple of months in the hospital. After high school, I was hired as an orderly at the local hospital and related well to the patients and Nursing staff. It was during the Carter Administration, when the economy was much the same as today. I had not started collegewhen Doug, the Charge Nurse in ICU mentioned that I seemed to relate well to patients and asked about my college plans. He said that I should consider Nursing and suggested that it would open up a lot of doors for me, almost recession proof, etc. Doug was a good role model. He had a nice wife & family, respect from his peers and many physicians. And he made like three times what I did as an orderly and so I tried just one class at the local college. My grade was a C+; a VERY good grade compared to high school where I was in the upper 80% of my class and I enjoyed the college atmosphere of the 70s. I enrolled in the Nursing Program the next semester and never looked back. God Bless Douglas, his family and Indiana State University where I had a fine Nursing Education.

I made lousy grades in High School, but in college, something competitive awakened inside of me and I graduated with a 3.7 GPA. The fact that I had done so well was a great comfort to me when I sat for boards. In those days, it was one test for everything and I was the first one done. The Dean called me later to say that I had the 3rd highest board score in the state. My advice to those who just try to make passing grades is this: you can do better. Do it for yourself and for the patients that you will care for in the future.

$75 is a pretty cheap "Resume Enhancer" that will impress prospective employers, grad school admission people and any school that you transfer to. It's money well spent, especially now.

If it was me, I would continue on your present course, but with some changes r/t the economy. For now, better to stay in the Navy, maybe two more years. Once you have completed your pre requisites, apply to a couple of schools near where you want to be after you matriculate out of the USN. Since it takes so long to get into school, take some general business courses, intro to business, basic accounting, that sort of thing. Re-enlist if you have to until things loosen up in the job market and above all, keep your present job in the Navy. According to an old sage (the Indian, or was it the construction worker or the cop, haha): "Here can you find pleasure Search the world for treasure Learn science technology Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true On the land or on the sea Where can you learn to fly Play in sports and skin dive Study oceanography Sign of for the big band Or sit in the grandstand When your team and others meet In the navy Yes, you can sail the seven seas In the navy Yes, you can put your mind at ease In the navy! In the Navy!"

She is your S.O. and is running you down about work? Sounds like jealousy to me. Try getting out of the unit where you both work. If things improve, then OK, if not, may be time to give the S.O. the heave-ho. I don't mean to be callous on this, since I am aware how a breakup feels, but sometimes we get ourselves into toxic relationships and you must have the self discipline to separate yourself from the irritant in your life. Of course, that can mean some grief and loss, and loneliness, but is the price to pay to get away from someone that probably doesn't have your best interests at heart. I think that successful, well adjusted people do this automatically and early, before a relationship gets out-of-hand. Codependent people just stay hooked up until something extreme happens. Take a hard look at your situation.

Soylent Green is PEOPLE!

You should pick up the information as you go along. If you are not doing it now, you should learn the definition of every new word, term, provcedure, etc. that you run across in your textbooks or other study media. That being said, I DO favor having an initial Medical Terminoliogy course in any RN or LPN program because Medical Terminology is systematic in it's use of greek and latin words, and learning how the system works up front will ease future learning because you will be able tom figure out what the words mean w/o looking up each and every new term. Now pick up your highlighter...

Naw, Probation Period is a device that employers use to get around paying Unemployment Compensation . They can let you go at any time during that period and you won't get unemployment on THEM. Maybe on your previous emplyer, but not them. Most employers also tie their benefit package eligibility to 90 days for several reasons, plus you get your first evaluation around that time, so it all falls together. They keep you, you keep your job and can enroll in benefits. They don't like your face, you get a lousy evaluation, they let you go and you have no job or benefits. Make sure they like you...

Uhhh, yeah. If not for Nursing School, I might be an auto mechanic like my old man. I doubt he ever made more than $20K in 2010 dollars and his hands were always black from grime.

Oh yes! I was so touched by the way the nurses were portrayed, their first hand recollections, etc. In the last episode where the RN got off the hospital ship in the USA, I almost cried.

It is good that you found another job so quickly. From what you said in your original post, it sounded like they told you to mix all meds with juice, as if that was their actuaal policy. Not following policy and procedure is a great way to be fired, especially during your probationary period. If you disagree with a procedure, it is better to get evidence to back up your view and then present that info in a professional manner, rather than just not do it. Of course, if they are asking you to mix a med that is noncompatible with juice, then you have to act on that, rather than harm a patient. They probably saw you as a nonconformist who would be a P.I.A., but one cannot rule out that they just didn't like your face. There is a lot of that in Nursing. I experienced same in Nursing School and was told that I would never make it in Nursing, because I was too different. That was about 32 years ago and she likely meant I had the wrong set of gonads, but who knows? Good luck in your new position.

You're thinking too much. Keep at it!

Anyplace that is not in the Washington, DC metro area should be fine.

We ARE standing at the edge of that slippery slope. There has been a Death Cult operating in the background of the healthcare debate for many years. Their purpose is to promote death as a way of reducing the population of undesirable individuals-life unworthy of life. According to the Progressives, these people are getting a slice of the economic/resource pie but producing nothing worthy of keeping them alive. This is the whole purpose behind end-of-life counselling; to get people to take the "hemlock" route when they are old, or simply not be born for the young, the poor, and the defectve. Ever seen the movie, "Soylent Green?"

The bill's sponsor was Robert Wexler, Democrat from the Miami area. This guy is an extreme liberal and I see no reason for him to support a bill which would expand the supply of nurses during a recession. It is more likely some kind of payback to the Hospital Industry for supporting Obamacare. Some elements of the bill, such as increased funding for Nursing Education, are positive, and will kick in several years from now. Considering that the ANA and some healthcare labor unions have supported the Obama plan, this bill can only be viewed as a stab in the back.

I made it look like I paid just $99 for 5 hypnosis sessions. It was $99 per session, still worth it because of the wt loss and the once cost of the monthly $99 session is more than made up by the food that I do not eat.

Well, I am 54 also and have been overweight and have experienced some surgery too, including a 5 vessel CABG about a year ago. I have lost weight and here is how I did it: Went to my Nurse Practitioner and had her increase the amount of Metformin I take from 500mg BID to 1000 mg. I had started on Beyetta a few months before w/o much change. I also went to a professional hypnotist, paid $99 for 5 weekly sessions, and I return once a month to be re-upped. I have lost 60-65 pounds (32kg for those of you outside the US). I am always apprehensive before surgery. So much so that I had to breathe into a bag before my heart surgery until the Anesthesiologist came in to the prep area, gave me something IV and my cares vanished. Next thing I knew, was being extubated (that was a wretched experience). Will get my rt hip replaced sometime, but will put it off for a while, for sure! The Metformin works by fighting metabolic syndrome, making your body more responsive to endogenous insulin and less likely to hold onto carbs as fat. Even if you do not now have DM, consider trying the Metformin if you can get a practitioner to Rx the drug for an off beat use. Good luck.

This is a link to the Daily Mail and a sample of articles about their National Health Service: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?searchPhrase=Health+Service You may want to look up your local suicide hotline after reading the articles. Obamacare cometh!

You can get a pretty good idea of what Universal Healthcare will mean to nurses by reading the London Times online edition. They have daily articles about ther horrors of their National Health Plan: Stories about piles of bloody, soiled linens left in halls and rooms r/t curbacks in Housekeeping staff to "control costs." Elderly patients denied joint replacements, Cancer patients expiring while they wait months for a scan or biopsy. One size fits all medical devices, etc. etc. Oh, one other thing. Who do the govt. officials expect to mop and clean in place of the Housekeeping Dept.? The Nurses, of course.

There is no way that there will be a glut of nurses by 2011. At least not nationwide, but there are some areas of the country where the supply more nearly meets demand. This recession reminds me of the economic conditions during the Carter years, when I graduated from Nursing School (BSN '79 Indiana State Univ.) People are losing employer linked insurance and delaying procedures. This has caused some spot layoffs, primarily in surgical centers, but also some hospitals. If it is true that the average RN is 49 years old, and 70% of all RNs now working plan to retire over the next 15 years, it is unlikely that the shortage will outlast the recession. I was able to find a job "back in the day" and eventually moved to a more hospitable geographic area, Florida where jobs were more plentiful. You should be able to find a job, especially if you are willing to relocate to areas where the shortage is more acute.

Ever see the movie "Hoffa" starring Jack Nicholson as Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa? I would be for unions if they could just send out some goons to deal with the docs who yell, throw things, etc. And it to the contract negotiations. Administration will be officially against having union goons doling out a shellacking to misbehaving physicians, but in their hearts, you know they will want to watch.