Dormi93

My hospital is also not union, a few hospitals in the Chicago metro area are like UIC, etc. But most in the suburbs are not.

There isn't a difference at my hospital. I currently have my ADN and finish my BSN next fall.

I also have my CCRN certification, along with the normal BLS, ACLS, PALS, NRP, US IV training, etc.

I was just looking to see if we could create a pay transparency for RNs. I work in Illinois in the Chicago Suburbs, at a Northwestern Medicine Hospital Experience: 6 years - 2 on inpatient Stroke/Neurology (1 year floor nurse, 1 year primary charge nurse) 4 years - Critical Care, Emergency Room, and Rapid Response Team Current title: Rapid Response Nurse, ICU Nurse (I work 2/3 nights rapid team, 1/3 nights ICU floor/charge fill) Base pay: (after my yearly raise) $38.70 My hospital system does have shift differentials. weekend: $2.50/hr 3p-11pm: $4/hr 11p-7a: $5/hr

I wasn't given a reason besides the normal automatic turned down email, "thank you for your submission... sadly we are not pursuing you for employment.... best wishes..." I'm not super pressed for money, but I don't think I could not work for very long, and I can't travel very far (about an hour to 1.5 hour commute time max since my SO lives with me and is still in school nearby). So idk if there are even any ICUs left. I have also also applied to a few IMCU and other step down units but I haven't heard anything back either way.

Yeah, it sounding like a very rough unit is the only thing holding me back. I don't mind being busy, but I don't want to be so busy I can't learn or be safe.

It's somewhat understandable, "Ortho Days" or planned ortho cases are Monday's and Wednesday's so they plan on having the unit mostly emptied out to prepare for the admissions on Monday. The unit manager I interviewed with stated that usually it's pretty dead Sunday night.

I am a new grad who has worked in critical care as a HUC/PCT for the past 4 years while in school. Unfortunately, my unit cannot hire a new grad at this time... so I have interviewed and been offered jobs on two very different units. Background: I am used to working nights and 12 hour shifts and that is my preference. Job 1: OR circulator. Comes with a 12 week "classroom" and OR floor orientation and then I am on orientation for the rest of the first 6 months. It would be from 11am until 7pm and I would be the last nurse in the OR in the afternoon. Monday thru Friday scheduled with 1 night a week and 1 weekend a month on call req. Job 2: floor nurse on an ortho/neuro floor that sees everything from hip replacements to seizures, and also takes medical overflows. 12 hour shifts from 7p-7a. They said they are budgeted to be staffed for 22 beds (they are a 35 or 36 bed unit). On nights there is 1 PCT and no PCTs on Sunday, I was told I would be expected to have usually about 6 patients. The orientation is similar with 10 weeks in the classroom and on the floor, and then I am only orienting on the floor for the rest of the first 12 weeks. My long term goal is to work in critical care again (I have applied to 7 hospitals and been turned down to their ICUs) and one day possibly go for my AGNP. Moneywise for both jobs I'd make more per hour on the floor due to night dif. But I'd probably make more money from on call in the OR (I have a friend in the OR and they get called in very often). Which job would you choose (given that I prefer nights and 12 hour shifts strongly and don't mind working weekends or holidays).

The only thing that I've ever done in clinical that wasn't what we should have done was I had a developmentally delayed patient that I was passing around 12 meds to. He was noncommunicative and after he threw his first set of pills on the floor (among other things during the med pass) we decided to hold the meds until later. We documented and we also documented that we gave the remaining pills to the staff RN. Well one of the remaining was a class II drug (phenibarbitol maybe? all I remember is it was an anticonvulsant). We were written up about a month later by the pharmacy and had to speak with the hospital liaison about the situation. LT;DR: Don't ever give a med to another nurse if you withdrew it from the pyxis (even if its the patients nurse). The document trail leads to you. what was the worst part was that the liaison emailed me and the nursing school coordinator and just said, "speak about the situation that occured" I thought I did something absolutely terrible and was about to be kicked from the program.

It is very manage-able. I had a job where I worked 5 days a week and attended nursing school, it just goes down to priority management and learning to say no. No I can't pick up 4 extra hours, no I can't spend this weekend drinking I have an exam and paper due on Monday. It can suck, but nursing school already sucks. Just remember when it seems really bad that its only for X amount of years and then you are good to go.

All you can do is present your case with the evidence you have. If it is reasonable enough and they don't listen get out ASAP that is not a place to become attached to.

I worked at both a nursing home and a step-down ICU as a CNA. The main difference will be types of workload. I found that you CAN (depending on co-workers) have a lot more help in a hospital because there are generally more nurses/cnas around. In my job at my step-down I had a lot less of a patient load but they have much more going in. 6 out of 12 are Q2 turns, don't forget at 9:30 right when all the nurses want VS/ HS VS checks done that room 6 is just coming off her post heart cath bed requirements and is going to want to get up for the first time and go to the bathroom but you can't leave because you need to monitor for complications so you can tell the nurse how she was doing when she got up. There goes your pager letting you know room 8 wants to get ready for bed but all the nurses are passing HS meds so it will have to wait until you are done in 6. Oh yeah, when did they want all 8 of those A.C. HS BS in again? Obviously it will change every night because the patients and situation changes every day, which I enjoy. You gain more responsibility after you start at a hospital unit because things can go very wrong very quickly. I had a lady who was on my unit because she was having exac PNA but she was also about 9 days post op for a Total hip replacement and when she was getting into bed she inverted her hip and broke her femur. Just do what you enjoy. If you are in the field long enough you will most likely find your niche. I remember before I worked at a hospital, and was in a LTC facility, I was training a CNA that worked at a hospital and he was complaining it was so slow until the shift (his second one) where two CNAs called in so it was me, him, and an RN (who bless her soul was amazing but was working to help raise her great grandkids and was unable to help with any physical tasks) were on a 28 bed LTC unit (with patients not eligible for the dementia unit, rehab patients, total care patients, etc.). Due to workload (I learned after our manager talked to me about him) he walked off the unit 3 hours into 8 and never came back. I've had much worse days than that and for a long time it jaded me into thinking hospital CNAs must have it much easier. I have found on days my step-down is much more busy and hectic than that day was. I enjoyed the hospital more because it required me to use critical thinking more often than the LTC facility did.