SGroRN87

I was adjunct for 2 years... spent 2 summer terms at my current employer and WOWed them so they hired me as full time! It's definitely tough to find a FT job as a nurse educator... Going for a doctorate is a great booster! Also, try to sit for CNE exam - they recently changed the requirements for application.

So a few weeks ago I posted on here about issues with a home care agency... basically, I gave four weeks notice that I was resigning due to things being the complete opposite of what I was told during an interview. Anyways, I had a few unlocked admission documents that needed reviewed by QA/QI... essentially meaning that I needed to make changes to my assessment per their standards (not what I assessed). I only worked one day per week and they kept leaving messages on my work cell which I had off on days that I didn't work - never bothered to call my personal cell which I told them to do. Monday was to be my "last day" although I never said I was actually coming in then to turn in belongings. I got a nasty call from a supervisor stating that I was going to be turned into the state board of nursing for job abandonment because I was not coming into the office (to finish up changes to documentation). Now, I have read and re-read the Nurse Practice Act for my state, and it only refers to job abandonment as leaving patients... not this BS situation. I turned in my equipment today. Can they really report me for that?

Essentially, they want me to wait until all of my OASIS documents are reviewed by QI/QA and then change answers according to their likes and preferences... which I think is fraud since I am the one that assessed these people. I have made corrections to my documentation as needed. I am a full-time nursing faculty and even working home care one day per week was getting to be too much - that is why I gave a month's notice. I do not have time to sit around and wait for corrections to come back. I have no idea what they would even report me to the SBON for... it can't be falsifying patient records because everything I have is truthful and accurate.

I gave one month's notice!!! They want me to stay beyond that!

I resigned from my home care agency. I have completed all documentation but they want me to stay on for 2 weeks to have everything reviewed. I told them no that I did my documentation and they are threatening to turn me into the SBON. Can they legally do this? My charting is complete... they just want want me to wait and fix it per their standards for reimbursement.

Yes, this teacher right here makes less (salary) than a brand new nurse in my area... But I love what I do... And only teaching 3 days per week with 5 weeks off at Christmas and summers off is a trade off for the lower wages...

Fellow allnurses, I need to share/vent/complain/etc.!!! I am full-time nursing faculty in an ADN program... LOVE my job!!! I wanted to get back to the bedside, but didn't want to be in acute care... 2 days of clinical a week is enough for me!!! So I decided to try my hand at home health... WELL... I was essentially promised the moon/sun/stars and just shy of the Powerball. I was told that I would be in an area close to my home. I was told that I would not have to take call until I had been at it for at least 3 months... I was told... I was told... I was told!!! WELL... let me TELL you (all)... I have been seeing patients about 20-30 miles from my home one day per week. Now granted, this is not close to me, but I didn't really complain (much) because my patients were close together and I drive 30 miles one way for my teaching job... and, well, it was only one day per week. So I decided... well this isn't too bad, maybe I'll help them out on a Saturday and pick up and admission and a daily patient... the admission was pretty straight forward and "easy"... HOWEVER... my daily patient... EHHH NOT SO MUCH! This woman called and told me that she couldn't be seen at the scheduled time and couldn't tell me when she would be available. I called the on-call supervisor and she basically told me that since I volunteered to fill in (even though it was for 2 people), I had to be available until 5pm (this call was made at 10am, mind you) for the patient if she decided to come home. Well, imagine the heat radiating from my cranium... so lesson learned, will not be helping them out again unless I am B-R-O-K-E. Well then... fast forward a few days to my scheduled one day of work for the week. I was assigned 8 patients... all routine visits... imagine my surprise that I was seeing a patient 60 miles from my home... 20 miles away from my other patients. Whoops! The scheduler must have assigned you to the wrong team... I'm starting to catch on here, by now! Go about my day and it's actually not too bad... I enjoy my little (long) ride out to the countryside while I'm sipping away at my passion fruit tea from Starbuck's. After my 5th patient (wohoo, 3 to go!)... I get a voicemail from another nurse asking if I can take his call and he will trade me for the day I'm scheduled this week... Now, mind you, I was just released from orientation 3 weeks ago... and, again, was told that nurses new to home care would not be given call for at least 3 months... NOT TO MENTION, that the scheduled on call was on a Thursday, and I am marked off the schedule every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for my teaching job. So I call the supervisor, and yes this is correct... I question how on call assignments are made and why no one ever bothered to mention that I was scheduled. She informed me that if you don't tell them any days that you are unavailable, it's just a random assignment. AGAIN, I am marked off the schedule Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Still trying to figure out the logic behind that one?!?! So, of course, I am left with no choice but to take call... and I am told that the likelihood of me getting called out is basically slim. Imagine, my surprise when I received a phone call from the scheduler 5 minutes later telling me that I already had one admission (out by the 60 miles away from my home place) and a routine visit 5 miles from my home. Needless to say, I had a few choice words about that one! So I call back and ask, "What time is this on call thing going through?"... well, 8am but they try not to send anyone out past 10pm... and, yes, they do know that I am supposed to teach at 8am the next morning. So 10 patients later... 8am to 10:30pm... 179 miles total for the day... I have decided to resign from this place! I think being burned about 5 times in the course of a few days is a sure indicator of things to come. I don't need a second job, but it's sure nice to have for a few extra bucks and something to do during summers off! Sadly, I was somewhat warned about this place before I went there... but I though, "Oh heck, what's one day a week?!?!" Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me! And, now I must go to bed... I am lecturing on stress and coping tomorrow!!!

I have a MSN in education... for me it was a no brainer! I love teaching - that's why I went back to school. Just landed a FT tenure track position at the local community college... no summers!!! Pay is OK... I still have to work home health PRN for some spending cash.

Congratulations! I, too, will be starting a FT tenure track position at the local community college. I have been adjunct for 3 years... FINALLY found a position!!!

Just accepted a full-time position at a community college teaching first year ADN students... $40k for a 9-month contract... This is after getting my foot in the door adjunct at 4 different schools after the past 2 years... It takes time, patience, and persistence... The pay is crappy but it's summers off... And I'm planning on having babies soon!

Well as an educator, I give all the patience and understanding to my students as long as they are performing at a reasonable level and aren't imminently going to kill someone. BUT... As a preceptor (in the past) I did not tolerate anything mentioned above. Here are a few of my favorites... MICU: Pt. with a swan that needed wedged every ?4? hours. This brand new GN had been with me the whole orientation (thus far). Seemed pretty OK. Well we walked into the room, wedged, and a doctor had pulled me into the doorway to ask about out other patient. I walk back over and the nurse if pushing a 10 mL saline flush through the balloon port. I'm pretty sure that I said some not nice words. Another time, he grabbed a 250 mL bag and began infusing it. However, it was levophed rather than vancomycin... Infusing at 125 an hour. His stance "well vancomycin always comes in a 250 mL bag.". A few weeks after they cut the cord, he was fired for giving a 10L bolus to a patient with a 15% EF with a low BP. He didn't understand why he shouldn't have questioned the MDs orders. Patient needed tubed and everything. BMT: One brand new GN, who wasn't sure why she (a BSN) was being paired with me (a diploma). Always tried to act like she knew more and better ways. Well she was lucky enough to give chemo while still on orientation. We were caring for an acute leukemia pt. in DIC and the whole nine yards. The pt. needed chemo ASAP to combat the rising blast count. Well she informed me that her nursing instructor was an oncology nurse and she told them never to give chemo to a patient with pancytopenia. So we discussed why this was an exception. After arguing with her and sending her to work on a other patient, I hung it myself. She just did not understand the concept. The little b*tch walked into the room after me and took the chemo down, throwing it away in the regular trash. Well when a walked into the room a little while later to check, the chemo was missing. I walked into the nurses station and asked the GN. Her response "I am saving the patient!!!". The attending was ****** that the patient's chemo had been of for 4+ hours and the nurse manager couldn't decide if she wanted to send her home or make her stay until she got in.

Just FYI, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing recently published a white paper advising all BSN programs to instill clinical hours into their curriculum. So if the program doesn't already have it... IT'S COMING!!! I strongly suggest that you have at least 6 months to a year of bedside experience before going into a RN-BSN program. This is coming from a former RN-BSN student and educator. The basis of most programs is to build your knowledge of evidence-based practice, health promotion and policy, and leadership. Many of your assignments will most likely challenge you to question current practice. If you haven't worked as a staff nurse, then you would only be able to draw on student experiences - which is often far from realistic nursing!

I always tell my students... Take any experience that you can as a new grad. About 3 years ago, a student of mine told me flat out that she would never work in LTC. She would rather work at McDonald's. Well upon graduation, she had to take a job as a charge nurse on the dementia unit of a very nice LTC facility. Just ran into her... She has passed her gero certification exam and is an assistant DON there... Doing very well for herself. I thought I would only want to work with babies... Have been doing med/surg/onc my entire career and would never do it differently!

Thanks for your input! I worked 8 years on a BMT hem/onc unit and as I said... we NEVER gave heparin to anyone. Just always like to know what my other colleagues do!

Hello everyone! Just a quick question about heparin... I came from a hem/onc unit and we NEVER used heparin... I had a student, in clinical last week, who was assigned to care for a patient admitted with sepsis. The patient also had liver issues and had a platelet count of 80k. The patient was ordered sub-q heparin, which I felt was inappropriate due to the platelet count, so I had the student hold it and update her nurse. The nurse stormed down the hall, suggested that I don't understand DVT prevention, and told me that I shouldn't be teaching if I didn't have critical thinking skills. Now call me prudent and by-the-book, but I do not give heparin, or teach to do so, unless the platelet count is over 100k. What I would like to know, from nurses in other specialty areas... Are you as conservative with heparin?