lefrench123

I work as a clinical instructor for a local university, and would love to have a full-time position in the classroom. I have worked in Med-Surg, ER, ICU, and step-down, and was offered a position teaching OB content:no:. As soon as she mentioned it, I had this futuristic vision of me in a classroom full of students with questions I could not answer. I immediately declined. The good thing about patho is that you know the stuff, you apply it every day. Can you get in touch with previous faculty who taught the class, or does the school offer you a mentor? Maybe they can give you tips on how to convey the content your going to be teaching.

Thank you for everyone's input! I decided to go for it and am waiting to hear back. Fingers crossed!

$12 a shift for the headache.

I have a Master's degree with a nursing education focus, and have worked for 5 years as a full-time critical care nurse, and in the last year as a part-time clinical instructor for an associate degree program. I would love to work full-time for the associate degree program (classroom and clinical) but they have no positions, and have said they don't think one will open until fall 2015 or spring 2016. A hospital in my area has an open position for a clinical nursing instructor, whose job is to work with their new nurse residents as they are hired each semester. It seems like something I'd like, these are new nurses and I'd be helping them transition into the nursing role, but I've never thought about using my degree in the hospital setting. Has anyone done anything similar? If so, what did you think about it? Is the pay similar to what would be expected at a university? Thanks for your time.

I used the aacn review course. It was really helpful in reviewing the concepts. Just passed last Saturday.

It sounds like both jobs have their pros and cons. I personally would go for the hospital position (more money, benefits, and more acute experience starting out) BUT I would take the home health job until I heard back. I know some people find doing this to be TABOO but if you got the hospital job you would probably still be on orientation and could simply say that at that time the hospital job offered the experience you were looking for, etc.

You have a lot of time to work on improving your GPA. Don't let that C discourage you!

I'm sorry this is happening. Unfortunately, reporting incidents like this to management can sometimes make it worse. If you desire to continue working at this facility, however, you should report it. No one has the right to make you feel this way. It sounds to me like with all of your travel expenses, your pay cut at another hospital may not be as bad as you think. You will likely make less but maybe the overall benefit to you health would be worth it. Having less of a commute may give you more time to sleep, more time and energy to spend with your family, and maybe help improve your anxiety and depression.

I am an instructor and I go into clinical about 45 minutes before my students do, find potential patients and talk to the night nurses. It has prevented some of the issues you mentioned above. I also feel it's more realistic for the students because as nurses, they won't have the opportunity to prep for their patients.

Thanks for the advice. I agree that it is the best thing to do.

I work in an ASN program as a lab and clinical instructor. I am looking for tips on how to deal with students who may have LPN or paramedic experience. Although I want to include them in the discussion, I don't want them to "take over" or give the wrong information. I had 4 groups to teach skills to today. In one group, I had been warned that one of the students was an LPN and often acted like she had more knowledge than she did, and would sometimes tell the students the wrong things. When I had each group break into smaller groups, I immediately noticed that she was teaching her group and could already tell she wasn't giving the best tips "doesn't have to be sterile" "we never do it like that" etc. I went to her group first and taught the skill and had her assist. This way, she could give pointers to the next group correctly, and it seemed to work. In another group, I had another LPN who performed the skill all the time, and I could tell she had a lot of experience with the skill in the setting she worked in. She was really helpful and I valued her input, but a lot of times, she would not let me answer a question fully before jumping in. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I am a new instructor and I felt like this was making me look a little incompetent. It also made some students a little confused because they read things about the way the skill is done in the acute care setting, and she was bringing up information about the way things are done in her setting. I tried to have others answer questions, but she always seemed to jump in and add more info than what was needed. I also noticed that some students seemed reluctant to perform the skills at all. I tried to assure the that I was there to help and this was just practice. Even though they would say they understood, they were asking questions and having to be corrected the whole way through. I'm not sure why they would say they understood how to do something if they didn't? Does anybody have any tips about what to do in situations like these?

I wonder why/if your managers haven't talked to her about moving to a slower paced unit?

You will definitely have to turn off the suction when giving meds for at least 30 minutes (some will tell you an hour). Remember that anywhere the arrows on the lopez valve point are open, and anywhere the off section goes to is closed. So, if you want to flush or give meds, keep the off pointed at the red cap, take off the red cap, and hook up your syringe to that port. Then you flip the off section away from the patient (towards suction), so that the arrows are pointed towards your syringe and towards the patient. These areas are open and you can flush/give meds to the patient. Before you remove the syringe, point your off arrow back towards that direction. You learn which way the arrows go after a couple tries when you make a mess (at least I did).

I would go with ICU nursing, unless you are extremely interested in psych. Both areas are tough, but ICU will give you a broader base of knowledge that can be applied to any other department (although I can't deny that psych is present everywhere). ICU experience will get your foot in the door almost anywhere if you decide the unit is not for you or you want to try something different. I think psych is valuable and I respect the nurses that are able to do it, but I agree with other posts, that there is a bit of a stigma if that's all you've done.

I think everyone feels this way at some point. After my first year, I was ready to go back to school and do something completely different. I stuck it out. I say, go PRN for a little bit, and if you need the money, find another part-time job. Or, try a different unit or area of nursing. You may just need a change of scenery.