tudugger

I agree with the other nurse's opinions on this subject. One perspective is: There IS a special place for you. You just need to give yourself time to assimilate all you can knowledgewise and give yourself permission to do the work the way THEY want it done for now. For now, "it" is not about you and what you want; it's about gaining all the knowledge you can for whatever time frame you are willing to give yourself. Another perspective is: Life is short; do you want to spend it the way you are at work right now? You may decide to "tough it out" for 6 months to a year, just to learn all you can. THEN find another floor or hospital where you have checked into the happiness of nurses there. Or you may decide to check with other nurses and/or hospitals to see how happy those nurses are and go there as soon as you can. The choice is yours. The RN behind your name gives you much more power than, I think, you realize. Good luck!! I hope I've provided you with choices you may be too upset to think of on your own.

I work 20 hrs/week doing oversight of what Medication Aides do and performing audits of systems. I am not required to do skills; the corporation does not employ me to do that sort of work. I am not there enough to do skills anyway. I am the only RN on site and that is only 20 hrs/week. Thanks to all!!!

Hmmm, I'm also in Oregon; what a coincidence!! I have a daughter named Melanie also. My prayers are already with her and will be daily. Thank you so very much for your feedback/infomation.

I work 20 hours in an assisted living community. The administrator asked me if I would be willing to delegate bolus feeding and using the G tube to administer meds to UNlicensed and UNcertified caregivers. Will you please provide me your thoughts on this issue? Is this type of delegation common practice in community nursing ... delegating to unlicensed, uncertified caregivers who are not family members of the patient? Thanks much! BD PLEASE HELP ME BY ANSWERING ... I WOULD BE SO GRATEFUL

Hey there girl......I was 56 years old when I finished school AND passed the RN licensure test. I ended up having to answer all 200 some odd questions, too!!! I had never worked in the profession prior to going to school, either!!! I found out I really should have checked it out; it definitely is NOT what it was 40 years ago when I seriously considered going to school to be a nurse. GOOD LUCK......I've started my own nurse advocacy business and work 2 8 hours shifts at an ALF and am finally happy for the first time since I graduated. I tried other positions and just couldn't take the stress, management crap, etc. GO FOR IT GO FOR IT GO FOR IT GO FOR IT

To Crispycrittah and Kev, I entered the nursing profession in my 50's, thinking it was like it was in the 1960's when I first seriously contemplated going to school for nursing. I have since had several nursing jobs; NONE OF WHICH brought me anything but very, very high stress and physical challenges no matter what or how many interventions I tried. I am now working only 2 8 hour shifts a week in assisted living and hope and feel I have finally found my niche. I also have my own nurse advocacy business, which after a year, seems to be picking up. I really like that because I can pick and choose which jobs I take and choose those which employ the skills I enjoy using. Good luck to both of you. I, too, did a mid-life career change and am here to attest that it can be done and done successfully. I encourage both of you to fully explore that which you think you are interested in and what they require of you. If I had researched the nursing profession before I started on that path in college, because of the many changes over 40 years, I never would have chosen nursing in 2000! Hopefully I have made lemonade out of lemons now!!! Again, good luck and CONGRATULATIONS.....YOU HAVE EARNED THE NEXT, MOST WONDERFUL, PART OF YOUR LIVES!!!!! Sincerely, Mama Nurse