aghhggh

Oh my gosh - my last employer was the complete opposite. If you were going to be late to work during a weather emergency, so long as you called ahead and got there within an hour of your scheduled start time, not only would you not be penalized but you would still be paid for the Of course that was only for declared emergencies, not just run of the mill lousy weather, but still. We've had a few of them the last few winters. More than once when I was stuck in charge of staffing, I had a potential call out for the next shift rescind their call after I reminded them of the policy.

The past few placed I worked we pulled them at the end of the night shift any time after 0600. Doesn't interrupt sleep too badly, plenty of time left during the day for us to monitor voiding / intervene if there's any urinary retention, etc.

I've come to expect a certain level of rudeness when calling doctors, especially during night shift. But threatening violence is not acceptable. I'm all for reporting the jerk. A while back a doctor at my facility actually had his privileges revoked, and his lousy behavior towards the nurses was part of the reason.

One of my coworkers is finishing up a school nurse certification and is starting her job search for a school nurse position. She asked me if I could write her a letter of recommendation. She's a great nurse and I'm happy to see her pursuing her dreams, so of course I said yes. But... I'm not really sure what to write! The only letter of recommendation I've ever written was for a CNA who was applying to nursing schools. It was a little easier for me to write that because I was her supervisor. This nurse and I are both staff nurses. Are there rules or guidelines out there for writing a letter of recommendation for a coworker? (Is that even usually done? It had never occurred to me, but then again I'm not a very competitive job seeker.)

LTC can be very sad and trying at times. You will see a lot of the residents who you come to care about die. It can be a thankless job as well - you are caring for many people whose dementia is so severe they are unable to express thankfulness or simple kindness, their behaviors can be out of control, they may be combative or just downright mean lol! That being said, I think it's a wonderful place to work. You get to really know your residents and build a relationship with them and their families. There is usually a huge patient load for each nurse, but these are people you see every day and you become very familiar with their meds, diagnoses, routines, personalities, etc. A former coworker of mine said she came to LTC because she changed from fulltime work to part time after she had her kids, and got tired of coming into the hospital after a few days off and having a completely new group of pts every time - in LTC those are *your* people, you know? Anyway, if this is what you feel drawn to, I think you should embrace it! If you try it out and it turns out it's not a great fit for you, so be it, you can always move on. One thing I will point out - this may not be the same everywhere, but in my area hospitals tend to have a nice long orientation period for new hires (esp. new grads), but LTCs/SARs/ALFs/etc tend to give their new hires maybe a week max. As a new grad, I got one shift of orientation before I was on the cart! Just something else to consider. Good luck wherever your career takes you!

Is there a reason why you don't just go for the MSN? It seems like such a waste!

Two full time jobs sounds a little extreme to me. I do know a couple of CNAs (not any nurses though) who do it, but they are always cranky and exhausted. I think a full time job plus something per diem is doable. If you can pick up overtime wherever you're working full time, that sounds more economical than working for straight time in two different places -- since overtime pay is at least time and a half, that's definitely the way to go as far as I'm concerned, provided your employer has the time to offer.

Most of the hospitals in my area will hire nursing students as nurse's aids so long as they have completed one or two semesters of nursing school. However SARs and LTCs will only hire those with the CNA certification; I think this is due to different licensing requirements (hospitals are accredited by TJC, but SAR/LTCs are accredited by the state Dept of Health). So if you're only looking for hospital work, you should be good! Patient escort/transport is another option. Depending on where you want to work, to become a tele tech you might need to be ACLS certified, which is another expense but would increase your job options once you pass the NCLEX. I'm not sure what your educational background is, but with a BS you can work as a mental health tech. If you're willing to look at non-hospital facilities, nursing homes need activities aides. Good luck on the NCLEX!

I was wondering if anyone had any advice or guidance for me? I'm a twenty-nine year old RN entering the final semester of an RN to BSN program. My goal after getting my BSN was to try to enlist in either the Air Force or the Army Reserves. The recruiters I spoke to previously told me to come back and talk when I was close to the end of my degree -- well, the end is in sight finally, and so I contacted my local Air Force recruiter by phone and had a longer talk this time. The thing is, I was treated for allergen-induced asthma as a teenager (I was 14, a year too old for it to be considered childhood asthma, from what I understand). I still keep an inhaler around the house "just in case", but I haven't needed it in years. In the past I had been lead to believe that there were ways to get around this and still serve. But the recruiter I just talked to told me there was no way, that any history of asthma would be uncovered when they looked at my medical records and disqualify me. (I'm actually not sure that this is true -- my current provider has never treated me for asthma, & the last doctor who treated me for asthma lost all my records when the office was restructured.) Does anybody have any experience with this -- serving in spite of a medical history? I'm just feeling so lost right now, this has been my goal for such a long time and I don't know what to do. If there really is no chance for me, does anyone know of any alternatives to the military?