DONN

.I was hired 2 years ago and am in the acute care setting on a very demanding floor. There are few of us LPN's there but IMO that is only because the LPN practice acts are old and worn out. I'll give you an example: If I have someone who needs blood I can: verify the blood with another nurse, spike the bag, prime the tubing, get the 0.9NS up and primed, monitor the pt during the transfusion, dispose of all the crap when Im done running it, BUT I cannot make the final connection to a peripheral line and start the transfusion. Does this make any sense? NO! But that is the way things are currently written here in Pa.. If some of the nurse practice acts were modified then I think that LPN's WOULD have a greater role in a hospital setting. I feel lucky to be where Im at but I'll agree with everyone else: the pay sucks. When new GN grads start at $ 7.00/hr more than I make I just cringe, but staying there is my choice and no one is holding a gun to my head to stay there.....

That sounds really sweet................................lol

Just make sure you are ready to be on your own when the time comes. If you dont feel ready ask for more time, after all they are willing to work with you so obviously the potential is there or they wouldnt be interested in you in the first place.Good luck and let us know how you are progressing from time to time...

Good for you. My advice from here is: keep your eyes open and DEMAND a significant orientation of at least a couple of months. You are going into one of the hardest places to practice so you will need all the training you can get. Now go get em....................................

Im going to be blunt here so I apologize right up front for what Im going to say. As someone who was in management (in a different field) there is virtually no way I would hire you for a nursing job. Lets face facts, your skills,which were only marginally developed while you wee in school, are now gone. There is no way that you would still be able to say with dead certainty that you have retained anything that you learned in school as far as; treatments, drug knowledge, physical assessment, etc.. I have seen RN's that have been out of the workforce for a couple of years and they struggle with the basics especially if they are in the hospital setting. Frankly you are to commended for passing the NCLEX but this job requires that you maintain and improve your skills on a daily basis. You are an RN but its like an NFL quarterback, even though you still feel like you can do the job, its dam hard to get back out on the field after long absence, and even harder to make a go of it once you get there. Why not try a doctors office or some setting where you can reacquire those long forgotten clinical skills then strike out from there.... sorry if this seem insensitive but I think you already knew what to expect before you posted on this board. Good luck

It bit. Not one person would let the few guys in our class do anything for them. The only positive thing was that the school had virtually no choice but to pass us thru the rotation because it was not our fault that we couldnt do anything there.

Ditto what they said. Keep your eyes open for opportunities and you will be fine. P.S where are you located in NODAK. I hunt in Harvey every year and would move there in a minute if I could get the wife on board. The sky at night in NODAK is just incredible, looks like it did 150 years ago without all the light pollution of the cities.....

Dont come to Erie Pa. there are so many schools here that are cranking out nurses we are now in a situation that I never thought would happen.....very few jobs avaliable and way way way too many applicants for the few that are here. I picked this profession because I thoughtthere would be lots of opportunities but thing have changed radically in the last 2 years and not for the better. Im only glad that I have a job in the best hospital in town and I have no intentions of giving it up anytime soon....

I work on the floor and we are never busy. We just sit around the nursing station and wait for the ER to call and then we delay delay delay until w are finished with our card game and beer. We are only there to fill water pitchers and tell the people we cant help them with anything. We also know that the ER is the only place in the hospital that actually works hard so try not to be too ticked off with us floor nurses because we are busy doing "other" things and we try to work in a little nursing during commercials, or right after our naps...................................

Go with your instincts on this one. If you dont think you can take the physical demands of the hosp. then I would look at the clinic. The hospital is a brutal place and sometimes I think the old bod just cant take anymore but thats where I am happiest. You have to do whats right for you and no I dont think they will "blackllist" you but they may have to think harder about you when and if you apply there again....

My Chesapeake bay retriever is alone for 12+ hours 3 days per week and he never has a problem with an accident in the house. I would never give my dog up! I would quit my job before the dog goes. As far as giving the dogs up for rescue I think thats the sleazy way out and it says a lot about people now days: when the going gets tough........just bail. Not the solution in my book but its amazing when you go to a pet rescue site you will see the nature of people who had a pet for years then just dumped it on rescue because they can no longer deal with the pet. Keep your dogs, they are better off with you than without you.

Last pt. I had with lo NACL the DR ordered her to drink glasses of salt water thru the day. You can imagine how that went over with the pt.. I personally thought it would be better to order a "stat Ramen Noodles" because the sodium content is so high in those things. But what do I know........

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Why the rush to RN school? You havent even worked as a nurse and yet you are now running headlong into something that you are uncomfortable with. My advice is to drop school for now, MAKE SOME MONEY, enhance your clinical skills and then apply next year whne you have gained both confidence and experience. Just my opinion but to not have ever worked as an LPN seems like a huge expense for virtually nothing. JMO

I am on the Vac team at work and we seldom, if ever, apply the powder. The vac dressings can be somewhat intimidating to the first time user but it sounds like you did a good job. Its highly unlikely you would be fired over this IMO. Let yourself off the hook, its the weekend so now go out and enjoy.....