runningcrazy

I think it would be cool to post a few lessons learned while in FNP school.. 1. Get your life in order before you start --NP school is crazy expensive and it sucks trying to work full-time through the program --Most of the people in my class that started out full time, then went part time, then prn --Figure out work and insurance and expenses before you start the program 2. On day one you will be told to find your own clinical experience --this sounds goofy but ask faculty for the following on day one of your classes --a detailed outline of required clinical hours, preceptor needed credentials, settings they require --get started on your clinical sites from day one, and use a large teaching hospital. You will want these set up sooner than later. You can spend up to 100 hours planning and networking these so start early before you are freaking out 3. Hidden Costs --most of use that start a program have had the comfort of a full-time RN salary and we ate ramen noodles in our undergrad....plan on eating that again --plan on being expected to dress well without any money....prepare for this early but those nice outfits early and plan on gaining a few pounds again --extra costs of gas, printing papers, research proposals, internet all on a crappy budget :) --be prepared to live that undergraduate life again

Awesome responses guys thanks for sharing what is going on in the nursing profession

I have the want to help my patients, and I respect their dignity. I don't like not having a raise in two years, and I don't like the shrinking bottom line of money. I have heard chatter of well I am not in this for the money, and I am only hear to help others..... I call these statements drivel. Everyone needs to eat, pay mortgage, have gas money to get to work....so please don't devalue what you do by saying I don't need a good paycheck.... Decent pay for a day's work

Ok so here it deal....women build relationships through talking and relating to each other...the majority of nurses are female...so this behavior is normal.....anyone that thinks it isn't, does not not understand the nature of others. To answer your question....yes people share too much from nurses to doctors to cnas to pts to housekeeping.... We all like to think "I am the best, and I never overshare" The majority of healthcare providers say too much and act like jerks....

My favorite statement from nurses is "I am here for my patients, and I am not here to be your friend (stating to a coworker)." This statement deflates the idea of teamwork. I do not like it when people talk like this. Think about it, if you are only here for your patients, you do not promote the idea of teamwork. We are here for our patients first, coworkers second, and the enterprise third. We need to remove the idea that we are not meant to be friends with our coworkers. We need to have a positive relationship with our coworkers that promotes unity and respect. Patients like to see staff members work together and get along. They don't need to subject to talk about bad employees.

I am not sure her facility uses this policy. Every hospital is different. I have worked at facilities where policy was if you were cancelled, you were cancelled for the entire day, others were in four hour increments.

Your employer has to provide you with a staffing guidelines or a policy regarding how this process works. If there is no structured policy, you don't have a policy to comply with so there can be no negative outcome for you. In my experience, in non-union facilities, there are staffing guidelines, and it is a mangers preference that can change daily how he/she feels the need to cancel staffing (like what is the budget doing, overtime?). In union facilities, we were called off in four hour increments, with no on call pay. It was good knowing this in advanced, and every nurse was able to speak to this policy. We were also allowed to be mandated to work four extra hours before or after our assigned shifts. This part sucked, but I always had great staffing.

Hey Man, Can I say my first year out of school I wanted to get into a car accident so I didn't have to go to school. I was on an intense med surg floor that was hard. The patient load sucked. I suggest looking into ambulatory surgery. If you have surgical background, the stress level of ambulatory surgery is a lot less.

I recently picked up a prn gig in at a small local hospital in the stepdown. I always did bedside report coming from an icu. You state the usual why the patient is here, past medical history, verify drips, discuss plan of care, identify lines and drains are intact, ect It takes five minutes per patient. Not that difficult. The nurses here refused to do bedside report. Well no way. I don't want you to tell me about a patient outside the door. Tell me about the patient with the patient in front of me. Show me that nitro drip and iv line. This other way of not including the patient and giving me a report outside the room then giving me report again adds like 20 minutes to the report process. How do you give report in areas where you have more than two patients?

I am new to this area as well. I work in a department where the nurse does the entire role of preop, intraop, and postop. It is so cool.

Realism: Every nurse has made a medication error. It is up to that individual to admit error. I think ego and lack of respect for others is blatant in our "profession." Realism: Nurses lie in their documentation. If our documentation was accurate to the times medications were actually given, management would have to make changes either through decreased workload, quiet time for medication pass, or increased time for medication pass. Realism: We try to please others departments such as pt/ot, medicine, to look better. We do ourselves a disservice. The time we spend with the patient is valuable to the patient. If pt wants to work with the patient, and you are passing meds, they have to wait. Everyone pushes the nurse out of the room, well our work is equally important as well.

Nice work cardiacfreak! This is awesome and way to be proactive!!

I don't care what degree you have or where you went to school. All floor nurses participate in a code brown

1. Yes I am glad you have a family, but I worked a night shift, and they can talk to you at 0731 after I am done giving you report, not at 703,706,710, and 722. 2. No I will not give you a detailed report outside the room then go in and say hi. It is called bedside reporting for a reason, and we will do at the bedside. You can see your lines, tubes, and drains that way. 3. I appreciate that you are short staffed, but I just worked four twelve hour shifts in a row, no I am can't do another. I will not be the cause of patients receiving inadequate care, stop using scare tactics against me

As hospitals face monetary shortages, they will try to save money, and as a result nurses will be required to work under dangerous conditions. Our jobs are difficult, demanding, exhausting, and stressful. I believe as a group we need to demand better working conditions and have more say in our staffing and working conditions. We are one of the largest professions in the United States; however, we cannot work together nor help each other. Fire and Police are respected with promised rights, why aren't we? We work hard, put our lives on the line everyday, and do it with a smile. Why do we fear demanding respect, good staffing, and breaks?