historylady

I am not big fan of a better life through Pharmacology, when the issue can be resolved in another manner. I too suffer from work related anxiety. I love direct nursing care but I have come to the realization that the stress and anxiety that I get is too much. Yes I have talk to people about getting a medication but then I looked at the side effects of these medication. I had to step back and look at what was causing the anxiety. Was the anxiety being caused by life in general or the job. For me it was the job. I decided that I need to find other ways that I could use my nursing background that were not typical nursing related positions. Nursing can be a nasty profession and folks that are different are easy fodder. Before taking medication, have someone help you figure out what is causing the anxiety. Look for solutions to those specific items that cause you stress and trigger the anxiety. If you feel you need medications, use them. Chances are, you are like me, it is the people in the profession that is triggering the anxiety. I have all the skills and all the knowledge (would not have made it out of nursing school) that I need, I just can't get it right in the working environment. BTW- I have been looking into nursing administration. I like you, am seen as a natural leader.

Sorry to say but death is part of life. I don't think that anybody is disrespecting or ignoring the LTC population. Two things that you must remember. 1st, the news media business is to sell news. They can take one small thing and blow it out of proportion in order to sell news. Second, people are dying and that is a fact. People are doing the best they can to provide good after death care, but like many parts of the healthcare system, after death care is taxed. Large number of deaths in any emergency situation, often results in more time and money being spent on the living rather than the dead.

Hello RN at 55, There is definitely age bias present in the world of nursing. I was older when I graduated and it took me a while to get the first job and then I was hired based ona friends recommendation into a LTC facility that was desperate for nurses. When I started nursing school, I was told that older nurses were valued as we were more stable in our personal life. However, this might be true, most places are looking for younger people, Nursing is a profession that requires time to be good at. YOunger people have more time to "mature" in the profession. EMployers just don't want to invest in old people because we don't have lots of time left in the profession. I was told we are just not worth the time and money required for us to grow in the job. I also went the Nurse Educator route and have completed my MSN. I am finding that the more experience you have the more likely you are to get a educator position. IT is like the mpre time you have on the floor, the better educator you are. I say bull to that. I can learn anything to be able to teach it. Nursing is a weird profession, they don't value age, they value experience. If you don't have experience when you are old, you have no value to the profession.

Have you asked her how she is doing? She sounds very overwhelmed by it all. Some new grad nurses come in brimming with self-confidence, other don't. IF she is going in the bathroom and crying, you need to find out the reason. Ever person has a different learning style. You as the preceptor needs to find out this new grads learning style. Maybe she is overwhelmed, maybe she is scared of you. Maybe her education was not as she had hoped, talk with her, ask her what she needs, have her tell you what she needs, build her confidence. The nursing profession needs to nurture new grads not scare them away. ICU is a tough place to learn as new grad.

This is how we are losing new grad nurses. New grad nurse - you have three courses of action. One you can do nothing and wait the day when you are on your own and something you should have been taught happens needs to be done and you do it wrong and then get into trouble and maybe even risk your license. 2) you go and talk to the unit manager and ask for a different preceptor. Don't tell them all the stuff you wrote, just tell them that you and your preceptor are not clicking and that you really want to become a kick *** ICU nurse but you just don;t feel that this preceptor is the best for you. 3) You can stay with this preceptor and be alert for others on the floor that are more open to teaching you. They are around. It is your career, you must decide how and what you want it to be. Personally, I would ask for different preceptor on my personal grounds. I would tell them that although she is considered a great preceptor, I do not feel that we are clicking and I seem to missing a lot and that maybe a different preceptor could better help you learn the unit. Don't attack her, put the blame on you. As a nurse educator, I see this a lot, not all great nurses are great preceptors They miss steps and don;t understand the teaching relationship.

Thank you for your response. Yes I have looked into staff development and ambulatory.

I have arthritis and fibromyalgia (and a few other things). Needless to say I have chronic pain. Some days are good days and some days are not so good, needless to say to don't move as fast as a used to. The problem I have is that I don't know to what point my slower mobility will effect my ability to provide optimal care for my patients. I am currently a floor nurse on a medical/surgical unit. Supervisors have questioned me about not being able to to do my job because there are days when a I move slower than other or limp. I can walk but I don;t more slowly than before. I am looking at getting off the floor and into some other specialties. What specialties are out there where my slower movement will not be a factor? I have 7 years of home health, 2 1/2 years LTC/ Post acute/rehab and about 3 months medical/surgical. I have my MSN in nursing education but I am finding that they what lots and lots of acute care experience to be a nurse educator, to teach, or be a case manager. Office based positions are few and far between. What other specialties are there that I could do where being slower moving when I walk would not be an issue? (I don't hobble I just walk at a slower pace)

Only you can decide if nursing is the right career for you. I am a second degree nurse and i was also told that I would not make it as a nurse. I did make it and I am a good nurse. But it was a struggle. The nursing profession has one big flaw, nurses (female in particular) are very quick to judge and very slow to accept others who may be different. It is kind of like going back to middle school with all the cliques as such. If nursing is your dream, then go for it. As far as that one C. Depends on which class it was in. If it bothers you, retake it. If it is something like biology or A and P, then retake for sure because that knowledge is what nursing is based on. As I said, I was told that I would not make it as well. I continued and I made it. I don't struggle with the being a nurse stuff or relating to patients or patient care stuff, I struggle the social culture that goes along with the profession. I was told by a doctor in an elevator who happened to over hear my uncertainty about becoming a nurse - "What do you call a nurse who just barely makes the grades, but does make the grades and passes her boards?" Answer" - a nurse. Grades are only one part of being a nurse, if you got the rest, the things you can not learn, but are a part of who you are. then you will do just fine. Have faith in yourself. I was told be a friend once "God put you on this earth to take care of other peoples people, don't doubt it, just do it. It was the path chosen for you by something bigger and greater than our human existence."

Yes I find this to be very true. I find that getting hired has more to do with age rather than experience. I has seen younger nurses with the same experience get hired over older nurses with same experience. Age discrimination is alive an well in USA, is just covered up. You don't get hired because you don't have the "right" experience, too much experience, not enough experience. I interview for a job and get one of these answers and I find out later that the person hired has exactly the thing that I was disqualified for.

I feel your pain. Nursing is a profession and therefore the people practicing it should be professional. Unfortunately, nursing is also a female dominated profession. When ever you get a group of females together, the catty behavior has a tendency to come out. Remember that group of girls from high school. It just comes with the territory. I am not saying that all females are catty, but there is always that one group who practice it well. This is one of the reasons why lateral violence is so prevalent is the nursing profession. My advice - focus on the job, help others when you can, provide the best care possible for your patients and be yourself, Life starts to suck when you try to be someone that you are not. In life you will get along with some and not others. When things happen make sure you document what happened, when, and everything else. Like one person says always bring a voice recorder when meeting with manager, directors and HR. You would be surprised how things can be misinterpreted, changed, etc.

Age discrimination is alive and well in the nursing world. When I started nursing ( at at 49) I was told that hospitals and such don not want to take on new nurses over age 45. It takes 2 to 3 months to get a new grad trained to work independently. That is costly for the facility and they don't want to spend the money on someone who has a shorter career life expectancy. They told me that I should go start in a nursing home. Get some experience and then move onto acute care. My one year in LTC has long passed. I went to many interviews and filled out countless applications. I have received no job offers outside of LTC. I am a good nurse, I have good skills. I want to be challenged. No one wants me. That is depressing. No one gives me a straight answer. "You were just not a good fit" is the usual response when I ask. I am not alone. Many older nurses I know are finding the same thing. There is a nursing shortage, but there is no nursing shortage. There is a shortage of new young nurses.

I don't know anything about the clinicals you were exposed to, but my final two clinicals, I was expected to handle my case load on my own. My nurse preceptor watched, answered questions, and oversaw what I was doing. I think it has a lot to do with initiative. I took the initiative, so I did.

Nurses talk to one another, that is a fact. You want to learn something about something ask nurses. What I am hearing is frightening. the profession of nursing is in crisis. New grads can't get jobs unless they have experience but can't get experience without being able to get a job. Nurses wanting to quit nursing because they are stressed and over worked. Nurses working incredible amounts of hours. Nurses working without the support of administration. More and more non-patient care work being put on nurse What are the rest of you hearing? Sure I hear some good stuff, but by far the negative is outweighing the good. What does the future of nursing look like? What is your opinion one nurse to another? What can we do to make nursing a good, healthy profession that people want to be a part of and stay apart of? Is nursing really in crisis and dying. What is your opinion?

It is not so much just the age of the nurse. it is being a new nurse that is older. I was told it took over $30,000 to take a new graduate nurse and mentor them to be skilled nurse. Many places will not spend that type of money on a person with such a short career life. Yes age discrimination i illegal but it happens everyday. It is just disguised under another name. The may say it is lack of experience or too much experience.

There will always be the way you are taught in nursing school and the way things are done in the real world. But often times the way things are done in the real world are also not the way things "should" be done in the real world. The things that are taught in nursing school are all put in the curriculum because they are evidence based practices. They are they way things "should be done". First, you need to get through the preceptor orientation. Watch what they do and learn from them. Are the things they are showing you time savers or are they just the way that has become habits? Are the way they doing things harmful to the patient? Once you are through orientation and working on your own, you make decisions for yourself on how and why you do the things do. But the flip side is, do not jepordize your morals and integrity. You have to do what is right for you. If you are asked to sign-off on things that others have done, don't do it. When you have to sign off for doing things, do it your way. Do what you believe is right and stand by what you do. I use "am not comfortable doing it that way, so I am going to do it the way I was taught" Any nurse worth there license will respect that. I have watch a number of nurses, who do things their way, get caught in the book way versus the real world way dilemma. The real world way always loses when it comes to state nursing boards, JACCO and other nursing regulatory agencies. After all it is your license. IF you do it this way or that, it always comes done to choice. I have watch nurses do nasty dressing changes without using sterile technique. I have watched nurses do foley insertion without sterile technique. I have watch nurses do a dressing change without ever switching to clean gloves. Are these things right or wrong? You have to make the decisions about you practices. Just remember facility policy is written for a reason. In the end, it is your license. Don't compromise your integrity, you have to live with your actions.