Donnetterr

Go to the website below and print out the form for reciprocity (the first form listed on the page). http://www.dads.state.tx.us/providers/NF/credentialing/nar/forms.html

Go to http://www.chea.org/search This is a database of all accredited colleges in the United States that are accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The Department of Education endorsement is important for purposes of financial aid and respectability. Please note, relying on a school website to list its accrediting agency can be risky. For example, a group of schools may join together and make their own accrediting agency, let's call it the "Association of Sanctioned Schools" (for example). Then they could post on their website that they are "accredited" but the accreditation is not worth a hoot. Just be cautious.

I am sorry to hear you are going through this. I am in nursing school, and your post kind of scares me! I think you might want to try volunteering or seeking an externship in the type of unit you hope to work for. As you do this, you will be networking, and someone is likely to know of a position for you. Also, talk to the school you graduated from, and see if the nursing department faculty know anyone who is a hiring manager or connected to one. Best wishes for a job soon!

Pregnant women MUST be added to a new group insurance policy with no lapse in coverage or exclusion per federal law. Pregnancy trumps employer policy per federal law, when going from one GROUP policy to another GROUP policy. Also, coverage under your former employer's group policy will be offered to you as required based on COBRA. Now, if you are trying to buy an individual policy, there may be an exclusion, but going from one group policy to another, you can not be denied or made to adhere to a waiting policy. I'm an employee benefits analyst.

In my experience, those who report sexual harrassment are treated worse than those who dish it out. I can tell you what I recently did when my supervisor (male) kept telling me (female ) which other employees he found attractive. I got sick of hearing, "She sure is cute, she's too cute to be a _____, she's sure got a good figure" and on and on and on. So, one day I picked some random, reasonably good-looking male employee and waited. Next time the boss mentioned who he thought was a hottie, I replied with, "Yeah, but have you seen ___. He's is HOT HOT HOT. I can barely concentrate looking at him every day." Well, I kept this up for a while and finally the boss said, "I don't see what's so great about him." And guess what? No cute girl comments ever since!

I am sorry to hear you are going through this. Is there anyone outside of the unit you could talk to? Does your hospital have an ethics department or a person in HR who takes complaints about patient safety issues? Patient safety and nurse safety should not be on the backburner due to layoffs. Layoffs should hit administrative staff first, in my opinion, not those involved in patient care.

Excelsior may be an option for you if you have completed at least 50% of the requirements for a BSN degree, including several clinical courses. Excelsior does not have clinicals throughout the program. Instead, Excelsior has a culminating clinical exam that the student must pass before he or she can graduate. Key in terms like "Excelsior CPNE" in a search engine to find information about the clinical aspect of Excelsior's program. It is a rigorous clinical examination. Excelsior's website has lots of good info. Go to http://www.excelsior.edu and then to the "School of Nursing" link.

When I was in nursing school, I met a nurse now and again who seemed determined I should "pay my dues" just like she had to, in the sense that she had a miserable beginning as a nurse, and so should I. I finally spoke with one of them directly and explained a bit about my life and why, as an over 30 college student, there had been plenty of dues paying in my life and childhood. She relaxed and I hope I helped her to judge people less harshly. I found that some nurses who are nasty to the newbies are just exercising the small amount of power they perceive they have, in a unit that has been nasty to them, or in a hospital where management doesn't appreciate nurses at all. I have found that the direct approach works best. I asked one nurse, "What can I do to make your day easier? I am here to help you, even though I sense you see me as just another irritation in a bad day." She ended up showing me a lot of things.

I consolidated with Sallie Mae, and I have not had any problems with them. I chose Sallie Mae after evaluating loan consolidation paperwork from about half a dozen places. All of the places, except Sallie Mae, had language within their contracts that allowed them to sell all or part of my loans to another company at their discretion. I was nervous about that because my husband has a loan that has been sold 4 times in 7 years, and each time, the new holder seems to not know part of the payment records, changes terms, takes forever to credit payments, etc. I felt that if I went with Sallie Mae I could stay with Sallie Mae. They offer a discount if you pay through electronic funds transfer.

Whether ADN, BSN, or diploma, all RNs earned the title by passing NCLEX and should feel confident in their designation as Registered Nurse. When the day comes where only BSNs are allowed to take NCLEX then I will start worrying about what degree everyone has.

In most cases, people try to give a two weeks' notice when resigning, but I don't think it's the end of the world if you don't. I think the whole "two weeks' notice" thing gives way too much power to the employer in certain situations, anyway. Who is to say the NM would give a positive reference even with a proper notice? Unfortunately, I've known too many passive-agressive management types who get peeved that you left and refuse to give good references no matter how much notice you give. And how much notice does a company give an employee it has decided to terminate or lay off? Good luck to the OP and I'm sure you will land on your feet.

Facilities can choose to be more generous than the regulations require, but at a minimum, they must comply with the fed regs pursuant to FMLA. This means they must provide up to 12 weeks of leave to employees with at least 12 months of service who have worked at least 1250 hours within the previous 12 months (to when the leave began). At the end of the 12 weeks, the employer has the right to stop "protecting" your position, but may choose to allow you more time if it wants to. At our facility, we will renew the leave for up to another 12 weeks, but separation from employment occurs if you don't return by the end of 24 total weeks.

This is how ignorant I was as a junior nursing student. Doctor Big Deal walked into the station where I was occupying the only chair. She sat down on the counter and stared at me. I looked back at my chart. A moment later I heard her sigh, but right then I happened to notice something of interest in the chart. I looked back at the doctor, read her name tag, and then said, "Dr. Big Beal, can I ask you a question about this child?" I then asked her about whether the child had been evaluated for the possibility of William's Syndrome , and she asked, "Which chart do you have?" We went on to discuss the child for a few minutes, and only stopped when my clinical instructor showed up and beckoned me to follow her. I relinquished my seat, and stood up and followed my instructor. Next, I got a nice talking to about how to treat doctors, when to rise from your seat, etc., etc. I ended up getting asked by that MD to go on rounds with her a few times after that. And all that b/c I was just too naively ignorant to be aware of the social dynamics going on at our first meeting.

As far as what to do, it may be time for PRNers to join together and have NO ONE bid on those shifts. They need the PRN nurses, and I think it's absolutely terrifying how poorly nurses are being treated right now.

I am sorry you are going through this. I wondered what that new dress code would do for employee morale. I know where you are talking about, I work there, too. I am not a nurse, but until recently I was in nursing school. I left in my 4th semester and it was partly b/c of the writing I could read on the wall due to stuff like you described. I hope you Feel Better soon.