MinneNurse BSN, RN

Hi! I realize I am responding several months later but I hope this information still helps. Twin Cities native here and OR Circulator. We have plenty of the hospitals in the area. Some are union, others are not. We also have plenty of Ortho ASCs ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota - $10.00ish and some change an hour, guaranteed 4 hours of pay if called in

Hi there, I am a former bedside nurse turned OR Circulator! Hopefully I can answer some of your questions. My first suggestion would be asking for a shadow day with a nurse in the OR so you can actually get a feel for what OR nurses do at your facil...

In my OR there is no "chain of command" where the circulator "runs the room." We work as a team and we all have individual duties to meet the common goal. But no matter what your OR's culture is, when it comes to sterility any concerns made by anyo...

I don't think it's just you, a lot of what you described can be pretty typical for the OR. In general the OR is filled with strong personalities which can be difficult at times. I think you should give yourself more time, I know 6 months seems like...

I would agree with the suggestions that you should shadow first if you can. You have to really have a passion for the OR to be able to work in it. You either love it or you hate it, but even if you love it, as @Kali.RN said, it is a harsh environme...

Driving to work without traffic in the morning, roughly 25 minutes from my garage to the parking ramp. Going home with traffic in the afternoon/evening, 45 minutes to an 1 hour 15 minutes.

I read your previous post when you initially posted it about being fired after charting early that you gave the med before you actually gave it and went back today after reading this post and read all your other ones. I can't say if nursing all-toge...

I can't speak for parish nursing or "sleep techs" but I would consider the availability of these positions. You mentioned you looked into the polysomnography program and said "there supposedly are jobs in this field in my city." My thought would be...

The trend is definitely shifting towards hospitals "preferring" new grads have their BSN, but I think it just depends where you live. If you know where you plan on working, check available job postings at local facilities and see the requirements the...

I am frequently pulled from my lunch break or don't get to take a full 30, so at the end of my shift I punch out no break (we don't punch in & out for our breaks). You are short staffed AND OT is not approved? Sounds like your facility is trying...

It really depends on what you are interested in. I hated my mother/baby rotation in nursing school and have never had any interest being in this area of nursing so I would have definitely went with the OR. Like others have said both are really spec...

Wow, those ratios are high, and without an aide?? And your charge is also working as charge for the ICU AND working as a monitor tech? What the heck? Can someone tell me if this is normal for Florida? I'm in Minnesota on a tele unit and my ratio ...

I sometimes wonder if the comments about appearance come from a place of insecurity? I wear my hair down a lot at work because I have dermatitis and sometimes wearing ponytails or buns all day starts to really hurt my scalp. I have had a few co-work...

I agree with the others, I think you are being wayyyyy too hard on yourself. The patient asked why you were administering the medication/"poking" her with needles and you responded appropriately as to why the medication is being administered and pot...

I have to disagree with this at least for the midwest. In my state most health care facilities consider a new graduate RN as someone with less than 1 year of working RN experience and has nothing to do with how long you've held your license for. Al...

My commute is about 35 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes to an hour fifteen on the way home depending on traffic and weather. For a brief period of time my commute was an hour and a half and that was pretty awful. But I managed by listening to ...

Maybe I'm having a little brain fog tonight after a long shift but I keep rereading this and not understanding... How are you in your 5th semester of a BSN program but also only 3 weeks into the actual nursing program?

Could you call your state BON directly since the website has been of no help? I can't speak for other states or positions but it is within my job description to do "CNA" type duties. We have CNAs and other support staff in order to allow nurses the...

I would include it because as a new grad it is invaluable experience and also might be required for certain units. I know at the hospital I work at in order for new grads to get a position in critical care they had to have completed their capstone i...

"Is the manager correct for asking me this? I feel like she's opened a religious can of worms and as this is a really big corporation, how could they not be accommodating?" How did she open a can of worms? She told you the scheduling requirements and...

That sounds awful! Who is running the show if you do not have a charge on? Can whoever is in charge close the unit? Are nurse to patient ratios not part of your union agreement? I am a union nurse in Minnesota and our nurse to patient ratios are,...

When I was applying to nursing programs I had to take the TEAS for one program and the HESI for another. It was required that all science courses be completed before applying and taking the tests which included A&P 1 and 2, chemistry, and microb...

Was about to reply with almost this exact response.

I agree with this! It has become the culture of your unit and it is not your specialty. I agree with other posters that hospice has very compassionate nurses due to the nature of that specialty, but if you aren't genuinely interested in hospice care...