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Hi everyone, Thanks for your responses. I left hospital nursing and won't look back. I will be looking for a new home health job. I enjoy the work, unfortunately my employer was going through financial difficulties that I have no control over so I will be resigning.

Wow, I guess the attack is on me now. I only tried to respond in a kind manner to someones question! And to the person that asked me why I called it a "required government injection" is because I am required to take it and it is manufactured by the CDC, a branch of the government. I also discussed why it is important, but hey if you want to cherry pick my post to beat up on someone on the internet then I guess that speaks more to your character then mine. I always try to respond in a kind manner to a poster because they are asking a question and I don't think it is responsible to have numerous people beat up on someone just for asking a question. There is a person behind every post, the least we can do is be kind.

I am really sorry that so many people left rather rude comments to your post. I can understand someones hesitance to just accept a required injection. As a matter of fact if someone would have told me 20 years ago that I would be accepting a required government injection to keep my job, I would have never believed it. Without getting into the debate about required vaccines; there are still areas that you could work in nursing without patient contact. Areas that comes in mind would be computer technology, Pharmaceutical sales, infomatics, or possibly even tele-health. I also would encourage you to look into the research behind vaccines and understand them and their importance in protecting vulnerable patients. Also with the world population growing to such extremes airborne illnesses like influenza, pneumonia and other viruses are becoming more of a threat as people are in closer contact than ever before. I would say to search within yourself to determine what type of job you could see yourself doing for the next 30 years. The two degrees that you talk about could have very different jobs. Best wishes for a bright future whatever you choose.

Well, that is the reason I left hospital nursing. I felt like one of those plate jugglers at the circus. I was under so much stress I had to start taking medication. Finally I had to leave for my own sake. You are right on track!

"Hmmm? I can see how this can happen. Any suggestions on how one can present oneself as a nearly blank slate? Interesting... Thanks for your thoughts." I started my nursing career at 48. I trimmed my resume to just highlights of my pre-nursing career. I emphasized my clinicals and my achievements as a nurse. I only have an AS degree in nursing and have been given countless opportunities. I live in Florida where there is a shortage of nurses so that helps. I remember feeling discouraged when I started looking for jobs as the first job is the hardest to get. HCA and other hospitals have a strange and frustrating hiring process. My first job was an HCA hospital. I got a phone call scheduling an interview and an email stating "I am sorry you were not chosen for interview" I was confused so I showed up for my interview anyway and I got hired by a very desperate med surg manager. I hated hospital nursing but I learned so much in my 2 years of med surg. PS - Night shift seems to always need help.

Thanks Caliotter3. You're right. I am concerned about what will happen to my patients but my caseload is low right now so why add to it.

Addressing the charting part of home health. I try to do most of my charting in the home as I am speaking to the patients. I do my medicine reconciliation, check for med interactions, document my vitals and assessment questions while I talk to the patients. Then I do the narrative at home or in the car where I can think. Sometimes it is better to finish up in the car at a local drive up restaurant so you are not taking work home. It's not so bad. I find the documentation so much easier than trying to juggle 6 patients at the hospital.

Any advice welcome and appreciated. I have had a difficult time finding a nursing job I enjoyed. I recently found my nursing happy spot in home health. I enjoy the independence, the flexibility and the one on one with the patients. I finally feel like I am really helping people. Now for the zinger! My company has been late with paychecks twice in a row. What should I do? Can I just quit? Should I quit? My patients depend on me; but, I can not afford to see them for free. Some of my patients are as far as 65 miles from my house. That is a lot of gas and mileage. Last pay period our checks were 4 days late with no prior notice. I didn't know I didn't get paid until my car payment declined. This week I have not gotten paid yet. Do I give 2 weeks notice and continue to drive around at my own expense? Do I tell my employer I can't afford to see patients until I am paid? What happens if no one sees my patients? How should I handle this?

Well all I can say is that I live in Florida and I lived through hurricane Irma and many other hurricanes. I do have an elderly mother and she was without power for 1 week in the aftermath of that hurricane. I evacuated her myself at my own expense because I knew she couldn't do well in those conditions. I did not wait for someone else to step in or pay for anything because she is my mom and I love her. While some patients would not have any family available to help I find it hard to believe that all 140 residents had no family. The aftermath of hurricane Irma was wide spread state wide damage and power outages. It looked like someone to a wrecking ball to the state. I worked the hurricane and I evacuated three personal family members on my own. I had to arrange the evacuation of my mom and two children due to the conditions after the storm. I had to go to work without running water at my home and without power. So no showers or clean scrubs It was a mess to say the least. The nurses that are being charged with criminal charges were working under very unusual and understaffed circumstances. If we start allowing nurses to face criminal charges when they are put in bad situations I fear the outcome will be detrimental to our field. The board of nursing should look into their actions most definitely but manslaughter charges by the state I believe is legal overreach.

So we criminally prosecute the 4 nurses who were working that day with a patient nurse ratio of at least 35:1 ???? There are a lot of people who "should" have done something but the ones that finally called 911 are the ones we ARE prosecuting!

Also where is the Florida Nursing Board on this issue. Do they refuse to protect us or provide any legislative protection bills for healthcare workers who are caught up in disaster situations? Are we just out there with our hineys hanging out when disaster strikes? The hospital is not going to just accept people because they are too hot. How do 4 nurses evacuate 140 residents efficiently? If the State of Florida does not support healthcare workers than maybe we shouldn't work in that State! As far as I am concerned it is not safe to practice nursing in the State of Florida. No safe patient/nurse ratios, no responsibility of facility owners, if you show up to help then you can and will be prosecuted!

I am so tired of the State Attorneys criminally prosecuting people who show up! If you are a deadbeat employee who disappears when disaster strikes then you live to see another day. Lets not forget, the employees who showed up were working under the same conditions that the residents were in, the residents who had family members were not check on or checked out by their family members. According to the article their were 4 nurses and over 140 patients that's a ratio of 35:1 in a state that refuses to legislate safe nursing ratios. Dear Mr. States Attorney - Maybe next time no nurses will show up to care for the patients!

What about the patient families. Sometimes it seems like the patients families don't want any responsibility except to hire an attorney and collect a check when something goes wrong. Why didn't family members pick up their loved ones? I know I would have.

Wow Hosier that's a great idea about the dog safety! I could extend that out to horse safety and how the properly handle small animals like rabbits and chicks. And of course hand washing!

I have always answered my exit interviews honestly and professionally. I don't know if it ever helped, but feel better for being honest and it also helped me get some stuff off my chest so to speak.

I agree! One nurse should never demean another in front of patients! We should function as a team. Besides how does it look to the patient? They loose confidence in the facility I am sure. If one nurse has to correct another nurse it should always be in private.

Congratulations on competing those prerequisites! So my advice would be to come up with some basic points about yourself and what has interested you in nursing and write them down. Also write down anything you would like them to take note of. Write it down and then practice talking about it to friends, relatives even your kids. That way whatever questions they ask you can work that info into the answers. Smile a lot and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you need clarification.

“Sir! Sir! I am doing my hourly rounding, please wake up and tell me if you need to go to the bathroom, are in pain and let me check your position. Also please note on your hospital survey that I checked on you hourly!” Thank you.

I am not sure what part of Florida you are in but Florida is a nurses paradise as far as I am concerned. You may have to search around and take possibly a night shift but many facilities are so short of nurses they will be happy to have you. Don’t sell yourself short. Private duty is still nursing. Make a list of the skills you have learned while doing private duty like vents, Trach, gtube, PT/OT exercises, documenting, independence, knowing how to deal with an emergency when there is no charge nurse with you, etc... I think you will find that you are a hot commodity!

I would see if you can schedule a sit down meeting with your preceptor and possibly manager. Tell them that you are getting the feeling that things are going downhill and you would like to get some feedback so that you can be more productive. Then I would listen to what they have to say and analyze if this is an environment in which you can be comfortable in. Sometimes we tend to think everything is about us when in reality many things are going on in the work place and “we” are a very small part of it. Sometimes I tell myself “everything is not about me”. Lol. Because I tend to be sensitive and pick up on stress, anger, feelings of other people but then I get confused as to why these feelings are present. I say this so that you don’t give up an a job because you are internalizing everything which is something that I can relate to. There is also the possibility that you are in a work environment that will never be comfortable for you. Sometimes we don’t fit into the culture at work. Every workplace has a culture and I have worked in some pretty mean office places. I find that the larger the employer is the easier it is to fit in because there is a more diverse employee population. To wrap it up, it’s not always you-it’s not always them, smile, be honest, do your work and know when to hold and when to fold. Best wishes!

Hi Jordan! It may take some time to get used to your shift. I have worked day shift, night shift, 8 hrs and 12 hrs. It usually takes my body some adjustment period until I loose that zombie feeling when getting used to a new shift. Also, you should think about what is comfortable for your body? What time of day do you get your best work done? Mornings? afternoons? Evenings? And what is it about the 12 hrs that is giving you trouble? Is it that it seems like a long time to be at work, or is it orthopedic type problems like hip/knee/back pain, or family schedule with kids etc? Home health can have more comfortable/family friendly hours, but more days and on call days. Med Surg nursing will make 12 hrs seem like 15 minutes if the day seems long. After a horse accident, where I injured my hip, 12 hour shifts began to be very painful for me. I dropped to 2 - 12 hr shifts per week which helped; but, then I started doing private duty pediatric nursing on the side and just moved over to that full time as I really liked it. The pediatric private duty felt like it wasn’t even work for me, it just seemed like what I naturally was made to do. I guess what I am trying to say is that nursing is such a wide and varied field. If you take the time to figure out what type of job will make you happy, I am sure you will find a nursing job that feeds your soul and your pocket book at the same time! Best of luck to you, keep us updated!

Update - I reported to OSHA and they contacted my facility. My facility of course told them that they supply the gloves and they immediately purchased gloves in all sizes. I politely went PRN instead of resigning and found another job. My new job supplies gloves without OSHA intervention!

My side gig is hobby farmer! I have a small 5 acre farm that I am working on developing into a business. I have a mammoth donkey that I ride, a horse, a mini horse,miniature zebu cows, chickens, rabbits, a cat and 4 rescue dogs. I would like to make it into an educational hobby farm for children to visit and learn about animals and farming. My future plans include hosting field trips, teaching milking cows, making butter, cheese making, basic animal care for kids; donkey rides, adding honey bees and a chicken share community program. If anyone has any suggestions that I haven’t mentioned please comment! What would interest you in coming to visit a hobby farm?

One of the things that surprises me is that I seem to be the only nurse there who is upset about this. More CNA's are vocal than the nurses. Why does everyone just accept this? I have been purchasing my own gloves in a size large and I turned my notice in. I don't feel like this is anywhere I want to spend any significant amount of time.