MiladyMalarkey

You are in a position to be able to pick & choose what you do or do not want. If it don't feel like a match just keep trucking along till you find what you are looking for. You have a job while you are looking anyhow. Do what's right for you.

Look at it this way, if something went sideways with a patient, an event occurred or something & you charted for that patient during that time--when you were not present, you could have a very rough time explaining to the State Board or some litigation attorney or court why you charted something you absolutely had no observation or part of. It's falsifying charting really & could get you into some deep *ish. Tell that nurse you absolutely will not document something you were not a part of or witness to. Not worth your license. You're right in your stance, stick to your guns.

It was 50/50 for me taking evening classes. I like the age range, our youngest was 19 & oldest 65, it was cool having such a range of people with different life experiences. Half the class had kids, half didn't. I didn't dig class going till 9-10pm though, at about 8-9pm my brain started to shut down. But on test days I'd go to school a few hours early & review, that was nice. Also had to plan your food out, if you didn't, visiting the vending machine was unsatisfying. It sometimes disrupted my family time, but not terribly. Also more convenient to get other non related school errands done during the day. Like I said 50/50, good & bad. But it worked with my life schedule & I finished so it was manageable & in the end worth it.

So far, just 1 job, but I'm only a tender 2ish years in. I really like my neuro floor thus far no plans to leave, it has it's days of course & the 1st year was rough for me working nights full time with small kids. I wanted to leave. What I did rather than leaving when I found myself with a surprise newborn babe was I went down to part time, my job is great in that it offers benefits & retirement to even part timers. The work/life balance going part time was a game changer & made me love my job. Maybe in future when kids are much older, Ill go back to full time or pick up a 2nd job. But I got a good gig & staying put, I'm pushing 40 so have to get serious about my retirement plan, my job has a good one. They got me.

I didn't really experience opportunists (not to say they don't exist), lazy group work members for sure. But I do attribute that to not sharing grades & being a little older, crankier & antisocial & the younger folk not being interested in interacting with cranks sitting in the corner??? Worked for me!??

I wasn't so tired as my body fiercly ached, especially that last trimester. If anything, working nights preggo had me sleeping even better during the day, my body was extra tired and I'd go into super deep sleeps after work. Baby born good and healthy. You will probably be okay, but always talk with your OB about any concerns and ask for their suggestions. If you don't feel right, talk to the doc right away. Always put you and baby first. Congratulations!

I'd hope your employer is actively looking for techs/CNA's, I assume they are paying you RN pay while you tech? And then also paying travelers that expensive traveler RN pay? That is just crazy expensive on their part and something I'd think they wouldn't want to fiscally keep up for long. I almost never get to tech, so am happy to on the rare occasion they ask me, but, if it were every day, I may not think it so great. Mention it to the boss man/lady that you'd like a break on teching for awhile.

I have never administered them one at a time.

I plan on seeing nursing through to my retirement. I have to be honest though, not sure if my body will be able to tolerate all my remaining years at bedside. We'll see!

I started on a tele floor, the first year I hated it, but pretty sure I would've hated any floor. I think it's because we are new, don't know what we are doing and for me it was a mini anxiety attack every shift I had to go in. And that was on the tele floor for me, so I can imagine any ICU is slightly more intense for a newbie. Then somewhere just pass year 1, something clicked. I know I don't know everything, I'm okay with it, but I'd go into work and think, well, if I don't know, I'll ask, I can only do what I can do and stopped beating myself up for not knowing what I didn't know. Man, the first year...or maybe more of nursing is a trial by fire. They told us that in school, but you think it'll be fine, I adjust well to other adverse situations. Nope, for many it really is a hot mess of learning. It's intense, we are caring for sick people and we feel responsible for them and worry about messing up or not knowing what we don't know. The pressure is pretty intense. Then suddenly, for a good amount, something just clicks, you go in and you think, well, this patient load will be a challenge, but I will do what I can do and I will ask for help if I need it. I understand your anxiety. But if it is getting crippling, consider moving to a different unit, somewhere you will be happier and see a doc, there is no shame in asking for help. Just know each unit has it's challenges. I would say try to hang in there till you hit that year mark, but if you can't, you can't and that's okay. Just remember with your ICU experience, even if it is just a year, you will be a hot commodity down the road when you would like to move elsewhere. If you can hang tough in ICU, it qualifies you to be able to do nursing almost anywhere.

OR is pretty competative to get into in my organization, surprising people look down on it.

Tons of antibiotics to hang & NS, many, various push meds. When I don't know something I read up on the med reference before administering. Remember a quick call to pharmacy is always a option when in doubt or you have questions. They are very helpful & have given me info at times I was able to pass on to MD's when having to call them.

I understand the benefits of bedside shift report. With that said, I don't care for it. It can be helpful at times, but other times it can be frustrating. -I notice management is rounding as day shift starts and are sticklers about us doing it, come time for night shift hand off, day shift suddenly feels no need to do it, management is not there to enforce. And honestly, I am okay with this. Day shift is tired after 12-13 hours and can get out sooner and I can actually begin my real patient care sooner. -At least half the oncoming nurses suddenly want to do their full on assessments while you are standing there giving report, or they want to do there shift dressing change etc., etc., I've been here for 12-13 hours at this point, no, please do full assessment on your time, not mine. I totally am okay with putting eyes on patient, making sure they are okay, showing oncoming nurse wounds/areas of concern on patient, but doing your head to toe with me standing there is unacceptable when we have several other patients to do report on and heaven forbid I still have some charting to do. Que the overtime. -Hand off time nearly doubles. Coming off of night shift we are going in as patient is waking up, everyone of course has to go to the bathroom, or wants a juice, or an extra pillow or to get up in chair. People have needs, but we are in the room, techs are getting report too so are unavailable, so my 5 minute report just turned into 20 minutes because patient had to toilet and then wants to be up in chair and wants breakfast set up. -I often have stuff I need to say about patient away from patient. They are anxious, violent, drug seeking, etc. It's not a big deal to wait and say this outside the room, it's just a fact, I give report in room, then have to sometimes give more report outside. These are my complaints about bedside report. We occasionally have caught things at bedside, or noticed patient change while doing report or I remember something important I forgot to chart/say/do. It just often adds much more time to report. I've had what should be about a 15-30 minute hand off turn into an hour or more. I rarely get out on time. Maybe once or twice a month I actually finding myself clocking out of shift "on time". Once or twice a month--and this is not unique to me on my unit.

It may be your environment is toxic. The day anyone yelled at me about a call light, especially when I have a justified reason why I can not hop to go get it, would be the day we would be having a talk. You deserve a certain amount of respect (as you need to also give it) while in the workplace. That and if you are being talked about does not leave an environment very conducive to wanting to go continue or go above and beyond in it. The environment could be crappy and you may need to move on to a place more supportive. It may be that you just are not feeling nursing, and that is also okay. I'd try to change something up first before calling it quits altogether. Perhaps try to get another job not in that facility or away from the bedside and if you still are feeling this way, then evaluate if being a nurse is what you really want to do. If you don't, go find what makes you content.

We do the 2 nurse verification