rabiamirou

Hello I am considering relocating to New Mexico and I have had 2 interviews and both hospitals (1 in Las Cruces and 1 in Albuquerque) and both require self scheduling. At my current Oregon hospital we have patterns. The idea of a new schedule every 6 weeks and the responsibility for getting it right stresses me out!! I work night shift and don't want to end up with 6 shifts in a row because I screwed up! Plus I will have to sign up for 3 call shifts each schedule period. Is self scheduling actually wonderful??? HELP

How is it going? I am 50 and just started as a postpartum nurse, I hope to train to labor next year. I worry about age bias. Any reason to worry?

I would take a moment to sit down and revisit your original goal to move to L&D. Does it still resonate with you as something you want to do? It sounds like you have thought about all the reasons why someone should not hire you. If you want it, feed your vision. Read your labor and delivery chapters of your text book. Ask for an opportunity to shadow. Take a fetal monitoring class. Give yourself the tools you need to see yourself in that nursing role, and the confidence to write out in an Application why you are applying and what you have done to qualify yourself. That's how I got my job on post partum from Medsurg. You have to convince yourself before you can convince the person you want to hire you. Good luck!!!

Wow. A stack of index cards. Respect. Thanks for your post

I am so disappointed that there are not more responses to your question, as I have the same problem. I want so badly to be good at nursing but my attention to detail is poor. I wish there were some examples of how people like me have overcome this. What I will say has improved with me is the recognition of it, I miss things and then realize why, and then go back the next day and try to improve on it. I did forget to bladder scan someone, which would not have happened if I had re-read her orders (I had her for three days) - now I will re-read orders to remind myself of things I might miss. This is my second year as a nurse and I have made progress, but I wish I could just take a pill and suddenly be detail oriented and anal.

Wow - I am 2 years in as a med-surg nurse (graduated in 2017) and am interviewing for a clinic position tomorrow (OBGYN) for all the reasons you write about above, yet I am anxious because I think I am going to get it. I am afraid to leave bedside nursing and then not be able to come back and I am worried about making less money - But.....I am a lunatic because of bedside nursing, gaining weight and started smoking again after many years of not smoking. I am worried about money. How stupid is that. This was helpful, thanks.

Klone - I was wondering if you can advise me...I have 1.5 years on med-surg and have spoken to the manager on L/D who recommended that I get some peds experience because people who start on Women's Services in our hospital start in post partum and then can eventually be trained in L/D. I am applying for a position in OBGYN clinic as telephone triage nurse because I want some 9-5 time. Do you think it is better for me to wait for a position to open in the hospital (for post partum) or do you think the telephone triage job might help me get hired at a hospital in OB later down the line? THanks!

Ok but its hard to realize there is only so much you can do, when you are legally obligated to chart and its important to chart and account for everything that happened with the patient. How do you prioritize charting and patient care on busy days?

I am on my second year and I just switched from nights to days. I now have new stress just as I was beginning to manage the work load at nights, but I had to change to days because I was tired of feeling like a zombie. I also am stressed because there is so much more doctor interaction and I hate it when I feel like I do not know what I am talking about or when I am not sure if I need to call the doctor. I am just trying to be patient and take every day as its own thing without judging myself.

I am a first year med-surg nurse who wants to try something else eventually. I am planning to shadow in the ED and in L&D this year. I am not enamored with med-surg but I do see how it is developing my skills at assessment and time management. Also learning to communicate with doctors. I would rather do that first in a med surg unit than try to learn all of it in the ed. I am interested in ED because of the range of skills that you can learn and because of the interaction with the other members of the team. I floated to the ER as a CNA in a critical access hospital while I was in nursing school. I liked the range of ages of patients and helping the docs with stitches, getting new critical patients set up with cardiac monitoring, doing the assessment on trauma patients, & listening to nurses precepting new hires, all of it rang bells in me that I liked. I have a question for ED nurses - I am a first year nurse at age 50. Do any of you have experience with new nurses who are older. I worry I wont be fast enough. I am not trying to bag on being older. I am looking for examples of other people my age and level of experience who have done well in the ED. I am a bit worried I will be prejudiced against by managers because of my age and lack of experience as a nurse. Thanks

I loved this string. I am a first year med-surg nurse who wants to try something else eventually. I am planning to shadow in the ED and in L&D this year. I am not enamored with med-surg but I do see how it is developing my skills at assessment and time management. Also learning to communicate with doctors. I would rather do that first in a med surg unit than try to learn all of it in the ed. I have a question for ED nurses - I am a first year nurse at age 50. Do any of you have experience with new nurses who are older. I worry I wont be fast enough. I am not trying to bag on being older. I am looking for examples of other people my age and level of experience who have done well in the ED. Thanks

This is the aspect of critical thinking that is difficult for me as a new nurse. As a nursing student it was always emphasized that we should be thinking independently about the needs of our patient. We did not interact too much with doctors. Now, I find myself worrying about whether I will sound like I do not know what I am talking about when I question a doctor's order. There are a lot of things that you just come to learn about why doctors do certain things, and at my hospital floor, doctors do not always want to explain their reasons for things. So where I used to be questioning as a student, now I am more hesitant and often assume that the Dr is doing something for a good reason. I have so many questions I cant ask for explanations all the time. This is a key part of transitioning from school to real practice, knowing when you are right and they are wrong and being able to gain their confidence that you are bringing up something that they should pay attention to. I find as a first year nurse, my challenge is to integrate my nursing school training with what happens in the work setting where I am exposed to independent clinical decision making 72 hours per week rather than during a semester with a preceptor.

I am going to write those down and put them on my badge! Thanks!

You ask the same question I have been asking my self! NedRN I am one of those gypsy souls that loves change and gets bored easily. I have just finished my first year of nursing on a med surg floor working nights. I just got on for day shift, but I find myself looking at ER and L&D job postings in anticipation of what I want to do next. I feel like if I applied for another position in another year, I will look like I am not willing to stick around and people will not hire me. But I have always heard that in nursing that moving around is not only tolerated, that it is considered a good thing. Do you think hiring managers really do not mind if people move around a lot? I am like Argo - torn between wanting to learn more and wanting to be able to travel in the next three years.

I started this forum when I was in nursing school, and now I am almost done with my first year working the floor on a MedSurg unit (I am 49). I had struggles in nursing school with being older and having more world experience than my instructors (I had managed programs and traveled all over the world prior to nursing school and was used to directing things rather than being directed). I am sorry to say I had a really hard time in nursing school, but now that I am out, its easier to be different but be unified in a common purpose as nurses. If anyone else feels that way as a nursing student, hang in there, it all goes away once you graduate..:) Thanks for your comments