mak2

I am a clinical instructor picking up a new class at the end of the month. Anyone else care to expand on the above. I am not a new instructor, just trying to be a better one. Thanks.

Sorry I ahve not been around for a while. I ahve worked at VA Indy for about 15 years. We are union but it is not a closed shop. You can join or not. No pressure either way. We can work at any VA nation wide but that does not apply to civilian hospitals on your states license. The hiring process is an incredible PIA (not an approved abbrevation) often nurses we finally hire have been working somewhere else for months. It is part beaurcratic but there are other issues involved here. Anyway we are very well staffed, if that tells you something about how nice it is to work here. Sometimes you can find very good deals in our store, sometimes not. I make much more than my peers elsewhere. At one point my wife was manager of a 55 nurse unit at another hospital with 24 hour accountabillity ect. I still made more. Our payscale is published on VA website. The steps are not that difficult to move up. The time off is pretty good. I get 5 weeks per year vacation time and 2.5 sick time. Plus holidays etc. I really cannot remember how much more I get for evenings and nights and weekends, it is better than other hospitals I have checked at. At this point bedside nurses get a bedside bonus, it used to be 10% but it has went up several times since then. We have incredible autonomy. This is not a profit center so about %99 of the nurse/doctor stressors are gone. I am a staff nurse and I really love it here. I completed my MSN a few years ago. At first some of my fellow students expressed how dedicated I must be to work at the VA. They truly believed it was a terrible place to work. It is not, I could go on and on about how much I like it but I think you gt the idea.

There are problems everywhere. Good to work someplace willng to fix them.

It is political. Fluro in the bronch room has been grounded until everyone is trained. I do like working where I do becasue usually they do the right thing when something wrong is brought to their attention.

No actually I am refering to respriatory therapist that I suppose is suppose to be responsible for the Fluro. I can show policy moderate sedation RN's dont even answer the phone, just monitor the patient. In my hospital radiology refuses to participate. This is my point. I talked to the doctors involved, not one is trained. I just want to make sure I am not going crazy, sometimes I do. This does seem like a no brainer.

My unit regularly does bronchs in a suite near the GI lab. During many bronchs we use fluro to guide the needle for biopsy collection. I have been doing this for a year now and it just dawned on me no one in the room has any training at all on fluro. Usually the RN does the moderate sedation, RT does the scope and nebs, etc and the doctor does the bronch. The RN's usually set up the fluro, aim it, and actually operate the footpedal for the doctor. How big a deal is it that no one in the room has any training at all?

Interesting, I thought combat vets got a 2 year free ride. I know I am not eligible to be treated at the VA because I make too much and have insurance even though I would otherwise qualify. I will investigate further when I get back to work tommorw.

Send him to the VA, we can help him. They are never ignored. where did you get that?

I was at a meeting at a large local hospital, not mine, honest. this meeting was about some hospital equiptment I was interested in. Another topic came up while I was there. It was a bunch of doctors and admin types but the issue of obese pts and specialized equiptment came up. The admin types, in no uncertain terms stated most equimptment was not cost effective. MRI's CT's other Xray equiptment no way. Some big boy beds, but not many. Some hoyer lifts etc were cost effective becasue of employee injuries. I guess I was kinda shocked about how matter of fact and dollar and cents it was. But at least for now there are not enough 400 lbs around to spend the money on.

Did he tell you it grew there?

I triaged a guy one night, no psych dx or anything, dressed nice, got ambulance ride. When I asked him why he came in he held his hand down (veins appear) then he holds them up (veins dissappear) absolutely nothing else to complain of. VSS. We had a particularly brutal Doctor on that night, it was great.

ok, just kidding. Your welcome is fine.

How bout, "Don't thank me, Uncle Sam thanks me twice a month". Carry on.

If she is following existing protocols she is probably a great nurse. You dont really explain exactly what she is doing. If she is doing things that require a physican's order and she does not have one that has to be reported, not optional. I think nursing is OC about charting but some things really do need to be charted.

Why did you wait so long if the pay was so low it is an insult? You have a job and that silly employer wants you to come to work at a certain time. Unbeleiveable. I just would not work for the idiots. Mention your requiremnts for time flexibility before they hire you next time. Back to corrections with you.