abnormal_saline

Nice. I always envied the PICC line nurses and Dialysis nurses who just do their thing and leave. How did you get your training as a vascular access nurse? This also sounds appealing to me!

Thanks so much. I will look into these nursing jobs as well. But is it hard to land these jobs with no experience? Do they train experienced floor nurses who want to transition into these jobs? A lot of the job requirements I see say they require at least 1 year of experience as utilization or case manager...how do I get my foot in?

Thanks for the PM, it won't let me reply back yet. What is a day in the life like in your nursing job?

Why not home health?

What made you come back to bedside? If anything, I want a full time non-bedside job and still keep my per diem bedside job so I don't lose my skills. Thanks for inspiring me! I am going to apply everywhere!!

Hello, I've been a RN, BSN for about 7.5 years, working as a floor nurse for the most part on the night shift 7pm-7am. I started out my career at age 25-years-old on a busy Med-Surg Tele unit, worked my way up to a Preceptor, Resource Nurse and Charge Nurse within 2 years and have won the Daisy Award. I am now per diem at my old job since I wanted a change of scenery and better pay. Now, I currently work full-time at a busy Stroke Unit in a bigger hospital and I still don't "love" nursing. I don't want to go to ER or ICU, nor am I interested in management. I am tired of being extremely tired on my days off. I believe the night shift is wearing me down. The constant physical demands of the job is wearing me down. The mental demands of the job is wearing me down (constantly having to be fake-nice with rude coworkers and/or rude doctors, and demanding family members). I am tired of having all the responsibility of having lives at stake under my watch for 12 hours and having everything blamed on the RN no matter what. I am tired of hospital politics and dealing with mean higher ups who have forgotten what working the floor is like. Life is short, and I want a job that I LOVE going to, but still pays about the same or better. My question is, when did you leave bedside nursing? And what non-bedside nursing job did you go into? And did you love it? Any insight or advice is greatly appreciated! Non-Bedside nursing jobs I'm considering: Nurse Educator or Clinical Instructor, Hospice, Home Health, Clinical Nurse Researcher, Corrections, Public Health, Nurse Writer, Aesthetic Nursing, or go back to school for NP to specialize in Dermatology. Please help me get out of bedside!! Do I have enough experience to leave?

Wow. Very useful info. Thank you so much MunoRN! And thanks for that link too! Until that Bill passes, it seems like we are powerless in refusing out of ratio assignments. It just feels so unsafe at times. Not sure I will be staying at this hospital for much longer.

Hello, I work as an RN on a Stroke Unit at a fairly large hospital in Southern California. I have been a nurse for 8 years and this is my first year at this particular hospital. I've noticed they will work us out of ratio with 5:1 tele patients and they will say they have "exhausted" their resources and "no other nurse wants to come in including regular staff and/or registry." The higher ups have said the BRN will allow for this out of ratio staffing since it is considered an "emergency." I find this shady, as other hospitals I've worked at will always call in a registry nurse with no problems. We feel they are doing this to save the hospital money, but at our expense. A lot of us on my unit are wondering is this legal??? Especially with California ratio laws??? They are always pulling the same excuse "sorry no extra nurse is available" and we often work out of ratio at least once a month. We feel as though we can't complain due to fear of retaliation or termination. Is there anything we can do? Our manager does not support us, and she is the one who often approves us being out of ratio.

It actually is policy to not speak any other language other than English out in the nurses station, but they continue to speak to me in Tagalog, within earshot of patients and their families. All of the things you mention sound great in a welcoming environment, which is the exact opposite of what I have encountered. The crowd I work with have their own "clique" and just want to clock in, work, and clock out. I used to have a lot of humor with my coworkers and bosses at my smaller hospital and it made work awesome. No one laughs or makes jokes on my new unit and it's HORRIBLE. 12 hours goes by sooooooo agonizingly slowly.

Exactly. My cousin refers to them as "the Filipino mafia!" It definitely feels like hazing, and I am not thrilled about having to go through it. I am just baffled at how they are able to get away with such behavior. It is annoying to say the least. I have 3 months to think about leaving, after that I'm stuck with an 18 month obligation due to the sign on bonus that comes with the job. If I didn't need the money, I would've just stayed at my old hospital!

I recently got hired at a bigger hospital and I think I am not liking my charge nurses at night. Just a little background, I'm still working at my current smaller community hospital per diem where I love my coworkers for the most part, including all of our charge nurses. I have been a nurse there for 7 years on a busy Med Surg Tele floor, have been a preceptor, resource nurse, and relief charge. I have also had the honor of winning the Daisy award in the past. I have been told I am a great nurse by coworkers, doctors and patients. I did not want to leave my current hospital, but the pay was very low, and I needed to take a job with higher pay. However, this bigger hospital has me feeling like a horrible nurse and now I'm feeling like I made a huge mistake in joining their team mainly because of the charge nurses I have to work with! At my new bigger hospital, I am currently working nights on a super slow stroke unit, where all of the nurses are 98% Filipino (older crowd) and they speak Tagalog for most of the 12 hours. I myself am Filipino American, so I don't speak Tagalog and I wouldn't want to anyway because I don't think it is professional to do so out in the nurses station. Patients have even written formal letters of complaints to the hospital about nurses speaking in Tagalog in front of patients (and saying horrible things--little did they know that the one patients friend is half Filipino and understood every word). I do understand the language and have heard them speaking badly about other nurses from other ethnic backgrounds. So the culture of "Tagalog speaking" has thrown me off and has me kind of feeling like an outsider even though I am Filipino American. Also, I feel as though they don't like me because although they speak to me in Tagalog, I always answer back in English. Also, I've noticed different dynamics from day shift vs. night shift. I had the opportunity to orient on days where both the charge nurses and nurses were of a younger crowd, very welcoming, and spoke English! They always asked me if I had any questions, and were very supportive in my adjustment to the new hospital. However, night shift has the older Filipino crowd that mainly just stay to themselves and aren't very welcoming. The charge nurses at night don't ask if I'm ok or need any help. When I ask questions, I feel like I am annoying them. They don't say a single word to me the whole shift except to point out little mistakes (I didn't check off 2 boxes on a care plan I'm still trying to adjust to, or I didn't apply SCDs on a new admit pt. who already has Lovenox ordered, because apparently they apply SCDs on everyone no matter what, etc.) Other nurses from day shift have even warned me to be careful with these charge nurses because they will "do anything to get you in trouble." I've even had one of the night shift charge nurses urgently call me on my day off just to tell me I forgot to chart a Q4 Neuro check on a pt. with dementia. She said I forgot to chart the 0400 neuro check and to correct it when I get back. And the tone in her voice was very condescending, as if I am a horrible-nurse-who-killed-all-of-the-patients kind of tone. I apologized and told her I will correct it. I just don't understand why she couldn't email me this or just tell me when I'm back at work?!! In all 7 years I have never experienced a charge nurse calling me on my day off to correct my charting (nor have I ever done it as a relief charge myself) and I don't know why it's bothering me so much. I am trying my best to fit in with these nurses and just lay low and adjust and adapt, but I feel like it is just going to get worse from here and I've only been here for a month. And although I have 7 years of acute care experience, I am feeling like a new grad once again, with anxiety about returning to work, or what mistakes are they going to point out. I am missing my old job very much, but I need the money from this new job. What do you guys think? Advice please!

Yes, I've sent them an email explaining my situation and my attempts to retrieve my certifications. I also explained the hardships I have gone through the past 2 years and if they would take that into consideration. I keep trying to call so I can speak to an actual person, but their lines are always busy and it's just an automated recording telling me to try to call back again. Boy am I nervous...has anyone ever lost their license over late CEU's?

I did this already, but they are still saying that I didn't complete the course even though they have proof that I paid for the course. Now it's my word against theirs and they won't do anything to help me. Guess I'm screwed...

I called the company I did the CE's with, they have record that I paid for the class in September 2014, but they're saying their computer records show I didn't complete the course!! I know I completed the course because I did the questions and got my score at the end. Now they say they can't do anything because their computer system says I didn't complete it!! I am so angry...anyway, should I call and talk to someone at the board? I can certainly provide proof that I paid for CE's in September 2014....oh man, I am stressing out so much now...

Thank you joanna73. I've already completed a new set of 30 CEU's and mailed it back to the BRN. It's not within the time frame they are asking for because it's completed February 2015, but we'll see what they say. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get fined or have some sort of disciplinary action occur. I can't use any more bad news in my life right now!