KCase

So, pretty much as the title says. I've worked outpatient oncology/hematology for a little over four years now. I started out full time and went to PRN when my oldest daughter was born and I've been doing that for three years now. Typically I've been able to get at least four days a week(it's 8 hour M-F shifts). With my pay, that's been enough with my husband's pay to support us. I typically just take an extra day off for doctors appointments, cleaning up the house while the kids are in daycare, etc. things I can't get done during the week. About two months ago now after some upper corporate, management, and regional changes occurred, the company I work for has started cutting staff they feel isn't necessary to save money(even though all of our offices are busier than ever. More people aging and getting cancer). I am one of three PRN staff(along with around 11 full time nurses)that were told our hours would potentially decrease to 19 hours a week if that and that we were not allowed to work more than that and corporate was shocked they were working the PRN's that much. Long story short, they've left me in a limbo since then on my job and what is going to happen as they "crunch numbers" and weigh patient safety vs what will he financially beneficial. I've really been told nothing and unfortunately I've had to prepare for the worse. Two LPN triage nurses was let go as well with not really great communication about their roles. I'm afraid I'm going to walk in one day be told that I can only work two days which will not be okay financially. I have been applying elsewhere, mostly for other PRN roles(not much luck there). The biggest problem is I really truly love my current job. It's not always easy and recently it's felt like there has been a little less coworkers willing to be team players(refer to another post I made). But I truly love oncology and my patients. I don't know if I'm ready to leave even if the job can be very stressful at times. I have had three really great interviews. One with an outpatient clinic connected to a local hospital. I really enjoyed the atmosphere here and the other employees. I haven't had an offer yet and won't hear anything for a couple weeks. This role is PRN as well(but the basically guaranteed me hours)and I'd be able to still potential stay at the oncology clinic as well at least 1-2 days a week. The second was with an outpatient pretty busy OB/GYN office. It's full time M-F 8-5. This role also seemed really good. I really liked the atmosphere as well and the other nurses I met were very nice. It's a lot of office clinical work and assessments and triage work(which I've been trained to fill in triage at my curebt job). Not a lot of skills involved so I do worry about losing skills. But prior to doing oncology, OB/GYN nursing has been one of my dream jobs so it could potentially lead to something really good. Also it's full time so if I took this one, wouldn't be able to stay at my oncology clinic. I will hear back from them by Friday. The third role is for another office clincal job with an outpatient neurosurgeon office connected to the hospital. This is a new neurosurgeon and they are rebuilding the clinic. I'd been the only RN for now with an MA and the nurse manager, It's mostly assessment and office work. I do like that I could be the only RN and potentially really grow with the role and run my own clinic but it's also a scary thought. Also very little skills. It's full time M-F 8-5 and again if I take this, I'd have to leave my oncology clinic. I've pretty much been guaranteed this role and she wants my answer by the end of the week so I hardly have any time to soak it in or hear back from the other jobs. A lot of people have asked why I don't go back full time at the oncology clinic. I don't even know for sure if they would allow me to go back full time and if I would want to. Though I've absolutely loved my job and patients. The job is also very high stress chemotherapy infusions. The nurses there do A LOT with not too much help from management and now the company is making it harder. There are times where we could be there until after close documenting, stocking, cleaning. We don't get lunch breaks, we just take it when we can. So short answer, I feel like the only way I've been able to continue here with the busy schedule as well as balancing being a mom and not being DRAINED is by having my PRN flexible schedule and it's been feet up until now. I've been happy and now the company has me really backed into a corner. My family tries to give me advice but they are not in the medical field, so I would genuinely appreciate any invite and advice.

So, pretty much as the title says. I've worked outpatient oncology/hematology for a little over four years now. I started out full time and went to PRN when my oldest daughter was born and I've been doing that for three years now. Typically I've been able to get at least four days a week(it's 8 hour M-F shifts). With my pay, that's been enough with my husband's pay to support us. I typically just take an extra day off for doctors appointments, cleaning up the house while the kids are in daycare, etc. things I can't get done during the week. About two months ago now after some upper corporate, management, and regional changes occurred, the company I work for has started cutting staff they feel isn't necessary to save money(even though all of our offices are busier than ever. More people aging and getting cancer). I am one of three PRN staff(along with around 11 full time nurses)that were told our hours would potentially decrease to 19 hours a week if that and that we were not allowed to work more than that and corporate was shocked they were working the PRN's that much. Long story short, they've left me in a limbo since then on my job and what is going to happen as they "crunch numbers" and weigh patient safety vs what will he financially beneficial. I've really been told nothing and unfortunately I've had to prepare for the worse. Two LPN triage nurses was let go as well with not really great communication about their roles. I'm afraid I'm going to walk in one day be told that I can only work two days which will not be okay financially. I have been applying elsewhere, mostly for other PRN roles(not much luck there). The biggest problem is I really truly love my current job. It's not always easy and recently it's felt like there has been a little less coworkers willing to be team players(refer to another post I made). But I truly love oncology and my patients. I don't know if I'm ready to leave even if the job can be very stressful at times. I have had three really great interviews. One with an outpatient clinic connected to a local hospital. I really enjoyed the atmosphere here and the other employees. I haven't had an offer yet and won't hear anything for a couple weeks. This role is PRN as well(but the basically guaranteed me hours)and I'd be able to still potential stay at the oncology clinic as well at least 1-2 days a week. The second was with an outpatient pretty busy OB/GYN office. It's full time M-F 8-5. This role also seemed really good. I really liked the atmosphere as well and the other nurses I met were very nice. It's a lot of office clinical work and assessments and triage work(which I've been trained to fill in triage at my curebt job). Not a lot of skills involved so I do worry about losing skills. But prior to doing oncology, OB/GYN nursing has been one of my dream jobs so it could potentially lead to something really good. Also it's full time so if I took this one, wouldn't be able to stay at my oncology clinic. I will hear back from them by Friday. The third role is for another office clincal job with an outpatient neurosurgeon office connected to the hospital. This is a new neurosurgeon and they are rebuilding the clinic. I'd been the only RN for now with an MA and the nurse manager, It's mostly assessment and office work. I do like that I could be the only RN and potentially really grow with the role and run my own clinic but it's also a scary thought. Also very little skills. It's full time M-F 8-5 and again if I take this, I'd have to leave my oncology clinic. I've pretty much been guaranteed this role and she wants my answer by the end of the week so I hardly have any time to soak it in or hear back from the other jobs. A lot of people have asked why I don't go back full time at the oncology clinic. I don't even know for sure if they would allow me to go back full time and if I would want to. Though I've absolutely loved my job and patients. The job is also very high stress chemotherapy infusions. The nurses there do A LOT with not too much help from management and now the company is making it harder. There are times where we could be there until after close documenting, stocking, cleaning. We don't get lunch breaks, we just take it when we can. So short answer, I feel like the only way I've been able to continue here with the busy schedule as well as balancing being a mom and not being DRAINED is by having my PRN flexible schedule and it's been feet up until now. I've been happy and now the company has me really backed into a corner. My family tries to give me advice but they are not in the medical field, so I would genuinely appreciate any invite and advice.

I'm not taking any hours away from a full time nurse. That's not how PRN nurses work. I'm not filling the position of a full time nurse. We have full time positions filled. My offices see's over 300 patients a day, with over 100 in the infusion room at the any given time. We all take from 10-12 patients a day. And that's including my lead nurse and the other PRN nurse. If they take our hours away, the full time nurses would be taking a dangerous amount of patients. It's not safe for anyone. We are dealing with chemotherapy and mistakes can and will be made. PRN nurses work on an as needed basis. They have need of me. I worked PRN in the hospital prior to this. I could work however much I wanted. I could work 0 hours one week, and 36 the next as long as I was working the minimum but they never told me I could only work a set amount of hours a week. Sure, I was the first called off, but more often than not they called me right back in to float somewhere else.

So I've been working PRN in an outpatient oncology clinic in Florida for three years now. And I absolutely love my job. I started out full time but became pregnant with my oldest daughter pretty early into starting and when I came back from maternity leave initially, I needed the flexibility. So I've been PRN for three years now. First of all, we are always short staffed and crazy busy. I'm one of three PRN's and two of us typically get fairly regular hours. There is always a need for us so that's not the issue here. I usually work four days a week, 8 hour shifts(9-5) with weekends off. There has never been an issue at all until now with me getting hours. Today my manager informed me that corporate is saying that the PRN nurses can't work more than 19 hours a week(with 8 hour shifts, that's barely 2 1/2 days). That has never been something that has ever come up in my 3 years of being PRN until now. I do not ever remember anything ever being said about there being a maximum amount of hours I could work until now. It's very suspicious. And basically I'm being told that even if there is a need in the clinic for me and even if I'm available they will reduce my hours or I was informed that I could go part time(I lose the flexibility of PRN, I lose the extra pay, I still have no benefits, and it's 24 hours a week and if I need the extra hours and money, I'm screwed). I really don't like basically having my job threatened or hours threatened. I understand PRN nurses aren't guaranteed hours but that's not the issue. They have a need and I have availability but the corporate office is saying they can't work us that many hours. Nothing like that was ever said to me three years ago and now it's being changed. Can they do this? Any advice?

I know there are a lot of similar topics on here but I was hoping I could get some advice. I am a new nurse; I just ended my first week preceptor-ship for the StaRN program on a PCU unit on doing night-shift and I'm feeling a little down. I'm trying not be too hard on myself because I know I am human and I make mistakes, but it is hard not feel like you could do better, especially because a lot of the mistakes I was making were the same kind of mistakes over and over so I felt like I wasn't learning from my mistakes like I should have. Some of the mistakes I was making was forgetting to get some medications out that I needed to get and my preceptor would end up having to go back and get them; I also dropped a few medications, but I think I'm also just a little nervous with my preceptor standing there because I'm thinking about making a mistake so... then I make one. I'm also having a bit of a hard time getting the medication packets open; some of them are easy and some are not so much. So some I've had to pop them out by pressing on them but then I guess I press to hard and they pop out right on the floor; I've tried doing it over the medicine cup but I don't want to tip the whole thing over and have all my meds going on the floor. I've resorted to using scissors for now to get them open and that seems to work but it takes time. I'm getting the hang of charting but I've made a few mistakes or errors here and there that have taken time to correct. None of these mistakes are too serious but I do feel like my preceptor was getting a little annoyed sometimes at my slow pace and my constant forgetting of certain medications in the pyxis (and this is a big one for me because I really do not one to make a fatal medication error one day so this is something I want to nip in the bud right now). None of the medications I forgot were any major medications and I usually always caught them myself when I went scan them in but there were some that my preceptor had to remind me of. One other instance that took place was when a patient who was a fall risk and a sun-downer got out of bed and walked into the hall. My preceptor and I got him back into bed but his bed-alarm had not been on. It could have ended badly; he could have fallen. I had been in the room earlier with another nurse trying to fix his telemetry leads because they would not stay on though I hadn't touched the bed alarm. I didn't know if the other nurse had turned it off or if the day-shift nurse had turned it off at some point and it had never been on that night but I hadn't touched it. My preceptor reminded me that the bed alarm should always be on, which I knew and I should have checked it myself earlier before I left the room. There is no excuse for that at all and I will more diligent of that in the future; however, there was a bit of accusation in my preceptors tone, like I had been the one to turn the bed alarm off and forget to turn it back on, and I wasn't sure how I should take that. So I did try to defend myself a bit. My preceptor is great, don't get me wrong. But I think he is just so good of a nurse and so fast-paced that he does get a little annoyed with me and I really don't want that to happen. In all honesty I turn into a bit of a ditz when I'm there and the things that should be easy to remember or just plain easy seem to get the better of me. I felt like I was looked down upon in nursing school and that a lot of people thought I wouldn't make it so being a good nurse and not making these mistakes is a huge deal to me; I really want to prove to my preceptor and the other nurses on my unit that I can be a good nurse with a little bit of time. I guess it doesn't help that most of the nurses on my unit seem to be older nurses with years of experience or nurses that have been in the field for a few years so I am one of the only new ones and have nobody that can relate.

I joined when I first got accepted in to nursing school; so, yes, this is my first post. Just finished school in Februrary. Really haven't had any questions or topics until now that I needed other nurses advice on.

I know there has been numerous questions about this topic and I'm just going to be joining the herd of people who have already asked this, but I feel like I need to ask this anyways. Is the so-called "good" pop-up reliable in 2017? I just took my NCLEX yesterday; the test stopped at 75 and like many others, I walked out of their feeling like I had failed. I had heard about the PVT in nursing school of course and because I'm one of the last of my class to take the exam, one of my classmates had texted me and asked if I had done it and stated that that is how all of our other classmates learned they had passed. I wasn't going to do it until she said this; I had wanted to wait and I knew that if I kept thinking about it, it was only going to make it harder to wait the 48 hours for the quick results. But, I broke down and I tried it. I tried it twice yesterday and got the message that is the "good" pop-up after submitting all the CC info (I changed the exp. date and cvc). I read somewhere after that, that it is most reliable 24 hours after taking the test, so I tried it again this morning for good measure and got the "good" pop-up. I'm in Florida and my classmate also told me that if I passed, my license on the board of nursing should show up sometime today, as it did for most of my classmates after the 24 hour mark. I checked that as well and still did not see a license under my name; now I know for everyone it may take some time still so I'm trying not to let this get to me. I'm trying to convince myself to just wait until the quick results become available tomorrow and to just stop thinking about it but I do want to know what some other people's experiences were with the PVT and how reliable it can be. Now I know its not supposed to be a 100% sure-thing to see if you passed/failed, just a computer glitch and I know there has been people that have question whether it really works anymore and others who insist adamantly that it does in fact work.