plchavard

Hi, I'm a civillian, but my husband is going to be stationed in that area. I've heard that it is extremely difficult for civillian nurses to get DOD jobs there. Does anyone know if thats true? ( I currently work for the VA)

I took it there about a year ago and didn't need the CD's that came with the books. I'd say you can get by with an earlier edition, but each class is different. I took the 8 week version and have a very strong biology background,so my experience may have been different.

I'm in the same boat! I think night shift will help you learn as much as days because you have to learn to use critical thinking. Ancillary staff is not present so you will be using the critical thinking skills to decide when to call the doctor - what is a major concern vs what can wait. The more experienced nurses and management are not usually on nights- so you become more independent. At our facility we have to take on RT therapies so you may get to do breathing treatments etc. Also a lot of patients get stressed atnight because they cant sleep and the family isn't there. They are more focused on their body so you see more chest pain on the tele floor. Good luck and congrats

I'm looking for telemetry or med/surg - so I can go just about anywhere. And I really want weekend nights. Money and hours will determine where I go.

I'm so overwhelmed with studying and everything I don't even know where to start. The hospital I really wanted to go to may not have any openings for new grads . I don't know if I should be waiting until I pass boards or what. Do you just apply for an RN position and tell them you haven't graduated yet or do you apply for the intern positions? CardiacRN - you're from Tucson, any advice or info you'd like to share? You can pm me if you'd like.

Mine took about two weeks - but it was summer. Filling everything out perfectly really helps. Go ahead and send your paperwork to the BON. They will just keep everything pending until the clearance comes in.

I entered Rio in the Spring. There are rumors about difficulties finding clinical instructors but I would check directly with Rio to see if there will be a Spring Block I class.

I suggest sunrise ridge apartments. They are in the foothills at Sunrise and Swan and its around $740 a month for a 2bdr 2 bth- including utilities!!!! I have had electric bills over $300 so utilities is a big bonus. Its a slight distance about 25 minutes to UMC but the school district is one of the best in town! You'll find out that Tucson can have some pretty poorly performing school districts! Pets will require a deposit everywhere. Many places do not allow large dogs. Good luck- hope I helped

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I worked at TMC as a PCT and I liked it for the most part. The cafeteria is pretty far depending on where you are but that is because the entire hospital is on one floor. Parking is more of a concern IMO. There are a ton of students mostly from PCC and U of A, but all of the charting is online which is a plus! Bid-Shift is great IMO. Lets say its your day off and you're not doing anything; you'd be willing to go in to work - for the right price. You bid on the shift and usually the person who want the least $$ gets it. Most of the time only one person will bid on a shift anyway and you get like 50% more per hour. The thing I liked least about TMC was the amount of HC I got and floating. As a PCT you can float everywhere - I think its slightly different for nurses. Lets just say my main area was with babies and I would get floated to hospice!! Its 6 months plus finished pre-req to get into the PCC program at Pima.

M.B. stepped down on June 1st from what I heard.

I also bought the constellation package from Skyscape. I love it! One thing to take into consideration is that the constellation package can be downloaded for both PDA and PC for the same price (i.e. 2 interfaces for the price of one) Davis's drug guide on PC really helps in the second semester of pharmacology where you have to type out tons of info on drugs. Just my 2 cents worth!

Congratulations you guys!! I just started block two @ Rio yesterday! I know it is supposed to be much harder, but so far I think it is going to be great - we're really getting into the details! Good luck you guys and enjoy your break.

I guess what people aren't understanding here is that there is a difference between a parent wanting to take a break - which is not a problem - and a parent who wants you to physically sit in the room and watch their child. Of course I am responsible for caring for the child and his response to his illness. But babysitting specifically for one child while the others are unattended IMO is taking things too far. As far as encouraging the parent to leave, especially in PICU where you can see the child at all times, is okay. But what about the three and four year olds on the regular peds units? The moment the child is left alone they become hysterical. Most of the three & Four year old are okay with healthcare staff until they have an IV put in thier arms or get a blood draw - after that point they lose their trust and really want and need thier parents there. I've seen a four year old get out of bed, peel off his electrodes and pull out an IV in order to follow his mom who went down the hall - in a matter of seconds. I can understand why parents wouldn't want to leave their child alone. Its sad - but true - that we get quite a few children onto our unit for anorexia. Unfortunately, someone has to be there at all times to make sure they are not purging the moment they are left unsupervised. The children on a pediatrics unit come from all walks of life, some are drug addicted, some are inmates (they come with a personal sitter), a lot are in child protective custody, some are neglected, many are alone. I'm not a bad person, or a person who doesn't care for the kids, I just simply can't babysit on demand for a parent and feel badly when the parent requests that I do and I must tell them no. (In some cases we have parents who complain to the charge because the tech won't babysit) We have child life specialists who take the children who aren't on isolation to the playroom or come to the isolation rooms to color or do puzzels with the kids. The parents should leave - if they must- during those times. We also have social workers who are willing to come in if there is a dire need for a parent to leave and the child must be watched. We also have "sitters" for extreme cases where the child is at risk of hurting themselves. There are other avenues that may be taken in extreme emergencies that don't involve asking the nurse or tech to provide one on one supervision. P.S. We also have fold-out beds in the rooms.

I'm also a "block 2" nursing student and a Tech. Here are my observations. I don't believe there is a nursing shortage in pediatrics today- as in Thursday of this week. I have noticed a huge drop in census on our peds floor since the end of RSV season. As a result many nurses get a call at 5 in the morning telling them to stay home on "hospital convienience" i.e. without pay. If this happens once a week that is a 33% drop in income due to the season. While travelers lighten the burden during the hard times - thier contracts are in jeopardy when the hard times are over. Staff nurses can be in a similar dilemma when the census falls to ten - which is now happening due to summer. I think pediatric nurses can float to units such as nursery or mother/baby but these units are so popular (as new grads may apply to them) there isn't much of a shortage there either. I think a lot of nurses do not receive a lot of respect which may cause them to leave the profession. Additionally,the wide range of opportunities in nursing make it easy to cross train into something different from bedside nursing - for example pharmaceutical sales. As far as getting more nurses into nursing I don't see there being a problem. Not only are the schools turning away ons of applicants, but record numbers of men are entering the professsion which is (unfortunately) good news for nurses! I think the problem is getting nurses to teach - a nurses salary may seem low to some - but have you seen a teacher's paycheck?