yougottobe

Money is also an issue. haha, school is pretty expensive. I guess a 3rd piece of advice would be to plan out your finances and see how many days you can work while in school. Personally i think i could only put in 1 day per week. Just enough to pay for gas/food/parking (essentials), and some change for savings. I don't want to job hop from facility to facility. It hasn't been a yr yet at my current job. I really do think being a tech gives you a huge advantage, I just don't like how non-patient care jobs get paid more than the tech, i mean we do so much more work!. And yes, the job is very physical, not good for the back. Sometimes I just get cramps from standing all day in my back. Not a good feeling. I'll just keep an eye out for openings at my current facility and hope for the best!

I work on a busy medsurg floor. I went into this job with the idea knowing that I would gain valuable experience and I have! I'm glad to have this job for the "experience" as well as the "in" in my current hospital. And I need the money to "pay" bills. However when I applied to be a tech I never thought about the negative aspects of the job. For some reason, those aspects never crossed my mind, I just wanted a tech/hospital job since everyone kept telling me how valuable it is in so many ways. What I mean is not the care itself does not bother me, I don't mind that at all. It's the heavy lifting and lack of support from staff. Some of the nurses just want to pass meds. Sometimes all of them come at you telling you to do 4 different things. We get confused patients here and there and they can be difficult to work with. They yell and scream at times and even try to get out of bed and although rare they can get violent as well. I went into this job with the wrong mindset that it would be a glorious job, I don't know why but I just had that mindset. Not to mention I'm dealing with people that may have HIV, Hep c, and other dangerous bloodborne pathogens, among other things so it is also somewhat a risky job as well since you as the tech have the most patient contact. I talked to my nursing friends about my feelings. Some opted out of being a tech to do something else. 1 girl i know works as a pt access rep. at the same hospital. I found out she even gets paid about 2 bucks more than i do (angry face). I'm happy for her, its just that i do wayy more work and im on my feet all day and her job is more administrative. Another girl I know works as a unit clerk at the same hospital, she gets paid slightly less than i do, about 20 cents less. My advice to all of you would be to go in this job with realistic expectations. And try to find a unit you'd like to work in, esp. as a nurse. I'd love to work in nicu or pediatrics. My hospital never has openings b/c the people that work there never leave lol. But I am determined to transition away from medsurg. I'll keep an eye out on openings. Goodluck fellow techs, student techs, nursing students. I have about 9-10 months until graduation with my bsn. The unit clerk and pt. access rep are also nursing students. There experience i dont think is as valuable as mine but they also seem to be more happier than i am.