ngiam12

AN friends! I need y’alls opinions. I’m dating a guy in the army. We’ve been dating long distance but I’m going to be moving in with him soon (hopefully, job willing). I’m currently working in a level 2 NICU by hoping with this move to maybe also move to higher acuity. My options for hospitals are: Small regional hospital 15 minutes away, 16 bed level 3 that had 3 babies when I interviewed Army hospital 35 minutes away Large academic medical center 52 miles/1 hour away that is a level 4 Just trying to make the best career move while also making a good relationship move Next time I’ll have a little (very little) more control (ie when we PCS, hopefully we’ll choose to live somewhere near a hospital). I can’t ask boyfriend to move (closer to big hospital but equidistant to work) because he owns his house and that seems silly. opinions please

Yes! Ngiam12, MSN, RN, CNL :)

YAAAAS! Now someone help me find a perinatal CNL job...

Oh dear, here we go again. Nursing isn't daisies and sunshine. I wish it were. Recently, a secretary I work with tried to go to HR because she didn't like that we were talking about calling DSS on a family... she said she felt like the patients were her own... because she sees their names on a computer program? Do everyone a favor and just don't participate in the conversation if you're uncomfortable. You're an adult, don't go reporting people, they will strongly dislike you. That's s good way to make everyone hate you as a new grad. I've been in the work force for 7 years and I figured that out years ago...

Hey everyone! I'm very interested in taking the SANE course/exam and I'm wondering if anyone knows of any scholarships available for the course. I've done a bit of searching to no avail (ie. I found scholarships available in Kentucky but I don't live there haha). I live in NC and am licensed here and in MA. I know it's not an outrageously expensive course but I'm finishing my MSN right now so any extra money saved is awesome and I've burned through my tuition reimbursement at work. I can wait until next year but just thought I would investigate some scholarship/grant options. Thanks!! ngiam

I find these posts hilarious. I'm not a newbie but I'm not terribly seasoned either. I'm thankful for all that I've learned from the seasoned nurses but I don't go around trying to change the things that I deem "wrong". Recently, I precepted a student who was overly obnoxious about starting IVs in the NICU (she was with me for a total of 72 hours). She saw a couple sticks on some complicated kiddos and decided to write a paper for her class (the prompt of which escapes me - something she would teach the unit perhaps) about how to place IVs. She has placed one in her 18 month Nursing school career on a 4 year old. I'm definitely going to let her educate the unit on IV placement... jokes.

Lady! I feel you! I didn't feel comfortable enough to become a travel nurse myself (2 years of OB - high and normal risk ante/postpartum, newborn nursery), so instead I moved to a different state! The change has been really invigorating! But yes, I feel you on the being 28 and worried about cultivating your future - which is part of why I moved. I will tell you, my friend decided to start travel nursing at 27 and she found her serious boyfriend whilst traveling. I guess love finds you at unexpected times and it knows no boundaries. Good luck, not all who wander are lost :)

My manager says "sa-weet" during morning huddles and it makes me giggle

"If you must err, do so on the side of audacity" Sue Monk Kidd, from The Invention Of Wings

I certainly didn't love being a CNA (we called them PCTs), but I learned a lot of valuable information and reinforced a lot of skills I learned in nursing school! I worked as a float pool PCT and covered so many different floors - med/surg, MICU, cardiac surgery, cardiac med, transplant, bariatric, IR... and then I ended up being a mother/baby nurse and I loved it!

Hi everyone! During my online MSN program, I decided to move to Charlotte, NC - good for my mental health, bad for finding a preceptor! I've been "cold calling" offices in the Fort Mill/Rock Hill/Indian Land area, to no avail! It looks like I won't be finding a preceptor for this semester, but obviously I need to be ahead of the game and find one for this summer! I am looking for an NP to precept me for an advanced health assessment and clinical reasoning course. It is 56 hours of contact time and should involve H&Ps and focused assessments. I can only do my preceptorship in SC, despite living in NC because Massachusetts (where my program is) does not allow students to do practicum experiences in NC. Thank you - any suggestions will help! Nicole

Hey hepnande! I also have the pleasure of an overly expressive face, both in "real" life and as a nurse! Don't worry, this too you will get a handle on. Also, please disregard people who are making less than helpful comments... they don't have the pleasure of having vibrant facial expressions! So some things that have been helpful for me are: 1) Vicks vapo rub in your nostrils (I know, not recommended by the instructions), 2) recalling disturbing situations to my peers in private, away from my instructor to help you "desensitize" to the action of cleaning bodily fluids (you know, during lunch with your school bestie), and 3) trying to relax my face before I go into a room - a good time to do this is when you're sanitizing your hands! We all sanitize, so take those seconds to consciously think about your face! I feel ya! Nursing school clinicals were rough in that aspect! ngiam

Thank you, Ruby Vee! I definitely don't want to surprise anyone. The only reason I hesitated to discuss it right away was because my experience in my last job was that once I told my boss I would eventually (at that time, 2 years down the road) be looking for a new role, she stopped challenging me and giving me new short term projects. I'm involved in some QI initiatives, but I'm certainly not going to be a huge loss to those projects. Thanks again!

Hi everyone, Currently, I work on a postpartum unit at a large academic medical center near my hometown. I started on this unit as a new grad and now I have 14 months of experience. The floor I work on is mostly great, I enjoy my coworkers, I enjoy my patients and I don't dread coming to work (obviously if staffing were better, I'd love that). Given my current life situation, I'm looking to relocate. This was not a rash decision, rather one that I've been pondering for a bit and recently felt as if it were a good time. My boss is currently on maternity leave. Obviously, I would like to list her as a reference on my job application. Should I email her and let her know? Should I do that but also list the person covering for her? Should I apply to jobs and then tell her when they pull references? This process could take months, as everyone knows, so I don't want to bother her on maternity leave if nothing amounts from applying. Inversely, I do not want her to be surprised by an automated email from a future employer! I know this is vague! I've held one other full time job since college, but I held that one for over 4 years and they knew that I was looking for nursing positions. Nicole

Too bad that I'm SO single (part of the reason I need a new city)

Hi y'all! My name is Nicole. I have 1+ years (14 months atm) of experience in postpartum/newborn nursery and I'm hoping to relocate to the Charlotte, NC area. Currently, I work in a non-union Harvard teaching hospital. In the unit where I work, staffing is becoming worse and worse, most recently I've had 6 couplets on day shift my last three shifts. I started on this unit as a new grad and I've learned so much given that we have a nice mix of healthy families and acute postpartum mothers. Upon hiring, I was told that I would have the opportunity to train on the antepartum unit within 6mo-1 year. This has not happened yet and training is far away on the horizon. My desire to relocate is rooted in many details, but basically I did my undergrad in SC, have many friends in Charlotte, and I need a change. I would love any advice on the job market in Charlotte in mother/baby and high risk OB/antepartum. Is there anything I can do to make myself stand out to perspective employers given that my experience is limited? I've applied for my NC RN license by endorsement and am waiting on the temporary license to apply to job openings. Thank you, Nicole

It might be helpful to invest in both! Expensive, I know, but sometimes it's helpful in terms of leg pain/soreness management to toggle between shoes and clogs on a weekly/monthly basis. Also, compression stockings help a lot, which you probably already know :)

Absolutely you can do it! Sounds like you'll need some patience to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it also sounds like you're a patient person :) I noticed you mentioned working as a lactation consultant. Have you looked into becoming an IBCLC (non-nurse)? It may be difficult to find a job in a hospital (requirement may vary by state, I have no idea, my hospital only hires IBCLC RNs) but you could work for WIC, other government programs?? Might be an option with a shorter time commitment?

Hi there! It is so interesting to read about what other hospitals do for pain management. We actually recently started a non-pharmacologic pain management program as well, but that's a different story for a different day! Vaginals are written for 600mg Motrin q6 and 500-1000mg Tylenol q6. They're no longer written for oxycodone. C-sections often receive ITM (most often Astromorph) which lasts for 24 hours. They are written for 15-30mg Toradol q6 x24 hours and Tylenol 500-1000mg q6. Similarly, after 24h they can have Motrin 600 q6 and 5-10mg Oxycodone q4. Very rare when we see a PCA pump! Though, now that I say that, I'll probably have one on my next shift, haha! Thx y'all! Nicole

It's so hard! I rotate days/nights so my sleep schedule is a mess. The most helpful things for me are: 1) pack your lunch/snacks ahead of time (I literally have my packed lunchbag in the fridge; this ensures you eat healthy and don't have to waste time in the caf) and 2) have your clothes ready (that way, when you fall out of bed or the shower, you just throw on clothes and run!). Good luck!

I feel you, lady! I do exactly what you do - act professional (and jovial), find other experienced nurses with which I can discuss my musings, only deal with her when I must, and take excellent care of my patients. And, I vent to my preceptor when we're not at work :) I also don't feed her harassment of other coworkers - I feel like people are bored of her so they yes her to death but they pay attention to her, which I think fuels her fire. These types of nurses teach me how to be a better nursing colleague, by not emulating them :)

Very interesting! I work in a newborn nursery and give initial hepatitis B shots to neonates. It is not often that someone declines the hepatitis B vaccine (twice in 1 shift was really jarring, but before that I hadn't had it occur in months). Recently a mother declared herself "a bit of an anti-vaxxer", showed me wikipedia and asked me if our vaccines contained mercury. I explained (after examining the hepatitis B vaccine insert and calling the pharmacy) that our vaccines do not contain mercury. Wikipedia told her that we were hiding mercury as thimerosal in our vaccines. Thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in 2001 (CDC, 2015). But your question rings true - what do we as healthcare professionals do? Do we use scare tactics - show videos of children dying from pertussis, show pictures of a child infected with measles? I don't think that's the solution. Do we provide yet more literature that goes unread? We're not going to change peoples minds, herd immunity to protect our children who cannot be vaccinated doesn't touch these folks. Sigh. Thimerosal in Vaccines Thimerosal | Concerns | Vaccine Safety | CDC

Hi y'all, I've been working on a postpartum unit for about 7 months and I started there as a new grad nurse. (Perhaps I should still call myself a new grad nurse... Alas, I digress.) I took maternity nursing probably 2.5 years ago and was fond of the textbook we used - Maternal Child Health Nursing (Pillitteri). I'm looking to review various OB topics in a text, and was wondering if anyone would recommend a maternity text that they thought was thorough and well-written. Again, the Pillitteri text was wonderful, but I was just wondering if anyone had particular feelings about other texts. My opinion is limited, in only having utilized the Pillitteri text. I appreciate your feedback! Thank you! ngiam

Correct me if I'm wrong, but by hoops you mean you can't get experience because you can't get a job and can't get a job because you can't get experience? I'm sorry and that really sucks. I feel like that is a common theme these days! Maybe talk to your school and see if any of your professors has a connection to a local hospital? Often schools are provided with job positive, might be helpful? Good luck, you'll go far!!

I totally understand where you're coming from! I too had a science bachelors and was on the fence about the best way to pursue nursing. I chose an ADN program because it was SO CHEAP and my job at the time paid for it. I also feel like I had a lot of meaningful experiences being in a class that had diverse learning experiences, but I digress. I too contemplated going from ADN to MSN, however, there was ZERO chance of me getting a good job as a new grad in Boston if I was without a BSN. I assume they would have accepted my MSN, but that would have taken longer, delaying my finding of a job (they wouldn't have taken ADN enrolled in an MSN, I would have had to finish it first). I finished a BSN at a local state school in 12 months for decently affordable tuition. So do I wish I had pursued an MSN (which I am now pursuing), yes. But getting a job in a hospital was more important. Many of my ADN comrades work at nursing homes and that's not for me. If your city/local hospital hires ADNs, I say go for the MSN!!