Molly.RN

Thank you CrunchRN, I will do that! EDIT: Actually, I was trying and trying to find the button to PM you but I found this popup on my account instead: "We apologize for the inconvenience but sending a Private Message is disabled for all members who have not actively participated on the site. Members are required to have a minimum of 15 quality topics in order to use our Private Messaging (PM) System." I cannot send a PM yet unfortunately! However I did talk to my DON who used to hire over at the hospital I was interested in and she gave me lots of good pointers. Thank you both for your comments. =]

Hi all, I had a few questions about the hiring process. So far I've submitted something like 25ish applications to various units (medsurg, ICU, ED, and Tele) and haven't heard anything back. All I've done was apply to their career websites and that was it. That was how I got my first two jobs (Eating disorder treatment facility and SNF) and I didn't have any problems. But now that I'm applying for acute all I've been getting is radio silence. This would be my first acute experience, as I've said I've worked 4 months in ED outpatient treatment and 1 year in a SNF. I've been a nurse for a little more than a year. I have heard before that the WORST way to find a job is to just apply to their careers webpage and just sit there and twiddle your thumbs. Is this correct? Is there someone somewhere who would look at my resume and CV? Do people ACTUALLY go in to HR and ask to see a nurse recruiter? Do people even actually do "informational interviews"? Do you call the unit you're interested in a few days after applying and just mention you're interested in a job there? Do you make a LinkedIn and randomly add nurse recruiters at the hospital your interested at and send them a message? It all sounds so... fake and desperate?? Gah I don't know! Whats the most successful way to land a job with no real networking opportunities? I have moved to a new area and unfortunately don't know any nurse managers etc. Thank you so much for your advice.

@MidlifeRN2012 No she doesn't have any family come. Sometimes she has visits from a catholic priest.

Hello all, Long time lurker, second time poster here. I guess this post is more of a vent / advice post since It's probably going to be long. I currently work in a SNF/LTC and we have this one resident who is notorious for her abusive behaviors. On our MAR we have to count her behaviors concerning being demanding, manipulative, slapping/hitting, and being verbally abusive to staff. To paint a picture of her: On average she has ~350 of the above behaviors a month. She is incredibly (read: impossibly) specific about her medications and how the CNAs take care of her, and often keeps them in her room for 30+ minutes screaming abuse at them because she thinks there is a wrinkle in her brief. She is A/Ox4. On multiple antipsychotics and anti anxiety medications along with two narcotics for chronic pain. Her antidepressant has recently been stopped because she didn't like it. No psychiatrist will take on her case because of her behaviors anymore. She is on the last doctor at our SNF because she has "fired" all the rest. She has multiple physical ailments along with a generalized psych diagnosis of "anxiety." She has had ~90% of CNAs come crying out of her room by now. First offense: She takes eye drops hourly when awake. She demands you come in exactly at 0600, 0700, etc to give her the eye drops. I had another agitated, confused patient I was trying to deescalate at that time and had to give her eye drops at like 0610 or 0615. I made a rookie mistake of telling her the actual time instead of just saying 0600 and she looks at me and asks if there was an emergency. I say yes, I needed to help another resident. Then she starts yelling at me, "NO! You come in here EXACTLY at six to give me my eye drops and I DON'T CARE what else is happening" etc. Second: She takes a weekly medication and the routine for her is to go in at exactly 0515 to wake her up, have her take the medication at 0530, then come back in at 0600 and give her the rest of her medications (This weekly medication has to be taken a half hour before eating/other meds and she has to sit up for a half hour after to prevent GERD.) I don't take care of her all the time so I actually had messed this up about two weeks ago and she accused me of trying to kill her when I went in with her weekly med and her routine meds all together at 0600 since I didn't notice in time that day was her weekly med day. (FYI: The MAR doesn't specify that she can't take this med with her other meds) Fast forward to two days ago. What had happened was she called in the CNA to tell me she wanted to take her weekly med at 0300 this morning. She has NEVER asked for this before and we have never done her med like that before either. Since I can't legally give the medication until 0400 at the earliest I didn't go in because I was trying to let her sleep, and frankly I didn't want to go in there and have her scream at me because I couldn't get the medication at the time she wanted she since had yelled abuse at me about messing up her routine with that weekly med before. She ended up calling around 0345 asking the CNA why I never came, so I went in there to explain and of course, the yelling and abuse starts immediately. I am there calmly trying to explain that she can't have it at 0300, why she wouldn't even want it at 0300 anyways, and why I didn't come in when she requested. But she won't listen to reason. She's yelling at me to do things for her like take her blanket off of her, telling me I'm putting words in her mouth, its her decision and not the doctor's when to take this medication, and how rude and disrespectful I am to not come in at 0300, and that she's been taking this medication FOR MONTHS at 0300, which just isn't true. Basically, I was trying to calmly talk to her but it wasn't working. I will admit I became defensive but was still just trying to explain that I couldn't give the med at 0300 so why should I have gone in to wake her back up and tell her I couldn't give it at 0300 anyways. I do believe our supervisors have talked to her before but I don't know how long ago that was or how often they try to talk to her. She is demanding and manipulative like that nearly every shift every day. How would you have approached this? Be more firm? Set more boundaries? Tell her you're going to leave until she can treat you like a human being? Tell her to stop being such a.... witch? Should I have gone in at 0300? Even though it was two days ago I am still so mad and upset that I have been treated like this!

1. Everything will go wrong/get super busy near the end of your shift. 2. It's not just werewolves that come out with the full moon, the crazies come out too! 3. Your ability to keep your "nurse face" on during chaos will become invaluable. 4. You will never need to scratch your nose more than when you're in full isolation gear. 5. When your patient says they can't hold it anymore, oooooh boy you better get them on that toilet pronto!

When you finally get flashback on the IV

that the patient is just fine, the family member just needs some more coffee.

Hi, I got my very first job (I got it 2 weeks after graduating from nursing school) working at an eating disorder treatment facility (we were PHP, RTC, and IOP) and despite my reservations, I loved that job! It's hard work and you have to firm with them sometimes, but seeing them get better is so rewarding. In my interview, they asked me to describe what my psych experiences were, if I have any issues with food or exercise, what my strengths and weaknesses were, and what i thought was a unique trait I could bring to the table. They also asked about my availability, why I wanted to work there, and what my schooling was like since I didn't have any prior experience was like since I was a brand new nurse and didn't have anything else other than clinical experience! =) Good luck! I think good points for you to really emphasis is your ability to remain calm during emergencies, how you have handled psychiatric crisis' before at clinicals (or just in general!), your plan on how to be firm with your clients yet still support them and listen to their feelings, any experience with manipulative or needy clients + drug/alcohol withdrawl, and any other pertinent psych experience you have already.

Hi all, I'm a new grad RN who got her first real nursing job working at a SNF. The SNF I work at is attached to a hospital, which while I was originally not excited to work at a SNF I was excited for the opportunity for advancement into the hospital into one of their med/surg units, etc. Turns out, I really do like working at the SNF. I like my coworkers, the residents, and feel comfortable here. But working at a SNF is not part of my long term goals. I have worked at the SNF for four months now, so I am just about to get off my probationary "new hire" period soon. Therefore, I wanted to try applying to the hospital and see if I can get a job there, because I feel as if working in Med/Surg would at least get me closer to my ultimate goal of doing something more acute, such as critical care. But my dilemma is that I feel like I'm disrespecting my employers at the SNF for "jumping ship" basically as soon as I can to work over at the hospital. My ideal situation would be to work at the SNF per diem every other weekend (which is what they originally hired me for, but of course they have me in a 32hr/week position still even with my per diem role). I do feel obligated to them to give them at least a year of my time since they were the first people to believe in me and offer me a job. I don't want anyone to be disappointed or judge me that I would either leave the SNF completely or go down to working there every other weekend. One last detail: My boyfriend and I do plan to leave the area and move up closer back home where he would have a lot more opportunities to get a job in the field he's about to join. So even if I do apply to the hospital and got a job, I would only stay at the unit for 7 months at most because our lease is up in September and we would move back up closer to our families. So that's another added stress of secretly not even giving the hospital unit a year of my time for being so generous and hiring a new grad onto their unit. Should I just avoid all this mess and work solely at the SNF for now? Or should I be a little more "selfish" and see if I can get a job that would give me more opportunities to advance to critical care even though I'd secretly only work there for 7 months? I would have to try and find a new job in September despite what I do in this situation because we will 100% be moving away, and I'm not sure if a year's worth of just working at a SNF will give me the best chances at getting a new job rather than working at the SNF *AND* working at the attached hospital for ~7mo would. I could also just apply to a different hospital that's much closer to where I live and tell the SNF that I can't do the commute anymore. But there's still the issue of only giving that hospital 7 months of my time. This all makes me feel so fake and self absorbed, like I'm not considering what anyone else's feelings or staffing needs are Am I overthinking everything?? Thank you for reading my rambles, I appreciate any input or advice you all have for me.