bekabsn

I have experience in hospice nursing, but currently work in an inpatient oncology unit. In my experience there isn't a very big difference between the hospice and oncology population. Most of my oncology patients are dying, the difference being they are still holding out for a miracle treatment/fix or cure. I'm sure outpatient oncology is different, and good outcomes are witnessed more often, but as an inpatient oncology nurse, most of my patients are admitted for end stage organ failure of some kind because they are dying from either the cancer or the treatment. The other type of patients we typically see are surgical and inpatient chemo cases-these often have a better prognosis, and may result in a better outcome. If you like the hospice population, you will most likely like the oncology population too. The part that is hard for me, is when caring for a patient who is dying and the docs are still willing to provide chemo/radiation and the family and patient want to keep fighting when you as the nurse KNOW they have hours to days left. As a previous hospice nurse, these scenarios break my heart. I do enjoy my job though and absolutely love my patients. With that said, I know someday I will go back to hospice nursing.

CTCA doesn't hire new grads.

I have experienced anxiety related insomnia as well and I couldn't agree more with the poster who advised you confront insomnia in the face. It is actually a well studied method of dealing with anxiety, usually referred to as exposure response therapy. The premise is you face your fear..this particular case being the fear of not falling asleep in time to get adequate rest. You tell the fear "what is the worst that can happen to me?" and in this case the worst thing that will happen is that you will go to work with no sleep. In the large scheme of things, that isn't the worst thing that could happen to a person so you adjust your expectations and tell yourself it is ok to just rest all night in your warm comfy bed and you will be just fine regardless if you fall asleep or not. Basically you give yourself permission to not fall asleep. Often what happens is once you let yourself off the hook, sleep will come with no problem. You have to trick anxiety...speak to it like a bully and confront it. Let it know it won't get the best of you. :)

Hello. I work at a stand-alone inpatient hospice unit. When our patients come to the unit under GIP, the home case managers typically do not follow the patient while they are in the unit. However, if the patient comes to the unit for respite, the home team will follow them while the patient is at the unit.

Hospice-exactly for the reason described above by the other hospice nurses!! Couldn't have said it better. I work in an inpatient hospice unit, so I still work hourly 3 -12 hour shifts. Which i love having my 4 days off so I get the best of both worlds.

Finally...i can hear myself think!

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. - Dr. Seuss

Mine too!!!!

I recently left ICU nursing for Hospice nursing. I too found myself most satisfied with my job when transitioning patient's to end of life care, and couldn't agree more that there are worse things than dying. So far, I love my new job and am so thankful for the change. :)

So sorry to hear you are struggling to find a place in ICU. I have a co-worker who has now been on our ICU unit for 1 year, previous work experience was OR nursing. She is a fabulous nurse and a great asset to the team. Sure there was a learning curve to overcome, but didn't take long, and well worth it. I hope you are able to land a job in ICU/CCU soon!

The hospital i work for onboards new grad nurses through the staffing/float department. We get a very good orientation, stay on one unit for 6 months, and after that have opportunity to float. After 1 year, the staffing department assists new grads with finding a "home" to become part of. I think if the organization has a program to orient new grads through the floating role..then it would be a good fit.

Stay at home mom for over 12 years, graduated BSN age 42, landed dream job 2 months later in acute care hospital/ICU unit. You will be fine! :) Enjoy the process! You have much to look forward to.

In my opinion, skills can always be learned. It's those who struggle with critical thinking, problem solving and/or prioritization that might have a difficult time in an ICU setting.

1. Do you believe mobile use (smartphone) has increased your quality of your work as a nurse? Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 3 2. Do you feel the use of smartphones has enhanced the nursing community? Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 4 3. How often do you use your smartphone for daily assignments as a nurse? A. Never B. 1-2 times a day (seldom) C. More then 5 times a day (frequent) B 4. Do you feel smartphones has hindered the nursing-patient relationship? Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 4 5. What is the {main} purpose of your smartphone while on the job as a nurse? A. Texting B. Apps C. Phone calls D. Emails. E. Other E. Setting alarms to remind me of assessments/tasks needed during shift, and looking up research pertinent to my job.

I still think you misunderstood my original intent, which was to highlight the responsibility the student has to make the most of their own learning experience regardless of their clinical experience. Thank you for this reply, as i appreciate your insight and perspective. From my frame of reference, all I can go by is that I had some good clinical instructors who did teach and were very involved, and some that were bad. Overall, I came out of nursing school pleased with my clinical experiences, and I would be lying if I didn't tell you that the nurses I followed were amazing and I learned a lot from them. I work with some of them now on the unit. But you sound like a seasoned nurse who has experienced a certain "evolution" from how nursing students used to be to how they are now. It is interesting for sure. But I'd like to point out that my good instructors didn't expect the nurses they paired us with to teach us, but that doesn't mean I didn't learn anything from those nurses. The point remains that students still take a patient (or more) that is actually being cared for by a staff nurse, and interaction with that staff nurse will inevitably take place, and the end result may be that the student actually learned something from the nurse. If I learned something from the nurses in my clinical experience, is that wrong?