luvmyc

13 week? So I'm assuming as a contract nurse? IHS utilizes them a lot. At the IHS I'm at (also in NM) we have 6 contract nurses. I also have a friend who is transferring to Shiprock next week. I can't answer specific questions about that service unit, but I can about IHS. Feel free to message me.

I work in an outpatient clinic for the Indian Health Service. I love it and would never go back to LTC.

Yes. Taking on that much debt is crazy.

Absolutely not. I'll tell patients that they have right to talk to me that way/treat me that way. Life is too short to be verbally abused at work.

You're 3 inches taller than me and I've done just fine in nursing. During the first code I helped in, I just climbed on the table and did compressions. It worked and my patient lived. I work with another RN who is even shorter than me. 4'10" I think. She's great. Strength is the most important thing, imo. Not size.

It all depends on the location you work. Where I am, the doctors are very respectful of all the nursing staff; they're wonderful. Similar with patients. Some people are just rude in general and those people take it out on the easiest targets. Usually the nurse.

Shame on you for speaking of human beings like that! Don't become a CNA, this clearly isn't for you. I would never let anyone with that attitude or frame of mind care for my loved one.

Law Enforcement. I still dream about changing careers at times.

Nope. I get verbally abused on a daily basis where I work.

Your worries sound like my worries 6 years ago. But I'm so glad I went for it. I had zero self confidence. And let's talk anxiety. My son died the month before I started. I had no job. I get anxiety. But I did it, and I did well. I graduated very confident and on the dean's list. Just go for it.

I couldn't agree more! Exactly why I made the decision I did.

Palliative care (and then hospice care) was a godsend to me. My beautiful 3 year old son died next to me in bed at home. And everything was peaceful. I had watched him have a horrific code (30 minutes long and then ECMO) 16 months prior, so I decided I was going to choose a peaceful (and inevitable) death for him. The last part of his life, I didn't want him to struggle or feel pain! And thanks to palliative care (and hospice) it was very minimized. I wasn't stupid, I knew he was going to die. I'm thankful palliative care guided me through that process. Without those pain meds, my very young heart would have been ripped out even more watching him struggle. You are not killing anyone! When I started my son in palliative care, I already knew, their was no 'curing' or fixing what he was going to die from. It was about quality of life. And that is way more important than quantity. I was not in control, my son't doctors were not in control, and his nurses were certainly not in control.

You would have quite an uphill battle. First, getting into a program. As others have said, then being allowed at certain clinical sites and then finally (IF that all works out for you) being able to sit for your boards. From what I remember, you'd have to write a letter to the BON explaining what happened and see if they would allow you to. Even having it expunged is no guarantee.

Even an LPN position? Uh, how's that gonna help? That makes no sense to me in her situation. It's not like an LPN is a junior nurse that has less access than an RN does. I have just as much access to everything in my hospital that my RN colleague's do.

How do you know that so many nurses look for the money first? That's a really interesting generalization. My entire work day is about my patient's comfort. Its about a shorter lunch break than I'm entitled to. It's about literally holding my pee so they can be seen quicker, it's about holding the hand of the woman getting VERY painful wound care, it's about calling the CEO of my hospital advocating for my patient who needs oxygen and cussing to my fellow nurses about why it's taking so damn long! I help the young mom with broken hand hold her babies while she gets her xray. And this is a normal day. Is it about money? I guess so! I run my butt off all day and am sure underpaid but I work like crazy to help my community have a better way of life. I think your outlook is very naive and when you actually become a nurse, maybe you will have a better understanding. I don't work with any nurses who do just the bare minimum for the $. I am frequently emotionally and frequently drained. The amount of suicide attempts, assaults, diabetes and other chronic illnesses isn't infrequent. It's a way of life where I live and where I serve as a nurse.

For sure NO. And I work for the federal government. No one gets my original license except for me.

I'm a nurse in a federal facility and my husband is security in the same place. It can get VERY chaotic and on edge and our security absolutely canNOT touch the patient if they are coming at a nurse or have a weapon. They are basically there to observe and call the police. We have signs up saying that is illegal to threaten employees and have threatening behavior. Let me tell you how much that helps! Ha! It's ridiculous.

No, becoming a nurse is never 'a waste of time'. Nice way to ask that, by the way.

Yes, you do.

I had to switch from Nikes and Skechers to Dansko's for horrible foot pain. It is much, much better now.

Yours sound too small. I would size up. I wear a 7.5 normally but wear a 38 in Danksos.

I've had the same issue. I'm from the Midwest and could kick myself for not doing my IV cert there. Readily available in Nebraska. But since I have been in New Mexico, it seems next to impossible to find. I'm now looking out of state. Good luck.

Yes nursing really IS that hard. But I wouldn't choose to do anything else. I work in a very physically/emotionally draining job with a population that is still very affected by historical trauma. Because the area I work in is so underserved, I worked several years ago while recovering from influenza except for 1 day off. It's rough. It's rough on the body and the soul. It's very easy to idealize nursing before you're actually a nurse. The reality is harsher than what you expect. But again, for me-completely worth it. I am glad I work in a place that genuinely needs me. That keeps me going.

My son died 6 years ago (last Friday) from HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome), was vent dependent, profound brain injury, etc etc. I started nursing school within a month and it saved me. If I hadn't gone to school that next year, I feel very certain that I would have been in bed the entire time. It helps.

I was an adoptive mom in 2007 to a newborn baby with HLHS and an intact atrial septum. He was born very sick. I didn't want to induce lactation with him, so I didn't. I was happy to bottle feed him. When he graduated from PICU to NICU, I distinctly remember the looks and comments I got after I told the nurse I wouldn't need the fridge in the room for breast milk. I explained that I was his adoptive mom, and she still made comments that implied I should have tried. And the ironic part, because he was so tiny and SO weak, he ended up a tube feeder. I bottle fed him about 2 weeks. And I missed it! Tube feeding just wasn't the same. But you know, I had to report his weight every day to his CT surgeon and I remember the struggle to get him to gain .1kg! 10 years later, and I still remember the guilt that a nurse tried to place on me when my baby didn't even have the strength to eat.