Sbhayes09

Thank you so much! I hadn't thought about the PTO so that actually helps a lot.

A little backstory: I spent 8 months in a clinic float pool that quickly got changed to a covid testing team. I basically tested and triaged covid patients for the entirety of this assignment. I made connections and ended up being offered a supervisor position within the company at one of our clinics. I've been a supervisor for about one year. A possible opportunity has fallen into my lap. I'm interviewing for a public health nurse position in our local school system. This is initially contract work without benefits with the potential for permanent employment. The pay is about 23¢ more than I'm making now so no real raise in it. It's about 20 minutes closer to home and gets my foot in the door for a very small group of public health nurses in our county. Im on the fence because on one hand, this is an opportunity I wouldn't typically be considered for due to my lack of a BSN and only 2 years as a nurse. I'm wondering should I take the leap and grab it up with no promise but potential to be permanent or should I slow my roll and stay at the supervisor role. Im not terribly attached to the supervisor role as I love the support of it but hate the disciplinary stuff. I'll admit I'm averse to confrontation but when it comes to patient advocacy I would fight to the death. So, what do you guys think? Do I take the temp job to get my foot in the door or stay where I am and learn to be a better disciplinarian?

So, I have been tasked with altering the work flow for some of our "high maintenance" teams at our clinic. The providers regularly complain about the amount of time they have with a patient after rooming is complete, getting messages late in the day, etc. The teams are VERY resistant to change and coaching down to threatening to quit if I meddle in their flow. It's clearly not working. How would you approach this as a supervisor? Should I meet with them to come up with solutions or take the one thing I think might work and implement it with no input. I don't want to give them the option of saying it works fine and don't change anything. Please help, I hate these confrontational situations.

I got my covid vaccine this morning! I'm on cloud nine but wanted to share with anyone that has concerns, so ask me anything ?.

So I'm currently staffing a covid testing site and what was supposed to be a temporary assignment has become much more long term. I'm exploring my options for a bigger challenge. I like to be able to make my own schedule and have quite a few friends in hospice. I've done a couple of clinical rotations within it but other than that, have little to no experience with hospice nursing. So spill the beans, what do you love about it? Thanks guys!

Oh good, a new thing to fear ???

I can see both sides of the argument. I think if a patient wanted to request this information through the formal channels so that there is a paper trail and people would know that the patient was requesting said information, it would be better. It's just a little concerning with this technology driven world and how easy it would be for someone to find my home and phone number.

Thanks so much! I wasn't sure if this was common practice or if I was just being paranoid but it really bothered me that I could see her full name and picture.

I recently had to be tested for covid at my own testing site due to some nausea I had while at work. One of my coworkers tested me and when I got home, I looked at my online chart just to see what it looks like to our patients (not in the hospital system, it's an online version of your chart that you can access at home). I've never really paid much attention to the notes section in this program but I happened to look at it. When I did, my coworkers full name and picture was on the note and it made me wonder if this is a safe practice. Right now, we're seeing hundreds of people per day at this testing site. Sometimes they're unhappy with us due to wait times, line lengths, testing protocols, etc. Would you guys raise this to your one-ups? I'm a little more than concerned that this amount of patients have our full names and photos. Even our badges don't list our full last name. What do y'all think?

I'm feeling those same pressures. I'm not in the same environment but working when you're exhausted and running on fumes is super difficult. I'm glad you were able to change to float for the COVID unit, we all have to learn our limits with this marathon. Keeping you in my thoughts!

Absolutely, I'm so sorry you're having the same feelings I am. It's a terrible place to be right now. I've called the employee mental health line one time in May when I realized that the "temporary" wasn't going to be so temporary and vented on my way home. It did help a lot at the time so I'm going to make use of it again. I hope you stay well ?.

Thank you! I haven't had to be on meds in about 8 years but I'm also a new grad thrust into a pandemic on day one. It's very reassuring to know that I'm not the only one.

Thank you so much. I guess everyone is feeling the pressure right now. I know there are a ton of nurses that have it way worse than I do but the struggle is real no matter where you're assigned. I think I'll at least make a video visit to speak with a doctor about all this. Thanks again!

So, I've been working at a "temporary" covid testing site since mid March. I'm part of the ambulatory float pool (basically a fill-in nurse for the outpatient clinics) and when covid hit, all the clinics shut down in my area. This made our group the obvious choice to staff our testing sites for our companies. The hours and days have slowly dwindled down to two or three per week and half days. The other half of the days, we leave the outdoor (and exceptionally hot) testing sites, eat lunch, change into scrubs and cover for the clinics too. While it's nice to have a change of scenery, the stress of making it to the clinics on time and feeling disgusting no matter how many baby wipes we use, is getting to me. We aren't really getting any guidance on how long this will be going on because no one knows. We keep hearing we may open the sites back up full time if there is a Fall surge. We hear it's gonna be the end of the year before we close the sites, they're gonna stay open through flu season, etc. I think my biggest stressor right now is the unknown. My husband was in the military and I'm no stranger to this feeling of limbo but it's always made me extremely anxious and I started meds during that time (eventually going off of them when he got out). I know that's got to be part of it. The other part is of course just dealing with the pandemic as a human being. I'm having a lot of guilt any time I leave the house. We obviously mask but it doesn't change that guilty feeling of "you should be at home". Especially if we let the kids come out with us (very rare). I know I'm all over the place but I just want to know. Is this a normal stress reaction to all of these emotions or should I seek out some help with a provider? If I'm home, I'm OK but as soon as I have to leave the anxiety hits and it's affecting me now. TL;Dr: my anxiety has kicked back up, should I see a doc or is it a normal stress reaction?

I've been working in a screening clinic and testing patients daily. On the ambulatory side of this coin, none of my co-workers or myself have contracted the virus. We also see the not so sick versions of patients. That being said we have sent a few to the ED and one by ambulance in the last month or so. I'm sure it's terrible in the hospitals but if anyone wanted some insight into outside of acute care, there it is. Bad days and good days, young and old, but the majority have gone home and been fine. Still sucks to see those few that came to you guys then didn't make it though.

Yes! There is a CDC system for reporting testing which includes about 5 pages of paperwork on the patient and patient contacts. We also use biohazard bags for all medical waste related to this patient and wipe down all supplies and room with bleach immediately after.

We had an in-service today on testing protocols. We notify anyone that's going to be in close contact to gown, glove, mask, and face shield. We bring the pt straight back to a room, the nurse goes in and gets vitals, history, and tests for flu. We wait for results in house. If negative, we notify doctor and he goes in to test for CV and usually orders a chest X-ray as well (we have in house radiology). They're walked to the X-ray, waited for, and walked back to the room. At that point the provider results the X ray and usually sends them home to quarantine until results are ready.

I got one of these cushy jobs as a new grad but you have to look outside of the hospital. My job is in our hospitals clinic float pool. I travel between family practices and specialty clinics. I work 4 days per week 8-5, no on call, no weekends, no nights, no holidays. Look up ambulatory float pool or medical group float pool and see if there's anything in your area :).

I had a patient tell me that the local hospital supply store is out and isn't sure when they'll get them back in. He asked our clinic to give him a box of masks ?

There was a suspected case in Raleigh NC but they just confirmed it wasn't the coronavirus.

Thank you so much love! Im sure you'll do amazing ?

I'm a new grad nurse and due to all of the horror stories from hospital nursing, I decided to go into ambulatory care float pool. I'll be going around between specialty clinics as an RN and I'm so excited about my choice. I did receive offers in our local hospitals new grad program for critical care and med surg and turned them both down for this gig. Some of my classmates did the same. If hospital nursing continues down the road it's going, it's gonna be the new LTC and no one will risk their license to do it.

I passed in 75 questions ?

My NCLEX is tomorrow at 1 PM! If y'all could say a little prayer for me, I would surely appreciate it :).

I'm honestly not sure but if all of your paperwork was complete, it's probably Pearson. I've got some classmates that are still waiting. I think it also has to do with how early you registered with Pearson. I registered in October because my job thought it would allow me to schedule my exam and I didn't know any better lol.