applesRN

Just an update, I was accepted into Frontier! :) Frontier Bound in the fall!

Here's my current situation: 1.around 10 years nursing experience, almost all in Med-surg. 2. Med Surg is killing me. 3. 8 years ago I started at my current hospital. I was offered a position on about 6 units. I chose the wrong one- and within months I found I had a very difficult manager. After my required 6 months, I attempted to transfer. None of those 5 units would even consider me- my manager had black-listed me. I eventually got a position on the float team and for the most part it has served me well, and I flourished on it. I currently have a great manager, but the stress of med-surg is, well, see #2. 4. Two years ago I tried to transfer, and was offered a few positions. After further thought, I decided to not accept them as they would complicate family life as a single mom with a teenage daughter (they were all late evening/night shift).I live alone now, and am trying to get one full time job instead of the 2 part time ones I have. Sure, I could work more in the float team, but then we are back at #2. Physically, emotionally, financially. It's not just me but many of the nurses I know on the float team. It is hard to call in for extra shifts when the shifts you are given beat you to tears. 5.I have applied to 7 positions in the last 5 months within my organization. The first job interview seemed awesome, at first. I had a great phone interview, he was very interested in me, and said I was one of 2 ( out of 20) he was calling back for a second interview. Long story short, the secretary was never able to "find time" for me to come in, and I made some polite emails saying that I was still interested and waiting to set up the interview. 4-5 weeks later I was finally told that they hired someone else. THey were very unprofessional. No other interview offers anywhere I have applied in the organization. 6. It feels like I have been blacklisted again. Despite a BSN, years experience, ACLS, PALS, certification, praises etc, I can't even get an application through to the interview process in my current large organization. At least not on a unit I would want to work on. Some of these units are the ones that offered me a position 2 years ago. I have talked to my manager to make sure there was nothing that would prevent her from giving a good recommendation, and she confirmed she was pleased to give me a good recommendation. I really do have a great manager now.:redbeathe 7. I had an incident about 6 months ago where a non-nurse miscontrued facts. My (float team) manager understood that it was innocent and badly misrepresented, but since that person had their unit manager in on it, it had to go in file that she talked to me about it. I now wonder if the potential managers are seeing this and deciding I am a risk. 8.I am professionally cordial with the nurse retention nurse. She has been great to talk to casually about continuing education, research, publishing, etc. About 5 months ago I emailed her a question about an open position. I wasn't very interested in it because of the drive distance, but curious. She emailed it to the nurse recruiter, who was more or less unhelpful. 9. This week I finally reached one nurse recruiter (of 2- both of which have been on vacation, or out, or never available for the last month.) I wanted to know why I had not been selected for an interview on all positions I applied for in last several months. She said she didn't know why. 10. I explained my frustration, nicely. I also said it felt like the last open position I applied for is my last hope for staying within this organization before moving to the one 45min-1 hr away. She said "I'm sorry, we'd hate to lose you but that's your choice". I said of course I wanted to try to stay here, but I was getting frustrated. She said WELL YOU CAN'T GO AROUND THREATENING THE MANAGERS! What?? What in the world are you talking about? I have never threatened anyone! She said You Can't go around threatening the managers in the interview that you will leave us if we don't give you a job. No manager is going to hire you like that. And I know you have been talking to the retention nurse, she emailed me (insinuating that I was about to quit). o my goodness. I corrected her that first, I never threatened anyone, second I never spoke to any managers about leaving, third, I never had an interview in the first place. I was casually looking into a job which I asked the retention nurse about, and I never applied to that one. I said that I was being left with no good option here and all I asked for was the reason why I was not getting interviews. After I had to reexplain myself, twice, she settled down and what do you know? looked at the positions I was passed over for- and then she told me why I wasn't interviewed ( or made it up , idk). For each position, there were 20-30 applicants, and interviews went to more qualified candidates. That's all I asked for. However, it makes me really wonder what is behind this system. A few nurse managers have been known to gossip here, and blame the float team for whatever they think is going wrong. My manager has tried to put a stop to this, and now we have to document why we clock out late (even 5 minutes) etc. A few have their own staff scared to clock out late so they clock out on time and then still work/ give report/ chart. Good nurses and not so good alike. I have a second part time office job that I enjoy but does not offer me any benefits or the possibility of full time. If i get one of the two FT jobs left in my organization, I can still do the office job one day a week. If I have to leave the organization, I will have to give up this job too. I know God is going to work something out, and I am trying not to what-if and worry about the past or the future. I just want to vent and see how I can improve from now on. I don't want to drive an hour, but I am feeling the pinch. I need to get settled in a stable job before beginning NP school in the winter. I have had a good interview at the competition, with a few more applications in (all in areas I want to work). There are still 2 positions open for which I have not heard from here, I don't think I will ever talk to the nurse recruiters again. I was polite when the second one finally returned my call (weeks after I first called her). I know that they must be having a difficult time with lots of nurses looking for work due to the economy, but, accusing me? What would you have done?

I do believe that a nurse who has made a mistake, and realizes the seriousness of it and regrets it, will be much more diligent and careful in the future than another nurse who consistently makes small mistakes that never get caught.

Please tell me there are NICU nurses that are team players, as I am trying to get into this area!

Hi everyone, I have been a mostly med-surg float nurse for 11 years, I recently finished my BSN, and have had a lot of life changes in the last year. I never thought I would have difficult finding a RN job somewhere I wanted, but with this economy eveeryone who has a good job is holding on to dear life for it. I have applied and interviewed for an office position. I have also put in apps at the local cath lab and CVRU. I have always wanted to work in the NICU, but life has gotten in the way. Now my life is stable enough to pursue the dream, and I have an interview coming up next week (an hour away). I have wanted to work in my local (and current) hospital's NICU (level 2) but there are no openings. It is one of those great places that you have to wait until someone retires to get into it- especially with no experience (I have a few months of Peds experience). My interview is at a respected 60 bed level 3 NICU and its Intermediate Care unit. Realizing that the majority of my experience is with adults, which do you feel I'd be better to start in? Of course, it may not be up to me... Both will be 7p-7a. (I am somewhat concerned about doing nights, but I feel my body has naturally gone to a later bedtime and later rising lately. The hour drive also concerns me, but I feel that I can do it for now- this hospital used to have a commuter program incentive but doesn't anymore). Both my current hospital and potential hospital have Magnet status. I don't know what the patient to nurse ratio is in either. Some of these things I'll just have to cover in the interview. I am nervous, even though this is what I want... I fear it not being what I think it will be, or messing up some how- it is scary to take on babies without recent experience. I have a lot of what-if scenarios running through my mind. What if I don't like it, what if I can't take that long drive, what if a position opens soon at the local NICU... (say, for instance, if a position opens up locally- how soon is too soon to leave the other hospital, recognizing that they will put a lot of effort and money into hiring and orienting any new person)? A little more about me- I love technical aspects of nursing and seek out extra education on my own often. I will hopefully start a FNP program (online in the fall) and would like to get into neonatal before then (who knows, I may decide to be a NNP or CNS instead). I know new grads are often hired because they have a clean slate- and I don't know how my adult experience will affect my NN nursing. I have adult cardiac experience and enjoy that. I have been NRP certified in the past (let it lapse), current PALS, ACLS. Do you think I'd like feeder/growers or more intensive nursery better?

Here I am, again. Looking back, I wish that I would have gone for that night shift in NICU, but at that time I guess I really wasn't ready for it (physically). There has not been an opening since, and I recently called the (retiring) manager who said that the hospital is so tight (I believe it) that they aren't letting her hire anyone else. I have an interview for a night shift 70 bed level 3 NICU. My daughter remains living with her dad, so I am going for it. I think I will like a change in hospitals, but the drive is concerning to me. I have an interview for both intermediate nursery and intensive care nursery. I'm not sure which one (if either) would allow some downtime during night shift? I also would be sad to give up on my second part time local office job since it does allow me to do schoolwork in between pts.

I was making $17 an hour 7 years ago on a regular unit, and left there to go into pool. We now have about 80 pool nurses (about 12 techs in that). we have 3 divisions- acute care(any stepdown, non-CC uinit, but occasionally take ICU assignments, long term care and rehab), CC, and Mother baby (peds, Mother baby, OPD, NICU). Now I make about $35 an hour. I buy my insurance at a higher rate, but don't have vacation,sick pay, or retirment matching. there are diff. tiers to the pool- minumum is a commitment of 32 hours a month (t least 8 hours off shift, 16 hrs weekends). from there you can commit to 64 hours a month (increase in off shift and w/e req), to fulltime (increase in offshift and w/e req. and you can either still get the higher pay or opt for lower "floor" pay rate and get full benes.) My manager is awesome and comes by to see us on days she is at our hospital to see how we are doing. We have team meetings. We have get togethers. We have weekly e-huddles. We have a manager that tries to be fair and is in our corner fighting for some non-essential benefits, like education reimbursement. We are limbo though (unless in fulltime tier) and are not guaranteed hours. she tries to find new places for us to float to in the system (backloading pt charts, etc) when hours are low. We are completely closed staffing except for the pool ( or rather, because of it) and do not use agencies or travelers.

Thank you to everyone who weighed in on my post. I still don't know what the answer is. I recently went to Jamaica on a medical missions trip. People walked miles to come see us for medical and vision care. I just want to tell that to the next trivial request or stupid demand. Press Ganey's have driven some hospitalists to give pain meds when they wouldn't have otherwise. They have told me so. What in the world are we doing as a society? Code H (Code Help) is almost never for a legitimate reason. (Our rapid response team is initiated by the nurse, although a real family or patient concern code result in a Met Life call. Whether it is legitimate or not, several people have to go to a Code H, taking them away from real issues.) Is it any better in unionized hospitals? Do patient's get away with so much there? As a med-surg float nurse, I find that the diabetic and renal patients overall are the more demanding, with pulmonary, ortho, and surgical close behind. And families are bad everywhere. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by allowing this. If I were a manager, I don't think I would last very long. I wouldn't allow my staff to be treated that way. Press Ganey scores can be improved without tolerating threats and abuse, and without giving in to demands that are incongruent with best practices. In fact, nurses that feel secure in their positions and believe their managers will have their back make for a more pleasant environment for everyone.

I am so sorry that you had to work for such an unsupportive hospital. Leave them in the dust and find a place that respects you. I just posted a thread on the difficulties of verbally/physically abusive, demanding patients who are alert and oriented. The good nurse gets fired because the drug seeker complained. I have had complaints in the past, one of which I really did make a mistake but voluntarily admitted it and the patient suffered no harm. The patient's family member had a coniption and before the next morning I was afraid I would lose my license. My manager contacted the patient, who (thank the good Lord) had no problems with my care and was appreciative that I disclosed my mistake to her. (again, a minor mistake with no harm- and yet they say that we should be open and honest in our risk management.... when I had fire breathing down my neck for a minor mistake, what makes them think other nurses will feel safe disclosing major mistakes?especially ones like this where the patient never would have known if I didn't tell her.) I had a patient curse me out while I helped the CNA provide bathing and turning care. I told her that it was inappropriate and unacceptable. I explained the need for this basic care, even though she refused (she was laying in poo. alert and oriented, hip fracture- past history of herion, ETOH, etc). I had her only one shift, and reported to my manager, the floor manager and the charge nurse her behavior and refusal of care. A week later, I get an email that she developed a UTI (she had a foley in because she was so resistent to any movement). I was "invited" to be a part of a meeting to identify why she got the UTI.... as if my charting didn't already explain it. I recently came back from a missions trip- people in other countries are begging for basic medical care and are so appreciative. Then I came back to the entitled acting, med seeking, fluff my pillow now you idiot world of American healthcare. make sure you have good malpractice insurance, keep your head up, and hopefully you will find a job where people don't throw you under the bus.

For the most part, I am described by others as being extremely patient and kind. But my fuse is wearing thin! with the increasing number of entitled, demanding patients, as well as verbally and sometimes threatened physically abusive nature. ( Everyone I am describing is alert and oriented. I can handle the person with brain injury or the mentally ill that have less control of their behavior and words. It's the perfectly with-it adults who should know better). I am so sick of demanding patients that my attitude towards them has changed- I go in and do my minimum assessment and work, get them what they need, and remind them that verbal abuse is not tolerated. I have gone to managers. I work in a float pool so thankfully I rarely have the same person twice. What makes a person think they can call us stupid idiots? When they have little clue about what is policy and procedure, and expecially if other nurses have given in and done what they wanted or how they wanted it. Sometimes joking around can help dissolve some situations- I have seen nurses fire back insults at the patient in a joking manner (that is not my way) and I've seen others give in to whatever they want (giving shots in unapproved sites), or getting them their coke while they are cussing. Excuse me, if you want your coke you are going to ask for it nicely, and no I am not neglecting you or refusing your care. Your immediate need of a carbonated beverage is not essential to your health and healing. I just want to say "put on your big girl panties and behave." The attitudes of patients seems to be getting worse lately, and it is stressing me out. I would like to begin a program at my hospital system based on mutual respect, with some sort of measure to curtail the verbal abuse by patients on staff. Or family members to staff. I, and many of my colleagues, are highly trained nurses with the interest of excellent care for the patient. We did not get our license out of a cracker jack box, and even if we did, no one deserves to be spoken to that way. I don't care if that's how they are raised, or just their way- they need to be accountable for their words and actions. We are not doormats. This, along with the stress of med-surg, is running me out of bedside nursing. If your hospital or facility has any program or action plan in place, would you please share? Does it work? Thanks! :tku:

I burned out at about 2 years into nursing, maybe less. I took a year or two off and did nothing but occasional prn work (living with family). I finally decided to give nursing one more try and went to a temp position at a children's hospital. It was there I decided nursing was not all bad and I did like parts of it. I knew that if I was going to survive, I could not be at the bedside forever, so that meant goin back to school for my BSN. It took 7 years, but I finally have done it- only to find that in this economy there are few jobs. So, I am still in bedside Med-Surg, and I really don't like it, but it pays the bills while I apply for lots of positions. I am going back to school again in the fall for my FNP. If you are burned out, step back and take a look at your options. Perhaps a change in department, hospital, or city could be the anser. And consider going back to school to open up more options in the area you want most.

I had a patient demand it be given in the arm. He made the case that all the other nurses during his stay honored his request. I looked up the drug info online, and then called pharmacy. It is approved only for abdominal injection. My patient was unhappy and refused it in the abdomen. Oh well, I am not risking my license to give a med in an unapproved manner.

I think I would fly to Cali once a week to make $145 an hour.

Great post! I was about to post almost exactly the same question. :lol2:I, too, am debating between Frontier (the name is changing soon to Frontier Nursing University) and a big name- specifically Duke.After debating for a while, I had felt so content that Frontier was right that I delayed applying to Duke. Then a few weeks ago I met a newly hired FNP from the Midwest. I told her I had applied to Frontier (still waiting- I won't know until September!!), and she said "What is that"? She strongly encouraged Duke over the school she'd never heard of. I think Frontier is more widely known for their midwifery program than FNP/WHNP. My undergrad school- Liberty U. is planning on beginning a NP program in Fall 2012. I don't want to wait that long to start. I feel I would connect with the heart :redpinkhe of Frontier better than the prestige of Duke. The tuition is about $27000 total for Frontier, and twice as much for Duke's program. However, I have seen the huge rush of nurses into FNP programs like Walmart on Black Friday, and I wonder if the market will be saturated by the time I'm done with school. IF that happens, will a big name be worth it?

2 years later= My new manager is the best I could have ever asked for and didn't know it. But I'm going into grad school now, my daughter has moved out, and the stress of the float is the same (on top of new physical issues). I aminterviewing for an office position with a drastic cut in pay, and I would be working 40 hours a week and making what i could make in 20 floating. Any advice?