Someone Call A Code...This Forum Is Dying

Understood, but of course I was making light of the fact there were little posts in this section, and dont want to know what people are cooking for dinner. Just some comic relief that missed the punch....

...are we the ugly stepsister? Or is it that so many of us working in Neuro are so tired and exhausted to even sit around on our free time posting about work? Maybe it is that many people dont work in this area long?

Ugh - why is this all I hear about Neuro?! Does everyone really hate their job and is it so much more physically demanding than other nursing jobs? I'm really not looking forward to this as my first nursing job!

One of the PCAs (nurse tech/CNA) on our floor was saying that she heard our floor was the hardest floor to work on in our hospital - I wouldn't be surprised if that were true! I work on the stroke floor (we don't have a separate neuro floor).

I would say we have a good mix of total care patients and walkie-talkie patients. It is stressful on many days with patients going for tests, dealing with the unexpected, and having the phones go off all day. I wish our nurse-to-patient ratio was 4:1 all the time. There are a few days when one (or a few) of the nurses will have 4 patients. Most of the time it is 5:1, and sometimes 6:1 when our staffing is low (eeek). Even though it is stressful, I just tell myself that I am getting a good med-surg experience, and I think about my future educational/career goals.

Yeah, I think that it is really really good med/surg experience. I have learned so much working on my floor - we are a neuro floor but have med surg patients as well. Lots of total cares, very rarely do I have patients that are "walkie talkies" But NO I DO NOT HATE MY JOB - people who have this attitude drive me crazy, I cant stand spending 12 hours with these people lol. I love laughing with my coworkers and my patients - sometimes if you dont laugh you will cry..and there is no sense in crying. Even on a "bad" night I have learned sooo much. I think this is more so a floor for people who still have or do have passion for the career and still love learning etc...

I am still so new to neuro nursing, that being new to nursing is more of what I'm dealing with than being a neuro nurse. Does that make sense? This is my first job. I am still preceptoring, and will finish on Sunday. I love our floor, but yeah, it absolutely is stressful. I get very attached to my patients, and I'm generally behind on my charting. I keep trying new ways to order my day which will be the most efficient, and sometimes making it, sometimes not. I don't even know if I will continue on my unit because I am in probation for a med error. Dang, I am hoping so, but it is not looking so great. :uhoh21: In any case, I have to remind myself that whether I'm in neuro...which I love...or some other floor, it is the job that I love. Either way, I count it a privilege to be a nurse, even when I'm so stressed that I can't think straight! :heartbeat

Does anyone have any info about neuro NPs? Or neuroendocrine NPs? I've never actually working on a neuro floor, but I studied it in school and still feel like that's what I'm most interested in. I want to go back to school and get my masters with the goal of working with neuroendocrine outpatients. Is that even possible?

we have a neuro NP on our floor, and she does the same stuff as the docs. I don't know where she studied.

There are a lot of nurse practitioners that work "under" the mds. They make decisions on pretty much the same thing as the doctors. If you call them in the middle of the night they will return the phone call back for the mds etc. I dont know where there places of study were, and I do know the neuro patients are not the only patients that they deal with. I dont know if you will be able to ONLY have those type of patients if you do NP but yeah its possible. Of course like anything else you might not get to start off in neuro - endocrine - or whatever your top choice is right away. Well, good luck!!

Our NP on our neuro unit, does ONLY neuro. I suppose it depends from hospital to hospital. Good luck!