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I have an interview for the ICU next week! I'm already nervous! (Super long Dear Diary-like post ahead:) I keep having doubts and need some reassurance. The ICU was something that I never, ever thought I would want to do until recently (like three months recently). I'm hoping it's not a phase because I genuinely want to work there, at least right now. I wanted to wait another year or so before applying, but there is a position open right now that is my FTE an preferred shift, and who knows when that would come around again. I spoke with some ICU nurses and they recently hired a lot of staff and they think I will probably get this position as nobody is really applying any more. I am currently working in the float pool so I work everywhere from med/surg to psych to hospice and I really love my job. The only reason I'm considering leaving is because sometimes I have days that are horribly stressful. It's hit or miss really, but I'd say that at least 60% of my shifts I would call "having a really bad day." Our hospital has LPNs and with our staffing grids, sometimes I have to be in charge of a team of ten patients, which can be horrible if there are a few higher acuity ones. Typically I will have seven or eight patients with an LPN. Also, as a float pool RN, a lot of the times I get dumped on with the patients that the core staff doesn't want to take care of and I end up wanting to pull my hair out. I honestly like what I do and I get along well my coworkers, which is why I'm nervous to possibly move to a different unit and have to learn a new job with new people. However, I've heard that ICU nurses are treated much better than floor nurses and in general, shifts are less stressful. ICU nurses, why do you like your job? If you were initially a floor nurse, why did you want to switch? Tell me your favorite and your least favorite things about working in the ICU. I was floated to the ICU once (should never, ever have happened, but they were desperate), and it was awesome. That is why I got the idea that I should apply for this position. After talking with some people at work that are ICU nurses, they convinced me to apply, "Oh you'll love it" being their reasoning. I'm excited for this prospect and I do think it would be a good career change, I'm just feeling nervous about leaving my comfortable position to go somewhere else. The thing that's actually holding me back the most is that I would never get to work on psych again, and that is one of my more favorite places to float. I couldn't do it every day, but I would miss working there a lot. I just need to hear that working in ICU is awesome and I'm going to love it. 
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Jul 11, 2012 08:00
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Hughmoris posted:Do we have any OR nurses hanging around here? Meee! I've been circulating at an outpatient surgical center for about 6 months.
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Jul 12, 2012 12:00
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Koivunen posted:
Hahaha no. The stress is different, but certainly not less. I'm inclined to say more, but then I get floated with a load of six and I'm pulling my hair out so its all your type of personality. The 1-3 patient load is by no means easier by virtue of being fewer because every single one of them is sicker. Sometimes a little, like they got an angiogram and they need watching for bleeding (they should probably go to a step-down unit if you have one). Sometimes they have labile blood pressure so touchy you spend a few hours adjusting drips so they don't blow an aneurysm or bottom out while still being sedated. Did I mention you have another patient at the same time who's getting intubated? The unit has to operate as a team. Ask the nurses there about the culture and any cliques before you jump in. Ask Bum the Sad about real ICU nursing. 3:1 transplant poo poo makes what I do look like getting drunk and playing bingo. I haven't even touched ECMO or LVAD's, and those are where the real fun is at anyway. Koivunen posted:ICU nurses, why do you like your job? If you were initially a floor nurse, why did you want to switch? Tell me your favorite and your least favorite things about working in the ICU. Straight out of college into ICU. I like the challenge every day, the severity and complexity of the diseases and comorbidities, and the nonstop pace. I like expanding my knowledge, and learning to stay calm when it all starts to go sideways. I hate wiping butts and patients who are well enough to open their stupid faces and complain.
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Jul 12, 2012 16:30
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Mangue posted:Meee! I've been circulating at an outpatient surgical center for about 6 months. Do you have an email or AIM I can contact you on and chat about it? I don't want to clutter this thread up with it.
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Jul 13, 2012 03:06
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Roki B posted:Straight out of college into ICU. I like the challenge every day, the severity and complexity of the diseases and comorbidities, and the nonstop pace. I like expanding my knowledge, and learning to stay calm when it all starts to go sideways. I hate wiping butts and patients who are well enough to open their stupid faces and complain. Thanks for your reply. That is one of the reasons that I want to move to ICU, because I love challenges and am fascinated by disease process and would really like to be more involved in patient care. I would also like to be more autonomous and not have to page the doctor over every little thing. Tonight was a night where I felt I really wanted to leave floor nursing. I had a team of ten patients. Five of them were on remote telemetry, seven of them were diabetics with glucose checks and insulin, one had TPN, lipids, fluids, a PCA, and a critical potassium of 2.4 with K+ riders every hour, there was a wound vac, a hallucinating guy in restraints, a demented old man trying to crawl out of bed, two diarrhea explosions, one pee all over the floor, one vomiter, one total assist, one who went unresponsive, and a schizophrenic. It was too much.
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Jul 13, 2012 07:18
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Hughmoris posted:Do you have an email or AIM I can contact you on and chat about it? I don't want to clutter this thread up with it. I don't think anyone would mind discussing OR nursing here in the thread. It might pique the interest in someone else and motivate them to go into the OR! Besides I don't have any IM programs or PMs for the website and I don't feel comfortable posting my email here in public.
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Jul 13, 2012 22:16
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I concur about the OR discussion as that's some of the areas in nursing I'm interested in, but I'm still just a pre-nursing student.
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Jul 14, 2012 12:49
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All I know about the OR is that it has the best conversations. A group of healthcare workers who can say anything without fear or HIPAA or the patient being offended or anything. Its like a watercooler everyone has to stand at for a few hours. Truly the speaker's corner of the hospital.
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Jul 14, 2012 16:58
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Yeah it's awesome. It's a powder keg of bullshit drama waiting to go off.
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Jul 14, 2012 17:47
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I have 1 year left of school but this seems to be where my draw is! I did a job shadowing bit with a family friend who is a APRN who works in the OR doing endoscopic vein harvesting for a cardiology group and OH MY JESUS! that was like disney land for me! I have done 1 clinical rotation through the OR and 1 through the PACU and I really liked both of them. My question for you OR nurses is what classes should I seek out after graduation for a leg up getting in to the OR right out of school? I am a member of AORN and I know I have seen places that offer a "periop 101" type class. Do you ladies and gent think that this would be worth me looking into?
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Jul 16, 2012 04:40
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:My question for you OR nurses is what classes should I seek out after graduation for a leg up getting in to the OR right out of school? I am a member of AORN and I know I have seen places that offer a "periop 101" type class. Do you ladies and gent think that this would be worth me looking into? I'm curious about this too. My school offers a a very similar class with a certification at the end.
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Jul 16, 2012 04:41
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Hughmoris posted:I'm curious about this too. My school offers a a very similar class with a certification at the end. Unfortunately, my school does not offer this so I will have to seek out somewhere that does. The way that the AORN website reads, it is not something that you can just pay for and do on your own. Schools or hospitals purchase the classes then hold them for their students/staff. I may call AORN and see if It can be done as and individual person though edit: Just found this Seats Price 1-10 $795 each 11-24 $495 each 25-49 $395 each 50+ $295 each SO I assume it will cost me $795 just to take a class on my own.... If they even offer it as an at home thing SuzieMcAwesome fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 16, 2012 05:00
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Ha! My terrible job is giving me my TNCC class in september, just a month before I plan to start travel nursing with my wife. Cant wait to have those juicy letters behind my name and the and the knowledge to do trauma. Oh, and I'm going to try to do CCRN by august too :iamafag:
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Jul 17, 2012 02:35
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I was hired into a Perioperative 101 class last November. It was 6 weeks of classroom work with some basic clinical stuff then about 4 months of orientation. I think a Perioperative program is your best bet but if I'm not mistaken, you generally need to get into it as a new job. I don't really think you can just take it then interview for an OR position afterwards. The OR is a very unique area of nursing. If you really like patient interaction it's not really the place for you. You get about 5 minutes with the patient then it's off to sleep for them. Circulating can either be ridiculously easy in which you just fill out the documentation and sit around talking for the rest of the case or it can be very challenging, requiring lots of multitasking and priority setting. You have to be aware of at least three other people's needs (surgeon, scrub, and anesthesiologist) and it takes a while to filter out the random unimportant babbling to be able to pick up on the important stuff. One of the most important jobs is assisting the anesthesiologist. I work in a surgery center and though the cases maybe aren't as glamorous as the ones done in a hospital, the anesthesia is the same. Things can go wrong just as easily. It's the nurse's job to stick by the anesthesiologist and assist with giving meds or doing pretty much anything else (s)he asks. As far as skills, there really aren't many. IVs are only really done on kiddos, the rest of the time they're going to already be in place. Foleys or straight caths are common but that's about it. You don't really give any meds. You mostly give the meds to the scrub and the scrub gives them to the surgeon. It's still super important to do the 5 Rights though...giving a local med with epinephrine when doing a hand case could be disastrous. That's a pretty basic overview of circulating. I don't scrub, so I can't really speak to that aspect. I like being able to move around. If anyone has any specific questions I'll do my best to answer them. As I mentioned before, I'm still pretty new, only been doing it since January but I think I have a pretty good grasp on the whole OR thing.
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Jul 19, 2012 04:49
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Mangue posted:I was hired into a Perioperative 101 class last November. It was 6 weeks of classroom work with some basic clinical stuff then about 4 months of orientation. I think a Perioperative program is your best bet but if I'm not mistaken, you generally need to get into it as a new job. I don't really think you can just take it then interview for an OR position afterwards. Did you work the floor before getting into that class or was that your first gig out of nursing school?
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Jul 19, 2012 05:40
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Hughmoris posted:Did you work the floor before getting into that class or was that your first gig out of nursing school? The latter. I have blessedly managed to avoid the floor as a new grad.
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Jul 19, 2012 12:59
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How long on average do the surgeries last? Do you spend the majority of the time assisting in surgery?
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Jul 20, 2012 03:06
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Lava Lamp posted:How long on average do the surgeries last? Do you spend the majority of the time assisting in surgery? Where I work I would say the average length of surgery is about an hour, though the surgeries at the surgery center vary between 5 minutes and 3.5 hours. I'm not scrubbed in helping the surgeon. That's what the scrub tech/nurse does. I'm the circulating nurse. Some of the things I do includes: document everything that goes on, monitor the OR environment, make sure those scrubbed in maintain sterility, keep surgeon/scrub stocked with supplies, and assist anesthesia. The scrub tech/nurse is the one who hands off the instruments to the surgeon. They don't really assist though. That is to say, they don't help with any of the actual surgery like cutting, dissecting, suturing, etc. Though scrub nurses can become certified to assist and then they are called RNFAs (Registered Nurse First Assist). I personally am not a huge fan of scrubbing. It's neat in that you get a much better view of the surgery but anything over an hour and I get antsy. I need to move. Sit, cross my arms, walk around, stretch. Scratch my friggen nose.
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Jul 20, 2012 04:12
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I ended up actually getting a few of the scholarships I applied for in addition to a whole bunch of grants from the state, so it turns out my first year of nursing school is going to be completely free. 
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Jul 20, 2012 04:45
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Koivunen posted:Thanks for your reply. That is one of the reasons that I want to move to ICU, because I love challenges and am fascinated by disease process and would really like to be more involved in patient care. I would also like to be more autonomous and not have to page the doctor over every little thing. Jesus where are you? I will graduate from an accelerated program in December and I haven't ever even heard of such a patient load and I've been to 10 different clinical sites. Dirp: Congrats rock the scholarships. Anyone in here working for the VA? Anyone working for the VA that is taking advantage of the tuition/continuing education benefits? I'd love to hear about it. My plan is to get hired there, although I heard talk of a hiring freeze, and then apply to an anesthesia program.
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Jul 21, 2012 03:53
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Dirp posted:I ended up actually getting a few of the scholarships I applied for in addition to a whole bunch of grants from the state, so it turns out my first year of nursing school is going to be completely free. In more finance news I found out this week that I don't actually have access to the government subsidised student loan that I was under the impression I would get (from University websites and information released by the Department of Health). Turns out that all I'm getting is a grant from the NHS and it'll barely cover my rent 
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Jul 21, 2012 11:04
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I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not really sure what I should be doing now. I thought about grad school but I know Biology jobs aren't particularly lucrative. I wanted to be a dentist, but my first 2 years at community college where I was just an idiot high school grad kinda torpedoed my GPA. I did well when I transferred from University and graduated Cum Laude but with my Community college GPA added into the mix, it doesn't look particularly good any more. I do know a lot of nurses and they all seem to love their jobs and make good money doing so. My options I'm feeling currently are to apply to an accelerated second degree RN program where I can get my BSN in 15 months since I took a ton of biology and chemistry already or go to grad school for two years and hope I do well enough on the DAT and that my new GPA for graduate school will do the work for me. Any advice? I'm leaning towards Nursing because that seems much more likely and if the other fails I'm poo poo out of luck with an advanced degree in a field I don't see many people making money in.
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Jul 25, 2012 17:40
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Honest Ray posted:I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not really sure what I should be doing now. I thought about grad school but I know Biology jobs aren't particularly lucrative. I wanted to be a dentist, but my first 2 years at community college where I was just an idiot high school grad kinda torpedoed my GPA. I did well when I transferred from University and graduated Cum Laude but with my Community college GPA added into the mix, it doesn't look particularly good any more. If you wanted to be a Dentist, have you thought about maybe becoming a Dental Hygienist? I was shocked when I learned how much money the average person makes in that field.
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Jul 25, 2012 17:50
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Hughmoris posted:If you wanted to be a Dentist, have you thought about maybe becoming a Dental Hygienist? I was shocked when I learned how much money the average person makes in that field. I had thought about that but I haven't seen any programs for that that are particularly fast. If I do the program in my area for nursing, I could have my degree and be working in 15 months as opposed to at least 2 years.
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Jul 25, 2012 18:09
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Honest Ray posted:I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not really sure what I should be doing now. I thought about grad school but I know Biology jobs aren't particularly lucrative. I wanted to be a dentist, but my first 2 years at community college where I was just an idiot high school grad kinda torpedoed my GPA. I did well when I transferred from University and graduated Cum Laude but with my Community college GPA added into the mix, it doesn't look particularly good any more. Replace biology with molecular biology and dentist with PhD and this sounds like me from two years ago. My wife (an ER RN) convinced me to try nursing and I'm 6 months away from finishing an accelerated BSN. Job prospects for new nurses here are good (though they aren't in most places). Pay to start 3days/week @ 12hrs is better than what I was making as a research assistant and the grad school possibility is still there. Someone else that graduated in my molecular bio program went back to become a dental hygenist and she loves it. Failing these choices, have you thought about getting licensed as a medical laboratory scientist (medical technologist)? Pay is pretty good and there are plenty of jobs for licensed MTs, histotechs, etc.
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Jul 26, 2012 00:24
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I gave myself time off for the summer, so it's only today that I completed my NCLEX. I finished with 75 and had a shitload of SATA and priority (though I wasn't keeping track at how many). The VUE trick is positive so crosses fingers.
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Aug 2, 2012 22:33
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halokiller posted:I gave myself time off for the summer, so it's only today that I completed my NCLEX. I finished with 75 and had a shitload of SATA and priority (though I wasn't keeping track at how many). The VUE trick is positive so crosses fingers. Congrats and welcome to the nurse club! Hopefully you have a non-sucky BRN that'll post your license nice and quick so you'll know for sure.  Heads up to everybody, flu season is starting soon so a lot of agencies and vaccination companies are starting to hire temp RNs. I organized and ran a flu clinic for my community health clinical last flu season and it's a pretty fun and low stress gig. The SF Bay Area has a ton of businesses that do corporate flu clinics so I've emailed my resume to a half dozen so far and already have 1 interview set up. Most things places want are a pulse, a license, personal liability insurance, and your own transportation. Might be worth looking into if you want to earn  for a few months.EDIT: http://visual.ly/nursing-numbers The average incontinent and bedridden patient will expel 160 lbs of feces a year.  What this graphic leaves out is that the RN wage in the bay area is proportional to the cost of living, and that there are not enough jobs for the 1000 new grads the schools up here in NorCal are pumping out per year. 
Hellacopter fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 01:42
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Apparently to be registered with the college of nurses for my province they are introducing a second exam in addition to the RN licensing one.  All about laws and regulations for the province it seems.
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Aug 10, 2012 19:57
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DeadMansSuspenders posted:Apparently to be registered with the college of nurses for my province they are introducing a second exam in addition to the RN licensing one. Which province?
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Aug 10, 2012 21:41
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Ontario (assuming my skimming of this page was correct). While I'm not worried about it or anything it would have be nice not to have another thing to pay for at this point. This program's been a money pit the past few years.
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Aug 11, 2012 14:03
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DeadMansSuspenders posted:Ontario (assuming my skimming of this page was correct). While I'm not worried about it or anything it would have be nice not to have another thing to pay for at this point. This program's been a money pit the past few years. I threw a bit of a shitfit when I found out I had to pay $200 to take the NCLEX and another $143 to New York State for the privilege of applying for my license. Then out of curiosity I looked into how much it'd cost me to get licensed in Ontario and I stopped whining.
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Aug 11, 2012 15:36
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JAF07 posted:I threw a bit of a shitfit when I found out I had to pay $200 to take the NCLEX and another $143 to New York State for the privilege of applying for my license. And another 80 for a background check? Could be worse, you could live in California where I have to PAY THE BOARD TO TELL OTHER STATES I AM A NURSE. 
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Aug 11, 2012 15:44
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JAF07 posted:Then out of curiosity I looked into how much it'd cost me to get licensed in Ontario and I stopped whining. I appreciate the sentiment.  Mini-rant: They just start emptying your wallet from the first year of the program here. Yearly police check ($60), TB test ($10), HCP First aid ($40) which for those you have to get them cleared every year by an external organization ($80, plus $40 if you mess up and need a second appt). Of course, then there is tuition, text books and supplies - Then to top it off with two exams just doesn't seem that nice. Having said that it I will be entering my final year in just a few weeks and I will be quite relieved to not go through most of that nonsense again. short version: Nursing is a great profession but getting there may break the bank.
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Aug 11, 2012 18:47
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DeadMansSuspenders posted:I appreciate the sentiment. You forgot to add how hard it is to work full time while actually in nursing school. I know a lot of people do it, but I had to cut back to 2 days a week bartending, but when that last semester hit and I had to start paying all the extra fees I thought I was going to go bankrupt. But I love my job and it was worth maxing out my credit cards and taking extra money out in loans to help pay the bills.
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Aug 11, 2012 21:32
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Does anybody think a 10 day critical care class would be of good value to a new grad? The description sounds like it covers a lot specialized areas (vents, hemodynamic monitoring) but the $925 price tag makes me hesitate a lot.  quote:This program is designed to provide the theoretical foundation to enable nurses to transition to Critical Care Nursing in a precepted environment. If you are a RN with no previous experience in Critical Care Nursing or if you need a review, this program is for you. Curriculum includes: Respiratory Assessment, Basic Ventilator Workshop, 12 Lead EKG, Cardiac Drugs and Drips, Neurological Assessment, Critical Care Potpourri, Basic Hemodynamic Monitoring, Applied Hemodynamic Monitoring, Cardiovascular Nursing-Medical and Cardiovascular Nursing Surgical. Basic EKG recognition skills are a prerequisite*. A Critical Care Nursing Program completion certificate is provided upon completion of all 10 days.
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Aug 30, 2012 01:32
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Hellacopter posted:Does anybody think a 10 day critical care class would be of good value to a new grad? The description sounds like it covers a lot specialized areas (vents, hemodynamic monitoring) but the $925 price tag makes me hesitate a lot. If you get a job in the ICU, your hospital will train you and orient you to the unit. Do you have ICU experience with your capstone/practicum? That would help if you wish to apply. However, most hospitals look for at least one year of previous work experience, often times two years, before considering your application to ICU. It never hurts to apply, but don't have your heart set on being an ICU nurse straight out of school. Don't take the class, save your thousand bucks. If/when you get a job in the ICU, your hospital will cover the cost of training you in and you will get hands-on experience with that hospital's equipment. Most hospitals will have you orient for at the very least, six weeks (my hospital's ICU orientation is ten to twelve weeks). Ten days is way too fast to absorb all that information, I'm willing to bet in a month you would have forgotten most of it. Waste of money. There's a chance that a hospital would look upon that class favorably, but experience is really what matters the most on an application. I wouldn't risk a thousand dollars over it.
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Aug 30, 2012 02:23
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and so it begins. Day 2 of the semester and I am already tired. I don't think the content its self is going to be that difficult. There are just a lot of additional assignments plus I am the chapter president for the Student Nurses Association and my faculty adviser is encouraging me to run for state office.
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Aug 30, 2012 03:28
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:and so it begins. Day 2 of the semester and I am already tired. I don't think the content its self is going to be that difficult. There are just a lot of additional assignments plus I am the chapter president for the Student Nurses Association and my faculty adviser is encouraging me to run for state office. I can see how doing an inhuman amount of work in a semester could be seen in a positive light on a resume, but I never thought that sacrificing my leisure time would be worth it.
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Sep 1, 2012 15:34
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Roki B posted:I can see how doing an inhuman amount of work in a semester could be seen in a positive light on a resume, but I never thought that sacrificing my leisure time would be worth it. Its one of those situations of someone has to do the job and no one else is stepping up so it ends up on my shoulders. also I retract my comment about the content. gently caress that. gently caress confusing as hell instructors. I understood all this poo poo till you started talking circles around your self. and gently caress OB. I have no desire to no desire to massage your fundus, or watch your crotch fruit come shooting out. give me an MI and angina anyday
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Sep 2, 2012 01:29
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:Its one of those situations of someone has to do the job and no one else is stepping up so it ends up on my shoulders. Nobody's gonna advocate for you, I'd caution you against being the individual that responsibility falls to just because you let it land there. OB is the literal worst. Gross self-obsessed mothers and their little alien children flinging their nasty fluids about haphazardly. I find it offensive!
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Sep 2, 2012 16:37
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