I think our job has us see very sad and depressing things, but can we talk about the added fact that patients will tell us horrible things that happened to them in their lives also ? Like is it not enough I’m juggling angry patients, poor scheduling set up by my manager, stress from the job itself, seeing misery all around me at work but on top of that having to hear it from the patients every other day/ week ? My main priority throughout the shift I holding on to my happiness and it gets spent, a lot of shifts and I end up in debt with myself on the happiness meter.

I am a very non confrontational person, and honestly didn’t realize nursing would involve so much fighting with grown adults for their own benefit. I’ve been a tech for over a year, and although I have learned to adapt to some extent, I’m realizing that it is just part of my personality and I don’t think it’s ever gonna get much easier for me. I originally wanted to do ED, but I’m not sure that would align well. I met a NICU nurse that said that was the reason for choosing her specialty, because she didn’t have a strong personality to deal with adults and I relate to that a lot. Besides NICU, is there any other specialties that wouldn’t involve so much conflict?

Normally I come here to rant, but I'm shook at how great my shift was last night. This summer never let up for us, busy busy level 1 trauma center in the city. Summer is trauma season plus we get our new EM residents that trickle orders and require a lot of guidance. But several of our new residents have worked as EMT's, CNA's/techs and even a nurse! The difference is stark! I could tell so instantly that I immediately asked them if they had worked in the medical field prior to med school. It's just little things, like placing my or on telemetry leads for me while we're both assessing the and I'm busy doing my septic work up before they even put in orders because we both knew we were going down that route. Or bringing me my fluid bolus to the bedside before they even put in the order while I'm placing an IV. Or bringing my pt food and throwing in a diet order right off the bat with their initial work up when the PT told them they were hungry so I don't have to chase them down to ask if the PT can eat. Actually ordering my pts pain meds before I have to go chase them down asking for them. The kids are alright this year. I wish this was a requirement for med school...

Lo and behold- I’ve lived to see the day my unit doesn’t have a single sick call and we have an extra nurse.

That 2.5x pay per hour is really showing- cheers to all.

Just came off a night shift, gonna sleep.

Not a nurse, just a new mom. I've always thought that being a labor/delivery/recovery nurse must be the most warm+fuzzy job. Just bringing sweet babies into the world and caring for them. But I never thought about how hard it must be to have to send babies home to bad situations. Like you know the child is not going to get the love and care they deserve but you have to let them go. I cannot imagine how hard and stressful that is. So sending a little love to all the nurses that carry this burden.

Note: This is just my postpartum/early morning breastfeeding brain at work. I love my little girl tremendously, have lots of support, and am doing my best to care for her. This is not a cry for help/concern about a particular child. Just a random thought.

So yesterday we had a nursing assistant come in to work from 3a-7a and I was told he seemed super extra and more energetic and chaos than usual. He proceeded to tell everyone that he picked up the shift around 8pm then went to the bar until 12 but only had 2 drinks. Refused to safety sit because he would fall asleep. Admitted he probably shouldn’t have come to work but it was easy money to come in and just take vitals. We work on a neurosurgery unit in a hospital. It’s never easy work. I came in at 7a. He talked to me before he left, and shared his evening story with me. I told him it was not ok to drink alcohol at all and then come to work and he agreed but again said he didn’t think it was an issue because he didn’t smell and felt fine. I promptly notified management.

Snitching or holding your peers accountable? I think what he did was highly irresponsible but everyone else was too afraid to speak up.

virginia mason's ER- anyone know anything about it? i know it's not going to see much trauma because harborview is so close, but what are the vibes- more of an urgent care, critical access, critical patients? any insight is welcome!!! thank you :D

peds nurse here. went into the room to help my colleague take an ecg for a screaming 1.5yr old child.

father looked at child, looked at me, and then told me word for word, “you have traumatised my child before. i think you should get out”

i have never seen the child before throughout the whole admission (i was allocated to another part of the ward).
i wasn’t even employed in the ward when the child was admitted last year.

“it seems like she has an awesome memory! okay!”

i sure love traumatising and torturing kids.

Hey all,

Boston ER nurse here.

I'm posting just to gain perspective on what the ERs are like in NYC. I have heard some of the horror stories regarding really shitty ratios and what not, but I am looking to hear from all five boroughs if possible. I really wanna know which hospitals to stay away from, and which are considered "good". I post this mainly out of curiosity, as I just recently had the opportunity to spend a week in this crazy amazing wonderful city and it really made me realize how small my home city is. I work in one of the big hospitals currently in Boston and would love to know how my experience stacks up against an NYC ER Nurse.

Thanks!

Wow, I saw a social media post this morning that hit hard. I was griping about work at work, work at home, just too much to accomplish and not emough time. This post said "Stop complaining about things you used to Pray for."

Yep, that shut me down in a heart beat. I prayed to be an ER Nurse, prayed for a house of my own, prayed for a family that I adored. Prayed for all of it. I really needed to hear that.

So I graduated May 2024 and took time to care for my newborn after school. I recently started applying for jobs this summer. All of the hospitals near me require 1 year of experience (the application will instantly deny without it) for regular job listings and anyone with less than 1 year of experience should apply to the new grad residency listing. I spoke with a recruiter and she told me since I graduated over a year ago I do not qualify for a residency (even though their site does not say that) she recommended that I get experience first, gain experience and apply for a regular listing after a year. Only problem is that hospital dominates job listings where I live and there are not many places to apply to that also don’t require or prefer 1-5 years experience. I’ve applied to smaller clinics, hospitals, LTC, outpatient psych ect. with no luck. Any ideas how to find a job or should I go back to school for a new career?

Hi everyone, i'm a new nurse (about a year into nursing) and i'm on a med-surg floor.

I've had a few situations where i've had to transfer a pt to ICU or call rapid response, but each time, I feel so incompetent. I know nurses gain knowledge and skills through experiences, but it's hard to give myself grace sometimes.
Sometimes when a patient is starting to decompensate and I have the MD or RRT nearby, I feel stuck or frozen. Like I suddenly don't know what to say or what to do. I know I need to let the experienced individuals take over at times and just support and learn from the side, but I really don't like feeling so useless.

Although I may lack the knowledge or skills during a critical situation, how can I expand my knowledge to make myself more useful during these situations? I know I need to get myself familiar with different protocols at my hospital such as strokes, codes, etc... but it's hard to know that what i'm doing is right if i've never been in the situation before. It's discouraging and makes me feel like I want to leave nursing entirely. At the same time, i'm in awe of how well RRT can handle such situations efficiently. I know it takes years and years of critical care experience, but man... i'd love to work in critical care one day, but just feel like I wouldn't have what it takes.

I’ve been full time dayshift for 3 years before that full time nights for 2. I am able to take a part time night position starting in November. I’m so ready to go part time but nervous about going back to nights. I’m just feeling a little burnt out FT. My hospital pays 100% of health insurance for my family for both PT and FT. I also planning on starting in person FNP school in May ( it has a 4 day a month class commitment). I would prefer part time days but an opening like that hasn’t happened in the last 4 years. Thoughts anyone

What up homies! Currently, 3 years of ED experience with an ADN. I have ACLS, PALS, TNCC, and NIH. I am finishing my first travel gig. The endgame goal is to get on at the VA for a long term career path. Goals are to set my family up for success; insurance, pension, and etc.

I have looked into the grades and see that to make it to Nurse II I basically need a BSN no matter what. My question is, does it make more sense to continue local travel contracts while working on an online RN-BSN program. Once I get the BSN then start the process with the VA, so that I am at the higher grade? Or, does it make sense to get on as soon as possible so that the amount of time in the VA gets started. I start enjoying the benefits and increasing my steps, while working on the RN-BSN?

My main concern is that if I start with the ADN and then get the BSN while working I might screw myself on getting to a higher grade/step.

What is easier to get through the VA tuition reimbursement or for them to pay for schooling as I go to it?

Thank you all so much! My family and I are really appreciate to your shared experiences and guidance. Thank you.

Hi guys I’m gonna be a new grad in December I am in Tacoma and I’m trying to get into a residency. I have applied as far as Everett and Covington all the way down to Olympia. I applied and haven’t heard anything back yet, I’m just scared I’m not gonna get a job after I graduate. What other jobs can I get as a new grad? I’m open to anything while waiting to get into a hospital residency. If you guys have any suggestions or options of what I should do pls let me know. TIA

I work at a hospital in Texas, I’m a patient care tech and this job isn’t my first in this role. Typically when you are floated to sit, you sit for the whole shift (12hr). This hospital is special, I was told we could only sit for 6 hr and then be moved to the floor (if you were floated to medsurg to sit, then you would be on the medsurg floor for the remaining 6hrs). This rule was added because some dumb tech was on her phone and a patient tried to K themselves. Now the 6hr sit rule wasn’t too much, everyone agreed that it was probably for the best anyways. The one thing that sucks balls is now every year we have to do this FOUR HOUR meeting (unpaid btw) where they do SI education. This mandatory meeting is for ALL staff, not just cnas/pcts. I work nights, these meetings are only on weekdays. I picked nights because I have a child and don’t have much room for someone to watch her if I’m not there, my husband works weekdays so I come home, he goes to work. People are tweaking over this, mostly because it’s unpaid. Like wth

I need some advice from NYC nurses about a job offer I received! I received a bedside position at one of the top 3 hospitals (NYU, NYP, Mount Sinai) which I am grateful for, but the only thing that I am hesitant about is that the position will be part time instead of full time. They did tell me that we can consider changing the position to full time later, but I'm not sure if this is guaranteed or not. Should I take the offer or should I continue to apply to other full time nursing positions?

That’s it. I love yall so much. Thanks for saving my ass every day when I’m in the trenches. I know you guys don’t see everything we do behind the scenes but behind the scenes can be incredibly stressful and when you pick up on that stress it’s the most helpful, ass saving part of my day. Thank you. I love you.

Looking for some intel on Nashville for a new grad RN. Context is I’m graduating December in Memphis and have had a first round interview with Vanderbilt. No offer/salary discussion just yet. I can expect between $31-$33hr here in Memphis. We have a good life here so it’s not a Nashville or bust situation. That being said there’s things we like about Nashville too.

Wife is 15 year NICU vet $45hr so I’m sure she will have no trouble finding a job. My question is will Nashville salaries make up for the cost of living differences between our two fair cities?

Hello! I’m a new grad nurse starting Week 5 of orientation.

The most dreadful part of my shift is giving report. It’s so nerve-racking, and I have zero confidence when I’m doing it.

English is not my first language, and I’ve been wondering: if I were a native English speaker, would my report actually be better? Honestly, I’m not sure. Because of my English, I also constantly doubt myself and think, “Did I hear that correctly?” when the outgoing nurse gives me report. It’s really getting to me.

My weakest point is giving the plan. I don’t always know what the plan is, and no one has really told me what I’m supposed to include. Am I supposed to read the MD/team notes and figure out what they’re planning, then tell the incoming nurse? I get conflicted because that’s not information I personally received in report. Is reviewing the notes and communicating the plan also considered part of nursing report?

So far, I haven’t had enough time to read through everything and figure out the plan before giving report. That’s why I sometimes completely blank when it’s time to talk about the plan. If that’s something everyone normally does, I’ll definitely try harder to understand what the team is planning before giving report.

I’d really appreciate any advice on giving report, especially the “Plan” part.

Also, I feel pretty ashamed when I stumble over my words during report. I hope native English-speaking nurses can have a little extra patience with non-native English-speaking nurses. We’re really trying our best, and sometimes the language barrier makes something that should be simple feel much harder. 😭

I live in PA, not far from Trenton, NJ border. I went from inpatient to outpatient and took a pay cut. Now my fiancé has been laid off from an IT job for over a year, we are going to lose our house if I don't go back to work in a hospital. I'm spinning in circles trying to figure out the best strategy. It's been almost 4 years since I have been away from the bedside. I need to maximize pay, benefits, and best re-entry plan due to my health etc. I'm in my early 40's and have only been a Nurse for 8 years (4yrs Med-Surge/tele and 4 years Med-Derm Clinic). This makes me feel a lot of pressure to pivot and advance in my career (MSN/Public Health?), but right now I just need to become financially stable. I'm looking at jobs in Philly, Trenton and up to NYC for the biggest pay bump. Any thoughts, strategy? Would love to hear from Nurses who work in NYC and/or commute from out of state.

(I can't do travel Nursing because I've been away from the bedside too long.)

For context: I own a home and have a family. Mortgage, HELOC, medications, copays, utilities and an obscene amt of credit card debt because we really didn't think he would be out of work this long. I'm terrified that the job market is dead (Kronos Admin in Healthcare) He's starting to look into CDL because no one else is hiring.

I know how hard CNAs work with not near enough compensation. I think they are overworked and under appreciated, and I work with many great CNAs. With this being said, I am going to post about an issue I’m having on my floor with some CNAs.
There are two CNAs on my unit that just have awful attitudes. I thought it was just towards me and figured maybe I said or did something to irritate them, so I took the attitude and just tried to be better with helping with their tasks (doing vitals, cleaning my patients etc-things I already do as a nurse because I KNOW that no job is below my title-patient care is patient care and I can wipe a butt as well as anyone else). But, I began to see other nurses get irritated too-and then began the patient complaints.
For a variety of reasons, patients and/or their family members have come to me to complain. Usually regarding bad attitude or poor care, but mostly bad attitude. I have given pts/families my manager’s number or (back when we had a more present manager) spoke with her directly about the patient having a complaint. I made a point to not throw in names-just mentioned that there were complaints that needed to be addressed. I have also provide the number to patient advocacy and our hospital’s email for patient complaints or compliments. I have mentioned (in a much more general sense to avoid being black balled by the CNAs) to previous managers that I have witnessed and had patients complain about inappropriate behavior. Nothing has been done.
The other day while orienting someone, a CNA argued with a lightly demented patient (pretty much all there but some executive functioning is off). She was trying to stop him from falling, but was doing it in a manner that
1. Was actually making pt more unsteady
2.Was making a normally docile patient angry AF and
3. Made the patient feel “manhandled”.
My orientee and I ran over and all was fine-but I had to deescalate the situation from becoming a manpower. Once that was achieved, the CNA continued to argue with this patient-as if the patient was a fully oriented individual who isn’t in the hospital for dementia related diagnosis. She proceeded to stir the pt up again, though on a lighter scale that was more easily deescalated. My orientee asked me “is this always how your CNAs act? That was basically verbal abuse to a patient!” I didn’t even know what to say because…well yeah! It was and I have been getting ignored all this time. I’ve had a previous orientee make similar comments-also adding in laziness on the CNAs part since my orientee was previously a CNA.
We have a newish manager who I don’t know if I can trust-I feel she’ll somehow turn this around on me and say it’s my fault for not reporting these behaviors in the past-or not keep it anonymous-as I’ve heard her gossiping about various things like this in the past.
Is anyone else experiencing this type of stuff? And is it worth going through the whole reporting process, or will we just end up with replacements of the same caliber? I want to make sure my patients are safe, but I also recognize that if we lose CNAs and can’t replace them, the patients will suffer (8 med surg patients with no CNA to help with breakfast feeds and bed changes, call bells-Yikes!) apologies for grammar and spacing etc. I promise I’m normally better than this mess of text!