hello. i’m a new grad nurse who just graduated last month. I just got a job in Calgary and i was physically assaulted by a mentally ill client in a support living facility and want to do something about it. Management asked me to do an incident report and WCB form, someone recommended a stress leave for me but they didn’t agree. I don’t think Union is much of a help either and don’t think management is doing enough to address the severity of the situation, especially the trauma it caused me. Please help 🙏

Long story short, I finished ADN school in 2019 and got my BSN in 2020. I worked about 4 months on a progressive care/tele floor but left because the unit didn’t support me in my orientation and was unsafe. I’ve been home raising babies since then. Now that my youngest is finally a toddler, I can feel my “powers” returning… the brain fog is lifting and I can remember things and reason again. I would really like to get back into healthcare, but due to the lack of a support system at home (my husband is supportive but that’s all I’ve got), for practical reasons I would need to wait until he is school aged - so another year and a half to two years. Problem is, I’m going a little stir crazy and I want to use my nursing knowledge and skills again. The best I’ve been able to do over these 4 years is listen to critical care podcasts 😅my license is still active. So what are y’all’s thoughts? I know to do a graduate degree it’s usually better to have experience in the field. BUT, would working on a grad degree be better than doing absolutely nothing in the field? It’s worth noting that I also have a background in “research” and writing (BA in anthropology which I got before nursing), so I don’t mind vigorous/lengthy college work. I’m also in the process of finding places to volunteer but there isn’t much I’ve been able to find so far

Hello all,

I am a LPN who works in acute care hospital. In my hospital (small city sized) there has been a huge shift to a lot of brand new grad nurses and very little senior staff. Which of course comes with some challenges. I have been wanting to create a mentorship program, with support of my manager, to help with new staff confidence and create better working relationships. I am reaching out to see if anyone has a program like this at there hospital? Is it formal or informal? Is there a positive response from it? Are experience senior staff willing to participate? What are the challenges or pitfalls to the program?

Any other feedback or advice would be grately appreciated. I want to see a positive change and I am hoping this might help. Thanks you for any response !!

I got my LPN in 2019 and my first job was at a long term facility that was a nightmare. Since then I’ve had office jobs which I hated. Then, I became home health peds. I loved it, until I didn’t. Got too close to caring for my pt that I felt like the lines for how I care about them was starting to blur. I cared too much basically and it caused problems with family because I advocated for them too much. Also, the hours are not great because when they’re at the hospital or out of town I don’t have a patient. Now I’m back in long term care after 5 years and I feel somewhat lost. Any pointers on how to go about in long term care. I just feel inadequate in how I care for my patients. I have gotten so used to working 1:1 that I never got experience in caring for multiple patients. Some days I feel overwhelmed with the amount of meds I’m giving to patient and all the TAR. There is also the clock to beat so there isn’t any Rx error. I feel like such a new nurse for seeing things in treatment I am not familiar with and I feel like I have to keep looking stuff up and ask my supervisor a bunch of questions. On top of all that I have to make sure if there are appointments or labs the next day I have to prepare stuff for those. It’s like there is no break. I feel really overwhelmed sometimes and I just started. I work night shifts full time and also full time student for LPN-RN.

Hi, I work for hospice as a RNCM and anytime I take a day off, I’m expected to move around my patients so that I still see them all just on the days I’m on. It ends up making it so that everyday I work a week I take a day off is just busier and more stressful. No one will see my patients for me unless I ask relentlessly. I miss the point of taking PTO, which is to take a break.

Is this normal???

I have a load of 16, doing about 24-30 visits weekly and am about to take 2 days off in a week to move, so I’m concerned about taking this time off because it’ll make my last 3 days of that week exhausting if I have to squeeze everyone in to 3 days.

Hi everyone,

I'm a Canadian nurse who recently moved from Toronto to Texas and I'm currently working on getting my initial RN license here. I graduated from uni in Ontario during spring 2024 and have been navigating the steps required by the Texas Board of Nursing, but I ran into a problem with missing peds & maternal/infant clinical hours as shown in my CES report. I did not have a peds & maternal/infant rotation. I’ve contacted my uni but they cannot have give me further clinical hours since I’ve already graduated.

Has anyone else been through this? If so:

Any tips for how I can meet complete these requirements?

Is there any way of going around this issue?

Thanks so much for any insight – this process has been a bit overwhelming, and any guidance would be appreciated!

RN - wound care to operating room

Hello nurses!

I have a question, if I have a NJ RN license and I applied for a RN Florida license, can I hold both licenses or would I have to resign to my NJ license?

Also, after getting my Florida RN license, if I apply for a temporary license at a different state would I lose my main RN license?

Thank you in advance!!

This may be a long shot, but I am interviewing for a school nurse position in PA. Anyone have any experience with pre-employment drug screens for school nurses? Really only concerned with cannabis use. TIA

Hi all, so I’m in semester 3/4 of my ABSN program. Hospital recruiters have been coming to my school to share details about their programs and I’m interested in a nurse residency. I already applied to one program and intend to apply to two more.

After hearing from two of them, seems like any women and children speciality is highly competitive, at least in my area. I’m extremely passionate in women’s health and OB but it looks like I may have a hard time getting in as a new grad here.

I did medical scribing in peds ER for 3 years prior to nursing school and enjoyed that a lot. I wouldn’t mind starting out in an adult ER if I had to. Seems like I have a better chance anyway. A recruiter recommended step-down ICU for me to get into L&D but I don’t know about that. Thoughts?

I am looking for a South Carolina-based RN to BSN online program that does not have clinicals or capstone. It has to be South Carolina due to being my home of record and funding for the program. Thank you!

So, I asked the hospital where I worked that I want a report of who accessed my med records from this to that date. The compliance officer seemed very suspicious and asked me if I can give them names dates that I think my records have been accessed without authorization. I said I can’t point fingers I just want the report for myself. Another red flag, at least for me, was the question, after this request are you planning any further actions? Sounded like, are you gonna sue us if you see in the report something you don’t like. I said, no, no further actions, but I haven’t even seen it yet and you are asking me this. Anyway, sounded fishy. A few days later I get a call, they had conducted a research and said no unauthorized access was made. I asked if I can still have the report and they said, since nobody accessed my file without authorization, they don’t generate reports. Is this true? It sounds very strange that they don’t want to show me who accessed my med file even with authorization. I’ll be happy to get replies from people who work in those departments or had similar requests. Thank you.

P. S. All this was done over the phone. But when I googled, AI says report can be generated regardless, but it has to b requested in written form. I was never given a form, they just said, we will call you. Hmmm

I've begun to feel unfulfilled as a nurse. I work on a medical/surgical (primarily orthopedic) floor. Most days I admit, discharge, pass meds, and do the clerical work that comes along with it all. I feel like a med passing/charting robot that is rarely allowed to even try to connect with my 5-6 patients because I'm desperately trying to keep up with the quick turn-over of patients we have. I feel that I rarely even have the chance to be a real nurse and do nursing things...does that make sense? How can I be better? I always leave feeling I've let my patients down, I didn't do enough, I wasn't enough.

Hi there, This is a long shot but any nurses work at CAMH in Toronto? What are the best units to work on as an RN.

Thanks!

DialysisRN

I’m a Speech Language Pathologist. My client is nonspeaking due to Cerebral Palsy but has a Speech Generating Device they use to communicate. They have a lot of medical needs and so they have a full time nurse who stays with them at home and at school.

My client’s nurse never sets their device up for the day, refuses to bring it to school etc. Basically, they only get to have their device for their 45 minute speech session 1x each week.

The nurse often makes comments about their device like “I’m not responsible for that” or “I don’t get paid to do that” or “my job is just to keep her alive and give her the care she needs”. But ethically, according to the NJC communication is a basic human right and patients cannot be denied access to- the device is even considered a piece of DME that is medically necessary. It’s been a really sad and frustrating experience. Is this a common mindset amongst the nurse community? What do you know about this dilemma? What has your experience been like when working with patients who are non-speaking and use devices?

I work on a cardiac step-down unit. I also work tomorrow (halloween) night. I really want to do something for my patients. Most timesI have a couple who are diabetics so I dont want to do candy. Any ideas?

For context I’m a new grade I’ve been a nurse for 4 months on my own for 2. A patient was leaving for a cat scan and I hooked them to a portable oxygen tank. They are 5L at baseline. I left the room and the transport called to lmk she was refusing to go. I got side tracked and was getting a lot of calls on my vocera and forgot to hook her back up to the wall O2 the tank ran out within the hour she was on it. PT caught it and reported it to my charge. My charge asked me to meet her in the room with my patient and corrected me in front of them. I just feel awful…she had me contact the doctor and request vbg. Is there anything else I should do? I’m kinda scared I will get in trouble for this

I work float pool intermediate and critical care. I was in a CVICU and had a pt 18 days post cabg that was having a very poor recovery. He spent 10 days on CRRT and still had poor renal function. This unit doesn’t collect their labs until after 4am.

So I collect around 0430, and they don’t result until nearly 0600. His K was 3.0. He wasn’t on electrolyte replacement, and they were replacing as needed with direct orders, so I figured neph would order replacement when they round.

When I told this in report, the nurse literally ran to the monitor to check his rhythm which was ok. She promptly ended report saying she needed to fix this right away.

In hindsight, I should have called nephrology as soon as I saw it, but got distracted. As I was leaving, they were talking about filing a safety report.

How badly did I screw up?

I’m trying to make a list of things that I want for a new job as a nurse. I just want to know what things in your job that you absolutely can’t live without at your job?

Actually, I have never worked as an RN. Due to some very bad health complications that happened shortly after my graduation and that are now resolved , I could not get land a job in the nursing field after graduation or even take the Nclex. I plan on passing the nclex and starting my career as a nurse as soon as I get my license… but who is gonna hire someone who hasn’t worked in the field more than a year after graduation? Despite me taking the nclex , my skills are not as fresh, and I don’t want to make any mistakes! I take other people’s lives very seriously as well as any job I may have. I just want to have a career honestly and stop being unhappy in jobs I don’t like.

I got hired by one of the UC (University of California) hospital in Northern California.. pay is about 90/hr and also got hired in Washington, pay is about 73/hr with sign in bonus. I heard that UC offers a good retirement package.But the cost of living in CA kinda scares me..I may not be able to afford to buy a house in CA in the future.I just really want to hear others opinion.

Had anyones hospital ever been taken over by the state? What ended up happening? Hospital system was bought by a for profit company in 2015. The for profit company is now being sued by the state for mismanagement and the state is trying to take over the health system.

Hi all! I’ve seen a few posts with non. bedside ideas, but I’m still feeling lost and stressing myself out majorly. So I have been a nurse for a little over a year, did about 14 months in PCU and did not like it, about a month and a half ago I got hired in ICU and was excited for the change and…I still hate it.

I worked as an anesthesia tech while in school and I think that I would like going back to the OR or even pre-op/pacu, but everywhere I have applied requires RN experience in those areas. I thought about trying out psych since I have some friends who love that, but I’m worried about leaving the hospital setting and it being even harder to get into something other than med/surg or PCU if I want to try to go back eventually.

I also don’t know how to bring this up with my current leader to see if a transfer elsewhere would be approved so soon to try something else or if I should just apply at outside facilities and leave.

Thanks for any advice or just the opportunity to vent if nothing else! ❤️

Malapit na ako magboard exam at feeling ko bili ko makalimot at nawwindang ako. Yun scores ko sa exam is 50-60+ over 100. Sobra dali na kapag 70. Sa Final Coaching mga 90+ over 150. 120/200.

Di ko alam kung papasa ako sa ganitong grades 😭😭😭

I’m so burnt out from hospitals, I’ve been a nurse for about ten years. I’ve traveled for half of that. I just took my first regular staff position since COVID and the pay cut and (since we’re a union) “seniority rules” mentality for requesting time off is so constricting. But I’m just so burnt out from lack of integrity, physicians and doctors mistakes and patients suffering, constantly giving my all and watching my coworkers run themselves ragged only to be told we’ve missed some part of charting or that we need to do more. We’re always short staffed and I feel like I have to do my own job and that of the CNAs and sometimes even the doctors. I dream about a career with a better income where I’m actually able to help people and have time to take care of myself too. Where decisions are made because it’s what’s best for the patient and not for financial reasons for the hospital. Has anyone ever worked independently as a health counselor or attempted to start their own business? What has been your experience? What worked and what didn’t? Did you like it?

To keep it short, I work with quite a lot of women who are 1) racist 2) condescending 3)will pick at you and make me feel like an idiot although I have spent 12 hours investing my time with my patients whom I clearly care about. This happens each handover.... how do I deal with this.. Side note: I hate conflict, don't get come back terms and phrases easily but when I lose my shit it gets very very evident and people will know....and hear...and I hate it to get to that point at a professional settling.

Hello! I recently started as a pharmacy tech (sorry I know not a nurse). I was wanting to see if anyone has a recommendation for good shoes that I can stand in for 6 hours at a time. I'm a size 11 and am unsure what brands are best.

Thanks in advance!

Hey all any advice for a new comer? I’m (25m) currently working as behavioral therapist in Boston making 33$ an hour & I enjoy it but I want something new & more exciting, my current job & career path is starting to feel stale/ bland. I saw job listings on indeed for LPNs paying pretty much the same, if not more in my area plus I’ll get to learn something & honestly make an impact on someone’s life since providing excellent care / health services is what I love to do regardless of what field I’m in.

Anyways, I have an associates degree in an unrelated field but I’m looking to start in a 12 month LPN training program at a local community college & study/pass the NCLEX-PN

Any similar experiences? How’d it turn out? Better than expected or are there regrets? Please feel free to share.