Murses and Respiratory Therapists?

How many of you guys are murses or RT's here? Im a murse, worked in the ER for a while and got sick of low life scum coming in for some pills and when our hard ass docs didn't give them anything, and then taking shit for it. The last straw was when I had to write an apology note for telling one "I'm sorry, but Im not getting yelled by a doctor because you want something better than a 'hydro'." Now I'm in NICU taking care of their babies hahaha

 

I'm 1st year lower division nursing major at University of South Carolina, certified CNA, certified in first aide, cpr, and basic life support, I will be going to an emt class this summer and hope to be working for a local emt company by next year, also I'm bilateral hearing impaired at almost 60% loss over "normal" so if anyone comes in knowledgeable about that please feel free to share. If you ask the girls I talk to I'm Pre-med.

 

RT here in kansas city. Just like every other RT you'll ever meet, I kinda just fell into the job. Graduated college, had no clue what to do, went to RT school, and boom.. now I'm an RT. It's still amazing when I have students or new hires shadow me and I ask them "why do you want to be an RT"?. And they say " I'm tired of having a job, I want a career". Then I think.. crap, this is my career.

 

I'm a murse working on a spinal cord injury vent weaning unit. It's a specialty unit as there's only a few of them in the nation. Most of the docs are cool and I pretty much get along with my crew. When I graduated I thought critical care was my calling but ended up in Rehab Trauma and love it right now.

 

What's a murse?

 

Male nurse.

 

LOL!
Been a nurse for 17 years and hadn't heard that term.

 

Add me to the list of murses.
Been dragging a$$ the past 20 years in CCU's. BSN completed, and have been considering going back to school.... CRNA. Have moonlighted over the years into ER, education and flight nurse positions. Have been NREMT-P for nearly as many years.
The money is ok and schedule is great. Always open to make more money and have greater flex in scheduling.

 

CRNAs do indeed kill it money wise, but it seems like that would be the only reason to do anesthesia.

 

I'm starting college in August to be an RN. Any advice? I take prerequisites and go through an interview process to be accepted into the program it's very competitive down here. There is always openings and the pay is great though so I think it's worth it

 

Yeah Jessica definitely a good field. You'll have a tangible skill-set that will always be in demand despite fluctuations in local and national job markets.
Once you get outta school there are numerous different environments (obviously) to work in and if ya don't like one then move on to the next. Also several excellent grad school and advanced practice options.
As far as school goes just focus and keep your nose to the grindstone. You'll need a strong prerequisite gpa to get accepted into the BSN program and also cna background will help. I HATED nsg school and didn't study and was more interested in partying and MX and barely got out alive. Passed the NCLEX on my 3rd try and worked OR for 8 years and loved it. I worked hard and excelled especially in orthopedics and had an orthopedic surgeon offer to hire me, pay me a full time salary and pay for grad school. Ive been an Ortho NP for 7.5 years now and love it and am very thankful for my career path. Grad school was much more interesting and the AANP advanced practice exam was a breeze for me.

Nsg school just sucked ass and 90% of what you need to know you'll learn in clinicals, from preceptors and on-the-job (probably like most careers). Just jump through the hoops and check the blocks and DO IT!

 

I wanted to pick something that would always be around and there was alot of job openings and nice pay and it fits it. Plus if I ever had to move I could find a job.

I decided to do the ADN program and start working and from there decide if I want to stick with the ADN or start classes for the BSN. At least I could be working as a nurse while I stat classes for the BSN. Its like going 3 years for that with the prerequisites for the ADN

I was told that the main difference with the ADN and BSN is moving to advancement quicker and pay wasn't that much difference but I would have thought it would have been.

 

In south MS we also have to take the TEAS test and ACT has to be a min overall and min in math and reading.

I think everything you learn more hands on but can be an RN that way I know it will be hard work, but I know it before starting it.

The main thing I am worried about is I'm 31 going back to do it and I've been told that if you work at it I stand as much of a chance as anyone else at being accepted. I should have done this at 18 but I was hard headed and didn't know what I wanted. My cousin was 41 when she went through it and said she doesn't know anyone that tried that didn't get into it so I hope that is the case.

I know there is a difference now with me than when I was 18, I want it more now.

 

Well im in southeast TN. The pay sucks. There are 7 nursing schools that dump out every may and december within 60 miles of here. So basically youre seen as a replaceable object. Airun is right, nursing school sucks bad. I'd dig ditches for a living before I'd go through it again. Here there is maybe a buck or 2 difference between adn and a bsn. The bsn programs around here dont have as good of reputation as most of the associates degree schools.

 

Dang Drew that bites. Seven schools that close together sounds like a problem. When I did my BSN in early 90s my class of 65 students was probably 25% nontraditional and I think those more mature students did better overall.
Around here I do think ADN programs do better at preparing nurses. My program NCLEX pass rates were lower and I think this is due to largely to being overly concerned with "theory" bs and instructors distracted with "academia".

 

I don't know what the market is like in your city, but here in the tri-state area of DC (Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia) there are more advantages for the BSN graduate over the ADN. For instance:
1. Small pay bump...a dollar per hour, typically.
2. The ICU's and ER's give priority to BSN applicants. And certain nursing positions require a BSN, such as school nurse.
3. To be charge nurse (may not be immediate after graduation), clinical advancement, and committee leaders (all more pay) all require BSN.
4. Opportunities for management, teaching and mentoring - must have BSN.
5. To get into grad/advanced practice - must have BSN.
6. The area hospitals market Magnet status/accreditation. Part of this push is research and EBP. Lead by BSN graduates. They market the higher education of their nurses caring for patients.
7. Travel nursing companies prefer and some require BSN. And if you have any interest in flight nursing they won't hire an ADN.
8. Military only hire BSN...from what I'm told.

I'm not saying that any one nurse is better than another, but there are far more opportunities available to the BSN. To get it all completed up front really isn't much longer....maybe two semesters of full time study.
Once you graduate its a difficult transition to return to school to complete the BSN. Not the class work, but the financial adjustment and getting back into the 'school mode'.
With all that said, CONGRATS for getting your butt back to school after being out for a few years. Like others have said keep tight on your studies because your GPA can determine your job, tuition assistance, grants, scholarships, and ability to get admitted into future schooling.

Nevertheless, do what's best for YOU!

 

RN, BSN here. And just got my C-SPI (Certified-Specialist in Poison Information). Worked ER for 5 or so years. Loved taking care of sick people, hated taking care of people with no business being in an ER.

With the exception of the fact that I am not a fan of sitting in a call center 40 hrs/week, I love the Poison Center. Minimal bullshit compared to bedside nursing and it's nice to be working someplace that is actually keeping healthcare costs low. Plus my callers are almost always pleasant and appreciative. Oh, and no one has pissed or shit on me the whole time I've been there...

Soon I hope to be doing my job from home for 3/4 of my shifts. Can't wait to hang out with my dog all day and work in my pajamas.

 

We get this magnet status crap (not saying that magnet status is crap, because I'm pretty sure most magnet hospitals have happy nurses, I'm talking about my hospital saying that they are trying for magnet status is crap) shoved down our throats a lot. We are getting shit on so much at work its sickening.

For instance, my unit is accredited for 56 beds and for the better part of 2 years we have had closer to 65 babies in there. About a year and a half ago we had an outbreak of mrsa colonizations and coincidentally we had opened the unit up to any body being able to visit, it had been just parents and grandparents. Well instead of realizing that 2+2=4, the hospital blamed nursing for this problem. We had to stand in a line after our shifts and have our noses swabbed (not let us swab ourselves, but 2 infection control nazis stood there and rammed those damn things up to our brain stem) to see if we were colonized, then they paid to have dna tests ran on all the samples to see which strains matched those of the babies. We have over 150 nurses in our unit alone and anyone that has a clue about a hospital knows that if you have worked adults ever then you probably have came in contact with MRSA. After the swabs came back positive for x amount of nurses we had to go to the hospital pharmacy and get a prescription of bactriban for our noses and hibaclens to shower with for a week each. Then they retested us. Such bullshit. None of the positive tests were DNA matched to the babies. When asked why they didn't close the unit back down to just parents and grandparents we were told that it would hurt our satisfaction scores too much.

There is much more that I could bitch about, but its all really irrelevant. All it boils down to is that nursing is not the career that they beef it up to be in school. You're probably going to be underpaid, overworked and most definitely under appreciated, but every once in a while you get a patient that makes it worth while.

Around here they all talk BSN is much more preferred but the fact that like airun said, the BSN programs around here are way too concerned with the "nursing theory" and not preparing the nurses to be nurses, is forces them to hire us lowly associates degree nurses

Are any of y'all unionized nurses? If so have you ever worked non-union, is there that much of a difference?

 

That sounds like a sweet gig, the thing for nurses to do around here like that is work at an insurance company. I think if you work there a year, then you're able to work from home.

 

Ccu murse here