Medical professionals! To me!

[Antisocial_Worker]

This is an advice question, but I'm asking this here because it's most definitely a question about bagging a healthcare job.

My boyfriend is an RN. While earning his degree, he worked as a tech in an ER. Ever since, as he explained it to me, it has been his dream to work as an ER nurse because unless and until he is an ER nurse, he won't feel like a nurse. When he's really down, he says his job is mainly changing diapers and handing out pills, and that bothers him on a fundamental level. He feels like a failure. It doesn't help that he's applied to at least twenty ER positions at the hospital where he works, as well as others nearby to no avail. He hates, hates, hates the floor he works on now, which is the floor where they stick the new nurses to see if they're really serious about nursing. The ones who aren't run screaming by week's end because that's the floor where all the loons and entitlement whores end up because the other floors refuse to deal with them.

So... as you can probably imagine, it was a very big deal indeed the other day when someone from his hospital's HR called him up out of the blue to schedule an interview for an ER position. This is huge because his hospital is the regional hospital that all the other little ones in this part of the state send the patients they aren't equipped to handle -- and as far as he is concerned, a day without gutshot gangbangers and car accident victims with head trauma is a day that isn't worth living.

So, he's excited. If he gets this job, it's a major coup because his hospital is moving toward requiring nurses with bachelor's degrees, while he only has an associate's degree -- and the ER's requirements are even tougher.

He's nervous. He only worked as a tech, and now all the doubts are piling up. He has some sort of book that he means to read before his interview, but he's also worried about the questions that will be asked of him at the interview.

That leads me to my point. Do any of you medical professionals work in emergency rooms? What were you asked at your interview? How did you prepare? What do you need to know?

Thanks in advance.

[Food Lady]

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but how cool is it that your boyfriend is a nurse?! He deserves respect for that reason alone. I hope he gets the job!

[Antisocial_Worker]

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but how cool is it that your boyfriend is a nurse?! He deserves respect for that reason alone. I hope he gets the job!

I hope he gets the job too, and I agree with you that he deserves respect just for being a nurse at all -- but you try telling him that. To him, nursing means being elbow deep in entrails and anything less is not really nursing. I try to convince him otherwise, but he still feels like a failure because he's not an ER nurse.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Wow. I do not ever want a job like your boyfriend has.
It's completely and utterly respectable, needed, required for society, yes.
I respect people in your Bf's position, and am grateful for them.
But I am not built like that, not at all.
Sometimes, it's comforting how different everyone is. :)
Major props to the BF.
(also, I have no advice to actually give. ... sorry.)

[DeltaSierra]

No job advice, but sending tons of good luck thoughts his way!!!

[morgana]

No advice either, but I'll keep a candle lit. Keep us posted, K?

[Antisocial_Worker]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I'll be sure to keep things updated.

[Sapphire Silk]

I've worked extensively as an ER nurse, and am a certified emergency nurse. So I may be able to help :)

First of all, he needs to do some meditation and keep calm during the interview.

Some of the questions will focus on why he thinks he is a good fit for that environment. His answers should focus on his:

Assessment skills
Pharm skills
Knowledge of pathophysiology
Ability to be patient centered
His time management and prioritization skills
And his proficiency at basic nursing skills such as IV starts, wound care, and the like.

A good ER can quickly perform an assessment and make a determination of priorities of care on the fly. A good ER nurse has to be able to juggle several seriously ill patients at once, and be able to jump from crisis to crisis. He has to be able to cycle through and re-evaluate situations quickly. He also has to be able to clear rooms quickly so new patients can be roomed and treated.

Basically, it is a lot of what he is doing now, on over drive.

Since he has no critical care experience, he will not be expected to be an expert on those things. He should not try to impress the interviewer with knowledge of situations he doesn't see on his floor. He should focus on how what he DOES know can be an asset in the ER. They know he will need to be trained. Every new ER nurse does. So he should focus on how he is ready for those challenges.

I wish him the best of luck. The ER was my dream too, and it took me a long time to get there. I miss it, quite frankly, but it's just not a job I can do while I'm teaching :(

[jedimaster91]

To him, nursing means being elbow deep in entrails and anything less is not really nursing.

It would almost be worth the nightmare that is nursing school if I could be elbow deep in entrails. To me that just sounds awesome. But I'm twisted like that. :devil:

Good luck to your BF! Pancea pretty much hit the nail on the head. I can't really offer anything more, especially since my degree is in medical imaging. The only time I see the ER is when I cut through on my way out. :lol:

[telecom_goddess]

Here is a question for the nursing professionals....I don't know the difference in level of nurses, rn vs lpn etc...but I thought being a nurse at the most basic level required a bachelor's degree rather than an associate's?

[charred]

it's a bit late now, but I'd recommend he put some time in as an EMT.

[trailerparkmedic]

Here is a question for the nursing professionals....I don't know the difference in level of nurses, rn vs lpn etc...but I thought being a nurse at the most basic level required a bachelor's degree rather than an associate's?

You can start working as an RN with an associate degree, or even without a degree if you graduate from a hospital based program. The hospital based programs are few and far between--Texas's second to last one turned into an associate degree program within the past couple of years. That's how all nurses used to be trained way back when.

An LPN/LVN has 1 year of nursing school (along with some pre-reqs). The differences between LVNs and RNs vary by state, and I haven't had that class yet. ;) LVNs aren't very common in the big teaching hospitals I hang out at, but they are the nurses you'll see in places like the doctor's office or nursing homes.

[Sapphire Silk]

Here is a question for the nursing professionals....I don't know the difference in level of nurses, rn vs lpn etc...but I thought being a nurse at the most basic level required a bachelor's degree rather than an associate's?

There are two licensures for nurses: Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and Registered Nurse (RN).

The LPN is a trained nurse who graduates from what is typically a 1 year program (usually at a community college but not always). She is trained in basic nurses skills: assessment, medication administration, sterile technique, personal care, etc as well as rudimentary care planning. The LPN can implement care under the direction of the Registered Nurse and can supervise the care of unlicensed personnel such as CNAs.
They take the NCLEX-PN board exam for a license in their state.

Registered Nurses graduate from Associate Degree, Diploma, or Bachelor of Science programs. An ADN program is typically a 2 year program at a community college. A Diploma Program is typically a 3 year program based directly in a hospital (the standard before programs moved to colleges). A BSN, of course, is a 4 year course of study. Regardless of program of study, all allow the graduate to take the NCLEX-RN exam for RN licensure. RNs can plan and implement nursing care independently, and of course are responsible for implementing the medical plan of care.

RNs supervise the care of LPNs, CNAs, EMTs and most other personnel with some exceptions. In other cases, they collaborate with other health care professionals.

Both RNs and LPNs can work in any field of medicine. However, most LPNs work in long term care.

When I was an LPN I worked in home health care, corrections, cardiac step down, and the ER.

[telecom_goddess]

Thanks Panacea I figured you'd step in and explain :)

[Seshat]

When he's really down, he says his job is mainly changing diapers and handing out pills, and that bothers him on a fundamental level. He feels like a failure.

Speaking as a disabled person; that most definitely IS nursing!

It may not be the branch of nursing he wants to go into, but if I didn't have my physically-healthy family caring for me, I'd be needing personal care assistance. (Thankfully not diaper changing, but yes I'd need someone to wash my hair for me.)

Another member of my family would need someone to track her medications for her (we do it), and ensure she gets the right ones at the right times.

In essence, societies have three choices for people like me.
* providing nurses and carers to keep us alive-and-functional. (These may be family members, for those who have sufficient family.)
* not providing nurses/carers, but leaving us as beggers or in leper colonies with our condition worsening due to lack of care.
* killing us.

When 'diaper changing' gets him down, remind him of the alternative options societies have.

Yes, the 'personal care' level of nursing isn't the highly-skilled, highly-medical level. But it absolutely requires the human touch, and the inherent humanity and bedside manner, that characterises a great nurse.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Speaking as a disabled person; that most definitely IS nursing!

It may not be the branch of nursing he wants to go into, but if I didn't have my physically-healthy family caring for me, I'd be needing personal care assistance. (Thankfully not diaper changing, but yes I'd need someone to wash my hair for me.)

Another member of my family would need someone to track her medications for her (we do it), and ensure she gets the right ones at the right times.

In essence, societies have three choices for people like me.
* providing nurses and carers to keep us alive-and-functional. (These may be family members, for those who have sufficient family.)
* not providing nurses/carers, but leaving us as beggers or in leper colonies with our condition worsening due to lack of care.
* killing us.

When 'diaper changing' gets him down, remind him of the alternative options societies have.

Yes, the 'personal care' level of nursing isn't the highly-skilled, highly-medical level. But it absolutely requires the human touch, and the inherent humanity and bedside manner, that characterises a great nurse.

I keep telling him this, and I'm proud to report that he does have the inherent humanity to make a great nurse... A couple of weeks ago he personally oversaw all that it took to bring a lady's senile husband in to visit her. She needed the hospital, while he was just so far gone that there was no choice but to put him in the hospital as well because there was no one else to care for him. It actually involved some logistics to work it all out, and he didn't have time but he did it anyway.

Another time he took time out to console an elderly lady who was in tears because she was just so scared and feeling alone. He's gone in to calm down people who've gone completely off their rockers, such as one particular schizophrenic young man.

[Seshat]

Then he most definitely, absolutely, IS a nurse. Just not in the specific field of nursing he would prefer to be in.

And he is a valuable, wonderful, amazing human being on top of that.

Stay proud of him.



Edit to add:

I could tell stories of so many nursing-failures. Nurses who have failed to provide Anna the right meds, or the meds on time, or who have relied on asking mental patients what meds they are supposed to have. Nurses or "professional carers" who have handled personal care charges roughly. Nurses who have mishandled wound care. One 'nurse' who left a friend of mine lying on the floor because he insisted she could get up by herself. (Obviously he hadn't properly read her chart!)

While I wish him well in his attempt to get into the field of nursing he wants to be in; I also hope that he comes to value and respect some of the more mundane, less 'elbow deep in entrails' parts of nursing. :) People like me need people like him.

[Antisocial_Worker]

An update -- of sorts.

The other day my boyfriend got a call from a small hospital an hour away from where we live, wanting to interview him for an ER position out there. He interviews at his hospital on Wednesday, and at the hospital way the hell over there on Thursday.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Update!

This was a triumph... I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction... (*boyfriend's*) Hospital System -- "We do what we must, because we can." -- for the good of all of us except the ones who are dead.

Further update!

This was a triumph... I'm making a note here: SMALL SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction... (*rural*) Hospital System -- "We do what we must, because we can." -- for the good of all of us except the ones who are dead.

Yes! Boyfriend, my very own Rasta Nurse, was offered two -- count 'em! -- two ER positions today. His own large regional hospital called him the day after his interview, after telling him it would take up to two weeks to reach a decision, and the small rural hospital an hour away where we went this morning offered him a job on the spot.

I'm still in the elation phase, while he's skipped straight to the terror of change phase, and working out the logistics. But nevertheless... I'm so proud of him!

[morgana]

Yay, boyfriend! :highfive:

[teh_blumchenkinder]

:lol: excellent use of Portal references. :D And congratulations! May it go smoothly!

[Seshat]

Yes! Boyfriend, my very own Rasta Nurse, was offered two -- count 'em! -- two ER positions today.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!


That's wonderful!

[Der Cute]

w00t w00t!!

High five from me, who has had chronic illnesses all my life - keepin yalls busy. Hugs, high five and *virtual chocolate coffee*...super cool.

[Mishi]

Yay! Congrats Mr Rasta Nurse!

[Sapphire Silk]

Congrats on the job offers! Very happy to hear the news!

Which one is he going to take?

[Antisocial_Worker]

Congrats on the job offers! Very happy to hear the news!

Which one is he going to take?

He'll be taking both. The job an hour away is PRN, so he only has to work one shift out there every two weeks. Oddly enough, that job pays considerably more an hour than his job at the big hospital, so it's worth it to commute out there every couple of weeks. He's planning to use all the money to buy an SUV to get out there more easily in the winter.

Thanks to you and to everyone else for your congratulations! Rasta Nurse sends his thanks as well.

[Rapscallion]

Sounds like the cake wasn't a lie!

Rapscallion

[Antisocial_Worker]

Sounds like the cake wasn't a lie!

Rapscallion

If you want some irony, he and I went to a fancy restaurant downtown to have a celebration lunch. You could tell it was fancy because it offered a crabmeat and mushroom cheesecake. It most definitely wasn't a lie. Two doses of Tums couldn't kill it. It was with me all the rest of the afternoon. Tasted damn good though.

[fireheart]

First off Congrats.

And secondly, Panacea, an LPN nurse is referred to as an Enrolled Nurse down under. My auntie is an enrolled nurse although she works in aged-care facilities. She's not a carer, just a nurse. And she does an awesome job. She's also our first port-of-call for health info in the family :p

ETA: OK, turns out she's actually an RN not an EN. (I had to ask a friend of the boyfriend about this, said friend is studying to either do aged care work, disability work or in-home care work.)

[Sapphire Silk]

First off Congrats.

And secondly, Panacea, an LPN nurse is referred to as an Enrolled Nurse down under. My auntie is an enrolled nurse although she works in aged-care facilities. She's not a carer, just a nurse. And she does an awesome job. She's also our first port-of-call for health info in the family :p

Of course, anything I say about professional credentials applies only to the US since that's where I live :)