10 posts tagged “work”

I got an 88.91 on the HESI exam. I attribute most of that to good guessing, because as I was taking the test, I felt like I did not know anything. Well, I'd see the question and think "huh...I used to know that" and would give it my best shot. So, better than straight up guessing, but nowhere near actually knowing the answer.

Today I worked, but only until 12:15 or so. There were 5 of us on, and when I mentioned to the charge nurse that I was tired because it was coming up to finals, she said that after AM care was done I could probably leave. So leave I did. Which is nice because I am sleepy, but bad because that was my only day this week and instead of 12 hours I got 5.5.

Yesterday I worked 7a-7p
Today I worked 7a-7p

I have no idea why I'm still up. And even though I came thisclose to losing my breakfast this morning (and I am so not exaggerating), I have to say I really, really enjoy my job.

The other enjoyable thing about my job is that if I am all bathing patients and cleaning bedpans, obviously I won't be doing it when I'm a nurse (not very often, anyway).

I also found out that I get slightly more money when I work past 3pm. So from 3-7 I get a few extra bucks! Rock on!

I got a call today from the HR Director at the hospital. Apparently my paperwork came back a-ok with no 'discrepancies', which is what they call it when a date is off by a couple months for whatever reason, things like that. Nancy was excited that we didn't have to deal with that. The only thing is for some reason my high school records were going to take awhile to come back (come on! I didn't graduate that long ago!) so the background check agency wanted me to fax them my diploma. Fortunately I actually know where it is, and it's not buried in storage. I faxed it today but when I spoke to Nancy she said to bring her a copy when I come in so we don't have to wait.

I have to attend an orientation within 90 days of starting. JCAHO fines the hospital $2,500 for each day an employee works past 90 days without attending. Damn! The next one is April 16-17, which is M-T and I have clinicals those days. She said I could attend the one at the end of May since I will be out of school by then. I do have to go to an ethics class within 30 days. That is also on the 17th and starts at 1pm, I believe. So I have to ask my clinical instructor if I can leave at 12 that day. Hopefully that will be okay, she knows I've been hired for this job and she wrote me a really nice recommendation for it.

So! I have an appointment tomorrow at 9am with Nancy to finalize everything so hopefully I can start next week! 

Yay! I got the Nurse Extern Job!

Boo: It pays less than I thought. A couple other hospitals are paying $15/hr. This job will pay me $10/hr for part-time, $12/hr if I am per diem. Basically if I'm per diem, I can say, "Nah, don't feel like working", and in turn they can say, "Nah, we don't need you to work today." The woman in HR said that I will still be scheduled for my two days, but if they are not busy, per diems are the firs to be sent home. I will be doing per diem. I'll take the chance for 20% more on my check.

Yay! I will be doing CNA duties, along with skills I am learning in school. They also may have me helping out the charge nurse as a unit clerk, and I was told I could take the Beginning EKG Interpretation class and then take my test to be a monitor tech as well.

The past two days I have been doing my rotation as Client Care Manager at clinicals. This means I've had to get to the hospital at 6:30 am (an hour early). And right after the time change too! Super. Basically, I was not assigned patients. Instead I helped assign patients to my classmates and then checked in with them throughout the day to get updates on their patients and help them develop ideas for their careplans and documentation. There's a bit more to it than that, but you get the gist. Now instead of doing the paperwork I normally do each week on one of my patients, I have to write a short paper on my experience. You know I'm doing that shit Sunday night.

Anywhos, I am BEAT. Sunday night I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight, and then I woke up at 2am with poopy cramps. My alarm went off at 5am. I need to go sleepy nie nies now.  

This morning I went to Cardiac Rehab for 2 hours (thank GOD there is no minimum time requirement this term). It was actually pretty interesting. Basically, after patients have heart surgery, bypass, stents, etc, they are referred to CR for about 3 months. They work out on treadmills and stuff while they are hooked up to heart monitors. After that they can join the maintenance program, which is just like joining a gym. Those old people were in better shape than I am, I'm sure!

ALSO I finally got an email back from Patty asking me to call her to set up an interview! I did and she said that either she or the clinical coordinator will call me back this afternoon with a time. She said that I come highly recommended by both Candace and Debbie so she doesn't think it will be a problem to get me in. She also said that the shift would be 7a-7p so I said I would like to work 2 days a week then. Fingers still crossed, but YAAAAAAAAAY! This is a HUGE weight off my shoulders.

Still slightly stressing that I have a paper due Monday (won't take long to do though) and then a test on the 21st which I should have been studying for but haven't. Ah well.

This is Spring Break, I should not be so stressed.

First of all, I have no job. Now, as it's Spring Break, it's not a bad week to be unemployed, but I'd like to know that next week I will have a job again. I called HR last Friday and asked that they forward my resume and application along to the PCU Director, Patty. Today my dad asked if I was going to call the hospital and follow up. Call WHO, exactly? HR again? What is the sense in that? Well, as it happens I still have my e-tenet email access, so I emailed Patty directly to ask if she got my application and if not to let me know and I can forward my resume to her, or call HR again if she'd like. So, fingers crossed. I'd really like to get moving on this.

Next, I have a paper due on Monday for my 'community experience'. Basically, the school wants us to get a chance to see different nursing roles outside of acute care. Last semester I went to the Birthing Center at Good Sam (which was nice, because I was already working with the DON of that unit). Now technically, this isn't what the assignment called for, but my clinical instructor kicked ass and she knew that's where my interest was so she let me do it anyway.

Friday I called Cardiac Rehab at JFK (because I know that's one of the approved sites) to see if I could observe there. I left a message for whoever, and then called back yesterday and got someone on the gym floor. They said I had to speak to Sue in education, so I called her, and she said that there was a Health Fair going on soon and I could do blood pressures and get an "actual community experience". Well...I hate doing blood pressures. I've gotten better at it, but anyway. The other thing is that I am a huge procrastinator and HELLO my paper is due Monday. I did call the coordinator anyway, who has not returned my call as of yet. I called Sue back today and told her my deadline, to which she sighed and said, "Oh, you people! Leaving things till the last minute!" But whatever, she set me up to observe at Cardiac Rehab on Thursday. Ahhhh. So that's one thing down.

Spring Break was so much better in high school.

I got a 92% on my test today! Awoohoo! Much as I hate to admit it, I think it might have something to do with all those required practice modules we had to do before this test. We had to complete 50% of the term requirement or we weren't allowed into the test. This brings my average up to 87.3%, 2.7% away from an A. That would be so awesome; this class is worth 7 credits.

Midterm evals for clinicals are on Monday. I'm not really worried about that. My teacher already said that my paperwork is great. I'm not saying that she won't have any suggestions for improvement, and actually I hope she does. I am gaining a lot of skill and confidence in this rotation and any constructive criticism is only going to further my competence.

In other news, Alex wants me to go to the doctor because I took my temp yesterday and it was 100.1F which means that I've basically been running a fever for almost 2 weeks now and I am just exhausted, even when I get a good night's sleep. I don't disagree with him but I don't have insurance now so it's going to cost me money I'd rather not spend. He does have a reasonable doctor who is very non-insured friendly, but it's down by him. He wants me to call and make an appointment today, even if it's not until next week. I am not sure why I am resisting this as much as I am. I can't function when I am this tired all the time. My life is exhausting as it is without adding a sickness to it. I just hope it's not something nasty I picked up in clinicals. I wouldn't think so, I'm pretty good about washing my hands upon entering and leaving patients' rooms. This week I had the same patient Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday they put him on contact precautions because his lab results came back positive for C. Diff. My first thought was, "Crap, I wish I had taken his vitals first," because you can't take dynamaps in isolation rooms so I had to take manual BP, use a disposable thermometer, and wipe my steth down completely with alcohol after I was done. My second thought was, "Great. He wasn't on contact YESTERDAY when I was in his room all day." Honestly, I'm not that worried because the organism is in his poop and you know I wasn't touching any of that.

Well I suppose I ought to get back to work. I only have 4 days left here, including today. Which reminds me, I seriously need to update my resume tonight.

I went to Laura's house last night to study and got home at 5am. Yes, that's right. And somehow I still couldn't get to sleep until 6. My alarm goes off at 7, at which point I left a message on my boss's voicemail asking if she could do without me. I left her my cell and told her to call me if she really needed me to come in, and she didn't. I slept until 12:30 or so and have been studying off and on all day. I put in a lot of good work last night, but at this point my brain has just checked out. I'm too tired to retain anything at this point.

I'll probably still forced some more pharm down my throat later and then rejoice tomorrow when THIS CRAP IS BEHIND ME.

(PS I'm going to Disneyworld with Alex and Taylor sometime in the next couple weeks! Yay!)

I went to the welcome meeting Monday night which was fairly informative.  I also ran into Alan, my chemistry partner 2 years go.  He said he was wondering what happened to me since he hasn't seen me for awhile.  I told him I had to take a pre-req I forgot and then I took a year off to work.  He's in semester 3, just like 2 other people I saw who I took pre-reqs with.  It's kind of...well, it sucks because I could be there right now.  Oh well, in a year I'll be third semester too, and in the meantime, I got Alan's email address in case I have any questions about the classes.

I also found out that after your first year in the program, you can sit for your LPN (licensed practical nurse) exam.  It costs $450, but this woman from a nursing agency told me that they will pay for your exam and in exchange you work fifteen 12 hour shifts for them over the course of a year.  They pay you $15 an hour instead of 17, which is more than I'm making now anyway.  It sounds pretty good except that they do home and hospice care, which really isn't an area I want to spend a lot of time on.  I am also eligble for nursing externships at the end of my first semester, so that is worth looking into as well.

Yesterday was orientation.  They went over the course sequence, and general program information.  I tell you, I felt a lot calmer after that because hey, at least I'm not the one asking when Skills Lab starts when they've already told us that 4 TIMES.  I found out what I need to bring for "clinicals" on Monday, and how I really didn't need all the books I bought (some are for semester 2).  I put clinicals in quotes because what we are doing for the next few weeks is called "front loading".  They are going to teach us the basic skills we need before they turn us loose on the hospital.  I'm glad of that, because I really don't think I could take a BP to save my life right now.

I have 6 chapters to read for Pharmacology and I've already done 4, plus notes.  Then I need to read the first 3 chapters for Nursing Lecture.  Pharm may not end up being too bad.  I discovered that I could have taken that class before I was accepted into the program, and that sucks!  I wish I would have known that, things would be easier on me now if I had that out of the way.  Oh well, I can't change it now.

So far I have had to do online orientation for Pharm and also a student website (which took about 5 minutes, really) and then email the prof to tell her they were completed.  It's not due until next week but it's out of the way.  I have to do the same for Nursing Lecture, but I haven't done the website for that online course yet.

Starting next week I am going to be working Wed-Thur-Fri at the hospital in Information Services.  It's an ideal schedule, so long as I can live off the money I earn from it (doubtful.)  I really need to get on the student loan train.  I hate stressing about money.

Oh, yesterday I went to Fossil to get a new battery in my 3 dead watches because I have to have one for school.  Turns out my newest watch didn't have a battery problem, it's the watch movement.  Fortunately, it's under warranty so I just have to send it out with $7.50 (yeah, cause I'll ever get around to going to the post office!)

I guess that's about it for now...

I went to Copy's to get my uniforms and order my nametag. Two shirts (size small mens, so a dress on me basically) and two pants (ugly and uncomfortable) cost around $100. Then I got a stethoscope and decided I might as well get a relatively good one which was another $50. Bleh.  I thought it was broken (or I was dead) but that's another story.

After that I went to campus to buy some of my books so that a. I wouldn't have to wait until the last minute when there are 89023457 people all trying to buy their stuff at once and b. I wouldn't have to drop a fat wad of cash all at once.

Well, apparently the school likes having complete bedlam in there the first week of classes, because "those books aren't in yet, they are for the fall term". Um...what? All I was able to get was my syllabus for 3 of my classes which cost me $31. For my syllabus. The school charges us how much for classes, and then makes us pay for the paper they print our course outlines on too? Ass.

I decided to look up the books online to get an idea of cost and it looks like it's going to cost over $500 for this semester. Weak. Thank GOD for my dad letting me live here and not pay him rent right now because there is no way I could afford this otherwise.

Which brings me to my last point...I don't think I'm going to be able to manage working 40 hours a week while I'm getting my degree. I misread the class schedule and thought I had clinicals Monday and Tuesday from 7:30am until 11:30 am. Not too bad, could put in 5 hours at work after that and spread out the difference over W, Th, F. Well. It's actually from 7:30am- 1:30pm. So what, go in to work at 2pm and work until 7, then go home and do another 12 hour day the next day? I really don't think so. The nursing program recommends you don't work over 15 hours per week (don't know what universe they live in, but whatever) but I somehow thought I could manage 40. Well, I don't think I can. Or want to. I'm cool with my life sucking ass for 2 years to an extent. But I don't need to be butt ass tired every minute of my life. It's not good for me, my daughter, my life, or my grades.

I'm looking into student loans now...