I have been trying to find my "area" in nursing. I have tried Long Term Care at the VA, had to move on due to severly short staffing... Currently I am trying to work in a pysch area (state hospital) and finally figured out that this area is not for me. It seems that the professional staff have more mental illness than the patients. I am trying hard not to burn out but have reached the end of my tolerance. Has anyone worked corrections? What is the environment like? I am looking for a job that I can find satisfaction in, and not have to play games. I am not good at games and lose everytime. I am interested in home health/private duty nursing but the pay won't meet my need. (to pay my bills, I recently obtained my BSN, and now have a hefty loan to pay back.) I was interested in getting back into the VA but there are few job opportunities posted in my area. I am open to any advice on how to find a job that meets my financial needs and brings back that good feeling that I had once had when working with patients. :confused:
"I am open to any advice on how to find a job that meets my financial needs and brings back that good feeling that I had once had when working with patients."
Become an Army Nurse ;)
Hi,
Thanks for responding. I am over 50 so Army is out. I am trying to find a job that would allow me to have the satisfaction that I once had. I think that many nurses would agree that the staff shortage plays a major role in the nursing experience. When I first started in nursing it was exciting and the personal satisfaction was what made each day. Recently, I have been struggling with staff that not only ignore my directions but seem to think that each shift is part of the survivor show. Maybe it is the state hospital environment that is part of the reason why this occurs... I honestly don't know. I have not made a lot of job changes over the years so, I can't really say if this is a trend. It seems that all people want to do is argue and fight for the power. I spend most of my shift sorting out staff, and dealing with the ward psychiatrist. My stress level has increased to the point that I now am going to change jobs. I don't know if there are many psych nurses in this forum, but the recent trend away from use of seclusion or restraints combined with the trend away from medications used for controlling anxiety is making the work very dangerous. I have been working in forensics, with violent offenders, and each day has the potential to send staff to the hospital. Many nurses just quit as the pay doesn't match the stress and danger. I have a difficult time understanding how Vistaril or Benadryl can control anxiety in patients with angry behavior. These patients not only assault staff, but each other. The administrators have stated that it is possible to take care of 25-30 dangerous, delusional, angry patients with 5-6 staff. I disagree…
I was hoping that this forum might help me find a less dangerous, angry environment. I would love to do private duty nursing but the pay is not enough to cover my bills, and I lack the energy to work double shifts or work 7 days a week. I wanted to hear from nurses that work in the correctional environment so that I could weigh the risks and the pay. Any advice that can be given would be appreciated. I just obtained my BSN and was so hopeful that I was on a track of finding a more independent role in nursing. I don’t want to complain as complaining doesn’t solve problems. I am looking for solutions. Thanks.
Pay in Correctional nursing depends on your area. There may be a Grade pay Scale, but you'd have to check.
One of my classmates was a cop, and chose Correctional Nursing (!!) Remember that the inmates 'run the gamut' on behaviour (part of which is why they are there). It can be challenging, and there will be security there to help if anyone gets too out of line. On top of that, the inmates know that the nurse is there to 'save their hide'.
Keep us posted, ok?
'Cat'
Wildhorse,
This suggestion will not help your nursing change job search but I have a thought. Have you considered studying Aikido? This martial way [technically not an art like Aikijutsu] is perfect for the environment you work. Aikido uses skeletal manipulation and joint locks with seemingly effortless parries, rather than hard blocks in defense of an attacker. I study Aikijutsu, a more aggressive combat martial art from which Aikido was formed. Aikido is said to be a non-violent approach to violence. BTW, I'm near 50 years old and can tell you Aikido would be perfect for your age.
... just a thought ;)
Tnanks for the suggestion. I think that I will change jobs. The patients are not the real problem. It is the trend towards working with the least staff possible, and the lack of medication. :)
I am lucky in that my facility has some good doctors. There are quite a few with what would be considered PTSD, etc, and the Doc's are great at trying different meds. Then again, there are some Doc's who would rather UNDER medicate, than OVER medicate. It is just the right combination, really.
Yes, I work LTC, but dementia really can play havoc.
'Cat'
Hi,
I am considering working in long term again. I will talk to a nursing director on Monday. It has been a while since I passed medications as the medication nurse that I am a little worried. A routine is what helps... as I remember. I also must consider the salary... I would like to work with good doctors again. The doctors at the VA's nursing home were really good. Unfortunately, there seems to be a hiring freeze at the VA here in Washington State. I am considering all options at this point even the dreaded get out of nursing. I really don't want to but must control the stress...
wildhorse wrote:Hi,
I am considering working in long term again. I will talk to a nursing director on Monday. It has been a while since I passed medications as the medication nurse that I am a little worried. A routine is what helps... as I remember. I also must consider the salary... I would like to work with good doctors again. The doctors at the VA's nursing home were really good. Unfortunately, there seems to be a hiring freeze at the VA here in Washington State. I am considering all options at this point even the dreaded get out of nursing. I really don't want to but must control the stress...
Washington State? Do you live near FT Lewis in Tacoma? If so, Madigan Army Medical Center [MAMC] has a Psych Ward on the 5th Floor. I don't think MAMC has a hiring freeze. My wife just got hired at MAMC for 2S, the Stepdown/Tele Floor. Being a [GS] Federal Nurse has great benefits! Plus, without hesitation the MD's [both civilian & military] at MAMC are great to work with.
HI,
I do live next to Fort Lewis, and I started out at Madigan as a new LPN. I was there 9 years, moved to the VA so that I could get my BSN. The VA staffing got very short and it was miserable. I graduated with my BSN and thought that I was going into Forensic nursing. However, what I have been doing for the past year and a half has not been Forensic nursing. I don't know quite what to call it. But the daily struggle is with the staff not the patients. I think that it is just time to go to another work area. I have talked with travel nurses in the past and they stated they liked not having to stay in one area very long. This way they passed up on the politics side of each job. Maybe this is a way to avoid the unpleasant politics of a job. I will check out Maxium nursing agency and see what McNeil Island has in vacancies. Thanks for the thoughts.
wildhorse wrote:HI,
I do live next to Fort Lewis, and I started out at Madigan as a new LPN. I was there 9 years, moved to the VA so that I could get my BSN. The VA staffing got very short and it was miserable. I graduated with my BSN and thought that I was going into Forensic nursing. However, what I have been doing for the past year and a half has not been Forensic nursing. I don't know quite what to call it. But the daily struggle is with the staff not the patients. I think that it is just time to go to another work area. I have talked with travel nurses in the past and they stated they liked not having to stay in one area very long. This way they passed up on the politics side of each job. Maybe this is a way to avoid the unpleasant politics of a job. I will check out Maxium nursing agency and see what McNeil Island has in vacancies. Thanks for the thoughts.
Wow, it is a small world! I live in Tumwater, next to OLY. My wife [also an RN] left ST Peter recently and starts at MAMC
tomorrow. After my next two weeks of night shift hopefully we will be on the same schedule and can ride to work together.
Good luck with your job search!
wildhorse: lol
the staff of the state hospital have more mental illness than the patients. lol!!!!
i agree having worked in a psych hospital - how's the old saying go - the inmates are running the asylum. :)
as for correctional nursing - i really don't like murdereres, rapists, and pedophiles so i don't see much point in doing that. most phych hospitals have "satellite" places which are much nicer to work than the main hospital. and the staff at those places are much more sane.
Wildhorse
I am a traveler since 1998 and yes, traveling has prevented me from becoming involved with the day-to-day politics. I've been lucky enough to have met some really terrific people in my travels and have seen many places.
I have not worked corrections. I have applied with the CA state corrections, as the judge appointed person has upped the pay and a State prison nurse will be starting at about $97000/yr (more in the bay area) I can work that for a few yrs socking away money to pay cash for a house (not in CA), but then again, I may find that I cannot do prison nuring at all and go back to traveling. The state pays better than the Federal prison in CA.
here's something to think about regarding prison nursing. did you see the story in florida where guards beat a kid to death in a kid prison and they caught the nurse on tape just standing there? now she is being charged with a crime.
Hi,
Wow, that bothers me. That is why I have thrown this out for discussion. I have heard that the nurses that went to McNeil after working at the state hospital love it. But this is heresay....I already have worked with rapists and murders,etc. The anti-socials are the hardest as they don't care. The pay seems so much.... but even I could do enough months to pay off my bills, so that if I had to take a lower paying job then I could easily do it. I am single, so no husband to lean on. I am glad to hear someone say that the staff at the state hospital are sicker than the patients, especially since they are social works, phsychiatrists, etc.... It has been the absolute worst experience of my entire nursing job experience. I think that it is a hostile work environment and would NOT recommend it to any nurse. Anyone? How is it working at McNeil Island?:(
what's mcneil island? a prison? what about agency nursing? they may send you to an understaffed nursing home but you would make top pay and you don't have to worry about the politics or going in the next day to the same understaffed mess. and you can't get mandated at an agency. my friend works prn at the psych hosp making 25 or more an hour - she tells them when she wants to work. she has what she calls "hit by a bus insurance". meaning she pays out of her own pocket the bare minimum private insurace in case something happens and she needs hospitalized. another option could be orthopedic clinic where they do surgery. no weekends or holidays.
McNeil Island is a prison...Staff have to take a boat to and from. An agency handles some of the staffing... the salaries are hight, But, I want to know more about the working conditions before committing.... Anyway, have an interview tommorow..
wildhorse wrote:McNeil Island is a prison...Staff have to take a boat to and from. An agency handles some of the staffing... the salaries are hight, But, I want to know more about the working conditions before committing.... Anyway, have an interview tommorow..
Prison? Godd luck w/interview. Are sure you don't want to take Aikido? ;)
wildhorse wrote:McNeil Island is a prison...Staff have to take a boat to and from. An agency handles some of the staffing... the salaries are hight, But, I want to know more about the working conditions before committing.... Anyway, have an interview tommorow..
Prison? Good luck w/interview. Are sure you don't want to take Aikido? ;)
so how'd it go wildhorse? do you want the job?
No, I would need ACLS, and right now, I can't afford it. Also after finding out more about the work... might have ended up another stressful area. As it is, I have applied and got a private duty nurse job. My only worry, is it is $1000 less than I make now. But, the stress level and anxiety potential is not there. So, for now, I will do this. Hopefully I can pay my bills. :)
maybe you can recapture that 1000 by doing a few days of agency work. glad you found something you like. i feel sorry for people who work a job they hate. life is to short for that. i'm surpirsed they don't train you in ACLS if it's required. my work give us first aid, cpr, tb certifications for free. we even get paid to go to class.
Madigan is having a hiring freeze. My husband just found out yesterday. It must have just went into effect. He works on 2S at Madigan too. This is soooo disapointing. He just rec'd his RN license and put in his application. Now we are not sure what to do. His license is out of state because he did Excelsiors program. I wonder how long it will last. We were going to call the VA tomorrow. What about correctional facilities? Who would we contact? He's part time military and we are working on trying to get him a direct comission. Any and all advice is welcome. We are praying for open doors.
Grandsunset wrote:Madigan is having a hiring freeze. My husband just found out yesterday. It must have just went into effect. He works on 2S at Madigan too. This is soooo disapointing. He just rec'd his RN license and put in his application. Now we are not sure what to do. His license is out of state because he did Excelsiors program. I wonder how long it will last. We were going to call the VA tomorrow. What about correctional facilities? Who would we contact? He's part time military and we are working on trying to get him a direct comission. Any and all advice is welcome. We are praying for open doors.
Hiring freeze for RN's at MAMC... oh really? If this is true it must have just went into effect. BTW, my wife has both a TX & WA RN license. All he has to do his apply for a Washington state RN license via internet. He can ask Susan how to apply for WA RN license if they see each other on 2S [MAMC], or send me a PM if you like for the info.
Part-time military? LOL, do you mean USAR? Has he contacted the US Army Health Care Recruiting Station in Seattle? They can help with the application packet for direct commission into the Army Nurse Corps. If not, I can give you contact info for CPT Shavers, AHC Recruiter.
How do you like all the freak'n wind we are getting?
I am an RN who graduated in 2000. I worked 11 months, switched jobs and found out through routine blood work that I was ill. I worked 3 moths before I had to take a year off for chemo treatments. Got back to work, worked seven months, and my back went out. I have spent the last 3 1/2 years in severe chronic pain. Had an anterior approach spinal fusion and ended up with a complete dehiscence, and then got infected with MRSA and almost died. When the wound finally healed, the scarring was so bad, and so painful I had to go back and have surgery for that. During that surgery they found I had a huge herniation under the scar. By the time I healed from all that, I found out my back was messed up at another level! I considered suicide many times throughout this process. I mean, I had worked my ass off to become a nurse, accrued a lot of debt, and just when things were finally looking up I was unable to work. I was putting my family through hell, and had virtually no quality of life. I spent years on massive doses of pain meds just to be able to live. Thank God that in May of this year I went back for one more spinal surgery, this time they went posterior, and everything went fine. I just got released to return to work from my neurosurgeon on Tuesday, and I have been working with pain management to get weaned off of all the drugs. I am doing fantastic with that. I have also lost fifty pounds (twenty more to go) and am looking pretty good for an old lady. Today is my forty-first birthday, and I feel like a kid again. No kidding, I feel reborn, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
The reason I bring up the whole health thing is because that because of it I had to make some tough choices about my future. I am a fairly new nurse, and I know that with my back problems I won't last long on a med/surg floor. Also, I'm not sure that the stress of going back into a hospital setting after being gone so long would be a good thing. The last thing I want is to set myself up for failure. I wake up every day now excited to be alive, eager to start my day, and ready to face any challenge.
Because I feel so great right now, so alive, I decided to do it up right. First, I've enrolled in an online program in forensic nursing. I'll be starting that next month. It is a 12 month program, self paced, and extremely affordable. I don't know about working in a prison, but I do know that I will have a lot more options when I finish the program. Second, I have been weighing my job options carefully. I need something that will pay enough to help get us out of all the debt we've accumulated since I've been unable to work. But at the same time I don't want to take a job based solely on the paycheck, that's not why I became a nurse. Let me tell you that facing death changes your perspective completely. My priorities have changed dramatically, and I now know what is truly important to me. I don't need a big, fancy house, an expensive car, tons of clothes and diamond rings. I don't want to spend the next twenty years going to a job that I hate just because the pay is good. I want to work at a job that I love, and I want to make a difference. I want to make the time that I have with my husband as special as possible. I'd rather spend my money going out and making memories than buying things. We plan on spending more time traveling now, and more time just enjoying life. We are going to sell our house (it's too big), and downsize our lives. I have been going through all of my things and getting rid of a bunch of stuff, which is extremely cathartic. With every box that I pack up to get rid of I feel lighter and more free.
I recently interviewed for a job at a call center in St Louis. It is a lot of patient teaching, and it pays 24.00 an hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 29.00 an hour from 4 to 10 at night. Saturdays are 29.00 all day. It is only four days a week. Three weeks vacation a year, excellent benefits, etc.. This is a job I can do even if I end up in a wheelchair (which is a distinct possibility for me). The hours are set, because it is not a clinical setting. No more staying over for two or three hours to finish charting after a crazy night. No more having twelve patients at a time, or dealing with arrogant doctors whose sole purpose in life seems to be to demean nurses! When I finish my forensic program I can decide if I want to pursue that full time or just do it on the side. This is the beauty of nursing, it is such a diverse field that almost anyone can find their niche. I know a lot of nurses who have been in the trenches for years and they are just plain burnt out. But, for whatever reason, whether it be fear of change, apathy, or that they're making good money, they just stay put in a job they despise. I can't do it. I won't do it. I will spend the rest of my career looking for the job that gives me the most satisfaction. I became a nurse because I wanted a career, not a job. If I don't take advantage of all that nursing has to offer, than I might as well have skipped school and went to work at McDonald's or Wal-Mart.
Keep looking. You might be surprised to find out just how many different jobs that there really are in the field of nursing. I would never recommend that anyone stay in a job that is unsafe. And after my own health scare and the way that it changed my perspective, I wouldn't recommend spending another minute in a job that you hate. Life is so very short, and so very precious, that it is a sin to waste it being unhappy. Don't get me wrong, money is important, but it's not the most important thing in your life. Ask yourself if making 5.00 or 6.00 an hour more is worth being miserable over. Before you start looking for a new job ask yourself what it is that you really want out of your career. How many hours do you want to work, what population do you want to work with, how much stress are you able to withstand on a daily basis? Then, do the math, rearrange your budget, and see what you can live without. Once you know the minimum amount of money that you'd need to earn to be financially stable (and satisfied), start your job search with that number in mind. Don't be dazzled by high salaries if it means you're going to end up working somewhere else that you're unhappy. I'd give up any single material thing in my life if it meant that I would be at peace and feel fulfilled by my work. Sorry for such a loooong post, but I feel adamant about this suject.
Good luck and God Bless
T.J.
