Im an RN working for HCA...

I got written up today because a patient called in to complain about comments made back and forth during our interaction after their procedure was done AFTER Anesthesia. Turns out the patient is a retired executive within the company! They brought up the conversation about the company mind you and asked me how my experience has been at the company and we talked back and forth. I could tell patient worked for the company and even asked and they said yes but didn't tell me what they did for HCA... Now it makes sense it's clearly not any clinical role!!! After patient left they called my DON and said my care was 10/10 and had absolutely no complaints there but they are "concerned" with my comments about the company and claimed I bad mouthed the facility I worked for. I said the patient expressed a few things after coming out of anesthesia about HCA and opened the conversation and patient misinterpreted what I said completely and I absolutely did not bad mouth the facility. I got a written warning to make sure theres "no pattern and it doesn't continue" ( I haven't signed it yet as management is "drafting it" and want me to write a statement).....

1. I planned on transferring to another HCA out of state because I want to move so will this affect my ability within HCA to transfer?
2. I plan in signing "signed in opposition" and being VERY careful how I word my statement

New grad here, I accidentally gave 3mg of warfarin, which was the previous dose before dr changed it to 1mg due to recent INR result. I called the charge, and the on call who order a STAT INR, and to hold dosage for tomorrow and I informed POA which there was no concern, monitored resident and vitals no concern, completed incident report. I am worried

​

Hei all!

Let's say u have to prep a coctail between an oilly med and an aqueous med for an IM injection.

Which med goes first in the serynge and why?

Same question for the 2nd scenario, let's say between Noradrenaline and NaCl

Hello! I am currently a new grad RN and received an offer on a transplant unit (kidney, pancreas) that also deals with urological procedures (for bladder cancer, etc.). I feel sort of lost, as I do not know anyone that has worked on a unit like this. I am mainly interested in women's health and pediatrics, but a job is a job, and I am absolutely okay with starting elsewhere to get experience. If any of you work on a similar unit, how has it been? Do you like it? How difficult is it to manage for a new grad, do you think? I do not believe there are many new grads on this floor at all, maybe some that have been working for 2-3 years. Just looking for some extra input before I go through with my final decision. Thanks in advance for the kind replies!

Just confirming I’m not crazy here. I’m in a medical interpreting class, and the class invited a doctor to do a guest lecture on anatomy and physiology. She showed a diagram of veins and arteries. Somebody asked if blood in veins actually look blue, or is the color just for purposes of demonstration.

Now, as a nurse, I know that on pictures, veins are represented by blue to show that they are deoxygenated, NOT that they are literally blue.

But the dr responded to the student and said with a straight face, yes blood in veins are actually blue because of the lack of hemoglobin.

Hello?? Lack of red does not mean blue. Lack of red means brown. At least the last time I checked, unless you’re an alien, your blood in your veins should still be reddish.

I’m from Punjab, India. I’m about to start GNM nursing (3 years diploma)this year. Honestly I’m very confused and scared right now, so I just want real opinions from people who are already working abroad.

My original plan was:

Do GNM

Try for Punjab government Staff Nurse job as backup

Learn German on the side

After 1-2 years experience, try for Germany

But recently my family spoke to a neighbor and now they’re saying nursing jobs abroad are drying up, files are not getting picked anymore, especially for Germany, UK, Canada etc. They’re pressuring me to leave nursing completely. I’m feeling really low after hearing all this.

I also have some personal fears:

I’m scared of blood, open wounds, patients screaming

The thought of needlestick injury from an HIV patient really freaks me out

Fear of making a serious mistake and facing legal problems

I know many people overcome this during training, but it still bothers me a lot.

My questions:

Are Indian GNM nurses still getting jobs in Germany, UK, Canada or Australia in 2026? Or has it become very difficult?

Which country is currently more realistic for GNM nurses from India?

How much money did you actually spend from India till you started working? (honest figure please)

How did you get the job offer – agency, direct application, or some partnership route?

For those who did GNM – did you face big problems in recognition/registration?

Is it better to first get a government nursing job in India for experience, or just focus on language + go after GNM?

I’m not looking for any agency or course. Just want honest experiences from people who are already there or have tried this path.

Any advice would really help. Feeling quite lost right now.

Thanks.

Pag ba nag dedesign kayo ng unit or department, may budget ba kayo galing office or admin? Or straight from your own pocket?

Just interested in seeing if anyone has actually been hired for an AI consulting gig for any area of nursing. I have applied for several and according to the description, am well suited for the role, but haven’t even heard back. The first time I applied was over 6 weeks ago. Curious if these are legit.

I'm currently 10 years into my nursing degree and hate it. I have done adult bedside PCU, pediatric med-surg, clinical research coordination, currently in outpatient nursing obtaining prior authorizations and appealing denials for medications for patients with autism specific autoimmune disease. Every delayed medication is somehow my fault despite me appealing denials and spending hours trying to get the specialty pharmacies to process timely. Every time a patient continues to cancel appointments, providers ask me why and I'm supposed to chase them down. I'm working 50+ hours a week to keep myself from completely being buried. Most patients and parents are happy and I receive positive feedback from providers. Patients specifically tell their provider how helpful I am. I'm good at this job.

My current place of work is a sinking ship due to lack of leadership/lack of caring about the people actually doing the work. My department has 3 out of 4 nurses staffed. One of the nurses however is incredibly slow and inefficient. I'm the only one working with this specific population in my department. Patients and providers expecting the same level of work being done as if we were fully staffed. 2000+ patients with 12+ providers. It is affecting my health and I have had insomnia for 3+ months. I'm having panic attacks weekly. My blood pressure is going up, my heart rate is going up. I have asked for help time and time again and my workplace refuses to address the issues. My place of work has a monopoly for all pediatric outpatient jobs, so there is no other facility to transfer to. I desperately want to leave because I can physically not continue to work here with the level of stress and lack of leadership actually doing their jobs. I have applied to utilization review nurse jobs but nothing has led to an interview. I'm looking at leaving healthcare in general at this point, but genuinely don't know what to do. I'm hopeless. I hate that I ever became a nurse and feel like this is the biggest mistake of my life.

looking to do a travel nursing contract in WA. what agency is the best to work with? I’m between affinity and fortis, fortis pays a bit better but have heard good things about fortis!

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a little bit of insight into what it looks like going back to working in the hospital after a significant break.

For reference, I've been a nurse since 2018 and worked in a variety of critical care settings (burn/trauma ICU stepdown, critical care float pool and post- open heart mostly) for 4 years before I took a step back in 2022 after getting burnt out during the pandemic. Since leaving the bedside, I have worked outpatient surgery, research, and an outpatient clinic job.

Our family situation has changed (husband's career has evaporated thanks to AI), so I will need to be the breadwinner. In our area, the best paying jobs with the best benefits (relevant because we have a 1 year old) are bedside jobs.

I'm curious if anyone has an experience going back to working at the bedside after a significant break and what that looked like for you? Were you required to do a refresher course? All the refresher courses in our area are about $4K, so I'm hoping to avoid one unless absolutely necessary, but also open to doing whatever it takes. I'm based in Washington state and they have also have "RN transition to practice" programs here that are for RNs who are switching into different specialties, one source that I've talked to said that would be the most appropriate option to build back clinical skills. I'm already planning to retake the AACNs ECCO course just for my own knowledge.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on what this process could look like!

I recently learned that some patients recovering from anesthesia need someone to accompany them home, but not everyone has a friend or family member available.

It got me wondering what happens in these situations.

For nurses or anyone who works in healthcare, have you ever experienced this firsthand? What usually happens when a patient is ready to leave the hospital but has nobody to come for them?

I'd be interested to hear your experiences. And if you've ever been in a situation where you had to face something difficult without anyone to rely on, how did you handle it?

I’m an RN, graduated May 2025 and have been working on my general medicine floor since October 2025. At my hospital you can transfer off of your unit after a year, and I have my heart set on L&D. I have a family friend who works on that floor and I reached out to her since multiple “will train” positions opened up and she emailed her manager. Here’s the tricky part- I got written up for a wrong route med error in February (I had just come off of orientation in January). It was my first time starting a heparin drip and gave the IV push bolus heparin subq by accident. It was an awful situation on all aspects, the computer wasn’t loading and I was sweating profusely (and the patient was making sexual comments at me) so I gave it before noticing it was IV push. 1 min after the error occurred I got hit with the stomach bug which lasted for 48hrs and I stayed the remaining 10hrs of the shift since my coworkers thought my symptoms were anxiety related due to the error and I was told not to leave. There were only 6 RNs there for a 46 bed unit that night btw. I reported it right away, I did everything I was supposed to, but my manager wanted it to be a write up:(. Anyways, due to the write up I cannot transfer units in February 2027. Since the will train positions opened I asked the nurses’ union and they said I should just go for it and apply and hope HR doesn’t check. So I reached out to the family friend and she contacted her manager, however I then realized I could not apply and it gave an auto message saying I’m not eligible to transfer due to the write up. However, she had already spoken to her manager on L&D and that manager asked for me to reach out, so I emailed her stating that I am extremely interested in the unit and that I can’t transfer until February and described my clinical experience and why I am passionate about L&D. I also asked her about if there’s any certifications or classes I should take prior to application. Her email response was along these lines:

Thank you for reaching out to me to show your interest. I hope in the future when the timing is right you can find your way to L&D. Please keep in touch. You cannot transfer until February because you haven’t been in the position yet for year?

Well, fuck. Now I don’t know how to reply. I definitely don’t want to lie but I also don’t want to look like the shittiest nurse ever and say I have a write up for an error and use my excuses about the whole situation to make it seem better. She also never actually answered my question about certifications and classes so idk. What should I reply back?

I’m being offered an occupational health rn position-I currently work in outpatient surgery. I need help. I don’t know what to do. Seasoned nurses, give me your advice.

Occupational health RN pros: Schedule is more ideal:no weekends, no on call, and no holidays. The drive is half the commute I have now. Small clinic, slow paced, low stress environment.

Occupational health RN cons: huge pay cut. I’m taking most likely 10$/hour pay cut. I also may need to reply on help getting my kids to & from childcare since the hours at 7-4. I have some assistance offered by a family member, but I’m not sure I want to give up more time with my kids, even just that time it takes getting them to and from daycare.

Surgery RN pros: I love my job, my workers, and my boss. Pay is great, best I’ve ever had. My boss is very accommodating in terms of arrival and departure time for work, I am able to get my kids to and from daycare most days. The only exception is once a week I have a late day, and my departure time that day can be anywhere from 3:30-8pm depending on the schedule. My husband is able to swing that and get the kids that one day/week.

Surgery RN cons: the one late day/week doesn’t sound bad, but it sucks. I have a 45-50 minute commute too. Also… the time is coming where I may be required to travel even further for work. I’m talking 1 1/2 hours. It wouldn’t be often, but it’s a very real possibility in my near future. Even if my boss were to try and prevent me from floating that way, I know it will irritate my other coworkers, which is understandable.

The thought of leaving a job and coworkers I love is so hard. But the possibility of commuting 1 1/2 hrs away, even if not right this minute, is giving me horrible anxiety. On the other end, the closer drive and schedule occ health offers is so enticing. But the pay cut and needing assistance with my kids is also beyond nerve wrecking. Help me please.

Hi guys, I’m currently a physician works in the hospital for a couple years. Life and career are both good, even though I earn average income but the job is stressful. I’m thinking of pursuing to be a nurse in the States in order to be close to my bf (I can’t study to be a doctor in the US since my degree is not equalivent, PA school is too expensive so don’t get me wrong). I kinda hesitate because of the stereotypes and the job opportunities as well as the length of the study time. Because here in my home country, i have a house to live, cars and bikes to drive, literally everything has already been settle down. I’m a little bit concerned to start a new life, new career
Have any foregin medical graduates done the same path? Any regrets or struggles while doing it. Or is it worth it. I would love to hear some true stories, thoughts, motivations from you guys. Thank you
#nursing

I have been in the PACU for a little over a year now. I have experience in medsurg, ICU, and ED but now working my first PACU job in the hospital I’ve been at for 10 years. I took the job to lessen the burn out from the more demanding nursing jobs and hoping to be a “PACU princess”. It was a little shocking to see how fast paced the PACU can be. It definitely is “easier” than the other jobs I’ve had but it’s also made more difficult than what I feel is necessary. Most people I work with now have also come from ICU or other medsurg units in the hospital so not a lot of outside PACU experience for us to know if our working conditions are normal so I would like some input.

The PACU I work in is in a big city in a 600 bed hospital. We have 3 PACUs. 2 PACUs see anywhere from 35-50 cases each a day, and the third one just does 10 specialized cases a day. So about 100 surgeries a day between the PACUs. We have a 1:2 ratio. My PACU closes at 10pm but the other PACU is 24 hours. If my PACU has gotten rid of all the patients early, a lot of times we are expected to go help the other PACU even though we have already had a lot of patients in a shorter amount of time. In my specific PACU unit, there are typically 5 to 6 nurses scheduled per shift. We have 15 bays total (so rarely enough nurses to fill the bays). When I was hired I was told we would have 7 nurses in bays and 1 lunch/resource nurse but rarely do we have that. Normally a supervisor or clinician has to come in and do lunches or fill in for the charge nurse as she does lunches. Or take someone out of a bay to do lunches which means now less nurses in bays during lunch hours. Lunches typically start at 11am and the last person tends to go to lunch at 2:30-3pm. So for 4 hours a lot of the time we are down a nurse in a bay or at the very least resource.

Depending on the surgery, patients will stay in PACU anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours and either go home or to a room. Sometimes we have to discharge if Phase 2 is full. We can’t put in a bed request until the patient has been in PACU for 30 mins and it typically takes another 30mins-1 hour to get a room assigned. Then takes another 15-30 for the floor nurses to take report. Per PACU nurse, depending on what time you get there, you’ll have anywhere from 6-9 patients per shift in a 12 hour period. There is no “downtime” because when OR calls out with a patient, they come out to PACU within 2 mins of that call. If we have an open bay, sometimes we get a new post op patient within 30 mins of getting our last patient. We typically have 2 (3-4 on a reallyyy good day) transporters in PACU. So on days we have 2 or less transporters, we have to leave our other patients to go on a transport across the hospital. We are required to have 2 transporters per patient.

Because we have a few PACUs, if one of the units is slightly more staffed than another one (but still understaffed), we have to float to another PACU. Our manager says we have no positions for hire yet we never have enough nurses for the bays we have. It feels so chaotic and busy all of the time. We have to do a full head to toe and lines assessments on arrival, at 30 mins, and at discharge. And then finalize our periop documentation.

We are supposed to take 3 week night call shifts, 2 weekend night call shifts, 1 weekend day shift in a 6 week period. Then scheduled for 1 holiday a year, and if they decide to put you on a night shift holiday you have to stay the entire and not just be on call. Even though there is one stationary night shift nurse. Night shift PACU nurses now have to pre op patients after 10pm and there are 2 scheduled night shift nurses per night. We also tend to get called in a lot just to transport a patient because of needing two nurses in the room when there is a patient and needing two transporters per patient.

My question is all this normal? Getting up to 9 patients per shift. The types of surgeries we get in my PACU are hysterectomies, endometriosis excisions, thoracotomies, lap choles, hernia repairs, bariatric surgeries, eye surgeries, colon resections, nephrectomies, prostatectomies, anything in those realms. The other PACU sees spinal surgeries, cranis, I&Ds, knees, hips, shoulders, femoral bypass, arteriograms, Whipples and just any other random type of surgeries. Both units have similar amount of nurses, getting 7-9 patients per shift. We all do work together a lot and float to each other PACUs a lot. All that just for us to be told by management that we’re fully staffed with just 5-6 nurses a day seeing up to 50 surgeries per unit.

Newly in school for nursing, first year. I always thought RN did showers for patients and all the nitty gritty stuff on top of the rest. But since reading other threads it seems that HCAS does it. I am wondering what way it works or if everyone kind of just gives a hand.

Hey everyone, using a throwaway for obvious reasons. Looking for some advice or perspective from fellow nurses or anyone who’s dealt with corporate healthcare bait-and-switch tactics.
A little background on me: I'm a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) and I also have a Bachelor’s in Health Science. A few months ago, I started a new position as a "Community Marketing LVN" at a large healthcare organization. The public job posting and my understanding during interviews was that it was a core clinical role—doing community screenings, blood pressure checks, vaccinations, and basic nursing support at outreach events.
Once I got into the role, though, I realized what was actually going on. My internal Workday profile lists a bunch of heavy commercial marketing stuff—tracking membership growth, lead generation, entering data into a CRM, and running full health education presentations solo in the field. Basically, they squeezed three distinct jobs (Clinical Nurse, Marketing Specialist, and Health Educator) into one single hourly role.
The health ed presentations were especially bothering me because I wanted to make sure I wasn't crossing any compliance or scope boundaries. Turns out the slide decks were created and approved by our actual Health Education department for seniors with known diagnoses, so legally/clinically it’s supportive, but it still feels like the marketing department is using clinical staff to cover for roles that certified health educators or dietitians usually handle.
I finally had a meeting with my direct supervisor and the commercial manager to bring up the job description mismatch and discuss proper compensation for doing three roles at once. Their reaction? They acted completely "shocked" by the internal job profile discrepancy—even though it came from their own department’s HR file. They told me they couldn't increase my pay right now, suggested maybe going salaried eventually (which would kill the weekend event overtime I currently make at time-and-a-half), and told me I should "wait it out until January" so they can gather evidence for a raise. The manager even casually suggested I use tuition reimbursement to get a Registered Dietitian or Health Educator certification... as if those don't take years to get, and despite the fact that I already have a Health Science degree!
To make matters worse, I asked HR for a copy of the actual job description attached to my signed offer letter, and it turns out I electronically signed that loaded internal profile during onboarding without realizing it was different from the original public posting. So on paper, they covered their tracks.
At this point, I realize I just need to play it smart. My 6-month internal transfer waiting period ends on January 2nd. My plan right now is to just keep my head down, do my core clinical screening duties, log every single minute of my time (and collect my Saturday overtime pay), keep my record clean, and apply for a strictly clinical role in a different department the second the clock strikes January 2nd.
Has anyone else dealt with a "rogue" department trying to turn a clinical role into a multi-role marketing gig? Am I handling this the right way by just coasting and working strictly to rule until my January transfer window opens? Any advice on how to survive the next two months without burning out or getting dragged into extra uncompensated work would be hugely appreciated!
TL;DR: Got hired as a community marketing LVN, found out the internal job profile sneaked in commercial marketing, CRM tracking, and solo health presentations. Management acted shocked when I brought it up and told me to wait until January for pay changes. January 2nd is my 6-month mark to transfer departments internally. Planning to work strictly my hourly shift and transfer out. Thoughts?

Calling all school nurses!! I’m thinking of accepting a job offer within the school district but wondering a couple of things. Do you go the whole summer without paycheck? Do you enjoy being a school nurse? Pros/cons?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

I’ve always been told to “paint the picture” as best as you can by having your quick assessment on point, ask the correct questions and know how to summarize it in to 1-3 sentences for your triage note/chief complaint note.

I work with ONE nurse that will put in “chest pain” or “leg pain, left, 1-2 weeks” and is adamant that that is all is needed….

I mean I guess, sure. But dang I like to put in a wee bit more. “Patient having chest pain intermittently along with palpitations the last 2 days, on eliquis for afib. Last dose this am.”

And something like leg pain…yes it could just be an ankle sprain, so why not put the previous event in the note? Soccer or whatever. Or leg pain could be cellulitis so bad, the patient is septic already.

I know docs and other nurses can get this info from the patient later during their interactions, or see it in the chart somewhat…but still…

Anyways, how do yall like to do your triage note? She is the only nurse that does such small notes like this. Everyone else does 1-3 sentences roughly. ER nurse and have been beside 11 years, so I am very set in how I triage safe to say haha. But curious on what yall say!

Love nursing in Cali. Love how nurses are protected by unionized hospitals. Love how for the most part we are fully staffed with a resource and or meal relief nurse. Love how assignments are safe and fair.

What protects nurses in Texas? What unit do you work in? How are your assignments? What’s the most you make per hour?

Hello all! I'm here on behalf of my wife (unbeknownst to her), looking for advice on what we should do. Long story short she recently graduated with her BSN (2-3 months ago), passed her NCLEX, and is certified to practice in California. The issue we are running into is that she has applied to essentially every position and New Grad Residency Program possible in the 29/Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley area, has extended applications as far as Palm Springs all the way to San Diego. 100's of applications, 10's of interviews, 0 job offers.

She has experience that's outlined in her resume, like 5 years as an ER technician, Phlebotomist (ultrasound IV trained), I think she also got her EMT certification (almost certainly expired now). We're getting to the point where she might have to move back home (across the country) to get experience as a Nurse, before returning to try applying to jobs again out here in CA.

What I don't want is her missing a year of our kids' lives (both under the age of 5, crucial developmental years) and being away from our little family for all that time.

Has anyone had issues like this, if so, what did you do to overcome what seems to be the biggest hurdle in pursuing Nursing, securing a job as a new grad nurse?