RN:MD Money Ratio.

Yesterday at work, I had a conversation with a resident that's stuck in my thoughts today.

I was returning to the unit from taking one of my patients to a test, and I jokingly mentioned to him that, as evidenced by my other patient's awkward position in bed, my co-workers had neglected to check in on her for me while I was away, as they had promised. We laughed, and he said, "If only you could clone yourself," to which I replied, "Right. If that were the case, I'd expect to get paid double."

Funny idea. He laughed, I laughed, and then he said, "Hey, don't say that. You already do get paid double what I get paid!"

"True," I said. "For now."

It's great that I get paid double what this resident gets paid. I think I deserve it -- yeah, he has 24-hour call every five days, and has to work 7 days a week, but I think I work harder. I'm responsible for the lives of two patients, and for 12 hours straight, I actually physically carry out the myriad of tests, procedures, monitoring and general upkeep that is required to get them through their ailments.

That's not what bothered me about the conversation. What bothers me, is that in five years, when this resident is out of training, his statement won't be true. In fact, he'll be doing LESS work, for more money. While I, the RN, if I stay in my current position, will be making around the same amount.

Sure, the longer you stay in nursing, the more you make. With my Union, I get a good raise every year, so by my 30 year mark, I'll be making six figures.

But that's thirty years from now.

Immediately after I uttered the words, "For now," I stopped what I was doing and thought for a second. Thirty years is way too long to wait to make a six-figure salary. And, if I believe that I'm an expert, and that nursing is a field with endless options for advancement, there's no way I'm waiting that long.

It was good to realize, that, although it might not seem so to the bystander, nurses have every opportunity to make just as much as MDs do (although, for the record, I do believe the incomes of RNs and MDs should be swapped...but that's a post for another day).

The options are endless, and often free for the taking. Get your master's, get into administration, specialize in a field and become a sought-after consultant. All of it starts with the two letters: RN.

For those of you reading who don't have those letters behind your name just yet...here's one of many programs -- it's a scholarship program from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the AACN -- that hand out money to people ready to join the RN trend: http://newcareersinnursing.org/

6 Months?

August 31, really? My last post?

It's hard to believe that 6 months has passed since I last looked at this site. I'm not surprised, just shocked at the visible passage of time. Apparently, I should just admit that I'm a horrible blogger. Done.

Life, for me, has continued. As a nurse, I feel increasingly confident. I've passed my year mark and am nearing my second anniversary. I sought out an advanced certification (ACLS), and am working on taking the CCRN exam ( a test that certifies my as a critical care RN). I've joined the AACN, and am running a monthly journal club out of my unit with a goal of publishing some research in the next year. I'm enjoying my work, my co-workers and looking to the future with good feelings.

For my patients, things have stayed the normal course. A repeat-patient that I took care of over the course of the past year and half, a pretty little lady with a bad pair of lungs, passed shortly after Christmas. It was sad to see her sisters, who I had gotten to know during my care of her, so distraught at the eventual realization that she just wouldn't pull through this infection, this time. I miss them, even though I know that death was the only, better option for her painful struggle.

I've had a few significant sickies...a GI bleeder I fought for who got to surgery too late, an overweight, but super-sweet woman who fought (and beat) sepsis, and a pair of ARDS patients whose families both decided to withdraw care, during the same shift, within 15 minutes of each other.

These are the people who make it through the cluttered memory of my 12 hour days, and the exhaustion I feel afterwards. Families and patients who, for one reason or another, keep me running, and yet make me smile days later. The ones who I remember, and mourn with, and yet, encourage at the same time.

All in all, it's good to be a nurse right now. I haven't spent a stray thought on the economy, I've grown in my role on the unit, and I'm thrilled to be spending extra time giving back to my co-workers, and my patients.

Will try to stay in touch more frequently...:)

Congrats Obama.

It isn't everyday, that you get to experience emotional moments. As an ICU nurse, I am exposed to emotions on a daily basis, and yet, I can go for days without showing or feeling anything towards my patients or my surroundings. Some days, I feel very separate from my patients - most of which have altered levels of consciousness from disease processes or drugs, and multiple tubes impeding them from speaking. Weeks can pass where I have one-sided conversations only.

This week, though, I eavesdropped on a conversation that brought a few little tears to my eyes and a clump to my throat. My patient had a visitor - his first in the two days I had been his nurse. He and I had minimal communication -- he was on the ventilator, and beyond that, he had been involved in a hit-and-run accident five years ago that left him with many deficits. The best he could do to communicate was open his eyes, and he did that very little.

The visitor was his niece, and she brought with her the newspaper from that morning. She started by telling him the date and the time, and then proceeded to inform him that Barack Obama had accepted the democratic nomination on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech the night before. "We're gonna do it, uncle," she said with excitment. His eyes opened, and she went on to tell him about Joe Biden, and Obama's powerful speech at the convention.

I have no idea how much he understood or didn't. But, as I listened and watched from the door, I thought to myself of how outstanding Obama's reach is -- that his words and person traveled from the convention in Denver, all the way to the bedside of a nameless man who can only open his eyes.

I'm not sure which was more valuable to me then - to be a nurse - or to be a witness to the spread of hope and change that Obama has started in this country.

Vacation.

And....I'm back.

Sorry no word, but things got a bit busy before I jet-setted across the globe to see my good (nurse) friend in Israel.

Two weeks running around Tel Aviv was a pretty amazing way to celebrate and complete my first year in nursing. It was a blast.

Now, I'm jet-lagged and paying for it, but will go to night shifts this evening to return to work. Am sure to have plenty of stories to re-win your interest.

Be a nurse...vacations are way better than they used to be.

Mleh.

Honestly, I didn't really feel like being a nurse today.

Come to think of it, I didn't really feel like being anything. Except, maybe...sleeping on a beach. Or just plain sleeping.

No particular reason; I just felt sleepy and slow. Which, I decided to go with. Because...what job exists where those days don't come?

Soo, I finished up my shift, put on a little black dress and went out with my friend and saw a really good concert. Lovely.

Acceptable gaps and welcome blurs...

Sorry about my little 4-day gap. I went on a quick vacation on my days off. Now I'm back for three (well, two more), and then I'm off for a ten-day trip overseas. Which, if you ask me, is a self-explanatory reason to be a nurse.

But that would be a cheat-post, since I just wrote about the wonderful, marvelous part of nursing...which is: days off.

Today, I guess, was easy. It was a "blur" day. Things happened, my patients were really sick, but it all kind of went by without a big enough glitch for me to remember anything in particular.

Unlike other days, when I leave work with a head full of questions, today I rode the subway home, strolled the last six blocks to my house and mindlessly decompressed, while watching an old episode of 'The Office' on my ipod.

Now, on my couch, with the AC making me cool, in my own comfy clothes...I'm having a really hard time remembering what happened today.

Which, in and of itself...is a really good reason - for me, at least - to be a nurse: I don't really bring much of anything home with me.

White heart identity.

Be a nurse, because you get to be a member of a dynamic group of people with an identity. For as long as you live, no matter how long or short you practice, once a nurse, always a nurse.

And the great part about it, is that nurses are all pretty proud of being nurses. They cling to their identity as RN and support and relate to and stick with everyone else who holds that title.

I mean, let's face it...how may professions have their own international symbol?with that Did you know that the RN's is a white heart? Who doesn't want to be associated ? Check it out...be a nurse and you can wear one, too: http://www.icn.ch/whiteheart.htm

Cheesy, but welcoming. Be a nurse: you'll always have friends. Hehe.