It's been a disheartening couple of weeks (and months) in my district. One nurse is on paid administrative leave following...an incident...our LVN that usually fills in for diabetics when people are sick has been out for surgery, another nurse quit effective this week...In the meantime, the need for us has increased: more diabetics are spread around our schools, and we're spread so thin that for one of us to take a day off, there's a serious amount of time spent orchestrating diabetic coverage.
Following the board's decision to continue to require licensed personnel to administer insulin, as opposed to the state's ruling that offered volunteers may do so, I've been thinking the solution to our shortage is obvious: hire cheaper nurses.
I was right. Last week started Monday morning with someone commenting that I have the pregnant lady waddle (not a compliment at any point in pregnancy, but at 24 weeks, I was insulted), and ended on Thursday with a call from the coordinator: we will indeed be being replaced, slowly, by LVNs. There will be able to be more of those than there are RNs, and there won't be room for all of us to stay as "LVN supervisors" as she put it. No one is getting laid off just yet, but with my preliminary credential expiring at the end of next school year (and needing a year or two of schooling to complete the requirements for a permanent credential), the unspoken conclusion was that I probably shouldn't bother completing such a thing. There won't be room for me here in a couple of years anyway.
<Sigh.> I suppose I should be more concerned about my career long-term, but instead, I'm just getting more excited by the day to meet the baby kicking my bladder.
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Hi there. Sorry to hear about your diminishing bad news in the job department. The good news is that you might be looking for something different in the job department now that you have a little one on the way, and this gives you the opportunity to consider the type of jobs that will be best for both you and your growing family. I could see you doing very well at a federally qualified health center or as a nurse case manager, since you seem pretty comfortable dealing with both medical and social services. After I got burnt out working in PICU I became a nurse case manager for an insurance company, and I love it. One day I might talk to a woman choosing between feeding her teenage son and paying the co-pays for all of her brand-name COPD medications, and I help her apply for food stamps and LIHEAP and prescription assistance programs so she can afford her meds. Other days I help patients with every condition you can think of- it is basically a lot of patient advocacy and problem solving. Insurance companies are hiring nurse case managers in droves right now, and you only need an RN and not a BSN for
ReplyDelete...the position. Best of all, it is a LOT less stressful, and a lot more reliable, which is really nice when you have a little one that deserves the best of your time and energy. Good luck to you in your job search! And keep us posted on where you end up.
ReplyDeleteHi! If you have the chance, would you please email me (using the "Contact Me" button in the top right navigation area)? I'm curious to hear more about what you do. :)
ReplyDelete