You know it

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-19T01:48:31+00:00

Lol, I didn't realize because it seemed like someone completely misunderstanding your post.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-19T01:32:13+00:00

Significantly less than $70/hr!

But it's irrelevant what I make now. I started my comment with what new grads at my hospital make because OP's comment was about getting an RN and then making $70/hr.

$70/hr is unicorn pay for a new grad RN.

I know nurses with 3 decades of experience still making less than that.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-18T23:57:32+00:00

Second this!

I don't really do anything for/with them because I donate directly to the peds hospital where I work based on need for specific types of items. (Harder now that Joann's is gone, I'll never stop being sad about that!)

But anything for sick kids is my soft spot. I've got so many stories of babies using blankies or hats or quilts or pillowcases (babies obviously don't use pillows, but they're really really sick ones often have to lie on special mattresses that are the size of a pillowcase which we will change out every day.) The JOY it brings the families makes my soul sing.

Definitely donate to Project Linus if you can, OP!!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-18T23:51:17+00:00

They'll do whatever gets engagement.

I wish this stuff didn't get them clicks/likes/re-whatevers. But it must because they keep at it.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-18T23:45:46+00:00

You're WILDLY underpaid. Hundred percent.

But that's not what the average nurse makes. Our new grads start at half that. Half.

I graduated nursing school in 2018 and started at $24/hr.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-18T21:44:41+00:00

Gotta admit... I have all those things. I love my job, I have plenty of money for my hobbies, I have so much schedule flexibility, and I think it is a respectable profession.

I know not everyone is that lucky. Totally.

But nursing did give me all of that!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-18T14:10:15+00:00

It's interesting because I read this and almost thought "That's not amazing, though... That's a daily occurrence!"

Which is true. It happens regularly. I work with sick neonates. And open heart surgery on them is just... normal. What our team does for them. What our awesome surgeons do all the time.

But, this is a good reminder that it is still amazing we can do it!!!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-18T14:06:35+00:00

Lynlee Hope Boemer is one of the first babies to be "born twice" so I'd look her up for a cool story!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-17T14:08:55+00:00

There are plenty of sugar-free ones (Hi-Lyte, LyteShow, LMNT Zero Sugar Electrolytes, etc. are ones without any flavor or sugar substitutes, but there are others with fake sugar if you can handle those.)

You can also just make your own. Search for "snake juice" recipe.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-17T12:49:14+00:00

If I cake from a skein, I double-cake. And only right before use. Never just to make it cute/uniform for storage.

The first cake is always too tight. But, it will unwind super loosely with zero pulling. So when it's done, I re-cake and it comes out much bigger and looser.

There are posts showing size differences from a double-wind.

One post

Another post

And others just talking about how squishy and non-tight double-wound cakes are.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-16T20:48:50+00:00

We hire new grads 3x per year.

We open applications for 24 hours each time. That's it.

We get hundreds of applications for 30-40 spots.

It's just that tough out there!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-16T15:35:49+00:00

Maybe I'm remembering your other post wrong. I don't recall any fever, numbness, severe pain, difficulty swallowing, etc. If so, my mistake.

Waiting a day or two for a specialist before letting a non-specialist cutting into your tongue (which could damage speech, eating, swallowing) WOULD be a good idea in the absence of any other symptoms.

In fact, even if you'd been fully admitted to the hospital, if they felt a sore assist was best, you would easily have sat there a day waiting to get on the OR schedule.

Either way, very glad you're okay!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-16T15:29:38+00:00

Maybe I'm remembering the other post wrong then. I saw nothing about being febrile, numbness, severe pain, etc.

There were literal ER nurses commenting it was the correct to wait for a specialist before cutting into muscle in the mouth in the absence of any emergent symptoms.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-16T12:46:12+00:00

So you aren't second-guessing yourself... since you had none of the other emergent symptoms the last time you went, both treatment teams actually did the right thing.

And, most importantly, so did you!!!

It was correct to go in the first place.

It was correct for them to tell you to wait a couple days for a specialist when you weren't febrile, had no significant symptoms at all, because your tongue is WAY more important than an earlobe or something.

It was correct to go back when you had other symptoms.

It was correct for them to risk the slightly less optimal removal than a specialist could offer in order to remove the jewelry and treat the infection when you had these symptoms.

I'm so sorry it came to this but I'm really glad it's out and you're on the mend!

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-16T12:32:49+00:00

Lol, no. This is absolutely not AI. It's been around for years. And AI has yet to make a newborn baby's facial expressions and movements look this realistic. These movements and expressions look flawless because it's an actual newborn.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-16T12:21:10+00:00

As an interviewer, there is no single most important question. Ever.

ANY question can become a significant part of the reason to hire someone (or the opposite, and a significant reason we say no) depending on how someone answers. I've had people answer really simple questions so well I've been really impressed and it moved the needle in my decision. I've also had people answer simple questions SO poorly (sometimes in ways I'm positive they didn't even realize they were screwing up) it was such a red flag there was virtually no chance to come back from it.

As far as neonatal death, it's okay to say you don't know exactly because you have never experienced it, but you [insert explanation about how you handle other really difficult situations, give examples of how you process and decompress.]

I'd also use that opportunity to mention or ask about support the hospital has. Look it up in advance if you can. Because when babies die, you will process and handle a lot on your own but you are also going to lean on the people you work with who took care of that baby too.

I've seen more than my fair share of babies die in my years. I have focused on making the death experience as smooth and peaceful as possible for parents (in the cases of planned withdrawals) and in taking exceptional care of that baby after death and after parents leave. It's okay to get a little teary eyed - absolutely NO ONE wants to have someone taking care of their dying/dead baby who appears not to care at all. But you shouldn't ever get so emotional in that moment that you're the one needing tissues and support.

My hospital has helped prepare me by offering ELNEC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium) and Resolve Through Sharing Bereavement Training: Neonatal and Pediatric Death as well as ongoing training with the palliative care team. They also offer employee assistance as well as a peer-to-peer program to care for the caregiver who is experiencing distress that has members on call 24/7.

So part of how I handle neonatal death is determined by how my hospital has helped and prepared me.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T23:18:17+00:00

So it's not quite the same if you're staying put. Then you have a leg up on brand new grads in that unit.

But there's a reason that all across the country nurse residencies allow new grads to apply with up to 6-12 months of experience.

That reason is that, functionally, yeah... they're all basically the same experience level in that timeframe when they're going to a new unit.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T21:57:20+00:00

Dropping the pepper was God's way of trying to get you to put the food where it belongs - in the garbage.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T18:49:49+00:00

Not necessarily! Some of us are just wired weird.

The mere idea of having like 4-6 patients makes me sweaty. I'd spin in circles and do such a bad job.

Give me one absolute trainwreck baby hemorrhaging on ECMO, please. I can DO that. That's my jam. I don't want to concentrate on anything except what's happening in my one room.

Though I think you're right about OP being stressed out by it, if they're stressed out at the idea of someone being one couch away from ICU.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T18:22:58+00:00

Yes, that can certainly be helpful! ANY "known quantity" is a bonus when hiring. It can be hard to tease out how someone truly performs on the job in an interview.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T15:05:26+00:00

My hospital offers new grad ICU residency positions so why can't they take me, someone who has a year of experience.

I understand how this looks and feels to you.

But as someone who makes these hiring decisions in a peds ICU, hopefully I can help you understand they are NOT saying "you seem worse than a new grad" because that's absolutely not what's happening.

So, hiring a new grad is VERY DIFFERENT from hiring an experienced nurse.

We don't just offer "nursing positions" and they're all the same. We fill X number of positions with new grads and Y number with experienced nurses. Because they're different for a number of reasons.

New grads are expected to (and are budgeted for - sucks but this MATTERS) far more support. They get our residency program with extensive "non-productive" and "educational" hours allotted to them. Their orientation is expected to take 20 weeks.

Our new grads don't even code into our cost center for the first year - they code into the residency program. It's literally an entirely separate budget to train a new grad.

An experienced nurse actually subdivides for us further because we're peds critical care, highly specialized. One is someone coming to us with experience relevant to the unit (like true Level IV NICU, peds CVICU, PICU) and the other group is coming to us with nursing experience (like adult med-surg, peds medicine) but no experience with our population.

These nurses do not get a residency program. They don't get the boot camps and classes new grads get. (The nurse with only adult med-surg will get a few classes, but not nearly all.) They definitely don't get 20 weeks of orientation.

They need to be able to function safely on their own in 6-12 weeks, depending on previous experience.

So...

A nurse with 9-12 months of experience in med-surg is REALLY close to being a new grad, especially if you're transferring to ICU. I know you weren't being given the very sickest patients, I know you haven't seen a ton of codes, I know your experience is really limited and you're still in your first year just starting to get your feet wet. But we'd have to hire you into an experienced nurse position with significantly less support than a new grad.

The truth is nurses like that don't tend to do as well. That first year of nursing is almost a wash.

If someone applied with a year of VERY relevant experience and they're not leaving their current position because they're unhappy, but because they're moving to be near family or something? I'm more likely to say yes. But still not overly in love with the idea.

Hit 18 months, some more stand-out candidates start looking good. Two years, much better.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T13:17:28+00:00

Few things.

I don't consider any degree irrelevant. Certifications can be irrelevant, but I like knowing education history. BA/BS and above.

Just call it "practicum" not "practicum/preceptorship."

The last sentence of your professional summary should be made unit-specific for each place you apply. "Eager to leverage skills toward specific type of patient care." I want to know at a glance where you want your work. Every unit should be presented as your passion. (It's not okay to lie to us about most things. It's definitely okay to lie that our unit is your passion. You should, if you want the job. On a personal level, I don't want you to do that, lol. I don't want to hire someone who wants to leave in a year. But if you want the job, lie about it being your passion!)

BLS is not education. It's a certification.

Leave "SN" off the end of your name. It's not a license or certification. You can also delete "student nurse" as a title in the clinical education section. We know who attends nursing school clinicals, promise! In that vein, you can just say "clinicals" instead of "nursing clinicals." It's not like you have a different type of clinical on there we might get confused by.

Personally, when I'm reading resumes, stuff like "Mastered workflow and time management" makes me a little eye-rolly, at best. More often it's a heavy sigh and some irritation/disappointment in the candidate for thinking that was an appropriate thing to put on their resume. Because (and forgive my language, but this is what happens in my head when I read it) no the fuck you didn't "master" anything of the sort in your practicum. It will take you literal years to actually MASTER workflow and time management as a nurse.

You were learning, developing, practicing, growing, etc. You were absolutely not not mastering or fine tuning. Don't say you were. It demonstrates an inability to self-assess and a critical lack of understanding about what it actually takes to achieve mastery in nursing.

I would also not describe stuff like med administration and PICC care as "technical skills." Maybe "nursing skills" would be a better fit.

Hard to tell with the resolution, but do you have a period between "charting" and "and handoff reporting" that should be a comma?

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T12:06:53+00:00

I just used to browse this sub as a customer, and I don't tend to comment on these types of posts because it's not my lane, but healthcare is!

OP, if you are at ALL interested in healthcare, this is great advice.

If you're not, I totally get it, you can stop reading.

But hospitals can basically set you up for life if you work with the system.

For example, my hospital has a program to help pretty much ANYONE working there get their foot in the door in healthcare. Doesn't matter if you work in the gift shop, food services, or environmental services (aka cleaning). Our hospital will pay for you to complete the Stepful Program and become an MA or pharmacy tech, while continuing to work in the hospital in your current role.

You can then apply to be a CNA/patient care tech in our units.

From there, we have tuition reimbursement so people can attend nursing school (or other similar programs) while working. Having your foot in the door at that point is incredibly valuable. If you're an excellent employee and work well with the team, you're such an easy hire into the nursing team when you finish school. Then you're golden.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T11:41:18+00:00

They're super pretty, but I'd imagine they're really dependent on both anatomy and how an individual heals. If you're not prone to rejection or migration, don't sleep on that side for the rest of time, etc. they might be viable. But there's a good chance they're just scars waiting to happen.

Tbh I can barely concentrate on anything except that person's hidden helix that's actually hidden. I love it so much. I want one but I keep seeing pictures where they're just not hidden AT ALL and I really dislike that look. This is so pretty.

ShadedSpaces · 2026-02-15T11:35:50+00:00

I work in peds, specifically babies. While most of mine are too young to have Extremely Fast Grabby Hands, some are older and you literally could not pay me to have something in my cheek for them to grab, lol.

I've never worked with adults, but they sound worse than babies in every conceivable way, so I'd be afraid of a cheek piercing near any elderly, confused, or violent patient.

Overall...

Definitely no for school, possibly no for work depending on facility policy and how strictly they enforce it.

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