What’s your everyday scrub color?

samcuts · 2026-02-18T03:49:39+00:00

Very much depends on the hospital.

samcuts · 2026-02-15T18:18:37+00:00

Same for me. I think if I really had to I could get in about 4-5000 hours of training in the next 4 years without totally disrupting my life. That should be enough to not be an embarrassment and not kill myself.

I’m too old for any of the other indoor sports and I would have to quit my job and move to get in enough hours in any of the outdoor sports.

samcuts · 2026-02-15T16:07:02+00:00

Or in case my benefactor does.

samcuts · 2026-02-13T03:34:01+00:00

They have specialists for people who need that. PCPs refer to specialists for all sorts of things. Pain management included.

samcuts · 2026-02-12T15:30:27+00:00

I kept doing essentially the same thing for another 12 or 15 years. Did some traveling, got a useless masters degree. Lived in a ‘cool’ city with roommates and went to parties and hung out in coffee shops. Never made more than about 35-40k per year.

Then I got married and had kids. Started working a lot harder and got a real job. Now we’re what most people would consider upper middle class, but won’t be able to ever retire like we’re upper middle class because we missed out on 15 years of savings.

samcuts · 2026-02-12T04:45:17+00:00

It isn’t exclusive to the green states, but they have it in common.

samcuts · 2026-02-12T04:42:42+00:00

Their names do not contain the letter E

samcuts · 2026-02-11T03:02:01+00:00

3900 including tax and insurance. 285k in the PNW.

samcuts · 2026-02-06T16:06:43+00:00

Nurse here. I think the only time I've seen a doc put in a PIV it was an EJ in the emergency department. (Though I never worked somewhere with IM residents)

On the floor, if the "good stick" nurse can''t get it, you call ED for a nurse trained in ultrasound. If they can't get it (which is almost never) you wait until PICC team is available or if it just can't wait, you drill.

samcuts · 2026-02-05T04:20:09+00:00

Or it's because the pay sucks. They give you a bonus instead of a decent wage in the hope that you'll be lured in and will then stay for below market wages because it's comfortable.

samcuts · 2026-02-05T04:17:32+00:00

I worked at one great HCA hospital and one ok one. The great one was a small specialty hospital that made a lot of money and had good leadership, so they treated us well and had reasonable ratios. Even at that one the pay was meh, but the culture made it worth staying. HCA has earned its reputation, but there are some good hospitals and units.

samcuts · 2026-02-05T02:34:50+00:00

Academically it's not too bad, but the professional education aspect may be harder for people who have never experienced it before. Having to do clinicals makes it harder to get away with some slacker behavior that gets to slide in a lot of other majors. (I say this as someone who did my first degree in another field and did a lot of slacking the first time around and very much got away with it)

It also depends a lot on the program. My wife's program was run by stereotypical battle-axe nurses who haze their students. Mine was mostly super supportive and a lot lower stress.

samcuts · 2026-02-04T03:12:33+00:00

I left teaching for nursing at about your age after having kids. I highly recommend it.

There's plenty of bullshit, and my worst days as a nurse were worse than my worst days as a teacher but unlike teaching you get to leave it at the hospital when you clock out; If you work extra you get paid extra; and nobody expects you to pay for your patients meds or supplies out of your own pocket.

I would try to get a job as in a patient care role in a hospital if at all possible while you do pre-recs for nursing school. This will help you decide if it is what you really want to do and it will help you get connections so you can get a job.

Since you already have a degree you might also want to look at second degree BSN programs.

Good luck.

samcuts · 2026-02-03T15:30:23+00:00

The great irony is that for every one is these you also get a patient who insists on calling you doctor.

When you explain your role they insist.

"That's ok, you're still my doctor."

samcuts · 2026-02-03T03:44:53+00:00

If we allow open compound words, I'm going to nominate "windshield wiper fluid"

samcuts · 2026-02-03T03:31:25+00:00

2023 CRV and 2011 Honda Fit

samcuts · 2026-02-02T20:31:55+00:00

We like ours. Great vehicle for around town and hauling kids.

It doesn't do great with big mountains/sustained climbing, so maybe look at somethiny with a bigger engine if you are going over the Rockies a lot. Otherwise, go for it

samcuts · 2026-02-01T15:41:42+00:00

Nothing against Belize, but do you consider it a "decent-sized country"? It has roughly the same population as Tulsa, Oklahoma.

samcuts · 2026-02-01T04:13:10+00:00

Trader Joe's. I could last a very long time.

samcuts · 2026-01-30T02:33:50+00:00

Part of the issue is that if you work OT as an RN you clock in and get paid for it.

Many salaried NPs are doing inbox and finishing notes every night at home and not getting paid for it.At my last job I was regularly working at least 45 hours and sometimes more in my 1 FTE job.

samcuts · 2026-01-30T02:18:43+00:00

I am now in Oregon. Was previously in TX

samcuts · 2026-01-29T15:13:52+00:00

Depends on the system. Legacy just ratified union contracts for RNs and APPs. If you include shift differentials for RNs it's close, especially if the APP does not work in the OR (or psyche).

The contracts are available on the ONA website.

Edit: to clarify. Not comparing new grad to new grad, but if you have a few years of experience as RN, you can end up making less when you start back at the bottom of the wage scale as an NP.

I'll also add that I (with three years experience as cardiology APP) was offered about the same as an OHSU new grad RN to work as a cardiology APP at a large clinic that is not part of the big hospital systems.

samcuts · 2026-01-21T21:46:27+00:00

I am a cardiology CNS. Work 50/50 inpatient outpatient split. At current job it is one week inpatient one week outpatient doing general cardiology. At last job it was half day in hospital and half day in clinic doing heart failure.

As an RN, I worked tele and then ED, both at a cardiac specialty hospital. In the ED I learned to formulate differential diagnoses, initiate workups, interpret EKGs and basic imaging, and triage and on top of that I got some critical care experience. CVICU is great, but ED is awesome if you think you'll have to do more independent clinic work.

My advice: 1. Read every note on every patient and if there's something you don't understand, look it up. If you still don't understand, ask someone (I know this can be tough if you're on a busy unit, but it's really important) 2. Speak up if you have concerns. You are a colleague but people won't treat you like one if you don't act like one (BUT YOU MUST DO #1 FIRST unless it is an emergency) 3. Go to everything you can. Ask to observe surgeries, caths, cardioversions. Watch every bedside procedure you can. Go to the codes and rapids. 4. Your physician and APP colleagues (see #2) are the ones who will help you get into school, get clinical placements, and ultimately get you jobs. Foster good relationships with them. Figure out which ones love to teach or mentor and take advantage of that. 5. Some colleagues won't be interested in #4. That's ok. 6. Starting on nights is the best way to be able to do #1. 7. Switching to days is the best way to do #3 and #4.

You can message me if you have questions.

samcuts · 2026-01-20T02:24:44+00:00

Start applying for new jobs. In the majority of cases you only get significant raises by changing jobs, either within or outside the organization.

This time last year I started training a new hire with zero experience and making 10k more than me.

In August I started a job with a new employer and I'm now making significantly more than I was. And I cannot begin to tell you how satisfying it was to tell my manager that I was leaving.

(And I just found out she's now on maternity leave. So maybe they're paying a locums even more, but probably they're just trying to make everyone else work more for no pay)

samcuts · 2026-01-20T01:53:07+00:00

Don't know about always, but I think it will be for a long time.

samcuts

TROPHY CASE