Staff Nurse 

(Female, Age 26) from redding, CA

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 26 who works as a Staff Nurse in redding, CA. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Staff Nurse
Salary $52,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 36
Company Size (not answered)
Location redding, CA
Years Experience 4 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
300 bed hospital. Over 3000 employees.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
duties: medication administration; patient safety, JCAHO documentation

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
fully paid hmo health insurance

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
undercompensated

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
My job is about working with people 24/7, whether it’s other nurses, doctors, or patients, I am constantly around people. I love working with people to some extent. There are many people who treat you with no respect, and I have to put up with it because I am representing my hospital. I would never put up with if I was running my own company.

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
We all help each other out!

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 2
Benefits: 6
Hours: 7
Co-Workers: 4
Supervisors: 5
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 1
The Actual Work: 3

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am I usually have 5 patients each day to care for. When I begin, I look over charts. I read over each patient’s past medical history and medication chart. I make a schedule for each patient with the times for when their medications are due. During the first hour I really try to get organized.
8am to 9am I make rounds to each patient room and get their vital signs, and do blood sugar checks. anwer call lights/phone calls. send patients off to procedures (xray, cath lab).
9am to 10am hourly rounding. attend physician rounding when they are at my patient’s room. answer call lights.
10am to 11am hourly rounding. enter new order. update medication list. answer call lights. pass medication. begin charting.
11am to 12pm hourly rounding. enter lab reports. answer call lights. pass medication.
12pm to 1pm hourly rounding. talk to doctors about the patient’s updated status. pass medication. answer call lights.
1pm to 2pm take a lunch break for 30 minutes. Come back and do hourly rounds on patients to see what happened while I was away at lunch. Continue with paperwork.
2pm to 3pm Perform hourly rounding. Get calls from family members. Pass medication.
3pm to 4pm Perform hourly rounding. pass medications. Chart on each patient. Answer call lights.
4pm to 5pm Pass out patient’s dinner trays. Do blood sugar checks. Pass out medication.
5pm to 6pm I normally am charting during these hours. 50% of nursing is paperwork, so I am most likey sitting in a corner, doing all my 5 patient’s paperwork before my shift is over.
6pm to 7pm I get ready to give report to the oncoming night shift nurse. I get my papers ready of what went on for that entire shift for each patient. i tie up any loose strings i have (ie order labs, procedures). I give report to the oncoming nurse (30 minutes total) and my shift is over.
7pm to 8pm
8pm to 9pm
9pm to 10pm
10pm to 11pm
11pm to 12am

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
company’s online website

What was the application process?
submitted resume online

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Solo interview with the nurse manager. within a few days later, i received a job offer.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
I was asked clinical questions (ie what would you do if your patient was…”). In addition, other questions were geared towards getting to know me as a person (ie strengths and weakness).

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
no. six weeks was barely enough to learn the unit policies and procedures. I was lost for about another 6 months until I really felt like i was competent.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
6 weeks of preceptorship with another seasoned nurse.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
no. nursing is very hands on experience. it is very different from what you learn in school.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
n/a.

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
before you get into nursing, talk to other nurses and see if its something that really interests you. then if you still want to do nursing, go to college and major in nursing.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
critical thinking skills and people skills are the 2 major skills needed.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
B.S.N.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
you will feel incompetent and lost during your first year, but a lot of nursing has to do with hands on experience. What you learn in school will not be the same as on the job experience.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
yes.

What are your current career goals?
I have been a nurse for 4 years already, and plan on remaining a bedside nurse indefinitely. Perhaps in the next 10 years I will start looking for more administrative nurisng positions.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
it is rewarding!

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Prior Job 2 n/a n/a n/a n/a

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3.6

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
3.5 csus nursing
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)

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