Q&A | Tiffins, PCT tasks, and do my coworkers know I blog?
Kristin, love that you use the stainless steel tiffin boxes. I have many but hesitate to take them as you cannot reheat the food. How do you navigate this?
-Samosa
You are right; if I tried to put these in the microwave at work, it would be a very....sparkly experience. 😉 And I might throw some circuit breakers in the hospital!
So, I just use the stainless steel containers for things that do not need to be heated up. Cottage cheese and fruit, sandwiches, salads, trail mix, sliced veggies...all of those are great in the stainless steel containers.
And for things I plan to microwave, I use my glass Pyrex containers.
I love Pyrex, but it is heavy and bulky. So that's why I put most of my not-for-the-microwave food in metal containers; that keeps my lunchbox from weighing 25 pounds. 😉
Also: the stainless steel ones don't break, which is a serious upside.
The metal containers I have:
I’m interested to hear what you do in your job. Are you doing regular nursing, just under supervision, or things that don’t require a nursing license? It sounds like a great way to get experience for your future nursing career and opening a door to a job when you graduate. And I’ll bet they are thankful to have you!
I saw you mentioned doing a nurse residency. Is that now standard for RN’s or optional? Will you be able to do it at the same hospital?
-Jan
My job title is Student Nurse Patient Care Technician (PCT for short).
There are also people who are just straight-up PCTs; they have not gone to nursing school at all; they did the patient care tech training program to get licensed.
The things I do are more limited than what an actual nurse can do. For example, I cannot administer any medications, and I can't do things like deciding to give a patient oxygen.
But I am licensed to do things like:
- blood draws
- urinary catheter insertion and removal
- blood glucose testing
- bladder scanning with an ultrasound machine
- removing IVs
- putting on and removing sequential compression devices (they squeeze your calves while you're in bed, to help prevent blood clots)
- showing patients how to use their incentive spirometers
I am responsible for doing vital signs every four hours (and letting the nurse know if something seems off), giving bed baths, helping feed patients, cleaning up incontinent patients, stripping rooms once patients are discharged, and tracking patients' I's and O's (Intake and Output, meaning, how much are they drinking and how much are they peeing?)
I also help patients ambulate to the bathroom and around the hospital floor (we want them to move if at all possible!), bring them ice water and snacks, and do various tasks that the assigned nurse wants to hand off to me.
I help other nurses and PCTs on the floor when they need it too (sometimes wound care or incontinence cleanup requires multiple hands on deck!), and if I have a few free minutes, I do things like restocking gloves in my rooms and on my hall.
A less-defined role: emotional support! I haven't worked that many shifts but already I have had plenty of opportunities to practice empathizing, listening, and encouraging.
And when I'm doing something like supervising a patient who is ambulating around the hall, I chit-chat with them and ask questions if it seems like they want to talk.
This is not an exhaustive list of what PCTs are responsible for, but it is enough to give you an idea of what I do!
As far as residency requirements go, I think they vary state by state and also by which specialty you hope to go into. I have read that if you want to go straight into labor and delivery, a residency is a good route to go. But...I will figure this out for sure sometime in the next year!
I also know some people just choose to work a year on a med-surg type of floor as a new grad (with supervision of course), and then they branch out into some other area of nursing.
1. Do your co-workers know about your life as a frugal blogger? Do any of them read your blog? (So many of my friends have no idea that I have blogged 5 days a week since 2008, so I am curious how that situation is for you, because your presence is WAY WAY bigger than mine!)
2. How will Purex know if your promo post for them is successful?
3. Will you use some of the $$ from your job to hire someone to mow your yard? (I vote YES!)-Central CA Jana
One: so far, only a handful know that I have a blog, but I'm sure that will change over time. Some of my classmates know that I blog, but it took a while before it came up in conversation there. And I'm pretty sure that most of my classmates have no idea I'm a blogger.
Back to co-workers: I don't mind if they eventually read my blog because I always, always write while keeping in mind that anyone in my life (past, present, or future) could read my posts.
So, everything I publish is safe for consumption by family, friends, fellow students, co-workers, and so on.
Two: Because I have a URL (that's my domain name, thefrugalgirl.com) that is 16 years old, and I have a large, established audience, Purex already knows that my post for them will be successful. They are not tracking purchases specifically from my post, of course, but me writing about their detergent gives them plenty of exposure.
Three: Hmmm, I hadn't actually thought about spending my PCT earnings on a lawn service! It did occur to me to put my PCT money into some special category, and I'd considered sending it to a travel fund.
But maybe I should set some aside for lawn mowing too. I'm guessing, though, that it would probably cost $60-$70 to have someone mow my yard. And that amounts to about 4-ish hours of PCT work, once you take out taxes (I get paid $20/hour).
So now I gotta consider: do I wanna trade four hours of earnings for mowing, when I could mow my yard in about an hour?
Hmmmmmm.
At a nursing hourly rate, that would be a much easier decision. But PCTs don't get paid very much.
That was interesting to read more about your job. I had a hysterectomy 3 years ago, and I had those horrible things on my legs all night. I just wanted them OFF. LOL The student nurse who helped me walk to the bathroom could not remove my IV - had to wait for the nurse to do that. It's interesting how many more things you can do than a student nurse (or, at least the student nurse who was on my floor at that point in her studies).
For the lawn care, I say find a high school or college student and give them $40. 🙂
I am not allowed to unhook IVs either, which is very annoying. Sometimes I want to just unhook the saline real quick so a patient can ambulate to the bathroom more easily!
@Kristen, After watching DS tangle (sometimes literally) with his IV for weeks, I feel this deeply. They wanted him to walk around and get up...but it was tricky sometimes with all the wires they had hooked up to him!
@Kristen, I was that patient for 4 days as they ran many scans looking for the source of a blood clot. I began to apologize to the nurses. But they were just lovely about it. One said, "I wish I had more patients like you." I guess because I was nice in return.
This was my only hospital experience (except for two babies) and it was soo positive. It’s why I’m interested to hear about that part of your life's journey.
I love the glass Pyrex containers are lids. With the plastic Snapware lids, they have such a tight fit.
Lawn care is up to you but given how busy your summer is with working I'd say go for it and hire someone. I know summer has typically been your time to get a lot done. We had a lawn care service for a while and I loved it. The only reason we quit was environmental. Our lawn guy drove a big truck quite a distance and then his lawn equipment used a lot of gas. A couple years ago we switched to electric equipment with rechargeable batteries.
We moved a month ago from the city to the suburbs and now have a large lawn to maintain. I thought I would just mow myself but my husband ended up hiring a lawn service and its been awesome. Its less the physical labor/time and more just one thing I dont need to think about or have on my to do list in this busy season of life!
When we lived in FL, we hired a lawn service. My husband said he was done with mowing the law, especially in the heat. We hired a guy that did houses on both sides of us, so it was really easy for him to just zip thru the 3 lawns together. And it was not expensive at all. But think of the heat!!!!
Now that we have 1-1/2 acres in WV, it would be more expensive, so we invested in a riding lawn mower for my husband. It takes almost 1/2 day to do just the lawn, and then he has to go thru and weed wack too.
For you Kristen, I would use it as an exercise tool and do the once a week. Unless you are working 5 12-hour shift days, then someone else could do it.
Love reading about your day on duty too. That is pretty cool!
Oh my gracious if I worked five 12-hour shifts I would nearly pass away. lol
@Maureen, 1/2 day to mow 1 1/2 acres? Better half mowed 3 acres of which 2 acres had trees in 3 1/2 hours. Your mower deck might be too small.
@Kristen, you could do it. It would just take getting used to. For many years I worked full and part-time, 12 hour weekdays plus one day each weekend. I once worked for 6 months straight without a single day off. I am very thankful to have given up part-time work about a decade ago.
>bring them ice water and snacks
I misread that as "snarks." Code Orange! Patient Rose requires extra snarks!
Am the only one who googles what the hospital codes are when in the hospital?
>or incontinence cleanup requires multiple hands on deck!
But enough about my last hospital stay!
As for Purex, I'm always dying to see a sponsored post where the honest opinion of the blogger is "this is a terrible product!" Instead, they remind me of the old column in Spy magazine by Walter Monheit, in which every movie reviewed received 4 or 5 stars. "Who's going to be Driving Miss Daisy down the aisle at the Academy Awards? The chauffeur with the gold-plated hood: Oscar!"
That said, I know how much $$$ sponsored posts can get, so I'd do the same. "With Purex, wash day is frugal-riffic and clean-tastic! Kristen, clear your calendar for a date--with Oscar!"
Haha, I try not to deliver snarks to my patients. 😉
If I am not 100% sure I can support a product and/or it's not something I already use, I would refuse a sponsored post offer right off the bat. Soooooo, they're kinda self-selectively positive review!
@Kristen, Oh, I know you wouldn't accept a sponsorship from something you didn't like or us. Some other bloggers, though...
And remember the essential oil craze from a few years ago when many of them were making bank selling the stuff, and half heartedly pushing that stuff? Yeesh.
My main issue with the essential oils thing, aside from people pushing them as a medical treatment without evidence to do so, is that SO many of those companies are MLMs. And I am staunchly anti-MLM.
@Rose,
I work in a drug store that has a health food section that sells essential oils.
One day, a customer bought a big bottle of essential oil, I forgot what scent, might have been tea tree oil -- and dropped it on the floor by my coworker's register. My station was the next lane. OMG, did it smell up the place! The poor customer was embarrassed (shouldn't have been, that can happen to anyone), there was shattered glass all over the floor and the strong lingering odor didn't go away for quit a while.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Yikes! I'm sensitive to tea tree oil. Can't remember how or why, but it seriously irritated my skin. I do sometimes get essential oils at our local health food store, but they're for making bath bombs or if I wanna make scented candles, not for some quack medicine reason.
I saw on the link to your 40oz stainless steel container that it says it's top rack dishwasher safe. Do you usually wash yours in the dishwasher?
When we pack lunches for places like the zoo, I end up doing the bulk of the food carrying in a backpack. This is where I mostly feel the struggle of glass dishes weighing so much. If I'm just packing lunch for somewhere else, it's not a big deal to have a heavy lunchbox. But something I will have to carry on my back all day? That's where I opt for ziplock bags over glass.
I'm curious - for anyone who has multiple people in their house that pack lunches, does anyone use lots of stainless steel containers? Was that really expensive to invest in? We will have 4 people regularly packing lunches next year.
Yup, mine are all dishwasher safe and I've been throwing them in there for years. They are none the worse for the wear.
And yes, I love stainless steel containers for when I have to haul a lunch for a ways.
I would only send stainless steel containers with someone who could be trusted not to lose them, so....it would all depend who you are packing lunches for. A forgetful child would definitely not be getting stainless steel from me. 😉
@Kristen, Your last point is a great one! Words from a wise momma. 😉
I think you should pay for the mowing and buy back some time. Having said that, I like spending my money on travel, so I would like to save for that. Maybe you could pay someone to do it once when you are extra busy?
I am so happy it's summer. I'm about to go home for three whole weeks!
Have you ever considered one of those heat-up lunch boxes? I got my husband one - the microwaves at his work are gross, sometimes broken etc, and he LOVES it. The inner is metal, much like your tiffins, but you can plug it in and it has a tiny element that gradually heats up your food. It takes a while, so you plug in about an hour or so before you want to eat. Very useful.
Also, don't just calculate how many hours of work it would be to pay a lawn service, calculate what YOU could be doing in that hour instead too. That's crucial. If it were me, I'd get someone once a month and hang the expense!
Oh, that is so interesting; I have never heard of such a box!
@Kristen, I wondered at first if it was one of those gimmicky ideas that don't really work longer term, but it has been a total mainstay. I understand that people who drive a lot / are on the road during their work day use the cigarette lighter port to heat up their food, which is a clever idea too!
It took us 1 hr to mow our lawn with a push mower, but now takes only 30 minutes with a riding mower. When we were out of town the kid across the street did it for $25 on his dad's machine. Maybe you could find a similar teen? He was working for $50 an hour so that's a pretty good rate for a 12-year-old.
@Esther ky, I second this. Maybe there is an entrepreneurial kid in the neighborhood who could use the money at a lesser frequency. My son did it for neighbors for awhile and it was a good way to make money before he could get a for real job!
Re: the lawn mowing, I'd recommend doing a sort of Amy D analysis of it in terms not only of cost, but of your time (which may be limited this summer) and your enjoyment of the task (which is not very much).
That's a good idea!
@A. Marie, Agree! What else could Kristen be doing with that time? What else would Kristen be able to do as a result of not having to do that thing?
Clearly, budget is a big factor, but if there's a real choice to outsource something one absolutely does not like doing, especially if that thing is not very frequent, I say do it. An hour of blogging could yield higher longer term returns, an hour of study, an hour of trail walking or gym or food prep, or just sitting, quietly with a nice book / an excellent movie and a bowl of popcorn; all of these things would improve Kristen's life in some way!
I sincerely believe that you have earned - literally in terms of income and in terms of life season - the right to be allowed to say ''I really do not want to do this one thing, even though, yes, I could. ''
How times have changed! I'm sure $20/hr is not a great wage for nurses in 2024, but just for comparison, when I was a nursing assistant (NA) in a nursing home in the early '80s, I made $2/hr. Yes, $2.00! I think nursing home staff is still seriously underpaid. I also have to say I get a giggle out of the evolution of job titles as well, I think Patient Care Technician sounds better than Nursing Assistant, which I'm assuming isn't used anymore, though I have heard the term, Certified Nursing Assistant, so maybe that title still exists?
Interestingly, the license with my state IS actually called a CNA license. But then the job it gets me is called a Patient Care Tech. lol
I do my own yard work as part of my physical exercise, and as long as I can, I will. Plus, I get a lot of satisfaction from doing it exactly as I want it done. In fact, I'm going to mow it this morning before we hit 100 degrees. My mom mowed her own grass into her 80's! It was one of the ways she stayed active. Bonus: she got to know her neighbors fairly well because she was outside often and had a large piece of land. Like you say: it doesn't take whiskers.
Put me in the DIY camp on mowing this summer. One hour of your time is not an awful investment, and knowing that you’re earmarking the summer job money for [whatever], your future self will thank you! When you have a real RN job for bigger bucks, that will be a totally different situation! (BUT… should your lawnmower develop serious repair issues, change your decision to hiring someone for the remainder of the summer).
I had to take over mowing when my husband died,just shy okf 2 acres and I hated it!!!!!
Of course I was a nurses side and after 8 sometimes 12 hours on my feet,it was the last thing I felt like doing.
He kept it neat & trimmed,like a golf course,my job looked like a blind person did it...I have 2 sons,but we know that story.
Your job description sounds a lot like what an
LPNs position was,I know they've been phased out in many areas,when I took my CNA course in 93,they were talking about that then in the NYC area,I left for upstate shortly after so I don't know if it ever happened.
We definitely still have LPNs in my area! And my school has a program where you can do a bridge from an LPN to an RN; it's shorter than starting from scratch with nursing school.
I have a 14 year old who would happily mow your lawn for $20. So I vote finding a homeschool teen who isn’t on business but wants a small job like yours.
I’d read a post about your travel bucket list!
@April, I know! My teens are not homeschooling but they would definitely mow a lawn for $20-$30 too.
@April, I agree!!
I have a tad over an acre of land and a full time 8-5 job and a 50+ mile each way commute: I hire out the mowing. However, once I retire, I might attempt it myself. The problem there will be, will I be able to cut out trees growing up in the shrubs, edge the borders and fences and yank the never-ending smilax trying to grow in every tree and shrub on the property as I age? I probably would still need help for that, so I might as well have them mow....
As you can see, I haven't decided yet.
Back in ye olden times, both of my older sisters were candy-stripers. The thought of having older teens do that work in hospitals today is mind-boggling. The privacy and safety risks! The chance , however slight, for a patient to attack or molest a candy-striper! My family couldn't believe I didn't want to be one when I became old enough; I couldn't believe they thought I might want to be one!
@JD,
My oldest sister, who is now 65 years old, was a candy-striper briefly when she was in high school (so, late 1960s, maybe?). She was horrified at the things she saw, and was asked to do. She is NOT a person called to any sort of medical-related field, and she was, maybe, 15 or 16 years old at the time; she quickly found it it was not for her.
@Liz B., I’m 63 and graduated from high school in the late 1970s. 🙂
@Meg in SoTX,
I clearly wasn't doing the math....I'm 62, and graduated high school in 1979. So my sister would have been a candy striper some time in the 1970s, lol. 🙂
@Liz B.I worked as a candy striper for a short time in High School. Mostly because I thought the uniform was cute! Went into an inner city hospital, with poor supervision. I still remember the smell of boiled cabbage permeating the halls. No interest in any job in the medical field after that experience.
@Laurel A,
Yikes! Boiled cabbage is so NOT a good smell. I get it. I remember my sister looking cute in her uniform, too!
Boiled cabbage is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad smell!!
@JD, i was a candy striper when i was in high school. a patient tipped me a dollar just for bringing her ice. in general, people were pretty nice. this was in yonkers, ny.
If you can mow your lawn in about an hour, and if it was your own mower, it would seem best to continue doing so. But if you are borrowing your neighbor’s riding mower every time you mow, think of how you’d feel if it breaks, even though your use of it wouldn’t compare to its overall use.
Kristen, I love reading your blog! As far as mowing your yard, that has to be up to you - I personally hate yard work, so my decision might be different than yours. I have a job I love, and I work hard at it. I'm happy to pay someone to clean my house twice a month, and I'm very thankful my husband does all the yard work and gardening. I do enjoy a little canning/freezing/jam making. By the way, I would love to read Janna's blog - how can I find it?
I vote for travel fund versus mowing fund. Hawaii! Lisey! Every time you do your own mowing, think Hawaii! Lisey!
I vote mow the lawn yourself and save for travel. 1 hour per week isn't that much and the
benefits of travel in mt opinion, far outweigh the task of lawn mowing.
I vote no to the lawnmowing because I feel you would enjoy travel more. Not only that but you can dream of your travel while you spend an hour mowing your lawn....
The mowing decision is one where there is no right or wrong answer, and whichever choice you make doesn't have to be permanent! Maybe you could have someone come every other week, and you do the off weeks?That flexibility sometimes makes deciding harder 😉
Being a PCT is a great idea to get experience in a hospital. I think it will benefit you a lot, not to mention your patients and fellow nurses on the floor! I'm sure they appreciate you very much! A good aide is worth their weight in gold.
Yes, I have already learned so much and I am barely out of training! These hours I'm working have benefits that far outweigh the paycheck.
@Kristen, why not save for mowing and travel?
In regards to the lawn mowing; if you have (own, not borrowed) a riding mower and it will take about an hour to mow the entire lawn with it you could make efficient use of that time to listen to audio books or podcasts or whatever you normally listen to. When my girls were teens they used to practically fight over who *got* to mow the lawn because they'd put in their ear buds and just mow away uninterrupted.
My solution for lawn is goats. Probably not the standard American suburban things to do.
And I vote on doing your own lawn, 4 hours of work for one is too low of a return. I would spaced them out more. And put a sign with I let my grass for pollinators, to prevent anyone from nagging about it. And you still have one kid in the house, 50/50 is also an option.
I feel like an investment in goats would inhibit my future flexiblity as far as where I can buy a house. lol
I vote for you to find someone in your neighborhood (look on Nextdoor.com - our us full of teenagers wanting summer work) to mow the grass. I hate doing yard work, especially in the heat. To me, it's well worth the money.
I guess I'm becoming my parents ala the insurance commercial: I take my lunches in plastic containers such as butter tubs, cottage cheese containers, yogurt containers with lids, etc. But, in my defense, so does Amy Daczyczn aka the Frugal Zealot of Tightwad Gazette fame; in fact, I got the idea from her! All of these reusables do OK in break room microwaves and there's no chance of glass breaking.
If you have a riding lawnmower and a grown daughter, she can help you with cutting the grass on her mornings/evenings off. In fact, that can be her job. Mow when it's cooler temperatures!
Over the years, I've bought 3 or 4 used riding lawnmowers but I just can't keep 'em working. They usually break down after a couple of years. I bought a brand new self-propelled walk-behind mower but that, too, went kaput. Am seriously considering getting another riding mower, as my yard man is unreliable and rarely follows instructions.
@Fru-gal Lisa, I also use plastic containers for food, but I have reservations about using them in the microwave as there is some thought that they are not heat safe and may leach toxins into the food.
I would get the lawn service
Thanks for explaining your job. In California we have Certified Nurse's Aides (CNA's) and your job sounds like it's in-between a CNA and an RN/LVN, since CNA's can't do blood draws, blood glucose testing, bladder scanning and removing IV's. Makes sense because you've had way more education than CNA's who get certified after a 6 week course.
I love the stainless steel lunch containers, I have quite a collection myself that I've collected over the years. The SS holds up really well, but sometimes the plastic lids don't (easily replaceable). I have a desk job and I can keep some real silverware and microwaveable bowls and dishes at work, there is a kitchen with a microwave and sink and place to wash things up. If you have a locker at work you could store glassware and washing supplies to avoid carrying them back and forth. I also have a SS wide mouth thermos to bring hot food so it doesn't have to be heated at work. It works best for foods like soups and stews.
I really like that most of my steel containers also have metal lids. No plastic to break!
Those leg massage things? I LOVE them. When I've had them during surgery, I've had the thought that someone needs to invent a commercial equivalent for cubicle workers.
@Daisy, Me too. Actually there is a consumer version, though it's not cheap. I have chronically swollen calves and ankles, though, so I have thought about buying them from time to time.
Some people hate them, some people love them!
@Kristen, I hated them because it was summertime and the power went off at the hospital so the A/C got cut back and those things were plastic—totally sweaty.
A good PCT is worth their weight in gold. My OT self is applauding that you are getting patients up and moving. 🙂
Yes, yes, yes, we do try! Also...we encourage incentive spirometer use, and if a patient can't ambulate, we at least try to have them move in bed and change positions, doing as much independently as we can.
A major issue with doing your own yardwork is owning and maintaining the equipment. That's a bunch of money and aggravation, plus a good yard company will take care of excessive leaves and sticks that fall.
I regularly threaten to hire a yard service despite being Cheap AF, to quote Katy the Noncconsumer Advocate, because my husband won't do it and our son does such a sloppy job -- he's very ADHD. Arthritis of the everything keeps me from being able to heft lawn equipment, so I spend many frustrating hours clipping weeds with hand tools. I am over the DIY lawn experience at this point.
@Ruby,
My DH does our lawn mowing (we have a riding lawn mower), but is also over the DIY lawn care. We both have arthritis of the everything (love your term!), so I forsee paid lawn care in our future, or have our ADHD son do it (and accept that its not as good as DH would do). I'm 100% okay with that.
Sometimes the blessing cost of not worrying about the yard outweighs the $ cost of the lawn service. I pay a housecleaner once a month. It is a HUGE blessing to me to NOT have to clean that week. I consider it a gift to myself. I'd rather scrimp on other things for that one gift of house cleaning.
Mow your own dang yard. Ridiculous to spend the equivalent of FOUR hours of W-2 work to pay someone else. Using a riding lawn mower is mindless work if you know how to drive. An hour of NO ONE bothering you. Put it this way - 10% of your wages (if you work 40 hrs per week) for something you can do in an hour. And hopefully Zoe could mow the yard - if nothing else, she needs to know how it is done.
In some seasons of life we have more time than money and in some more money than time. Whatever you choose I’m just so happy you’re taking care of the yard and keeping things nice. I’ve lived next to some rentals that were very run down because the tenants didn’t care about the appearance and they were such eyesores. As Debt Free Mom says—care creates contentment! Interested to see what you end up deciding.
I mow my lawn. I figure it gets done without paying anyone. I get the exercise. I listen to an audiobook or fun music which I enjoy.
Might their be a neighbor kid that could do it for less than a company, but would appreciate the money?
Your time speaking with patients, and understanding what they are experiencing, may be the most valuable thing to your career. Hugs to you , and thank you for the service.
Yes; good practical care is only part of the job. It's so important to help people feel seen and understood too!
I think the lawn mowing comes down to how much you like mowing your lawn and working. A lot of frugal decisions are like that. Bread baking for example, does not save a ton of money when you consider the time involved. But I enjoy being home and baking bread more than working, so I do it.
THANK YOU for answering my questions!
1. I love that your blog is safe for all to read. (Mine is too, but it might be a little bit boring because it is so regionally based.)
2. Awesome following! Good for Purex for having the sense to find you. I hope they paid you well (but none of our business).
3. Doggone it, if I lived closer, I would mow your lawn for you.
For the lawn, consider getting a quote or two. I know prices vary by local, but we pay $140/ month and have about 1/4 an acre (with a house on it).