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| No. 10 | 
Jun 25, 2009, 01:03 PM
 Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today Originally Posted by jra1007  Gee what if the neck pain was due to viral menigitis?, It was not within the scope of your training to diagnose this patient. If the patient had complained of abdominal pain would you have palpated the abdomen in order to rule out a triple A? you may have a duty to report and/or chart the pts complaint, but you certainly havent missed your "calling".
If the neck pain might have been viral meningitis, you treat it the same way as if it was an unstable sublux c-spine injury (post-fall in the elderly): grab the head, rotate it up-down, left-right. Right??? OK, maybe not!
If there was ABD pain, with the possible of a dissecting AAA, don't forget to vigorously check for rebound tenderness. Multiple times. OK, maybe not!
Remember - if in doubt, start prophylactic CPR on your conscious talking/walking patient "just in case." OK, maybe not!
Your instructor is an abusive idiot.   | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 11 |
Jun 25, 2009, 05:23 PM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today
Personally, I think Nursing is a calling, but not a calling for everyone and hell, if you are good at it and enjoy helping folks, I don't care what you call it.
But, I disagree with the way she treated you. It's one of those deals where you just have to turn the other cheek. Eventually you will be the Nurse and you will no longer have to take her crap.
| | No. 12 |
Jun 25, 2009, 07:32 PM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today
First, I agree that your instructor was over the top.
What she should have done was use the anecdote as an opportunity to discuss how so many MIs in women are missed ... more often than not, they do not exhibit the classic crushing chest pain, nausea and diaphoresis that we associate with a heart attack.
My late partner's best friend laid down on the couch after dinner one day because her back was bothering her and died of an MI.
It happens. That instructor has some serious issues, not the least of which is the awareness that the retrospectroscope is the only infallible instrument in medicine.
| | No. 14 |
Jun 25, 2009, 07:49 PM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today Originally Posted by heron the retrospectroscope is the only infallible instrument in medicine.
Sounds great! Where can I get one of those, or are they only issued to "special" nursing instructors?
| | No. 15 |
Jun 26, 2009, 09:45 AM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today Originally Posted by Tony1790 Fella's
I'm now vice president of the local chapter honor society ( I know, whatever) I'm retired military and 42 yo. I'm less than 2 months from graduating and I get smacked in the face with the "nursing is a calling" BS by my instructor, because I made the mistake of sharing my recent work experience of talking to a lady who was having neck pain while laying in bed and then coding a few minutes later. What my instructor was mad about was that I a) did not instantly recognize a MI, run over and check her vitals as she was having a MI and b) that it was while I was doing my CNA job (trash, etc) right at shift change.
I'm really down in the dumps today, she spent 10 minutes berating me in front of the class for missing this sign, even though the class we were having that day was recognizing s/s of MI as a LPN student, but when I "missed" the MI happening was while I was I was working as a CNA taking the trash out just before shift change. The woman was lucid, her ONLY complaint was a stiff neck, then the code. I totally did not connect a neck pain with MI, even if I was a "nursing student" at the time, I still would not have noticed it, as we are just now doing CV in class. And at the most I would have called for the nurse if I had noticed it, the monitor tech saw it on telemetry and called the code.
What I'm worried about, besides missing the MI, is being flunked out of school, for something that happened at work as a CNA. The instructor said in front of the class, "I don't want you as my nurse" and you will never make it as a nurse. I'm kinda bummed out, I totally wish I had kept my head out of my arse and went into another field besides this woman dominated one that I'm currently in.
Bummed in TN
p.s. I HATE that saying, "Nursing is a calling, not a job". NO, the Clergy is a calling, Nursing is a job, just like janitor, electrician, cop, military, etc. It really, really helps any job if you enjoy it, but to say it's a calling for everyone that's in it is a bit of a stretch.
This calling phenomena is also a part of the wage issue with women, a calling doesn't have to pay as much as a job, does it??
Your instructor should be ashamed of him/herself. I would report this incident after graduation to the dean of the program - forget the department chair at that point. While working as a CNA you are not responsible for "recognizing" signs of an MI - that is not within your scope of practice. What you are responsible for, though, is reporting the pain voiced from the client to the nurse - yes, you should have mentioned that to the nurse in charge.
As for recognizing the neck pain as a sign of MI, who would have known to think MI? I sure wouldn't have. I would have checked the vitals though to further investigate the pain. Probably would have given you a "clue."
So, your instructor said he/she would not want you as his/her nurse? Great, because I wouldn't want someone like that as my nurse, either. Anyone who can beat a person verbally in front of so many other people obviously lacks the kind of compassion needed to be a caring nurse. Maybe that's why he/she is an instructor now?
| | No. 16 |
Jun 26, 2009, 12:43 PM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today Originally Posted by CrufflerJJ Originally Posted by heron  "the retrospectroscope is the only infallible instrument in medicine."
Sounds great! Where can I get one of those, or are they only issued to "special" nursing instructors?
Oh no, managers seem to have them too.
| | No. 17 |
Jun 26, 2009, 04:54 PM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today Originally Posted by cardiacRN2006 Oh no, managers seem to have them too.
Maybe just nurse managers. In my past (?care free?) life as an engineering manager, I never received my retrospectoscope. No fair! It would have made life oh so much simpler!
| | No. 18 |
Jun 26, 2009, 05:04 PM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today
Shake it off brother. If she got under you the physicians will too. All I would have done is reported the pain to the license. Not knowing what you do now, in real life, the PT would have coded anyway. There is just a 50/50 chance the nurse would have said "go take her vitals anyway." There license, your instructor is lacking.
| | No. 19 |
Jun 29, 2009, 05:32 AM
Re: Hit Right smack in the face with the "Nursing is a CALLING not a job" crap today
Write this on your hand so you never forget. NEVER TELL PERSONAL EXPERIENCE STORIES IN NURSING SCHOOL! (if you are a man) Nursing instructors hate that. Don't worry one little bit about not recognizing the MI. I work in intensive care and we ICU nurses serve on the rapid responce team and regularly respond to calls for help from floor nurses whose patients are having an MI and the RNs have no idea until we get there and tell them so.
Nursing school is nothing at all like being a nurse. Take my advice, get your RN ASAP and go to work in a large hospital ICU where you can practice with autonomy.
While your instructor was very unprofessional, it's rather typical in my experience. As a nursing student one of my instrutors told me to "get a job in the man's world".
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