merlee

merlee

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About merlee

merlee has 36 years experience.


Latest Activity

  1. It's Wrong! (A night shift perspective)

    My MIL had been in an LTC facility for 9 years. She had Pick's dementia. When we placed her initially we decided then on 'no feeding tube' or other extraordinary actions. Recently she developed a UTI, and her fever wouldn't break. She simply stop...
  2. Mistakes Are Inevitable: No One Is Perfect.

    Well-written article, many good points. Long before unit dose and automated systems, an instructor taught us that if you need to give less than 1/2 or more than twice of what is conventionally available then go back and read the entire order from it...
  3. Is anyone else losing spouse coverage?

    You say that your husband is retired but not eligible for Medicare, then I am assuming he is under 66ish. Could he possibly return to work? I am only asking.
  4. Does Preferring to Work Night Shift mean you're lazy?

    I did a long stretch of nights after my divorce. Two reasons. One, they were offering a 20% diff if you signed on for at least 6 months. The diff applied to any sick time, vacation, overtime, etc. Major money in my pocket! The second reason is ver...
  5. Patients with sticky fingers!

    Many many years ago, in Philly, we had a gypsy queen as a patient, and lost a massive amount of linens in 2-3 days. This was before most places had an entire security dept. In those days, the supply rooms didn't lock like they do now. When she died, ...
  6. Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC)

    Excellent article with very pertinent information. Thank you!
  7. A feeling of impending doom

    I never received any extra pay for being a preceptor. Sometimes the assignment was a bit different, but not always. One placed I worked had a clinical scale for pay, and those of us who were willing to be preceptors were higher on the scale overall....
  8. There certainly needs to be a Fall review committee on your unit, or in the facility. 20 falls this year?? Wow. Scary.
  9. In over 30 years of direct patient care, I can count on one hand the number of times I have done a favor where money or off-duty time was involved. One was actually in nursing school! and not my patient, either. I came on my own time, in the even...
  10. WHAT WE NURSES HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS BETTER STAFFING = BETTER CARE BUT WITHOUT THOSE RESEARCHERS CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS NO ONE EVER HEARS US. B E T T E R S T A F F I N G = B E T T E R C A R E There has never been a...
  11. MSN (not CNL) as a bedside nurse- thoughts?

    My comment has consistently been - - who wants to spend 40-100,00 bucks on an education to work weekends, nights and holidays, ad infinitum? If you do, then so be it. But is there compensation for your education? Best wishes!
  12. 2020 BSN law

    Sigh. In the early '70's we were told that a BSN would be mandatory by 1985. Or 1992. Or 1999..... Still hasn't happened. There are, however, as noted, some facilities that are attempting to go all BSN. This reminds me of a wave of 'primary nurs...
  13. Curious about how to handle this situation..

    I could understand looking at the meds to see if they were something that the child had to have that night, ie, antibiotics, something for an ongoing problem, etc. and needed to be returned right away. I was a camp nurse for a few summers; although H...
  14. Patient responsive but in cardiac arrest

    I have actually called 2 codes on pts that were AAO! One was about to go into anaphylactic shock - and would need to be intubated, the other was severely fluid overloaded and drowning. Both survived. In the first case, a doctor told me to just cal...
  15. Refusing food offered by patients

    In some facilities eating something off of a patient's tray, regardless of the circumstances, can be cause for dismissal. Frankly, I would only eat something that was store-bought and individually wrapped. 'Thank you for the offer, but not today....