As a senoir nurse

[dnnc52]

I by the grace of God to not have any chronic problems that I can directlly relate to my 30 yrs of nursing. Other then the backpain which results for"my poor technique from lifting pts" which to me is not practical in all situations. However every hospital has a resource who claims that you can lift without injury in all situations. These are folks who don't see the 4-500pts arriving to your ER in the back of a unit being carried with a tarp. but enough of that. It seems to me that most nurse care computer programs that are to be nurse friendly has never been actually teseted by a real working nurse until after they are deveolped. Like wise some of the beds,special mattress, even something we use everyday IV pumps are not friendly. Most of the pumps I worked with require you do bend down to adjust or read the setting. Why don't a IV pump where the keypad and window is on an angle where we can see annd set the pump without bending down. If Little task that we do constantly were made to be less tiresome and more nurse friendly, perhaps we would feel healthier and more positive about our senior years as nurses. I now always raise the bed to start my IVs. I see the younger nurses leaning over bending and all the things I did as a younger nurse. Now they laugh at me but I always try a way to bring the work closer and less painful to me. As nurse we always put the pt first. We must work on a compromise where its the pts first, but not the nurse last. I bet we all could come up with at least 20 things in our setting that usually make less sense and more work, however we go ahead and just struggle with it daily. The new greener nurse may just shake it off and think that we are just complaining. But the changes and suggestions we offer may just make their nursing career a bit more tolerable and when the reach their senoir yrs. They will be more healthier.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I by the grace of God to not have any chronic problems that I can directlly relate to my 30 yrs of nursing. Other then the backpain which results for"my poor technique from lifting pts" which to me is not practical in all situations. However every hospital has a resource who claims that you can lift without injury in all situations. These are folks who don't see the 4-500pts arriving to your ER in the back of a unit being carried with a tarp. but enough of that. It seems to me that most nurse care computer programs that are to be nurse friendly has never been actually teseted by a real working nurse until after they are deveolped. Like wise some of the beds,special mattress, even something we use everyday IV pumps are not friendly. Most of the pumps I worked with require you do bend down to adjust or read the setting. Why don't a IV pump where the keypad and window is on an angle where we can see annd set the pump without bending down. If Little task that we do constantly were made to be less tiresome and more nurse friendly, perhaps we would feel healthier and more positive about our senior years as nurses. I now always raise the bed to start my IVs. I see the younger nurses leaning over bending and all the things I did as a younger nurse. Now they laugh at me but I always try a way to bring the work closer and less painful to me. As nurse we always put the pt first. We must work on a compromise where its the pts first, but not the nurse last. I bet we all could come up with at least 20 things in our setting that usually make less sense and more work, however we go ahead and just struggle with it daily. The new greener nurse may just shake it off and think that we are just complaining. But the changes and suggestions we offer may just make their nursing career a bit more tolerable and when the reach their senoir yrs. They will be more healthier.

Hopefully, those younger nurses who are laughing now won't have to suffer injuries in their futures. But we all know what lifting does to our bodies. My lower spine is dislocated, and it causes me to be incontinent as well as not be able to stand for any length of time, nor to walk very far. Social Services denied payment for a back brace, but I sent the denial back to the physician's office. The secretary or the nurse told me to send it to them and they would take care of it. So I'm now waiting for a back brace and a neck brace, because my neck is so short it now pops the pins out of the shortest stiff collar made. Severe DDD.

[danissa, LPN, LVN]

Don, you make a very valid point. Back injury happens across all spectrums of nursing. In the NICU, the bending your back in an un natural position to get to the IV pumps is a real and daily problem. We have moving and handling instructors, who come round and show us how to lift loads, but they cant come up with a solid answer to the back twisting required when using pumps behind an incubator. This is what gives me a burning back pain!