Nurse Sings the blues

Nurses General Nursing

Published

After yesterdays extra month of suspension for some silly hair debackle I thought I was making my trail by fire and all.

Today i worked 10 hours and my "home" big unit with the same manager and listen to this. I was schedualed for 12 hours, so after working an 8, then covering for someone who was gonna be late, I thought I was gone. Then the friendly and cool charge nurse says goodby and I comment about being able to do another 2 hours. So she calls (to help me) staffing and finds out there is a sitter position at my normal assigned unit. So cool, I thought that would be a ttl of 13 that day and i can use the money.

When I arrived, the charge nurse there was very dissappointed with me arriving because it meant the agency nurse she is obviously tight with had to leave. She actually didn't believe me, and had to call herself and didn't believe me that I was going to sit there for 3 hours. I just walked away and ate a sandwich and then come back and the charge nurse said "oh"

The PT's are in a double room. Now I have been in precarious situations, but this one guy took both the nurse and her friend agency CNA both to keep down. the guy was 94 and had a line coming out of his neck. He was calming down when I took over, and the other PT (91) who I sat with weeks ago was quiet, and his family was there.

All of a sudden, the quiet guy starts jumping that he has to go to the bathroom (by this time his family has long gone). Calling and shouting out, so I rushed to him to help him. He was in a terrible position to do anything, but I adjusted him and he voided okay. Meanwhile, the other PT, the really hard one, has successfully pult out the IV from his neck. The solution is dripping out, and this was my first time someone pult and IV out on me.

I told the charge nurse, who moaned about her friend being in there all day and nothing happening. She came in the room and made another deragatory comment about me not watching him. I explained the other guy needed help, and he pult it out quickly, but she mentioned again the other CNA had no trouble.. Now I am getting nervous because of this additude, and rightfully so.

Long story shorter, my relieving CNA, who had 12 years health care experience she said, got right on the phone and called staffing and reported the situation and said she wasn't going to be held responsible for the situation. She didn't think of talking to the charge-nurse? It's like , she called staffing and made a disclaimer with authority.

I have to be at work tomorrow at 6am, and i got off at 8pm and now it's 10p.

I shoulda just left when I had the chance, and a nice nurse tried to help me and directed me into hell. To top it off, this charge nurse says she all ready called our manager and reported that i was inapproprately conversing with the PT when I said to him that he was getting me in trouble for pulling the IV out. At that point, if he would have felt guilty and relaxed, it would be a good thing. I said it once or twice, to get him to calm down, and because I was really feeling like s%ht after the charge nurse wouldn't help me. I am once again consumed with grief and anger and education, because now I lernt from the other CNA what to do. You can't get help if you are a CNA from and RN. This CNA didn't consider the RN in the loop at all. The CNA called staffing and just told the truth about the situation as she saw it. Every room has a phone. That makes so much sense, and now i feel like and idiot savant for not calling staffing as soon as I know something is wrong, or situations turn against a CNA.

Originally posted by donmurray

Re calling staffing direct. I can't speak for the nursing management system in the US Mario, but I would be very unhappy with a junior member of staff who cut me out of the loop without approaching me first. That said, it sounds an awful workplace, and I hope things go better for you, soon!

there is a wierd thing called this thing of health care that we all work in.....

it is a place where we all wish we were flippin' burgers.....but then again....we wouldn't happy'

to any new here or new to the area of nursing.....do not let us turn you away............

the rewards are immeasurable..............but just soooo' many unseen only to your inner heart.........

so it is up to you......'

we all have to earn a paycheck$$$$$

how do you want to earn yours.......

and why cannot we all try to smile and get along while we are doing it.......

micro knows a rhetorical ?????????

:p :rolleyes: :eek: :zzzzz :kiss

and, yes micro knows this is bandwith uptakin' time.........

but just wanted to share something truly wise and also "cute" that a male CNA said at a recent staff meeting that i attended..............

"No, I have nothing to say, I am outnumbered by women......and this is my first job.....and I am scared...............s............"

he is young and very cute.....I have worked with both his mother and father...........

but his statements were so true...............

like, duh...........

but he has what it takes.........

the whits about him to know what is up.............

........and ,the etc. and the etc. and the etc.

that goes on in this field..................

micro and out

i really think i am taking up much bandwith space here........

but in true reference....rather than just edit my posts, which by now, i know i can do.........

just thought a good chuckle and a good sob together with a box of kleenex's will make us all realize that 'indeed' we are all in the the 'Hotel California'..........you can punch in the first time to work, but you actually never leave....................

can anybody relate'?????????????????????

Mario,

I've heard the descriptions of the place where you work. The people that you discribe and the way they are treating you (consistently!) sound like the symptoms of a workforce that have gone through a lot of change and hardship and jerking around from the people who run it. Not too rare in this time and day. I have been there and have learned that there is nothing I can do to change this or stop it from manifesting itself against me. This is an unhealthy workforce that takes out their assorted greavances on the "new meat" who might come in with a different approach or fresh ideas.

You can continue being the kind of CNA you are Mario, but unfortunately, in your workplace this may continue to be held against you. There is a lot of pressure to conform to the way that others behave, but I'd advise against it. This is way too early in the game for you to become a bitter, jaded nurse.

I'm sorry that this sounds so negative, but I'm just relating to what you talk about so much.

Specializes in surgical, neuro, education.

Mario--I so agree with the above posts. You should NOT have to feel that you need to be treated in such a manner in order to become a better nurse. This is why there are 'bitter' nurses. I have seen so much growth with you here on this bb, that I want your experiences to be positive. Try somewhere else. You may find the area of nursing where you are destined to be --let the atoms lead you--have you ever thought of being a home health aide for now??? You would be able to spend more time with the patients and learn about nursing at the same time. Just a thought.

Don't let em pound ya down!!!

I've compared my hospital work atmosphere to a war zone mentality some days....seems like other departments are the 'enemy' and' out to get us' some days...constantly pushing us waaaay past our safety margin (like ER pushing us to take admits we don't have a nurse for) We' fight' administration, ER, docs, sometimes visitors too who get on our last nerve. ;)

And yes, we have seen the enemy and sometimes he is US...nurses sometimes turn on each other...browbeating the susceptible staff member like schoolyard bullies. :(

Kinda like boot camp? Interesting analogy.....it seems difficult to take at first, but eventually we toughen up, learn how to stand up for ourselves and the experience makes us stronger. ;)

Sometimes though...the warzone is way too toxic for life and remaining is just too risky...too much radioactive fallout for a human to endure.

Good luck Mario and let us know how this all turns out!

that you are already having experiences like this. Do you remember a few months back, when you couldn't understand how SOME supposedly intelligent, educated, caring people could so easily stab each other in the back?

I honestly don't know what makes people act that way, except to remove themselves as far as possible from the responsibility of whatever happened. It seems as though no one wants to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong, anywhere, these days! It always seems as though someone else is to blame, or that they, in some way, caused the untoward event to happen.

Now, a couple words of advice:

You are learning triage, believe it or not! Because you are a kind and caring person, you did not want to see the patient who needed to void be uncomfortable, so you did the decent thing, by assisting him. Some folks might have probelms with that, alone. You were not hired to take care of that man-what if something had gone wrong? I am not AT ALL saying you shouldn't have helped him-I AM saying to think of how other people can perceive things, if they want to.

Next, when your patient pulled out his central line, I gnashed my teeth for you!:eek: That had to scare the dickens out of you! Those lines can sometimes be difficult to insert, and, as others have said, you've got to hold pressure for quite a while at the site, all the while hoping that the tip of the catheter was intact.

:o The lesson here is this: as soon as you heard your patient begin moving, you should've turned to look at him, keeping one leg against the leg of the gentleman you are assisting, so he doesn't slip out of bed. When your patient yanked out his line, triage mandates that bleeding comes before urinating! You would've immediately had to leave the first gentleman, sprint to other with a glove, washcloth, wad of 4x4's (whatever) and apply pressure to the insertion site, while reaching with the other hand to press the call bell for assistance! :uhoh21:

Now you know, firsthand, that nurses (and CNA's) can be slimy folks, sometimes, and that we are required to be acrobats, and mindreaders!

Again, I am really sorry that this experience happened to you. Do not let it deter you from becoming a nurse. As my LPN instructor told me, "you can learn from both the good nurses and the bad ones. The bad ones teach you what NOT to do when you are a nurse." Whenever you receive a patient assignment, ask what the worst case scenario would be with anyone who has any type of "attachments, or insertions." then ask how they want you to handle it, if something goes wrong.

Wishing you better times ahead... :kiss

Originally posted by OBNURSEHEATHER

OK, I had a bad day. Am I the only dumb a** that clicked this link?

Heather

no, add me to the list.....

but micro is bandwithing out.................

in the hotel california'

Cathy Wilson RN, you are very wise!

Mario, I agree that this is all meant to teach you to assess your priorities before doing anything in nursing. This is not something that people are born knowing how to do. Now you have learned a very good lesson.

Blush, thank you very much, adrienurse. I think it is one of those dreaded signs of aging!

Mario "buck up"

Originally posted by FiFi

Mario "buck up"

How warm and compassionate...

Heather

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