Kristy02_RN

I have started looking. Your predictions are the same that most people are making who work for the organization. Outside agencies are saying other hospitals are hiring more case managers and are shocked by what's happening with us. I work with amazing case managers that persevere in spite of the blatant disrespect. By the end of next month the first phase of case management lay offs begins.

I have been a case manager for 2 years. I can't believe how disrespected this specialty is in my facility. In fact they are trying to phase us out of the hospital setting under the belief that our job could be done by the bedside nurses...I'm so appalled and disgusted. We are some of the most experienced nurses in the building but receive the least amount of respect. I get told to go **** myself by providers who feel they shouldn't have to answer my questions about admission status or don't want to document or sign paperwork for patients to get the services/equipment they need upon discharge. Please tell me this isn't how case managers are treated everywhere! Because right now I'm wondering how and why anyone would do this!!

I am currently working as a case manager. I was offered a position as an ADON at a nursing home. I interviewed for a nurse manager position in the hospital I currently work at and was told to go back to the bedside and sharpen those skills before I could be considered for a hospital nurse manager. I feel like I'm at a crossroads. My husband says the ADON role would be beneficial to getting into hospital leadership. I say it's career suicide and I'll be stuck in nursing home leadership for the rest of my career. What should I do...should I go back to the bedside or should I go to the ADON job? At this point the job offers are comparable financially I'm strictly looking at experience that leads me to my goal of utilizing my MSN in nursing leadership!

Does anyone have any reviews (good or bad) about Capella university? I am enrolling to start in May and I hope I'm making the right decision. It looks like they are accredited. Thanks in advance.

My apologies, I did not word that properly. I did not poke the patient 6 times, when I stuck them I was making the 6th attempt. Obviously I wouldn't stick a patient 6 times myself. i have had Iv's that flushed beautifully, and yielded no blood return but the patient said they could "taste" the saline. Should I be pulling those lines? There are other assessments to make before pulling a peripheral with no blood return. Most of them lose blood return within a few hours.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I did finally hear from them and it wasn't the news I was expecting. They still have me waiting. So I've started turning in more job applications. Hopefully something will come up! I have a great job, just hoping to make a little career advancement. I'm not looking to bedside nurse forever.

when you inserted the IV to the hub did it still flush w/o complication? Not all PIV will have blood return. You could be against a valve. If the IV flushes easily but doesn't have a blood return I would leave it in, especially if the patient is a difficult access. I work in the infusion center and I had this issue just a few days ago, I was going in for the 6th attempt to start an IV on this poor patient, I got in, horrible blood return but flushed without difficulty, she got her infusion and the IV lasted the full 4 hours.

both of the per diem RN's on our PICC team had no experience when hired. It's very difficult in our area to find experienced PICC nurses because there are only a handfull of us. Good luck!

I interviewed for a job close to a month ago. The director called me and said "we want to hire you for this position, just wait for a call from HR." That was close to 2 weeks ago. I called HR and they said they haven't heard anything, I called her and no response. I'm getting discouraged and thinking I should start looking again. I REALLY wanted this job, it's a step in the direction of where I want to go with my nursing career. Maybe I'm overreacting because I want it so bad. I'm not sure, please HELP! Any and all advice is wanted.

This person is supposedly a friend and as soon as I started to tell them they were wrong they didn't want to hear a word I had to say because they got their information from a PBS special so that information must be completely factual and unbiased because it had "doctors" on it. I agree it's in the patient and family's hands. They are given a bill of rights every admission and every doctors visit. They know their rights or at least have the means to. I also agree we live in a society that wants a cure for everything and believes they should never die. That mentality is what makes it hard for people to truly hear that they are terminally ill and to accept end of life counseling. The type of healthcare you receive is your choice. Maybe we should educate people on that. Maybe move away from "the doctor knows best" mentality. Thank you guys for listening to me and offering your opinions. I think This is such an interesting topic.

This is a rant so if you don't want to read it I completely understand, I just need to get this off my chest to people who understand where I'm coming from or can honestly tell me I'm being silly and to get over it! Thanx! It's 2013 and there are people who still don't understand what nurses do! I had someone say to me today "a nurses job is to save lives" now it was the context it was used in that upset me. This was said because this person thinks nurses and doctors want to use extreme measures to extend people's lives no matter how horrific it is to the person regardless of if they want it or not because our job is to "save lives." Somewhere along the line this person was told that withdrawing life support is illegal?!? I'm sad as well because this information was passed on to them as fact and continues to be passed as fact. I will be the first to admit that a hospital is a business and the more they do the more they can bill. But nurses and doctors have taken an oath. Yes our job is to "save lives" but it's also to provide holistic and patient centered care and see patients as people with lives and a family! I could go on forever about this issue! I just can't believe there are people who actually believe my job is to "torture" people until they die under the ruse of "saving lives."

I remember nursing instructors telling me in school "always trust your nurses intuition, you may think you don't have one but you do and remember you're the one who spends all day with that patient." How true is that statement. You can't ever let a resident that came and saw a patient for 5 minutes first thing in the morning tell you that you're wrong. I'm a new nurse (1.5 years); I let a resident bully me into backing down on a patient that I felt wasn't doing well. The outcome for the patient wasn't the best it could have been. I blame the resident but more than anything I blame myself. I will never back down again especially to a resident. I will call someone at home if I have to until someone listens to me. I know residents are scared and they're learning, but don't waive my experience and hours of time with the patient off just because I have RN after my name and not MD. I recognize my job is to bring my concerns to their attention and let them do what they wish with it, however it's also my job to be a patient advocate. Thank you for reading my rant.

I was just curious about what you all think about the Tympanic thermometer. I've had them give me a temp as low as 92. Obviously that can't be right?!?! I got into an argument with a physician because my nurses aid gave me a temp of over 100 using a Temporal thermometer, and when the patient was rechecked with a Tympanic we got 97. My guess is that the patient was at least 100. I guess I'm just curious about what thermometer you all think is better. I know rectal is the best but we're not going to probe every patient; so as far as non invasive methods which is better? I know Temporals have their issues too but I really hate Tympanic thermometers. I think by the time they read that the patient has a fever it's much higher than that. I've had patients that were sweating and felt awful get a reading of 96 Tympanic.

Thank you all! It makes me feel better reading all of your posts. I think nurses beat themselves up for thinking not nice thoughts because in school it's beaten into our heads that nurses are nonjudgemental and if you ever are then darn it you're the worst nurse in the world! I look back on the situation now and am glad it was only a thought. I may not have been nonjudgemental but I was professional!

I know nurses are supposed to be non judgemental, but how do I not judge?? I was doing a sterile task for a pt and w/o even realizing it according to her i contaminated my sterile field. now she doesn't say to me "oh i think you contaminated that." she SCREAMS at the top of her lungs "YOU CONTAMINATED YOUR STERILE FIELD NOW I'M GOING TO GO SEPTIC AND DIE IT'LL BE ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!" Now I hadn't even touched this woman yet! The procedure I was doing was something she did at home all the time but now she's in the hospital and can't?! if she was truly sick i'd understand but she was admitted as a precaution b/c her husband was in for something highly contagious. Her tests had all come back negative. She and I had argued before we started because I wanted her to clean herself up a little bit and she wanted me to do it! She's independent from home! why should I give this healthy woman a bedbath?? Now where i begin to be the naughty judgemental nurse is, this womans hospital room REEKS of cat urine!! apparently her home is the same and she won't be allowed to go back. As she's yelling at me i'm thinking. "why is she so concerned about me breaking sterility if she does this in a home infested w/ cat feces and urine?!?" I feel so awful for thinking that...how do you keep from being judgemental? It's so hard sometimes, but she deserves my best!! I'm beating myself up because I made a mistake and for thinking so badly of this woman. I'd never knowingly break sterility and put a patient at risk! I threw everything away and asked another nurse to do the procedure for me b/c I was upset and I didn't want her to accuse me of anything!