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Discussion

Nurses with back issues

Hello I just got accepted into nursing school. So I have always had a bad lower back with moderate arthritis in my lumbar region and SI region. The past year I have been exercising to try to improve my core, but I did just recently throw it out. I am a surgical vet tech now so yes I do lots of dead weight lifting now. I am now worried about not being able to be a nurse. I think long sitting would be just as bad. Any advise or recommendations? A little history I am 30 years old and want thus to be my final career choose. Thanks

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    • Featured Replies

    Can you wear a brace or something to prevent throwing it out? As a nurse, obviously there is a lot of lifting/turning patients in acute care and many nurses with healthy backs retire with a need for spinal surgery. Patients seem to be getting BIGGER all the time while staffing is seemingly never adequate. The first time you care for a morbidly obese patient you will go home early with severe back pain.

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    • Admin

    Have you discussed your concerns with your primary care provider? He or she may have some recommendations that you can use to promote back health. Also remember to use proper lifting and transfer techniques.

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    There are options for nurses that do not involve heavy lifting. Pediatrics and neonate, mental health and occupational nursing. The problem is some employers want and many nurses believe they have to have a year of medsurg before specializing. I was hired as a new grad to mental health without the back breaking prerequisite. Others have too. And so can you.

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    • Experts

    And then there is always extended care home health, where you can ask for smaller peds patients or babies that weigh less than 20 lbs. You can work the night shift, where you may spend your time in a rocker watching the baby sleep all night after doing an assessment and diaper change at the start of the shift, then a diaper change at the end of the shift, with minimal meds or treatments. Parents usually ask that you wait until morning to change the diaper so as not to disturb the child. This is about the easiest nursing assignment you can have while still drawing a nursing paycheck.

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    Patients are bigger and sicker by the time they get admitted to the hospital. You should indeed wear a brace and ask for help for turning and lifting. Use a Hoyer for obese patients. Try to find a position where lifting is not a requirement. There are many facets of nursing!

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    Good Luck and be careful. 15 years floor nurse now disabled after double lumbar fusion and nerve damage.

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    I throw my back out annually to semi-annually, what I've done is to have a couple of PT sessions while at work (with the facility's permission), where my therapist basically evaluates and 'fixes' everything I do at work. I work mainly in an ICU with patients who aren't able to help much in moving, repositioning, etc so it's helped significantly.

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