So I've been a nurse for a year and I still cannot shed the new nurse title just yet but I came up with a few things that I have observed over the first year when it especially came to changes. The stuff is probably going to be either ok with you guys or I'm gonna get my head bitten off.
I still hate calling doctors if the patient isn't looking like they are going to be sent to the ER (I work 3rd shift)
My Clinical Instructor was so right that I was not ready to go out on my own upon graduation and that my best bet was to find a preceptor that would take me under their wing. One of my preceptors ended up being a family friend that treats me like her own son.
Being liked by your coworkers makes things a lot easier.
This may start a shift war but, I really feel like 2nd shift has it the worst. They get the admissions and phone calls. They have no charge nurse and their nurse staffing ratios are closer to 3rd shift's.
I know customer service is very important and all but I have patients that are just flat out liars. I used to pay heed to every word a patient said, and I would waste time trying to please them. I actually spent 20 minutes looking for a specific order when I was new because a 350 pound patient that eats said he was allowed Jevity 1.5 shakes only to find in the physician progress notes that "All supplemental feedings should be kept away from patient, due to manipulative behavior and recent weight gains."
I can see why my pay is so horribly low sometimes (key word sometimes), the amount of indigent cases our facility has been getting has been extremely high. How is the facility supposed to pay us if most of the patients that come to stay end up not paying a dime?
Long Term Care is indeed soul crushing. I've had moments where I have indeed snapped at a patient due to the nature of the stress. (See 350 pound patient's manipulative behavior)
My mom is right that I can't stay at the floor forever. I just can't imagine all this bedside drudgery for the rest of my life. (Sorry to all those bedside nurses that love doing it)
I honestly like taking the leadership role if given to me, it feels weird when you've only been there for less than a year and people are already asking for your help.
RN vs LPN doesn't really matter especially if they are more experienced than you. My 2nd shift regular nurse is an LPN and she is fantastic to work with. We just have different approaches and ideas to care.
Why must I be a patient's punching bag? I got in trouble when I responded to a overhead page about a patient being violent and punching people in another floor. Everyone was afraid to get near the patient to give the IM Ativan. So I decide to put the patient in a wrist lock while another nurse gives the med. Administration thought that was excessive and I got warned about it.
Whoever invented the call bell should be dragged out into the street and shot.
Everytime I see an order for a bed alarm for a patient that is capable of walking own their own, I die on the inside.
Vancomycin is a first line drug for everything! (Hey Doc, maybe you shouldn't repeat your 12 week order of 500 vancomycin 250mg 4 x a day again if the patient's C.Diff and UTI isn't going away) I'm serious it seriously is the most common antibiotic I see.
I still hate "poop". I every once and a while have Bob Saget's reaction to the stuff from Dumb and Dumberer.
I think nurse's notes are incredibly repetitive and have so much fluff. Is it a wonder why no one reads them except when we get sued or investigating us. I can seriously write a PAGE of a 3 minute encounter of a patient who was sleeping peacefully.
Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I'm your personal hoyer lift. I ended up responding to a nurse's "code" and all it ended up to be was one of her patients on the bathroom floor, still conscious. All she wanted was for the other nurses to put him back to bed for her. When I left she said: "Thank you ladies so much!" Hello? I was there too lifting your cow of a patient and you didn't even help!
The nursing shortage is bull. The only shortage is, fools like me that are willing to deal with the risks.
