maggie0

Has anyone actually paid her for this service? Because who would? I can't see crowds of people clamoring to hear what she has to say.

Please don't come to work sick! You had a bad stretch but hopefully this is over now. Feel better!

Yeah, this is an extreme over-reaction on the hospital's part, and if you read these boards often enough you'll see that it's a red flag and not an innocent misunderstanding of the situation, or even standard procedure for them. They're either targeting you and have been waiting for a slip up or have decided to make an example of you. If you like the position, wait for everything to blow over—which it could—or strategize your exit with a lawyer.

A lot of this is what some colleagues call "safety theater.” It does keep staff on our toes, but I think it also sets up challenges for the patients: You think I'm going kill myself with a hair tie? Watch me do it with my underwear! My unit allows hair ties, shampoo, bras, etc, though we keep them locked up when they're not being used. It's a pretty good compromise ??‍♀️

I didn't think she should have been criminally charged, and I believe the hospital is to blame for a system that allowed the errors to happen, but her mistakes were so egregious and downright stupid I don't think nursing is the right field for her. I'd vote no.

I don't know the specifics about that hospital, but I think it's typical to have to take a physical agility test. Mine involved bending over, squatting, walking, etc. Nothing too difficult! I think they just want to make sure you're ready for the job, not bootcamp! ?

I'm going to see how it goes. I went into nursing after a nasty divorce in my 40s. Due to my late start, I'm going to have to work as long as possible; luckily, I love my work. Hope I stay physically up to it!

The doctor should tell you how to deal with these patients. It's not really our role to decide if they're malingering or not. That said, I just make sure I don't give them more attention than the other patients. The other patients shouldn't be neglected because someone else is faking a seizure every single shift. (Also, interestingly, just because a seizure isn't epileptic doesn't mean it's fake: psychogenic seizures are real seizures caused by psychological issues. So, it can be super hard to tell what's "real" or not.)

I was bullied a lot up through high school. However, it would not be possible to bully me now, for some reason. No one dares to mess with me ! ? Wish I could go back in time and teach my younger self how to deal with people better.

Pointing out the difference is not necessarily bullying, but excluding someone because of it, publicly mocking and humiliating them for it, and doing this repeatedly is.

Personally, I love psych. Working long-term care I'd probably run for the hills--I get floated to other floors and don't know how those nurses do it. I love our patients and my coworkers, love the stories and the dark humor, love the chance to spend lots of time with patients, really appreciate never having to place a Foley, etc. This is to say, YES: it's so much about finding your niche.

It's okay to fail a skill or two or three. I failed my very first skills--BP and Foley. Like you, I was nervous and sweating and basically psyched myself out, dropping stuff etc. Disaster! But I repeated it, did fine, fast-forward 3 years and now I have my dream job and l love it. Skills tests are faint memories! You'll be a great nurse--because you want to do the best you can do. Put it behind you!

Thanks for this reminder. I've finally gained the confidence to handle this kind of situation on my own floor, but when I'm floated to a new specialty floor I suddenly feel like an inept student again--but you're right, I'm not.

We allow bras because of basic dignity, but will usually hold underwire bras unless the patient has nothing else. Kind of nurse discretion.

At my facility, we normally have 3-4 nurses for up to 20 patients, and 2 or 3 (on a lucky day!) techs. This is during the day/eve. One nurse is the med nurse and doesn't usually take patients. At night it drops to 1 or 2 nurses and one tech. But there's also a nurse and a tech from the pediatric unit who can come running if there's something going down. Ours is a pretty nice place to be honest.