95PGTTech

As with anything in life, the double standards go both ways. Why is it that no matter how heavy my caseload is on any given day in the ER, females ALWAYS come to me first for a boost, turn, etc. on a heavy patient? I can't remember the last shift I worked where I didn't leave with a sore back. I offer my female patients the choice. If they choose no, I do a task for the RN I ask while she is doing the Foley - line, dressing, etc. Under no circumstances will I go into a female room alone and pull the curtain for ANYTHING - I will be in plain sight at all times if I am alone. Was advised of this by another ER male on my first day. Any time that curtain gets pulled, a female chaperone is there, and the patient is specifically instructed why they are present. Haven't had an accusation yet. Side note - I take another RN in when doing any foley, if possible. Frankly, it's just easier. The other RN and I can knock out a Foley on both of our patients faster than if we had did each alone.

I personally think the 0 AND the U is excessive. If it were my decision (which it is not), you would get a formal write up on your file and a very clear talking to that a future violation will result in your termination from the program and possibly blacklisting you from others. Again though, not my decision. If you had your RN and made the same mistake, you likely would be out of a job. In the field, many verbal HIPAA violations are made on a daily basis on busy floors, none ill-intended - because it's hard to prove what he/she said etc.. But when you make a mistake like you did by committing it to paper (or accessing the EMR and electronically committing it to paper), that's hard evidence that never goes away.

Recently my hospital has instituted (on the floors only) a new policy "M in the box." The RN is supposed to write the date, the medication name, and one side effect of this medication on the special white board on the wall. Ideally, it is a new medication from this admission and once the patient can "teach back" that med, a new one is put up. I don't pay much attention to it, I have an education-thorough reputation as it is and discuss far more than one med with each patient. I had a patient yesterday when I floated to telemetry that was a newly diagnosed HCV and his only new med was an antiviral. When the CC rounded and saw the M in the box blank, she asked me about it and I told her I refused to put that med up there because it would broadcast his new diagnosis to anyone with a smartphone and google. I personally have HCV from a bad blood transfusion in 1988 and I don't make it public knowledge, I have gotten a lot of bad feedback in the past, mostly people assuming I have HCV because I'm an IV drug user or homosexual (not that there is anything wrong with that, I'm just happily married for 9 years to my beautiful wife and I don't appreciate unwanted advances from either sex). She agreed, and told me to just put up one of his HTN meds to be compliant. That begs the question - isn't ANY medication on there a privacy violation because these boards are in plain sight, some even from the hallway?

I developed a fear of elevators after becoming a RN. It never fails...my relatively stable ES1 that I'm transporting (usually on a vent) crammed into our tiny elevator up to ICU with a PCT and RT...something always happens. It's like a bad jinx. There is so little room to work you have no choice but to jump up on the bed, straddle the patient, and deliver compressions this way. I have a hospital wide reputation for doing this.

GCS 15 but confused. Now I'm confused Doc... To be fair, he is a very good ER DO, it was a bad night (heavy), we both took the opportunity to laugh. We are constantly making fun of each other's charting, which is as much cathartic as it is good practice to go back through and edit as necessary.

You know what's awesome about working with male nurses? Most of us have concrete thick skin and are far too busy or purely uninterested in drama like debating about being called nurse, murse, or male nurse. I've been called all three. I've also been called doctor (often), sailor, a-hole, a slew of racist and religious slurs, more curses than I can remember, the devil...and at the other extreme, a ton of compliments from geriatric patients like guardian angel. I could honestly care less what you call me...I'm here to do a job, I do it well, clock out and go home. I try not to take my baggage in to work, and I try not to take my work baggage home.