MJ48

Hello, everyone. Its getting close to the season we all hate, income tax. I was wondering if anyone knows what we can deduct here in Ontario on our income tax. As far as I know, our increasing yearly license fee, dont really understand why it goes up every year and by so much, and membership fee to RNAO and RPNAO. Also, wondering when doing the current tax return do we deduct the fee that we pay ie paid 2019 fees in 2018 or when we actually paid for them. Any help would be appreciated.

I wanna say that this this just happened to me on last shift, yesterday. I am recently a new hire on a acute medicine/telemetry floor. Yesterday I come in thinking it would be an ok shift. That was my first mistake. Right off the bat we are short one nurse so a few of us had to pick an extra patient, which they happen to be heavy. I don't know what it was with doctors and our charge nurse yesterday but they were discharging people left and right. We must have had like 10 and as we all know as soon as you discharged a patient you get an admit. I had 2 discharges and one admit. I ended staying till about 9pm when I should have left at 7pm just to finish documentation. And today my manager emails me and says we need to meet & discuss your end of shift overtime. What pisses me off is that she adds a little blurb saying and I quote "It is very important for staff to not be here late and leave on time." Well I agree with her but how the heck do you leave on time when your short, deal with call bells, give out meds, process orders and lets not forget the documentation. And did I mention we have no support staff meaning no personal support workers. I wasnt the only one that stayed late to finish documentation. The people who stayed late were the ones that had discharges and admits.

That's what I was thinking. But you never know with people.

I have thought about bringing in a union representative but I don't want to make a situation bad when its not. I do have to agree it would be nice if they had mentioned what they wanted to talk about or if there was an issue with my performance. I did notice though that they had scheduled the meeting during my shift so, I'm assuming that it is not going to take long and that they are not going to fire me during my shift, unless they can do that. What sucks is that I have this time off till then and cant relax because she wants to meet. My friends, who are coincidentally nurses too, are saying that she wants to talk about my progress/end of my probation and that its probably nothing serious. Fingers crossed that it is all she wants to talk about.

You did the right thing in that situation. You tired calling the on-call boss and they didn't answer. The resident's output was low and there was some bleeding/trauma. Instead of risking further trauma you sent them to the hospital to get checked out. No one can fault you in being too careful. I would probably have done the same in your situation. I do find it however, surprising that you do not have an on call doctor. At the nursing home where I work I am sometimes the only RN in the building on nights but I do have two RPNs. But we have a schedule in our med room of on-call doctors, when they are on call and the number to reach them at. Don't beat yourself over not reinserting a catheter. Also by sending them to the hospital they might figure out/have figured out why the resident's output was low and corrected it.

Hello. I just need to vent. I recently started a new job on a heavy acute medicine unit. Today I received an email saying that my manager wants to meet. Immediately in my head I'm starting to think oh my god what did I do scenarios and am I going to get fired. In the past each time I have had to meet with the manager it wasn't a positive meeting. I know I have made some mistakes and owned them and I have been working hard to try and not make them again. I know other people have felt anxious about meeting with there boss but has anyone else felt so anxious that all they can think about are worst case scenarios? Any advice on how to relax?

So I had my second shift on my own this past Sunday. It was going great until I had to give report. During my shift I had new admit. Fine, whatever, I managed to get through it. However, this is were the on coming nurse bit my head. He was suppose to get 2 antibiotics but it didn't come with him from E.R. So the nurse who was covering my patients, who was an educator, while I was on break called pharmacy to ask them to send it. However, they did not send it right away. I suppose in her defense I should have kept calling. He did get one dose while he was down in E.R. When I was giving her my end of shift report she didn't flat out yelling at me but she did make her frustration known. She replied to me now I have to get. Now I have to change the medication time. She told me to follow her and I did to our medication room. She looked every where, she probably thought I didn't see it or the nurse covering me. But she couldn't find it either. Then she found that another patient had it and she stated that the patient is not taking all 3 of his doses at the same time, I could have taken one of his to give to mine. In my mind I was thinking, I new I am not going to do this. Second, I was not sure that this is an actually "policy" on this unit to take another patient's medication even though it was the same drug and dose. She basically even said that you should never put medication not available on the mar. I mean if its not available its not available. What did she expect me to do? Make the medication? As mention before the patient already did receive antibiotics just earlier in the day. She also mentioned that she might have to do an SOR and inform my manager. So my ok shift ended up me sitting in my car freaking out. I sat there for a little bit to relax & calm down before I drove home. I mentioned this to a friend who is also a nurse and she said that don't it get to me and that the nurse was mad because she had to give to extra medications on her shift. She also said that this nurse was being a word that rhymes with itch. I couldn't relax on my days off because I was so worried that I might get a call from my manager to say I need to come in and talk to her. I wonder what other nurses experiences with dealing with rude nurses, especially new grads. How do deal with this and move on. My apologies for any spelling and grammar mistakes.

Today I made it through my first day on my own but just barely. I did ask a lot of questions and help. Luckily that staff were nice enough to help me out. I did feel like I was bugging them alot, but I don' think they minded I hope not, they didn't say anything to my face anyway. Some of them were shocked that I only got 5 orientation shifts. I am still shocked/mad that I only got 5. I did make a few mistakes but I'm still learning and getting use to the unit. I think with time I will get better, hopefully. I am still pretty nervous. However, I wonder how long I should feel nervous/anxious/scared and how long other nurses felt like this. Also, anyone have tips on moving past being nervous/anxious/scared.

Thanks for the positive vibe. You are right about the "mental health" part. On my way home I was already doing the self doubt. I know that I am new and I need to try not dwell on things. I think it is going to take sometime, a long time, before I start to feel like I am getting into the swing of things.

Thanks. I am trying to remain calm and trying to be positive but its so hard. My biggest fear is that I will screw up and hurt a patient. I am hoping that my fellow nurses there are kind, I know some nurses arent, enough to help me out. Im praying that the saying "nurses eat their young" isn't true there. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow will be my first day as an RN on busy medicine unit. This is my very first hospital job. I have been working as a RN at a LTC for a year after graduation. To say I'm nervous would be an understatement. I am scared, petrified and thinking of already calling in sick. I know every new grad and other nurses go through this on there first day but I still can't help feel overwhelmed. In my opinion what didn't help was the lack of orientation. I only had 5 days of orientation. I did ask for more, however, they only granted me one more day of orientation. What makes it worse is that it is schedule in between my already scheduled regular shifts, which I found confusing and weird. Like should I not complete my orientation shift before i start on my own. I'm so scared that I will make mistakes and harm a patient. Also as a new nurse I am not yet allowed to do blood draws, start IVs and other things. I do not want to burden my co-workers by asking them to do things that I cannot do nor do I want them to think I'm incompetent. I can already feel my anxiety going through the roof and I have a feeling that I will not be getting much sleep tonight. To help me organize my day, I have made a brain sheet but I still feel extremely nervous and scared. Does anyone have tips on how I can be calm and make it through the day. Other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone. Needing some advice/guidance. I am a fairly new RN for the past year after graduation I have worked at a LTC. I recently applied, got offered & accepted a part-time position on a medicine unit. This is my first hospital job ever and as an RN. I have my first orientation/pre-cepted shift on Monday. Right now I am excited, nervous and scared. More nervous & scared than anything. I have heard some good things and not so good things about this unit. More bad than good. Im nervous about making mistakes and not get along with my coworkers. Does anyone have suggestions on overcome first day jitters/working in a new environment and working in a potentially bad work environment. Any suggestions/advice on anything else would also be appreciated.

Just an update. I got the call and was offered the position and I accepted. I start my corporate orientation and my unit orientation soon. As previously mentioned I am excited and nervous at the some time more so now that I actually got the position. I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible. I know there will be bumps along the way but I just dont want to screw up majorly that I get fired or worse. I have thought about possibly taking an IV course, like someone mention its a hospital people will either have IVs plus blood work done. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on being less nervous and what I can I expect on surgical/medicine floor. Any tips or advice would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

If I do get the job, that's the one thing I would be looking forward to. I rather look after 4-6 acute patients than the 50, lol.

First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone for the positive advice everyone's been giving. I have spoken to my friend and other people I know who work at the hospital. Some are saying good things and some are saying bad things about the unit, however mostly about the staff. They are saying that the staff are not as friendly as you would think. I am trying to not pre-judge the place, Im not even hired yet, before I get the position. Right now Im trying to prepare for the interview, trying to anticipate what they might ask. Anyone have any suggestions on how to prepare for a hospital interview.

First of all whoa. I have never had an issue with parking for clinical. I guess it depends on where you are and what is allowed. When I did clinical placements at hospitals we were allowed to park in staff parking as long as we paid for it like staff do and we did not get any special discounts for being students either. I also never heard about a student failing a clinical placement because of parking. In my opinion that is an extremely hard punishment/consequence for parking.

After working for almost a year in LTC I have an interview next week for a possible position in a hospital. I attended a job fair a few months ago and had an initial interview there. The interview went well and the interviewer recommended that I might be a good fit on a surgical/medicine floor. While I am excited I am also nervous. I have never worked in a hospital setting but I did have clinical placements in hospitals. My past nursing experience has been in home care and LTC. I was wondering if anyone has tips, suggestions, advice or words of encouragement that would make the transitions as smooth as possible. Even though I do not have the job yet I would like to be prepared in case I do get the position or I may obtain a hospital position in the future. Also if anyone has suggestions on how to prepare for a hospital interview or things that I should ask during the interview it would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance.

That is a lot for one nurse to handle. I like the way you handle the situation. At the LTC facility that I work at we have I believe approx. 184 beds/residents. The powers that be (management/head office) decided to layoff 2 day RNs and add one extra on evenings and nights. Meaning there will be only 1 RN in the entire building during days for 184 people. The RN left on the day shift has already expressed her concerns with this but management haven't really done anything yet to help alleviate her concerns. My suggestion would be to continue to express your concerns to DON and contact your union (if you belong to one) to see if they can help you or offer any advice. Another suggestion would be if you can find another job/position that does not require you to risk your career/license.

I was wondering what people's opinions are on buying/getting your own health benefits. I have recently decided to purchase my own health benefits as well as insurance (accidental death and disability/income). I have purchased it through my nursing union. The reason for the purchase is that at the LTC I work at I'm only part-time and as part-time I dont get benefits. I have put off getting any dental work done, luckily my teeth are in good condition, and having my eyes check as it is expensive. Has anyone else purchase there own health benefits? If so was it expensive. Once I did the math I would be paying around $200 a month. Also looking for any advice or words of wisdom.

If I had to do it all over again I would call the on call doctor. The on call doctor was eventually called and the resident is doing fine. The doc gave a script for abx for I think about a week. I did question in my mind why the off going night nurse didnt call the on call doc herself if she felt it was warranted. When I did my assessment I did not find anything that warranted a call. I probably should of asked her why she didnt call herself. In the end the resident got the care she needed and is doing well.

In Ontario, RPN, stands for licensed practical nurse.

I have been working at a LTC for about a year now as a new grad on the day shift. Over the past couple days I have a resident who has been having a fluctuating temp with a cough. I did a chest assessment. Airways clear, no abnormal breathe sounds present. The resident did not show signs of pain or express any concerns. When I took her temp during my shift I think it was 35.7. The night shift nurse reported to me that I need to call the on call doctor because the resident has pneumonia. However, I did not. One at that time I did not think it was warranted. Second one of my RPN's called in sick. So I had to do the morning and noon pass and for me to do it safely it took me a good few hours. Also being the RN the PSW staff comes to me several times to ask for stuff and asking me to do things. Right around the end of my shift the resident's temp went back up. Since it was the end of my shift I had passed all the relevant information to the on coming RN and left the decision up to her, if she wanted to call the on call doctor. But now I feel like I should have the doctor and that I passed the buck to the on coming RN. Was I wrong not to call the on call doctor.

Thanks for the positive comments. The resident didnt suffer any ill affects which is good. I just cant get over that fact that I made this mistake. I usually double and sometimes triple check things. But with how the shift went and what was happening I guess I was being pulled apart trying to get to many things done. If I do have to talk to my supervisor I will be sure to explain what happened and what I will do to prevent it from happening again.

I feel so stupid. The other day I made an medication error. Some background I work as an RN at a LTC facility. I have only been working as a new RN for about 9 months. The other day I decided to pick up an extra shift. However, when I went in for my shift I found out that we were short nurses on every floor and PSWs. Also, the facility is dealing with a gastro outbreak, not fun. So I ended up having to do the med pass on my floor for one side. I do not usually do the med pass but when you short you got no choice. I ended up giving a medication to a resident who didn't need it at the time. I feel so stupid. I didn't realize my mistake until after I had given the med. I filled out the med error report, reported it to my supervisor, and notified the on call doctor. I know nurses make medication errors but I feel not only stupid but humiliated. I know I may have to have a talk with my supervisor which I'm dreading. No likes being called in to the manger's office. From now on I will be quadruple checking the med orders and meds I will be giving. I feel like quitting. Does anyone have any advice on how to move forward?

It took me about 6 months after I passed the NCLEX a second time. It was hard because no one was calling for interviews. It was even hard when a posting stated that they required a certain amount of experience. How can you get experience when no one will hire you. With the help of a few friends I was able to find a job as a RN in a nursing home. I dont like nursing homes but I took it anyway until I can find something better. Plus it pays the bills. My advice is too take any job you can get while still looking for a position that you like. This way you are building your experience and your not jobless.