jonear2

As an outsider, I am getting mixed messages from the nurses here. On one hand, I hear people demanding respect for a challenging and technical profession and being offended when they are called waitresses (even in jest). On the other hand I see them comparing their situation to that of workers at Blockbuster. Perhaps I'm just not aware of a similar forum for doctors, but I suspect that they would find it somehow unprofessional or unseemly to publicly trash their patients (although I am certain they do so in private). All jobs and professions are fairly similar in this respect. Its almost an "us against them" mentality. Yes the patients are there because they need help and we are the providers of that help, but we cant always feel loving and giving. People who work at blockbuster complain about their customers because they deal with those customers every day. Nurses complain about their patients because we seal with them every day. I dont think you should hold MDs up to such a higher standard of professionalism than nurses. Perhaps we just havent found the venting site for physicians yet. I appreciate the answers to my previous question about where to draw the line. I was quite surprised at the answers and found them very helpful.

OK, Ive read through all the posts and this is my question: Please give an example of a "venting post" that would be considered "just venting" and on that would be considered "over the line" because I think that is the gray area. What one poster considers offensive is what another would consider humerous. But out of curiosity I would like to see the difference please.

My stethoscope, a thousand pens, alcohol swabs (I think they multiply on their own...), gum, water, scissors, hematats, a flashlight (pen light ain't enough on some of those foley inserts), phone, keys, name badge, lunch, excedrin, alleve, ibuprofen, midol, feminine supplies, lip balm, copies of whatever memos and fliers got passed around for the day, deodorant, and whatever other miscellaneous crap that gets collected from my pockets and my car.

Question: why was the family so adamant that the patient not receive dilaudid? Was it because of the drug abuse from the pt? Or did they know that it turns the pt into a crazy eyed pug dog? LOL... No I have never seen that happen before, weird.

Im actually doing much better now. Im 10 months out from graduation, 6 months on my own as an Rn. The more I go to work, the better I feel about myself as a nurse. Of course there are some days that I feel like screaming... My manager and I have a joke. We count the days since my last meltdown screaming that I dont want to be a nurse anymore. Its been over a month since i have sat crying in her office. Im kind of proud of that and I think she is too.

yeah, I was broke during nursing school and I wore the same outfit to clinical every week (we only went on fridays) Olive green short sleeved turtleneck, khaki pants, brown clogs. I twas the nicest thing I owned.

I'm sorry I dont have any answers to your question but what is topical ativan used for?

Oooh, no I dont think I would like that. Sucha large group of patients to be responsible for. Timothy is right, thats all administration. But it would be interesting to hear from anyone who likes it, if there IS such a person.

New grad started at 22.28/hr Day weekend diff= 7.50 night (7-7) = 6.50 weekend night= 10.50 on holidays you get time and a half the only problem is- lets say you do a saturday and its overtime, you only get time and a half you do not get your diff pay, which sucks.

Thank you all so much for the info. It makes total sense. Thank God his pain is being so well controlled. So far the experience at this hospice has been wonderfully supportive for my fiance and his mother. Again much love to all of you who answered.

I work in med surg and even with palliative care pts our PCA pumps are always administered IV. Recently my FIL was placed in inpatient hospice and today he was given a PCA pump with the medication being delivered subq. I asked the nurse and she said that she wasnt sure why but that she thought only hospice did this. I was just curious what the thought process is behind the subQ route. I am very interested in Hospice care as a possible future specialty for myself. Any thoughts would certainly be appreciated.

OK, so you mean I'm NOT the only one having a nervous breakdown after only 6 months? Thank GOD! But for every bad day there is a good day and another trick Ive found is to work 3 days straight and then have 4 days off in a row, enough time IMHO to recover/refresh yourself. Im sorry you feel so discouraged. I would tell you to stick with it and it will get better, but I think only you can know how you feel in your heart. PS You said that you got into nursing to make a difference. There are many other "helping" professions out there to choose from. In all things remember to make yourself happy and satisfied.

What is team nursing?

Awesome. Period.

I have to make a confession, only 6 months ago I was a GN in a busy teaching hospital. And because I have a naturally polite personality, I was the nurse who always asked if it was okay if I did my assessment or this or that and was told so many times to come back later for reasons like The Price is Right was on and such that I had a horrible time with time management. Not so anymore. While I do not think of myself as "pushy" by any stretch of the imagination, I will tell you that once I got to understand that I wasn't inconveniencing my patients, rather I was treating them in a timely manner thus getting them better and back home faster, assertiveness has become a second nature. Patients for the most part understand that nurses aren't trying to do wicked things to them just because the doctor says so. The ultimate goal is to get the patient well and get them home. I explain the reason behind what I am doing and if the patient has any problem with it then they will tell you. I think it is commendable that you want to protect the patient's independence and decision making. However I challenge you to work as a nurse before judging. It is much easier to apply hollistic care and provide hours worth of patient education when you are a student than it is once you have a 6 patient load of your own and might I add, students of your own.

Anybody else wondering why on earth the Today Show didn't have a nurse on the program to talk about medication errors and ways to prevent them??? No, because we all know that a high priced physician who nevers passes a single med during the day is ssooooo much more qualified to answer those questions. How about a nurse who has done research regarding the topic and perhaps has been published in NJN? You mean there are nurses who do research??? What are these "nursing journals" of which you speak?

I was moving intoa new house. The last thing we packed was the TV, right before we unplugged it the footage of the 1st plane hitting the towers came on and all eyes were glued from then on out. I remember thinking (before anyone knew what was going on) how terrible for such an accident to happen. Then it just kept getting worse and worse. Nope, I will never forget that day.

I graduated in December 2005 and I dont remember learning that the central line must be "fresh" (not to say that they didnt teach that he he), but no, at my facility we give TPN all the time through previously used central lines. Also asa stated in one of the previous posts, we also can give certain meds through the y site as long as they are compatible. I have also given PPN but only through like an 18g and not for very long. I would hate to have that stuff infiltrate the vein.

On our systemit goes like this: Existing pt d/c'd, housekeeping cleans room, housekeeper notes in computer that room clean, bed assignment assigns pt. Charge nurse approves or declines and picks another pt (example: trauma head wound declined b/c we could see there was a bed on post trauma that was empty and we took the pt that bedboard had assigned to them- chest pain. We are internal medicine/ tele) then ER calls report. If the nurse is busy then another nurse who is not busy takes report getting the name of the reporting nurse in case there are questions. No muss no fuss. There are no misconceptions about clean rooms, who will take the pt or otherwise. The only thing that I hate about getting admits is that until our clerk puts in the pt into our floor's system, we cant pre-order IV pumps or kangaroo pumps or bedside commodes ahead of time. That's very inefficient I think.

Ya know, I think I agree that the med student probably shouldn't have helped the pt up because he probably didnt know about the pt's status. I know I wouldn't have been too happy if the med student got the pt up, not knowing any better and the pt fell or he didnt use proper body mechanics or whatever. Example, Had an intern the other day who told a tele patient with bouts of SVT admitted for syncopal episode that it was ok for her to get in the shower which is totally against policy for falls. I was none too happy. On a side note, I have an intern who's policy is if there's an IV to start, a foley, ng tube or anything, please callher because she wants to do it to learn. She also told me how lucky we were as nurses to receive hands on training in those skills because she said in med school they don't really teach them. I know that when she is a resident or an attending she will send her interns to the floor to learn. I think the med student was ok. I dont think he/she was trying to be above anyone- just new.

Yesterday I had a resident who needed to do a paracentesis on one of my patients. I had everything ready and asked him (twice) to page me whn he was ready so that we could do the time out and I could start the albumin. Eventually I walked into the patient's room and he was already there and had drained one bottle of fluid already. I was a little upset as no onehad done a time out and JCAHO is coming for an audit. When he was done I took him outside, exlained again that policy stated we have to do a timeout etc, etc. He looked at me and said, why? I said "Because you really dont want to go to doctor jail, do you?" He said "What's doctor jail?" I said, "It's that place right next to nurse jail where I will be if you compromise patient, my job and my license again." He apologized. I let my manager know what had happened. She said she would speak to his attending. Duh, I dont just want to come in and watch you for fun buddy. I do have better things to do than that.

ok here goes, this works for the floor as well as ED: Do not tell me that the "other nurse" always gives you ativan, phenergan, benadryl, and dilaudid together, even if she did, I wont. Please do not play possum on me. You will experience a sternal rub soon after if you do. If I find crack hidden in the dressing of your dialysis port I get to keep it. No I will not give you a "hit" of whatever it is I am giving your roommate. If I find your significant other in bed, under the covers with you, sticking her tongue down your throat, I will document this behavior on my pain assessment as "complimentary therapy" and decide not to search trhough naked limbs to find your IV to give your morphine. Do not lie and tell me you had a grand mal seizure a few minutes ago if you are on telemetry- I can tell if you were moving around.

Registered Nurse LPN= Licensed practical nurse or LVN = liensed vocational nurse CNA= certified nursind assistant MA= medical assistant ARNP= advaned registered nurse practitioner CRNA= certified registered nurse anesthetist

pens- several -mostly stolen -yes, it was me tape- transpore and paper dry erase marker for putting my name on the white board sharpie highlighter hemastats scissors (never ever lend them out) prefilled flushes in the cargo pockets of the pants (u will always need a flush) extra alligator clamps for the IVs (also called lever-locks) 1 container accucheck strips (they always disappear, grab em fast) 1 disposable pulse ox finger probe alcohol swabs steth around the neck (beware of the nurse who never has a stethoscope) gum

Once upon a time many moon (7 months) ago I was a student nurse who took the FLorence Nightengale pledge to be selfless and loving and caring and whatever else it said. Then one day I became licensed and still I was hopeful and wide eyed. But I started working in a teaching hospital, the county funded teaching hospital and I have learned one thing if nothing else... ready...enabling patients to depend on others IS NOT helping them. Somewhere along the way responsibility for one's own actions fell by the wayside. I used to be embarrassed to give patients DC orders that said "stop smoking crack" now I am blunt about it. You will die if you continue to do this. That does not mean I or any of the other posters are heartless witches who dont know what its like to be in the patient's shoes. I had a patient 3 days ago who said "Move my leg 3 inches to the right." ***? No ma'am. You go ahead and try. (pt was 626 lbs) Stop calling nurses who come home from their hell shift mean because they vent about their patients. I would like to think that even old Florence god rest her soul, came home at the end of the day after wiping dying soldier's brows and said "dude, that one soldier on the third rag pallet from the right, he was a total a-hole. Ive seen bigger bullet wounds on mosquitoes." You know why? Cause Flo was just as tired as the rest of us. Didnt make her a bad person? Nope just a tired nurse. Sorry if this is rambling...just got off a 14 hour shift.