lauron9

I work on a pediatrics unit and when our census is low, the nurses work alone with up to 3 patients. I've tried to find articles/acts regarding nurse safety when working alone, but the majority of the information available is about nurse patient ratios and having too many patients. Does anyone else have similar working conditions or know of any safe practice acts about nurses working alone?

- you've had to wash your hair and change your scrubs because you bent down to get a diaper out of the drawer and left the 2 month old male patient uncovered - you've taken a thermometer and flashlight into a room to get a rectal temp on an infant - you can rattle off at least 10 different names each for urine, stool, and each gender's genitalia - you've said, over the intercom in a patient's room, "Johnny, this is Santa Clause. If you don't settle down right now and go to sleep, I'm not bringing you any presents for Christmas" - you've said to the parent of the bratty patient "I'm going to step out and give you a minute. And just know that when the door is closed, I hear nothing" - you've told another adult, "you have something on your nosey"

I'm in Martinsburg. I graduated from Shepherd College, although it's University status now.

I use the NIPS scale for infants and the FLACC scale for patients too young to understand the FACES scale.

I went into nursing to become a Peds nurse. I had/have zero desire to do any other type of nursing. When I applied for the Peds job at my hospital, I was told that they had fulfilled their quota of new nurses. But after a lot of fighting and persistence, I got my job!! I've always said that pediatrics is an area that one must have a passion for. Peds requires a lot of patience and a lot of emotional strength. It's not always easy to take care of the febrile toddler who won't take his Tylenol or the depressed teenager who took too much Tylenol. But it is rewarding when you see that child walk out of the hospital the next day and know that you had a part in making them better. The best part about pediatrics is that the kids don't expect anything from you the way adults do. You don't hear a 7-year-old demand dilaudid every 2 hours around the clock! But remember that you're not only taking care of the physical needs of the child, but also the emotional needs of the parents. They're generally anxious and accepting of any information you can give them. And as long as you're doing everything you can for the child, the family is usually very appreciative, whether the child is discharged to home or sent by medivac to another facility. Good luck with you journey into the wonderful world of pediatrics!!!!

I've worked 12 hour night shifts for 6 years and I wouldn't want it any other way. Some weeks my nights are three in a row and some weeks my nights are split. Either way is fine. As much as I like the 12 hour shifts, every now and then it's nice to only work 8 hours. The night just flies by!!

My personal opinion is that all new nurses should have at least 1 year of general med-surg experience before going into a specialty unit. I think it's beneficial to have a good skill base. There are skills and procedures that you will do with adults that you don't necessarily see in children that often. I've always wanted to do pediatric nursing and nothing but. The pediatrics unit at my hospital took hospital overflow for the first 4 years I worked there, so I was able to take care of both children and adults. Last year, they decided to downsize our unit, and we take kids only. Now our new nurses are worried that they are "losing their skills" they learned in nursing school because they're not using them as much on the kids. Since I took care of both kids and adults for 4 years, I'm comfortable with my skill level for both peds and med-surg. Now that we've been downsized, in the summer, we close a lot if there aren't any sick kids, so the nurses on our unit float to other units. Our newer nurses seem to have a harder time floating to other floors since they aren't used to the adults and having not used skills they learned in nursing school, they've forgotten a lot. I just think that having a least one year in med-surg is good for everyone.

It's a tough call and made even tougher by the fact that your mentor wasn't very helpful. I precept all the new night shift nurses that work on my unit and the first thing I tell them is don't be afraid to ask questions!! You did the right thing asking your mentor, but did she even assess this man? So she said that if you think he's ok,then he's ok? If you thought he was ok, would you have asked her in the first place? Probably not. She should have at least taken a look at him. So does obs means that you check your patients at 8pm and don't check them again until 6am? Wow. That's a long time for something to go wrong. I'd have reservations about that as well....

I did. I worked 25 hours a week at a restaurant and worked PRN as a nurse tech at a local hospital.

I had gained about 15 pounds my last two semesters of college. I guess it was from all the stress but mainly my eating habits. My classmates and I would eat fast food about 3 days a week after clinicals and then eat in the school cafeteria the other days. There also wasn't much time for exercise. I started working night shift in June and by October, I had lost 30 pounds. I attributed the weight loss to not eating out every day and getting a little bit more exercise while working. Our cafeteria at work is only open 6:30am to 6:30pm, so the temptation to eat greasy food isn't there.

I like Jasco Uniforms, but my favorite is Uniform Advantage (www.uniformadvantage.com). They have cute printed tops that generally run about $9.99 to $12.99. My mother makes a lot of my tops, though. She can make a top for around $8, just paying for the fabric and using the same pattern over and over.

I live about 7 miles away from the hospital where I work. As long as I can make it out of my development, I can get to work. I live right off a major highway which is connected to the interstate, and the hospital is right off the interstate. There are 6 hospitals within an hour from my home. When I started searching for jobs 6 years ago, distance to work was a major factor for me. Knowing that hospitals do not close for bad weather, I went with the facility closest to my home. Depending on the census, our hospital provides beds for the staff members who wish to stay the night. During a snow storm at the beginning of February, my unit provided beds for 3 employees and altogether there were 12 day shift employees that stayed the night throughout the hospital. However there were 31 call-ins the next day!! That many call-ins puts the hospital in limbo and compromises patient care, as nurses are forced to work overtime and other nurses are floated to areas where they don't have experience. During storms, I usually bring an extra pair of scrubs, just in case I get stuck at work. However, the day shift nurses on my unit pride themselves in never calling in for bad weather. If you want a job where your facility closes for bad weather, school nursing may be the job for you!!