Kathylee460

OMG! Poor girl. Hang in there. I have been a nurse for 35 years...majority of time hands on. However, I have had some "desk" jobs. Big pharmaceutical companies, like Merck, GSK, etc hire nurses to answer phones to clients who have questions about one of their drugs. This includes taking adverse event reactions, product damage etc. Clinical trials work but they want folks who have clinical research degree. Blue cross and Blue shield hires nurses as well as other big insurance companies. They usually will train you. Look on Indeed.com. Search office RN, try pharmaceutical RN, try drug company jobs, try health insurance RN jobs. Good luck to you. Keep trying.☺☺

I am a pediatric home health nurse. I have a patient in a vegetative state. No trache. We suction his mouth with a yankeur tip. It gets the saliva but that is all. He frequently gets mucus in upper throat area and we can't get to that with the yankeur. He won't cough it up. So he gurgles. I worry about him aspiring this. He has been taken off all secretion medications (glycopyralate). CPT is not ordered. HOB is elevated. Is there a trick or tip someone knows on a way to get this mucus without gagging him or causing him to vomit formula?? He is tube fed and NPO

reply to crazy nurse situations. Female patient came in for out patient surgery- breast augmentation. Patient went to the OR and 30 mins later came out. MD found out in the OR that the patient was actually a man and the patient had "lied to the doctor about his sex." That is what the MD said. However, everyone was questioning the patient's gender because he was so big 6'5 with huge baseball mitt sized hands. When the patient was under, anesthesia checked and found out that he was a man. #2 patient situation psyche patient (border patient) on med surg floor. psyche unit said he was harmless, just needed observation. Ha Ha. On my shift, he escaped via a window and was caught by security trying to steal a car. Patient #3 This happened in the 80's when there were patients we could put in 4 point leather restraints secured with a key and a nylon web from shoulder to ankles secured under the hospital bed for patients that required restraining. (I had a key on my id tag). This was an alcoholic brought in from the ER in DT's. He was a huge man, 280 lbs, and 6'3. Somehow on day shift he got out of his restraints, pulled his iv out, and began swinging the IV pole around in the room, He bit the nurses' thumb drawing blood. She was trying to calm him down, We could not get the ativan fast enough. Security had to come and secure the patient. It was crazy. I have more stories, been doing general nursing for 33 years.

Hi, I have been a nurse for 33 years. I have done a little bit of everything and have seen many different styles of nursing. Team nursing and primary nursing. I started on a med-surg floor and stayed 2 years. It cemented all the basic skills that nurses need. Our patient ratio was 6 patients to one nurse--Primary care nursing. I became a nurse to take care of patients. New nurses need a long mentorship with a seasoned nurse, a kind nurse, for at least 6-8 months. It makes me sad to see nurses leaving the field. I have often felt like I need to leave nursing. The number of patients you take care of has increased. It seems that everything is based on how much money the company, hospital, or clinic can make. I tried to find other jobs but they did not pay enough to pay my bills. Currently, I am working in pediatric home care with one patient at a time, for an agency. It is ok for now. Like the article above says, I have switched jobs many many times in the last year--at least 5-6 different companies due to high patient case load, drama, politics, high stress and no benefits. I am not paid much with this new job, however, I have peace and less stress. The general public does not really know what a real nurse does and TV does not help the "nurse image" either. nursing is more diverse than when I started. You can pretty much do anything, education, teaching, bedside, just remember to keep your head up, believe in yourself, stand up for yourself respectfully, and if it does not work--give notice and look for something else. Not a failure, it just does not fit for you.