Grogon

Is this common elsewhere ? I have lateshift today and they called me this morning to come a bit earlier cause someone got sick. I finally said no this time. Just came to work and everyone is making me feel bad. I told my boss that it's not my business and im Not getting paid that out group home has staff in a specific time frame. But it is my business to be there when she plans on me. I told her she can count on me to come to work, if Im sick Im sick and won't come but she cant count on me doing shifts from others, that's the own responsibility of them and not mine. Its her job to have extra staff in case someone is sick Not my job. She said because of me someone else had to come. I said it was because of your other nurse that got sick and the other nurse who came didn't come for me. She came for the lack of self esteem to say no TO YOU. I'm Not getting paid to take care of shift plans,YOU ARE. Either way my Boss hates me now but she can't fire me because I'm doing my job good and I'm never sick and she knows that. She doesn't like the fact I don't hop in if needed. In my opinion it's unfair trying to make me feel bad for something I can't change. She should be mad at the other nurses who are sick every month

Hm yeah, it sounds good and is good but if I'm honest my skillset is kind of "***ed" lol. Dunno if I'd rather go back to a normal hospital with more "stress" but more "knowledge" needed. I wouldn't say I don't need "no" knowledge what I do, its just a complete different kind of skillset. My job is easy because I "know" what I have to say or can say in a specific situation to keep a "de-escalation". Like my patient keeps talking about being poisoned, can't take a shower whatever I just kind of talk with him to show him that I understand him and his fears and suddenly I get him to the shower or take his meds. It just takes a lot of time and talking, which I noticed not a lot of people have. I had a co-worker from a generel med-surge unit come in and say things that actually made him more mad and trust him less which got the patient more and more aggressive. I told him it doesn't help much if you go in and tell him the meds aren't poison, because in his "reality" it is poison. I think I gained a lot of empathy and patience-skills at my current job. Especially when two of my other patients start doing weird things duo to dementia at the same time this guy is saying he is being poisened. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think empathy and patience is something everyone can learn very quick, thats why I think my job is not hard... but some others tell me they wouldn't have the nerves for my unit which I clearly can't understand. We have a patient that is basically just screaming for no reason, she is screaming since she has been born and is now 59. Nobody knows why its just her thing. Thats something I listen to while at work the whole time too.

Thanks all of you the quick and nice answers. I get paid "okay", which means I get the same amount of money I would get if I were to work in a normal hospital as a nurse (in Germany we don't get a lot of money), a bit more than the total average income. So moneywise I'm quite fine. Its good to hear that my area has a "name" lol. I think I'm kind of depressed currently even though I love my job. For example I go to work at 6 in the morning, get the patients ready (wash them, prepare breakfast with them (show them how to use the knife etc.), either show them how to eat the prepared breakfast correct (lol.. sounds funny, is actually funny sometimes..), pass morning meds and get them ready for work. I bring them to work by bus or we walk - depending on weather and then its already 8 a clock til I get back to the group home. At this time I have only 4 more patients that have to go to some program as "prework" because they can't really work yet. They learn easy stuff such as bringing the news paper away, draw, sing songs etc. just for the concentration. So the thing is, once I bring them to that place I'm alone from 9 - 11 and can do whatever I want. Most of the time I'm on the computer reworking their "development plan" (what worked out, what didnt work out, what should he/ she be able to do in the future, how can we reach that goal etc.) so basically easy things for 2 hours and then I pick em' back up and we eat lunch and after that they take a break and the lateshift comes and I leave. I think why I'm feeling kind of not like a nurse is because of the big spare time from 8-11 I have... I could actually watch TV or play on my smartphone and nobody would care. The lateshift is basically the same just the other way around (2-3h computer, telephone, ...), pick em up from work, prepare dinner/ help with dinner, pass meds, play games or take a walk etc., get them rdy for bed and chart about 10-20min. Next month a co-worker and I will be going to austra for a week with 5 patients and hike. It sounds fun, it is fun most of the time but 3 patients are kind of complicated in public (yell around or if you turn around and get something they are gone, or maybe (happend once) they just pull the pants down and poop...) In the end my day isn't as stressful as in the hospital. Sometimes I take a patient to the cinema and even get money for that. In Germany I get free entrance to the movies as well and I'm allowed to write the time I'm out with my patients as work time because my boss says "its work. You are doing something with him/ her, they are having fun and learning something and that is work - period." so yeah I basically worked 5 hours longer today cause I went to the movies with my patient that wanted to watch lion king and didn't have to pay a penny for it. I'm not even sure if I can tell that anyone. I mean not all days are like today. Sometimes I come to work and already hear every patient SCREAMING and I'm like "Oh dear.." or sometimes they jam their heads against a wall, yell around that they are getting poisened, or sometimes I get a call from shops why we didn't pick the item up that we ordered and I'm like "WOW! we didn't order anything, it was that patient we told you guys he can't order anything" ... etc.

Its just so weird. I asked a friend of mine that works ICU currently if I could join him a day or two at work (no profit) and check it out. A lot of things I kind of "relearned" after trying it 1-2 times but I'm sure I couldn't do a shift alone at all. I don't even know all the basic tasks required nor have the knowledge of that stuff anymore. If I think about it I'm not even sure if I could work on a lot of different places, especially dialysis. I remember setting up all the machines in the morning, I have no idea about that stuff anymore.

So my job is still nursing related? I sometimes don't feel like a nurse anymore if I compare my tasks with ICU or ED etc.

Hey everyone. I'm a german nurse and I work with people that have several different kind of disabilitys. I assist people with cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental and physical disabilitys, basically a mix of everything. Every patient has the diagnose "intellectual inferiority" inplus other side psychiatric diagnoses such as "bipolar affective disorder, personality disorder, borderline and a ton of obsessive compulsive disorder". Not everything in one patient, but all have other problems. Here an example of a client, I'll try to translate the stuff to english... She is 24 years old, intellectual inferiority (70-80 IQ), has obsessive compulsive disorder (wants to be locked in the room after every hour for 5 minutes or else she starts showing autoaggressive tendencies or if you don't lock her in her room quick enough for 10minutes she starts biting other patients), has addiction to food and starts stealing food from other patients if you don't watch out for her or she starts digging around the neighbours garbage. Thats basically one out of 16 patients I assist daily. I'm a nurse but I basically have nothing nursing skills related to my job. I just assist them, talk a lot and basically help them in their day to day life (washing them, go shopping, educate how to use money, how to behave in public etc.) Another Patient is this guy: He is 44 years old, addictive to alcohol and smokes a lot, use to work "normal" but drank so much he is kind of slow and is verbal aggressive, has bipolar affective disorder and is sometimes psychotic/ delusional (for example, he didn't shower for 3 weeks because he thought gas is coming out of the showers and got so scared he didn't leave the room for a few days), if you don't calm him while he verbal aggressive he CAN get aggressive towards patients and nurses. He keeps telling us we are giving all the clients poison when we pass meds. Basically every patient is kind of like that, but some are very quiet and don't do a lot. Its not a psychiatric unit, we are mianly a group home for handicapped people. Any ideas what this is in the usa and can I consider this job still as being a "nurse" eventhough I do nothing really nurse related (IV's, catheters, ...)? I feel like I'm not in a real nurse job anymore. My team is a mix of "Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger "(Health & Healthcare Nurses, basically a normal nurse) and social workers (maybe curative education nurses?)

I work LTC with patients that have mental disorders as a basic disgnostic and other psycho disabilitys with it. Imagine a person with no arms that refuses to eat your food and screams at you the entire time because your trying to poison him. Thats all my Patients. I got nothing medical.. I tell this patient every day to shower but he starts biting himself we dont know why, we tried bathing and only washing at the sink. Either way its every day the same. Its so loud cause most patients cant talk (extreme mental disability) and just yell and yell and yell til you find out what they need lol. My LTC in Germany is basically a psychiatric unit for people with mental disability. My job is pretty easy. Like I said I pass meds psych meds and Chart but most of the time Im like a ward watching them do things correct (like wash themself and not eat the towel, tell them how to use fork an knife etc) I love my job but it can get dangerous duo to Autoaggressive patients or patients that are aggressive towards other patients and Staff. When I hear the screams before I enter the facility I say that is hell in earth. But I love it

Hello Nurses, maybe someone is in a simular Situation and can help me. I work on psych since my graduation in Germany. While I was in nursing school I die my clinical finals on a neuro rehab icu. It was interesting but difficult at the same time for me. After my finals I chose to go to psych instead of med surge floors and all that crap. In Germany its basically you get all patients and that wasnt my thing. I preferred icu cause I had 2-4 patients for the day and could do everything I learned in school all Kind of assessments. On med surge Germany is overwhelming. Most of the time I had to wash patients. Either way. I was scared of being alone on ICU after school so I went for psych. In Germany I chose the "mixed" psych. Its basically mentally disabled handicapped patients with psych disabilitys. Its getting stale, I feel like I am nothing because let me be honest. I do nothing nurse related. I talk and talk and talk and listen and listen and so on. I got no IVs I got no real emergencies. I do a lot of group therapy. Example of a client: 54 years old, mental age around 6, needs help in every ATL ( washing clothes, himself, going to work, sleeping rythem, etc) and I badically Assist in Daily Tasks like go shopping etc. cause they cant use money correctly or just buy crap lol. That wouldnt be the Problem if that would be it. He is also diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and shiziphrenia, addiction (spending money and Media) lol. Thats Kind of all my patients but I am working with them since 4 years. I feel stupid and worthless cause I only work with the same clients since 4 years. Sometimes a new one moves in and we start working with them so they intergrate to society and feel good in daily tasks. I just somewhat feel worthless cause its not hard as ICU or med surge. Like right now 10/15 clients are at work, the other 5 are taking a nap and Im like drinking coffee. I have stressful times, but a lot of downtimes TLDR: My Main question: how can I get back to ICU without experience?