MSO4foru

Nope nope nope.

We need a system that dosen't penalize people for being at home sick. Just imagine one Covid19 positive employee working at a grocery store or fast food place. Buckle up folks.

Anyone else thinking the North American Trade Agreement wasn't such a good idea? Or the Pan Asian agreement? We gave away the US manufacturing segment for cheaper to manufactured goods. Cheap goods come at a high price.

You can only teach/ educate so much to people who don't want to listen. It is a grave injustice that heathcare is a very profitable industry. Also a sad comment on US society that allowing people to suffer is justified by " family can't afford ( fill in blank- meds/heat/rent) without the patients check.

As a hospice nurse, I get all kinds of things from family members who " completely understand", but still shovel food into unconscious people. I fetch it out with a swan.

No real words of value here. Healthcare has become a commodity- big fish eats the little fish. I think this is really bad. Especially as unions have declined. So people look into Unions, your employer has little or nothing in your best interest.

Pitching in my 2 cents... I think it's unfortunate that many places don't value SNF/ ALF or home ccx are experience. We all took same boards. Different skill set ( present) does not mean inability to learn. And we all have things to teach each other.

Amen Kooky. And sadly as the world becomes more dog eat dog, pulling extra shifts, or going " above and beyond " counts for little. Forgot to document one med/ heaven forbid make an honest to goodness no fault med error per MD that you called per protocol- expect a urine test or write up. I now have had the t shirt for a few months. Still employed in case anyone wonders.

Homecare is it's own animal- because it's just you. Pt could be in an emergency, or have terrible social situation, or just outright nasty environment- bugs in home or plywood on floor. I have seen both. In homecare you do have some backup- a clinical manager and hopefully a SW. I worked a SNF for exactly 89 days- I passed meds on 30, yes 30 pts. Dayshift. Anything I thought needed MD attention I was told to " write it in doctor book"- even though MD may not be by for 2-3 days. But I never worried about carrying fleas or worse home.

KCLSEA..... I graduated nursing school in 2005. My first RN job was on a Medical Cardiology Stepdown Unit, rather quickly one of my mentors was a Master's degree RN who had been on that unit for 10+ yrs. One of the first things she told me was " I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you missed when bedside nursing was good by about 10 yrs". I have an occasional " good" night , but am inclined to say she was Very right.

So maybe I am again being the dissident here. ( clearing throat)... However, there is a lot to be said as to how Many ( again capital letters for emphasis) medical facilities advertise them selves cs how they are Staffed. Should the OP have been asking the pt if she was anxious, afraid- etc... things that could be resolved with anxiety meds or ( maybe) a chaplain visit- absolutely. Is it Ever ok to tell a pt ( under most circumstances) to stop using a call light?- NO. Do some/ a lot of pts need assurance- Yes. Do most pts understand what our sillly uniform colors mean - NO ( I don't care how many explanatory colors posters are posted). Most pts who are in an acute care setting are not there of their own choice- meaning : they know something is not right. And yeah, they are scared. At least. Perhaps my question is where does upper management start taking some accountability for this? As more and more hospital systems are being bought by for profits who use " staffing grids" ( by the way, is my current understanding that as things sit right Now, every hospital in continental US will be under control of about 8-10 hospital chains within next 6-10 yrs) and whose goals are to make a profit by reducing supply cost And cutting labor cost, and well, any other cost they can think of, where does that leave these pts? And I don't think that " the OP should find another job" is either a valid option now or will be in another couple years. I think as this *gig economy* gains speed, more and more of us who depend on our employers for things like health insurance, PTO, and retirement plans are going to find ourselves SOL. Back to point- is some of this " just heathcare"- yes. Sorry, I don't mind that your finance had to sleep alone sometimes. My hubby has for the last nearly 20 yrs. Do I mind that some pts are on call lights Way more than actual physical needs are- well, no. That's part of the job. Do I care that you feel like you are failing because of a fractured system that is more dedicated to making money than serving pt needs- ABSOLUTELY. Sadly I think is becoming a more widespread problem. And if answer to it was as simple as getting another job, most of us on this forum would be working at same facility.

Good luck... at this point my instinct is to tell you to apply for SNF ALF job. Home health ( and home hospice) jobs require at least a couple years of previous acute care experience , so that nurses can at least feel competent. Get about a year under your belt then think about hospital.

Don't answer calls from work unless you want to work. Also know that overtime can bite you in the butt tax wise.

While she made a mistake- a terrible one- this is , I think a systems error failure. Why is there not a " code for pharmacy release" for some Override meds??? All if us nurses will make a medication error at some point. And if you work in a well staffed unit with a perfectly functioning pharmacy- count your blessings.

I love the idea of work life balance. I think the ( maybe)only way its possible is to have a 12 hour hospital job on a unit that you rarely have the same pts for more than shift. My experience as a hospice nurse both doing homecare and inpatient is: if you do homecare when you are back from vacation you have 3- 4 hours of reviewing notes to look at so that you are caught up. And then there's the extra work that the fill in staff caused. And the correcting in accurate advice that was given - such as oral antibiotics for imminently dying pt who can't swallow. I wish I were making it up. And even with inpt- you wonder if your request that a chaplain or Social Worker see the pt pronto will be followed up with. Or a hundred other things. In my area, I totally blame the system. Or our CNO. We have had at least 75% staff turnover in the last year.