guineapignurse

I have tried several different practice settings in my years as a nurse. I started in psych and the only reason I left was I thought I needed med surg experience before I got too far from being a new grad. Well I did 10 months of hell in med surg and now I just started at a detox facility and so far I am enjoying that. I learned that psych/ addictions nursing is where I’m going to stay. I might even go back to school to follow my original dream to be a psychotherapist.

I just started at a detox facility after leaving a busy surgical unit. I have done psych nursing in the past working on a geriatric psych unit and had a membership for the psychiatric nurses association. I was wondering what associations would be recommended to be a member of for addictions nursing so I can learn more as I love to learn and maybe eventually get certified in? Thanks

Your first job might also not be in the hospital. My first job was in a long term care facility that I did my final clinical rotation in. After being there for a few months I moved over 1,000 miles away to be closer to family and I took a job at a psych hospital which I loved. After a year there I thought I had to get some acute care experience so I went to a subacute rehab facility as a stepping stone to acute care which I have been in for a year and realized its not where I want to be. I am telling you this because even if you don't get into a residency program you might find something else you like and you can always try going back to the hospital. My journey as a nurse the first few years may not look ideal on paper but I found where I want to be and learned a lot in the different settings. Long term care taught me time management and psych taught me empathy and how to form healthy patient relationships. Yes I may not be good at starting IVs but I learned other skills. Also maybe look at interviewing for the med surg floor at the hospitals if thats possible because once you get in to the hospital and have some experience then transferring units might be easier. I have a new grad co worker who started on my surgical floor and she is transferring to the ED very soon.

I was one of those nurses that thought I had to work in a hospital. I started my career working in LTC for a short time then when I moved closer to family I went into psych and I loved it, after a year of that I thought I needed experience working in a medical setting so I went to subacute rehab and it was OK. After a year and realizing the commute was taking a toll on me I started at a local hospital on the surgical unit. Been on this nit for 10 months and I hate it. I’m considering going back into psych nursing.

I’m being bullied by my manager as well. I have a chronic health condition (asthma new diagnosis 2 months ago) and she told me that after she talked to me about a mistake I made that I have to finish the shift keep myself together and can’t go to the ED because of my “asthma”. I directly asked her if she thinks I’m making up my diagnosis and she didn’t say anything. I’m currently looking for a new job. One time I did go to HR at another job after my charge nurse sexually assaulted me they fired him and got me to resign. I don’t suggest going to HR from my experience.

The last day I worked my manager (hospital setting) told me I better not go to the ER again at the end of my shift due to an asthma attack that I attempted to treat all day and still do my job. I then asked my manager if she thinks I’m faking my asthma and she said no. Next time I’m not calling out sick. I might have to call out dead

My hospital went to having cell phones for us to use. We can’t secure text from them but we will get a call saying that we got a reply on our desktop based secure messaging

I was recently diagnosed with asthma by my PCP 2 months ago and have had several exerbations since then and 2 ER visits. A month ago my pcp referred me to pulmonary medicine and I have my first appointment in a week as it took that long to get an appointment thats to covid. I am on a maintenance inhaler and albuterol as needed along with duonebs if the albuterol doesn’t work. I know we can’t give medical advice but I’m not looking for that. I was wondering if anyone has a similar experience and if you have any non medical advice or can relate as I currently work on a busy surgical unit but I’m looking to transfer to family medicine

I have an interview for a family medicine clinic in the hospital system I currently work at. I am currently in a busy med surg unit with a usual load of 5 to 6 patients. I like it but the 12 hour shifts are hard on me because I have a recent asthma diagnosis but I don’t mind working weekends or holidays. I had a exercerbation yesterday starting around 1200 and it wasn’t until after my shift was over at 1900 where I could go to the ER for treatment after doing inhalers twice and a neb treatment that my pcp prescribed until I can see pulmonary.For those of you that have moved to a clinic position what are the pros/ cons? I know a lot of nurses are leaving the hospital but the 12 hours shifts are what are challenging.

I keep my personal cellphone on me while at work because I have asthma and I need to for my peak flow meter to record readings and to remember my asthma action plan.. That being said I will go to the break room to use it. Other than that I only use it on my lunch break. I don’t use it to look up meds fir work because I have a computer I can access and I think if you don’t have computer access or an updated drug guide book then you should talk to your manager about that since I believe personal cellphones shoubr used for work activities.

Yesterday I had a confused patient become violent. I work on a med surg floor and this patient was in with a UTI. She was on IV abx and A&Ox 1 but sometimes 2. o do not know what her baselime mental status was.She became agitated when she was insisting on needing to urinate and I tried to explain to her that she had a catheter in because she was retaining urine the day before. She was trying to get out of bed and go to the bathroom but I asked her to stay in bed so she would not fall. She grabbed both of my wrists and then started grabbing at my head. By this time I called my charge nurse twice and my CNA was going to get restraints for me. My charge nurse finally came and we got the patient settled and placed her in wrist restraints and tied them down tight but not too tight that they caused harm to patient (I could place 2 fingers between the patients wrist and the restraint). Well she managed to pull out her I V shortly after and was still agitated so I placed mitts on her and contacted the attending MD for a med for agitation and got an order for haldol IM which I never needed. I did all the required documentation and contacted the family. Has anyone had a similar experience? Today I’m still not feeling well with a headache, nausea, and neck pain. I think this made an existing neck injury worse. I was in a bicycle accident 2 weeks ago and was OK to return to work by physical therapy and work knows about my accident as they were asking me to come back less than a week after the accident which caused a grade 2 concussion. I’m off today but I’m back tomorrow

I would ask about his mental health history and also his family mental health history. I would also check labs for alcohol and other drugs to rule out substance use causing the behavior. As for physical causes I would want a CBC and CMP to start.

I just started there having had my first day on the unit yesterday. I think I will be fine but it might be a challenge because the acuity of the unit is high due to the ICU being full of COVID patients and any non COVID ICU patients they have they are trying to get onto a general medical surgical floor as soon as they are stable enough to do so.

When I took NCLEX I was sure I failed because it shut off at 75 and only took an hour plus I thought it was too easy and there was no way I passed. I waited and later found out that I did pass and this was 3 years ago.

As a student I had to wear tan scrubs and the material wasn’t very thick you had to be careful what you wore under your scrubs. After I graduated the school changed to black scrubs.