Noahm

I really think that members of the public who want to behave like this i.e. getting abusive when their loved one doesn't get one to one nursing care SHOULD BE FORCED to pay for one to one nursing care. The other night my colleague commenced a dressing change. As soon as she started her other patient unexpectedly arrested. She heard the emergency alarm and ran to the code. The dressing change patient ****** and moaned about how they were "left" and said that they were going to complain. This was even after they were told that their Nurse's other patient was critically ill. IF that is the kind of care that they want management should tell them to pay for their own private duty nurse.

If you aren't too busy could I have one as well? I am about to start a new job in Med Surg. Thank you so much! [email protected]

bump please.

Oh and we *try* to do a background q2 hourly with a linen trolley. And we are supposed to serve tea and coffee to patients via a drinks trolley or we get collared. Yeah right. As if we have time for that. Half our patients should be in ITU.

I work in Northern England and we have all this stuff right now. We are a 30 bed nightingale ward. We have 15 beds lined up down both the left and right side of the ward. We get 2 RNs per shift and it is acute medicine. We had a smoking room up until 5 years ago. On night shift Nurses could smoke in that room while documenting. We use a drug cart and paper medication charts. Yes, this is in 2011. If we need something from pharmacy we have to walk down to pharmacy with the paper drug chart. Then leave it there because pharmacy is "busy". Then you go back to the ward and the patient wants a pain killer but now the darn drug chart is in pharmacy. Pharmacy is only open 9-3 monday through friday and we have to mix all of our own drips. Graseby pumps are hard to come by and we calculate drip rates. still using what you call banana bags on ETOH patients. We are not allowed to wear sneakers, crocs, or clogs. We have to wear sensible black shoes without laces by order of the matrons. Our matron is a total *****. When our 30 bed ward only has two Nurses for the shift and we are on our knees doing med passes 3 hours late she is more worried about tidyness and the state of our uniforms. I purposefully wore bright neon pink socks to work because I knew she would call me up on it if she came around. And when she did I said "Really, is that the worse thing you can find to worry about when there are 2 RN's to 30 patients in med surg? Stupid *****. We have crank up and down beds and have to elevate the head of the bed with pillows. RNs are not allowed to catheterize male patients. This is how it is at my hospital in 2011. Northern England: about 50 years behind the rest of the world. Can't wait to go home to the USA in 6 months. Something tells me I am going to need a looooooong orientation after being over here for 9 years.

If someone is in AF the pulse oximeter will not always pick up an accurate 02 saturation because of the irregular heartbeat. But the changes in mental status show that he may have been hypoxic secondary to a million and one possibilities and needed a call to the doctor. It may have been a TIA obviously. I wouldn't have worried about the doctors attitude so much. I have cared for patients in AF whose pulse ox readings have been low, despite the machine being in place for awhile. Yet ABGs are fine.

Thanks ChristopherB.

Chuck, I have been working for the NHS for the last decade. It is tough. I wasn't kidding when I said we have 2 RN's to 30 patients in med-surg. We also take high dependency when ITU is full, palliative when the hospice is full and psych when the psych unit is full, and care of the elderly because there is a shortage of nursing homes .... which is all the time. I often work 16 hour days without a break. LOL. Lots of NHS trusts have been really mismanaged and are falling apart. Not good. RNTim49, I am really sorry to hear about your experiences. I know lots of excellent new grads over here (I am a student nurse instructor on my ward) that cannot find jobs even with contacts and good references. I have been trying to help them. I hope at least one of them gets my job when I go but their is a hiring freeze and they are not replacing Nurses that are leaving. Everyone is trying to go to Australia. I would go to Australia in a heartbeat if my entire family wasn't in Pennsylvania. The Nurses over here have no desire to go to the United States over Australia. I guess I can always look for a job as a walmart greeter. Should be fun trying to support my family on that wage.

Hi Chuck, I am not a BSN. I graduated from a well respected 3 year diploma school in the Lehigh Valley. We had statistics, chemistry and everything there and had enough university credits to get our BSN fairly quickly. I think the only thing I need now is some managment. Good, but still not a BSN I suppose. I think my part of PA still has high regard for diploma grads so fingers crossed. My degree in history isn't going to help much is it? LOL. I am in the North of England by the way.

Hello again, Thanks for all the replies. We are looking at the Lehigh Valley as that is where I grew up. The conditions here are pretty bad too. We have no set schedule and have to mix day, evening and night shifts all in the same week...sometimes coming off nights and being on 7 AM start the next day. The pay here is appalling and will be getting cut even more. 2 RNs for a 30 bed med/surg ward with no ward clerk and only very part time pharmacy as well as a shortage of doctors is what we are working with at the moment due to job cuts and hiring freezes. Point is I am used to appalling conditions LOL. As long as I can get a job somewhere and my husband can get our house here rented out we are good to go. I will be coming out before he and the kids and getting a job just to be on the safe side. If I don't get a job offer I guess we will have to stay put. Thanks for all your replies.

Hello Everyone, I am planning on relocating back to the USA (Pennsylvania) in early 2011. I have been an RN for ten years and have lots of experience. Most of that experience has been in the UK however as we moved here with my husband's job a year after I graduated from Nursing school in the States. My Penna. nursing license is current, active and in good standing. It has finally hit me that getting a job may be tough right now. I am hearing it is nearly impossible for new grads to find anything. Is it any better for experienced RN's? I have a decade of experience behind me of acute medical assessement units and med /surg and 5 years as a charge nurse for my floor. Ideally I would like to wait until the job market improves but my husband is losing his job here in the UK. The health system here is freezing Nurse wages, cutting hours and laying off and I just don't see a future here. My parents in the states are getting older now and I really want to get home. Desperately so. But if there are no jobs then there is no way. Just thought I would test the water and see what you guys think? In other words, is the job market over there really that bad??? Any advice, suggestions? Thanks.

Anyone????

I love med surg too!

I am getting really worried. I am planning on relocating back to the Lehigh Valley after 10 years in Europe and have my heart set on working at LVH. I am absolutely desperate to get home. We are just waiting for our house to sell and my English husband's visa to clear. But I am hearing that LVH is having a hiring freeze at the moment..... Is it really that bad? Things are pretty bad here in the UK which is why I want to come home. It is 2 RN's to 30 patients in acute med-surg here. I am hoping to get home to the LV and start applying for jobs in February/March. I graduated from St.Luke's in Bethlehem and have 11 years of acute medical experience with some surgical and rehab thrown in as well. 99% of this experience has been outside of the USA. My PA nursing license is current and active. I have done courses towards my BSc degree in Nursing here in England but funding as been completely cut due to the economy. Is there any chance of gaining employment as an RN at LVH? Any suggestions? I don't mind working at any of the area hospitals really but I sincerely have my heart set on LVH. Thanks, Anna

So so true about interrruptions getting interrupted. You are going around with the medicine cart and pouring some meds and someone phones, you go to the phone and on your way back someone shouts out for the commode, on your way to fetch the commode a phone call from lab comes in, on your way to take the phone call someone complains of shortness of breath. What was the first thing I was doing? It just goes on and on like this throughout drug rounds. If a wanderting confused patient wanders away during this it is your ass rather than the managers who refuse to staff the wards and hire nurses. .