Patience911

Congratulations Sandra! I worked as an oncology nurse for 9 years, then moved to Emergency 3 years ago. I still work a few shifts in Oncology as a casual nurse but moving to a new area has really made me love my job again. At first, it was very scary as I felt very slow compared to everyone else but I found that soon passed. My advice to you is to ask lots of questions in your new environment. This will help you find out which staff like teaching and latch on to these nurses as your mentors. And do not neglect your nursing judgement. You may not know all there is to know about chemo or radiation but you do know what "trouble" looks like. Your nursing experience has taught you how to notice the small things such as the change in a patient's skin color or whether they are focussing a bit more on breathing than usual. I actually did not realize how much I knew about nursing until I moved to a new area. Good luck and remember to have fun!

I have recently been oriented to work as a casual nurse on an inpatient palliative care ward. Many of our patients suffer from dry mouth and I am wondering if any hospice nurses would like to share what their agency's mouth care protocols are. I am familiar with the use of oral swabs, both the glycerin and lemon ones and the green spongy ones. I have heard that these are not ideal as they can dry the patient's mouth more. I also remember using mineral oil in the past on medical floors. Thanks.

Hello MarieClaire, There is a great demand for nurses in the city and you really have your choice of where you want to work, be it community, acute or long term care. The health region has been converted into a health district which makes one department responsible for hiring staff. There is also a psychiatric center which is run by the Federal Government, and might be of interest if you want to do forensic nursing. Good luck in your studies!:)

At the facility where I work, very few nurse managers will come in to cover for staff shortages. I suspect it is for the reasons you mention...no compensation. We too have nursing supervisor coverage 24/7 who are supposed to fill in when staff is short. At the very least, they are supposed to come to the ward for break relief when we are short staffed. Very few do. The solution as I see it is very simple. When there are not enough nurses to safely care for patients, then beds MUST be closed. As long as you and staff nurses continue to work overtime, the reality of the worldwide nursing shortage will continue to be ignored and denied by governments and administration. They continue to ask their employees to work more with fewer resources. Although I admire your dedication, I also feel sorry for you. It is a catch 22 situation, as when beds are closed, then patients have to wait longer for treatment. I personally decided that 2 years ago, I could no longer continue to work overtime. It was affecting my health, my family life and my nursing attitude and judgement. Although I could have used the money, the final decision was based on whether I could live with the prospect of harming a patient due to a medication error due to fatigue and stress. I decided that I could not live with that possibility, that it violated the reason I became a nurse. As professionals, we all have an obligation to recognize and acknowledge our limitations and draw a line when it comes to patient safety. I believe that the best thing that you can do is to resist mandating overtime and to talk to your admin about using the resources you have to provide the highest quality of care given your current resources as opposed to pushing to squeeze out more from your staff. It will be in the best interests of your patients AND staff.

I am curious if anyone has any insight into the type of humour that seems to exist among nurses. We have had a number of discussions at work and there seems to be quite a variety of opinions about nurses and their sense of humour. Some of my co workers see the humour as being too black and negative, others feel that it is unique to nursing and is just a way of "blowing off steam" in a stressful work environment. An example that I can think of is one nurse whose daughter had a pet hamster she got for Christmas named Noel. At easter, the pet became ill and died. Her daughter wanted to put the animal under a lamp to keep it warm and insisted that it would be okay the next morning. The mom, knowing very well the hamster was deceased, could only think that if the hamster was alive the next morning, then her daughter would have to rename her pet Jesus as he was the only one she knew who came back from the dead. I found this to be funny but some people did not. Another example I can think of is when the ward is full and the charge nurse gets a phone call from admitting to see if there might be any discharges because the ER is full and they need a bed. Her response to admitting is that the only discharge that may occur would be a "celestial" discharge and as to when that might be, admitting had better consult some higher authority. I thought that this was an honest and humourous response but some did not. Feel free to provide some feedback:)

Hello all, I work in Saskatoon and think it's a nice little city to work in. Joshua is very accurate in his description of the workplace situation in this province. One new item of some interest is that the Union here signed a tentative agreement which will increase the wages by about 20% over the next 3 years so the pay will go up a bit. The nurses will be having a ratification vote in about 2 weeks and if the contract is ratified, there should be no strike. Alberta and Manitoba nurses will still earn more and I really can't see the new contract stemming the out migration of nurses from this province. The number of grad nurses coming out of school will not make up for the numbers of nurses who will be retiring in the next 5 to 10 years. I work on a medical unit at RUH and am willing to answer any other questions you may have