Chem0ninja

#1 actually happens most frequently in my hospital. We have security guards in the lobby that basically don't do anything. When visitors come to look for a patient the security guard only tell them what floor that patient is located at without telling them specific unit and room number. There are four different units in one floor with three different elevator, one of the elevator opens directly to the main nursing station in my unit so almost on a daily basis we have visitor comming up to us asking to help them locate a patient.

Sorry for the late response. These are not homework questions. These are scenarios that had happen and still happen frequently in my unit. I did all of them because I didn't think these are HIPAA violation. But after reading some HIPAA posts under the HIPAA discussion posts I started to have second thought of my reaction to these scenarios and wondered if I have actually been violating HIPAA without being aware of it. If so it would be a shame since I've been a nurse for some years now :T

How do you avoid politics and management? I need some insight 'cause that's really what bother me the most at work.

I totally agree! We have such a high turn-over rate in my unit because many new grads felt overwhelmed and left after working for a few months to a year. My hospital is cutting their orientation one week short to save budget. With short-staffing in every unit, new nurses are made to float as soon as they reach six months of working in the unit. With regard to being charged, any nurse who have worked in the unit for over a year are required to rotate to be charge. Charge nurse has full district in addition to all charged nurse responsibilities ( leading huddles, attending hour-long interdisciplinary round, assisting in all patient emergency, doing assignment for incoming shifts, handling all complains, filling out charge report etc.) So much are put on the charge nurse's shoulder and charge nurse is usually the one that get blamed for if anything goes wrong in the unit on the day she's in charge. It's sad.

1. A family member of a patient admitted in the hospital came into your unit and ask you to look up the patient's location because the family member has no clue what room/unit the patient is being admitted to. In order to search the location you have to enter the name and DOB of the patient for the system to generate a list of all of the patient's current & past locations. 2. A family member of your patient asks you to print out the lab results/medication lists of the patient. The print-out has your name on it. 3. You are expecting an admission from ER and you were given the name and medical record number of the patient. You access the chart to see what the patient is here for. 4. You are covering for your colleague and a family member of her patients asked you to look up lab value for her. I've done all of the above but now I beginning to wonder if I have violated HIPAA in doing so?

What makes you want to become a nurse in the first place? I think attitude and intention play a huge part. In my unit, I've noticed that the complainers tend to be the ones that go into the field just for the paycheck and have no compassion for patients. They would spend the majority of time either socializing with others or just sitting at the nursing station on their phone, and do the minimal amount of work ( not answering call bell, not turning or cleaning patients, not giving all the meds, not helping others ) to get by the shifts. Those nurses tend to have a low tolerance to stress because they allowed themselves to get used to not doing anything, and would whine over every little task that they are asked to do. I don't find their work to be miserable, its just that they have miserable attitude. And then there are the hard-workers that are truly compassionate about nursing and make sure they get all the work done properly, and even go above and beyond for their patients and colleagues. They are the ones that tend to get the real burnt out but they are also the strong ones that are capable to handle critical patients and challenging situations. Of course, they also vent and complain sometimes but not over every little thing. I respect them alot. Don't let other influence your view on nursing as everyone's personality and stress tolerance are different. Just make sure you set the right attitude before entering the field.

Hi ! You are not alone. I think most, if not all, nurses have been through the same phrases when they were new. I, too, have the same feeling. The first two years in my nursing career I constantly cried in the bathroom at work, and constantly thought about switching to home care because acute care seemed challenging to me and my colleagues weren't nice to me. It took me 4-5 years to get comfortable with my work and to start to have more confidence in myself. Now I'm into my tenth year in the same unit..I'm the most senior day shift and have preceptor many many new nurses. I'd say don't give up so easily. Difficulties help to shape your character and make you a stronger, more resilient person. Try to focus on self-care and de-stressing on your day off. Each morning before you head to work, set a small goal for the work day that is different than the day before.. " Today I'll make sure my patients are safe. ".. "Today I will finish all my documentation on time".. "Today I won't leave work for the next shift to do" .. "Today I will have patience for the demanding patients" . Focus on accomplishing one goal at a time and give yourself kudos for succeeding. Don't give extra stress to yourself. Eventually, one shift at a time, you will realize it's actually not too difficult.