nerdse

I just made i 119...pathetic...but i do have 2 ask how many of us are afraid 2 even ask r colleagues 2 do this in case they rat us out to admin? nurses do eat their young n they bite n claw 1 another all too often... there r other boards, u can usually post on them anonymously, maybe u know some1 at another facility that u can tell where u won't get into trouble b/c u are not working there? ppl u can email? if u know of blogs out there, put in ur 2 cents' worth n add the link? n b sure 2 tell them why u r doing it anonymously...if hiring mgrs r looking at facebook n myspace n googling blogs 2 c what their employees or potential hires r up , n they do it make no mistake, then ppl need 2 b careful that their identity remains anonymous until we have a movement 4 change that is so overwhelming that admin can't fire ppl 4 signing it n admitting it. :typing i intend 2 do some of those things now that i have the url 2 send. pls do the same. we need 2 move on this it is so sad that we have 2 b scared 2 use r real names or have them show b/c we risk loss of job in some cases.

unfortunately true; sad tale but it's 2 things. 1st w/o some regs few orgs or even ppl will do the right thing. after all they had to pass a fed law about safe lifting. 2nd is they tend 2 go overboard b/c they know this. but u can go on their site n c what they have for pt safety goals which is the biggest charting h/a 4 most nurses, comment on what they want 2 add. did that n encouraged others to a couple yr ago when NPSGs looked 2 b a bit much, they did trim them a lot. believe it or not they r really trying 2 help, they have been looking at staffing, but i think maybe we should try n enlist them 2 up the staffing ante, be allies with nurses 4 pt safety, they may not, but i think in most states u have 2 be accredited by them so they get pd n e way...it's not like they have 2 butter up the hospital admin. ' we could at least try...:typing

"I sent that email on March 16th and finally got a response back from my rep. Here's what she thinks about safe staffing... 'While I appreciate the goal of H.R. 4138, I think we should first focus on assuring that we have enough nurses to fill all of the open and available positions before we start mandating staffing levels and fining hospitals that cannot find nurses to fill available positions'" they really don't get it do they, if the staffing was safe a lot of nurses who have left the profession would come back just like they apparently did in CA. I see those claims, and I haven't seen anyone refute them so far...if u r from CA can u verify if it helped 2 have ratios? i would think it would help...for the above reasons. roght now im not able 2 nurse on the units but hope this illness won't last 4ever...if i get well i would love to work nite telemetry or med surg in a ratio-mandated environment.

integrity will get u screwed most of the time, but i still practice it...i answer to a higher authority that expects me 2 act that way. don't snow them it isn't right n the PTB will find some way 2 get u if they really want 2.

the docs said i had lupus, then no, RA when the ANA went to nl, then yes, lupus even w/o the positive ANA b/c not every1 has a pos ANA, then no, RA, b/c ANA is neg, then yes, possibly lupus d/t borderline ANA...now finally it's fibro, but i still get butterfly rashes when i don't feel good n sometimes, as weird and 'my teeth itch' as it sounds, when the irritable bowel acts up i can feel every inch of my gi tract. if i m out in the sun i hurt like @##$$@!! - even my skin hurts w/ touch, or clothing, or air currents (rules out nudity, b gr8ful 4 that! ) i remember my GM saying they call it the practice of medicine b/c they haven't got it right yet, they're still practicing! n on the fibro board there is some1 who was misdx w/ fibro n has Chiari 1 malformation! Practice, indeed!

there is now a federal safe lifting law that hc facilities had to have a committee in place by early 08 and a lifting policy to reduce injuries by 7/08 and it was 2 include things that make the place little or no lifting by hcws. that's not a lot of help 4 u all but facilities have been presented w/ more than enough information that lifts etc. pay off in decreased WC claims. n they never seem 2 include the cost of all those legal types and all those hearings n stuff 2 get claims heard, i bet it costs more 2 deny than it would 2 just take care of it b4 it gets worse... the ppl who play the system seem to get stuff out of WC no matter what:nono: the legit claims seem 2 b the ones denied...we have a really messed up legal system...

i've been tested on n off 4 RA n lupus, i get a butterfly rash when i feel really sick but they say it's just fibro...n i can rel8 2 all the other things u have w/ urs, me 2...have had 1 strong n 1 weak ANA rest r negative, sed rate is always pretty high tho... but some days i have to admit i get petulant n wish it WAS fatal at least 4 me! get really tired of feeling bad, but i just kinda call it a "u'd feel better if u were hit by a fr8 train" day n laugh it off, nothin' else u can do. It will usually get better...usually... it gets discouraging...i remember when AIDS activists had all those protests n then breast CA survivors n friends had protests 4 more $ to help them, i don't think they should have less but i think they count on us all being 2 sore n tired to have a protest! :zzzzz

i also fought this dx.but i didn't know some consider it a form of RA...do u have n e more information on that? Pls? :thankya: i m thinking that may b why the other poster mentioned some1 she knew of getting remicade, plaquenil, mtx, etc. 4 fibro...

i have a gf very close 2 me who has that n had 1 surgery, facing more. she insists that is what i really have but neuro claims i don't, he's not a surgeon, can u tell me how many n what types of MD u had 2 c b4 u got a firm dx for this? i swear sometimes that's the real problem! but don't want to be a hypochondriac... still, my whole family has had weird sx 4 generations that make me wonder...

if working as a cashier hurts u might want 2 get this under more control b4 u try, but i understand. take care in opting 4 this, c 1st what it takes 2 stay on an even keel. doing what ur doing now 4 ur health, tho, i kept working 4 22 yr b4 i had to decide i need 2 go out on disability at least 4 a while 2 c if this flare will ease or not. so there is hope just set limits out front 4 family, friends, profession, n keep up the good work. keep in mind u can do other healthcare things that will help, like sw, u r still helping ppl but physical demands may be less. also if u get thru n r able 2 nurse, u can work 2 get a yr or 2 in a hosp, usu i tell ppl follow ur dream 4 a specialty but if ur not sure how long u will last try medical nursing or med surg as u get quite the education. while u r there learn what u can about case mgt and utilization review and quality, those r places u can sometimes go if u can't keep up w/ nursing - they r hard 2 find sometimes, tho, as there r a lot of us disabled nurses nowadays n we all need this type of job.

THX THX THX. i have never attempted suicide but have had days that if it all ended i would not have fought it 1 bit. i can understand why! the pain is awful, it wears u out n things that help w/ pain don't work 4 fibro...u can give me a narc, it will help the other pain conditions so that i can bear the fibro better but it will not help the fibro or it just helps a little n that strong a med u don't want 2 take if it isn't helping, it is so weird. n frustr8ing...i used 2 say there are days when walking in front of a loaded freight train would feel better than the way i felt that day! i know it wasn't true but hyperbole does serve 2 illustr8 concepts...

i didn't know n e 1 would give u remicade 4 this, i have other autoimmune syndromes n believe this is also autoimmune. nsaids cause me problems i can't take them often, have also not heard of getting plaquenil or methotrexate 4 it, NSRIs, yea, not SSRIs tho' - plaquenil and methotrexate and remicade r usually 4 lupus. mine mimics lupus n i was misdx w/ lupus 4 yr of arguing was it lupus, rheumatoid, mental illness, u know the whole thing of "it can't be FMS there's no such thing" that they have gone thru until recently. What type of MD did the person on remicade go to? do u know? i would b appreciative if u want, i can give u my email offline. THX.

Lyrica isn't bad 4 some, u have 2 c if it will help, i know someone it does wonders 4 but she did gain lots of w8, me, i swelled up n at 1st it seemed 2 help i felt a lot better n then i just crashed...same thing happened w/ acupuncture. Like n e thing else it is very individualized; give it a mo. on lowest dose but stop if side effects are unbearable. i had 2 go back 2 Neurontin which works 4 me. i was misdiagnosed back n forth 4 yrs. have actually had it a long time. ppl don't believe u hurt but that's gettin better since there is info out there proving there r changes on functional MRI n PET scans indicating changes in pain perception...i had some1 once say 2 me after they got it that they could not believe i still worked in this much pain. i have a gr8 rheumatologist n orthopedist (he was the 1 gave me the 1st dx n the rheum. confirmed). But at long last it seems to have gotten the best of me, i m so sick right now. i m lookin 4 something n hopin some disability time n then a diff job at a diff place will help. i h8 2 give in 2 this but there r times u have 2 step back n take stock...i let the current employer play me n i m payin 4 it now, if i had changed when i had the chance...but 2 b honest i have a skill set that lends to ppl offering me jobs w/ unrealistic workloads! i have a pretty long list of skills actually, think that does more harm than good at times...n i didn't get n e really decent offers, but could have looked @ things like govt types of jobs that maybe i could've done where if they had me work long hrs they'd have had 2 pay OT so they'd have said go home on time. i let myself get 2 tired. pls take that as a warning 2 listen more closely 2 ur body, n realize its best 2 stay no longer than maybe 5 yr at a place, after that they look at ur medical costs n find ways 2 make u leave b/c ur also usually vested by then if there's a pension plan. find something u can do 4 less effort n in the meantime do all the CE u can manage, keep learning. Often going 2 classes isn't helpful b/c it will wear u out, but there's medscape.com for nurses, lots of CEUs do at ur own pace, spectrum is often an employee benefit n if not they usually give a free offering once in a while. if u have a pda or smartphone go 2 epocrates.com 4 free drug ref, some1 at my facility who was really in2 this stuff got me hooked, aside from interactions checker 4 drugs, drug ref, there are tons of calculators of all sorts 4 free n they have CME, but it is still helpful, u can do at ur own pace n most nsg places will take that plus u stretch ur mind learning more. u can do all this in small bites. same person turned me on to free-ed.net 4 a whole lot of diff courses, u can learn about almost n e thing u can think of there n most if not all is free. keep learning. Good luck to all my fellow fibro folk out there n let's keep supporting ea other.

Nice 2 c someone else w/ these same issues! helped me 2 start using nondominant hand more. Try that, u won't be a math genius but it might help w/ no. reversals and such. I have no. inverssion, reversals, tons of coping mechanisms. i figured it out myself by accident...they don't recognize it most of the time u r lucky they even said the term "math learning disability"! I was just a "bad kid" or "lazy" or "stupid" - cried my way thru most math courses when no one was looking. The ADHD I found out about so l8 in life it isn't even funny...2 l8 2 get help, w/ what I have now I can't take n e thing 4 ADHD! Would if I could n it would help... :smackingf

Disable n was working but i m incredibly sick now from what they r doin w/ my sched. I had a job I could mostly manage b4, but it was decided I couldn't b/c they were going 2 change it around n up the ante, n sez they'd put me in 1 I could manage; makes them look gr8 but once I was in the job everyone said was mostly sitting w/ no OT, I find out I have 1 deadline after another that stretches my ability 2 cope w/ my condition. Can't continue i m worn out. telehealth companies r closing/consolidating. i know they tried w/ some older ppl 2 get them 2 do it n some liked the attn but they couldn't hear or catch on 2 the info w/o more help; n telehealth not allowed to give over a certain amt of time. 1 less option... Admitting nurse option: u hear this n in some places the nurses say they have 2 do their own adm. assmt n won't hand off 2 another nurse b/c it's "not good practice" - but they take report if they didn't admit the pt and read the chart, what's the diff? Disabled nurses would b good at that but jobs would not be plentiful. Had a gf who did it 4 a while. She said there were constant c/o b/c she couldn't do 20 - 40 per shift. Mgrs c/o to the nurses 4 not admitting their own pts if admitting nurse couldn't do it, so she got labeled "useless" - quit b4 they could fire her, the person after her apparently didn't last long either. Unrealistic expectations. Then of course they cut the position sayin it didn't work...geesh, it was sabotaged! If u believe the NNOC ads u c from time 2 time in the mail, when CA instated staffing ratios more nurses were able 2 return 2 work n the shortage stopped, but u say that 2 a hosp admin n u best duck n cover for the verbal attack. Can't blame the hosp 4 being careful of $$ or we don't have jobs, but at same time, what u save in lawsuits seems it would pay 4 itself 2 do some of these things. My ? of the day: how much waste in HC spending is actually to pay 4 lawyers who make a LOT more than RNs do to stop legit suits while idiot ones get thru. AND 2 stop suits that wouldn't happen if they had 2-4 RNs instead of a lawyer... Also how much is spent on futile care? I mean, we all know stories of ppl w no hope of survival kept alive 4 sometimes wks or mo at a time on vents n such, coded over n over, expensive meds, but WORST OF ALL THEIR PAIN N SUFFERING! That story that got the award, every nurse on these boards can rel8 2 that. N they c/o how much it costs 4 healthcare 4 a disabled nurse???? It is legal in most states 2 deny medically futile care but they wont do that instead they say the ppl would sue them 4 sayin care was futile. Meanwhile, pts suffer. Just try advocating 4 pts. U get an earful n ur branded a troublemaker if not worse. n e way this has gone on 2 long i know sorry needed 2 rant a bit.

I'd like to know anything I can find...getting too sick to continue and hoping they'll let me go on disability v. just termination. These days places only look at what the insurance cost is for a person, and say find some reason to terminate. Not the experience or think out of the box and where else can we use what the person can do. Have heard a lot of stories in my nursing years. Patients come in devastated because they're sick but no healthcare available, and get sicker because they don't know how they'll pay the bills. All these stupid lawsuits like that one in another forum where a 12 yr old kid wins a lawsuit against her parents grounding her, and someone terminated for essentially disability can't prove it? Something's rotten...

Also, sorry, in the excitement that there may be others fighting the same battle: At Sea, hugs. I understand. Don't have the same problem, but I get it. I wish more did. There are tons of disabled people working out there. Did you find any? It's hard; everyone is so scared if they admit something is wrong that they will be fired. Guess what, things like this don't help! Someone quoted me something like almost half of all people have some chronic illness? I wondered about if that was accurate. I guess considering the number of diabetics out there, right there that is a lot of people so probably it's true. No way could we all go on disability and not work...who'd take care of us? :smackingf

Can an employer get away with dodging ADA by saying reasonable accommodation for a disability was too burdensome? Would burden of proof still rest on the employee to prove that the company could have made the accommodations without repercussions and even turned it into a plus? Or is it something that the workplace has to prove, that it would have cost them too much fiscally for them to do this? Anyone know? Also, anyone else out there disabled that was actually almost ordered to go on disability, and when they asked for a bit more time to decide, was held to a standard that no one else was held to in that organization?

Why can't we get rid of the qwerty keyboards on computers and put in Dvoraks? It would be easier for people who can't type worth doodoo. And some of the computer systems for healthcare do require typing. We can put a man on the moon, why can't we have a TV show that actually shows that when people have multiple sex partners without protection they can end up with STD's, hepatitis, and AIDS not to mention pregnancies? (Might stop some of the idiot things in the Funny Things in the ED board - but then we'd lose some of the humor!) Why can't we just admit that taking care of patients is hard and sometimes it hurts your back (I don't have a nurse's back, by the way - mine is fine) instead of endless "save your back" courses? This is blame the victim. We can put a man on the moon (July 1969 was the first time) why can't we get along in healthcare instead of yelling at each other? Why can't we take care of each other? Your turn!

Have had so many in my career I have lost count but this one is funny. Setting is during the late 70's. Doc is humping his office nurse on a routine basis, every chance he gets. Dads in the delivery room is a new phenom - doc's dressing room got cut in half (to make a dad's dressing room) b/c it was big enough to do that - key was still the same for both rooms - nervous dad enters the wrong room to change into scrubs for the delivery & falls over the doc & the office nurse right at THE time if you get my drift - I bet that was the quickest "down time" on record in the history of "nuki"! :rotfl: OB was the dad's wife's OB to boot - was none too pleased to see the OB involved in that particular activity while his wife is in active labor and dilated to 8.5 cm! :imbar Last time this doc EVER picked that particular venue - I thought he had it coming to him but on second thought, maybe he had it NOT coming to him. :chuckle

Respiratory goo was my absolute worst. But I got used to it, as used to it as it is possible to get. I even hate my own! I had experience w/ colostomies when I was about 13 - my grandma had to have a transverse loop back in the days before karaya - I always hurt worse for her than for me. Karaya was a godsend. I could deal w/ barf, blood, pus, even regular snot & spit, but respiratory goo!!!! I did get used to it, though, but it's still the worst. Right under that is dentures, I would hate to even clean my own if I had them! But it is SO impt to the pts! My worst odor experience was not r/t nursing - I had a job once in a research lab (college days) cleaning carnivorous lizards & feeding them raw liver - I had to pour lemon dishwashing liquid over me to get rid of the smell, had one outfit reserved for that job. THAT was gross. I guess between that & the colostomies & dentures in my family (I started caregiving VERY early in life) nothing else could faze me for very long. :) I did have one wound that I had trouble getting used to - the poor pt had had a total exent for CA & it came back & grew thru' a sacral decub - got so used to packing it & the smell, one day after nites I went to the grocery store - never got thru' a store so fast in my life, all the aisles magically cleared out, had no trouble w/ coupons (& the cashiers at this place took the use of coupons as a personal insult), got checked out in record time...took me a while (hey, I was TIRED!) to realize why! So smelling ripe can have an advantage - tho' today I might find myself shot by someone peeved at the odor! But the worst for me is old people and their bowel fixation - I have told my son if I ever answer the question, "How are you today?" with the details of my last BM please slap me silly! That's worse than any wound or other body goo to me - and it doesn't involve anything but listening! :chair:

:) So cool an idea! We really DO need it here, our pts are so spoiled compared to the NHS pts in GB. Having seen the NHS up close I can see how they get abusive, really, some operations that you can get here in a month or less have a 5 - 10 yr waiting list there & if you "contribute" to your illness you don't get the surgery - one example is a knee replacement isn't given to anyone who's ever been overweight, they have to pay for it, or did when I was over there (it may have changed for the better but I wouldn't count on it). So I am not surprised there is violence; powerless people are usually violent at some point & often adapt it as a habit. But w/ our spoiled (spoilt?) pts here getting whatever they want, I think we definitely need to do something similar. They aren't getting denied care when they are swinging at you. I was once told that if someone tried to hit me I could not hit back so I said what about blocking the hit & was told that was the same as hitting back. And we wonder why we have a health care professional shortage...needless to say I ignored that and did block pt's "haymakers" when they got violent (usually b/c they got something on the tray they didn't like, or the water tasted bad, or they wanted a name brand soda and not a generic one; sometimes, tho', they were in the DTs & didn't really know what they were doing so I cut them some slack). The demanding people usually take time away from pts who really need us. I think that's what our young friend is upset most about. And what NHS is trying to prevent from happening in their facilities. My grandma used to say, "Consider the source." She explained to me that if the person was hurt or angry, they were lashing out at you b/c you were safe & you could defuse the situation by zeroing in on its source - "It must be really hard being here trying to cope with this situation." Then laying down the law - "I will do what I can to make it easier for you, BUT we have a unit full of people with similar problems and I have to make sure all of them get their share of my time & attention in accordance with what is wrong with them. I am sure that you would not want me to ignore you for someone else, especially if your needs were urgent, so I am sure that in future you can find it in your heart to understand that we're all doing the best we can in difficult circumstances. Thanks for understanding." Even if they don't right away, you may find that later on they will come to you privately & apologize & if they don't they will stop acting out so much. Keep really good eye contact, open posture, professional tone of voice, and remember that most of the time they are not angry at you but at their situation. For the ones who are twits, Grandma's advice means not taking offense at an idiot but pitying them instead. She used to say pity was worse than hate b/c it assumes you are incompetent. I have found that an attitude of pity is actually a potent weapon. People would rather be hated. I have even said to people that I feel sorry for them b/c they have no other way to cope with problems than to yell at someone. Hope some of that helps.

Folks, I and other military spouses who lived in foreign countries WERE NOT PERMITTED TO BE A NURSE THERE UNLESS COMPLETELY FLUENT IN THAT COUNTRY'S NATIVE LANGUAGE! Caps intentional for emphasis. Literacy tests in the country's language were administered and you could not work if you didn't pass. Then there were all the immigration hoops - for example, until they can't find one single nurse in all their affiliated countries that will take that position, you can't work there, and you have to go to classes - mostly at your own expense - in order to be permitted to take the job if you are accepted - contingent on your passing the courses and their version of nursing boards. All that for much less than what a nurse makes in the US (ever get the feeling that the lower health costs overseas are a result of underpaying nurses?). :angryfire Anyway, we certainly don't do the same here. I have to teach foreign nurses to use the computer system. Often they can't read or speak English well enough to do so, plus they can't even type and our system is not mouse or light pen driven. They feel they have a total right to complain, by the way, that they have to type and they get insulted if you try to show them how English is constructed and spoken. There is only one foreign group that I have had that do not get insulted but welcome the additional help. It is no wonder we have no trouble getting foreign nurses to come to the US - and the same goes for the doctors. Then there's the physicians - I had one years ago whose writing was illegible and whose accent was so bad that even I couldn't understand it (and believe me, that's bad; I can figure out just about any accent). I had to ask him to come down and clarify in writing. Well, although he couldn't seem to write a legible order in English or give an understandable verbal correction, he DID speak very clearly at one point when he decided to make a scene - everything was incomprehensible until the end when he called me a G-dd____ed fat, stupid, lazy b___h in front of a hallway full of patients & visitors :angryfire - at which point I turned to him and said very sweetly, "Pardon me, doctor, but could you repeat that? I can't understand your accent!" The entire hallway erupted into laughter & he retreated quickly down the stairs, carrying on the entire time. :rotfl: BTW my incident report on his unprofessional behavior was ripped up & never saw the light of day in the medical staff offices. I don't work there anymore nor would I. I don't mind multiculturalism - in fact, I welcome it - BUT since I was expected to adapt to the culture of my host country as a military family member stationed overseas, I expect the same courtesy from them when they're in my country! I think it's time we demand of foreign workers in ALL fields, but esp. in medicine & nursing, the same thing THEY demand of Americans living or working overseas.

How about: from an overweight patient: Have you found that skinny person they say is inside me trying desperately to get out? She's taking up too much room and pushing my dress size up. Or: Are you sure you can see OK since my contacts probably aren't the same prescription as yours? Or: Watch that you don't undo my belly button or my behind might fall off.

Yuck.....have had all sorts of stuff like this and more but a lot of the gross stuff happened in OB, how did you OB sorts miss out....I didn't. OB's must get that way from what they do but they really act ugly sometimes. One of them liked to wipe his snotty nose on the nursery nurse's scrubs so she had to change... but one of the not quite so gross but still good ones -- a nervous new dad makes the mistake of walking into the unlocked doctor's dressing room instead of the dad's dressing room and falls right over the married doc doing some 'comparison shopping' with his office nurse right at THE MOMENT....and the idiot yells at the new dad and it was his wife's OB. Not physically gross but definitely makes you sick... if you are going to philander, be a bit discreet; at least lock the door. I hope that OB got a little, shall we say, "bone trouble" out of that one. He had it, er, coming....