noc_owl

Maybe an "anonymous" tip to the news paper is in order? "Senator expects special treatment in ED" Be sure to elaborate on the charge nurse being written up because she tried to ensure the patients were seen according to normal protocol.

I don't know much about the Charlotte area, but check into the universities as well. Some have programs for people who have bachelors degrees who want to transition into nursing. I have recently been looking into BSN programs and read about that type of program, but can't remember now where I saw it. I've looked into several UNC campuses (Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Wilmington), Duke, and ECU. Good luck!

:chuckle Agree with Eric, no relaxing to be had in school, lol! Our ER does hire new grads, but if a person has previous ER experience as a CNA, tech, or EMT they are given preference over someone who has no experience. I think having experience gives you an idea of what the ER is actually like. Maybe you can get a part-time job in the ER while you're in school, it definately wouldn't hurt.

I just love that. I'd like to make it into a huge sign to hang in the wait room! I also struggle sometimes to stay positive, with some patients/family more than others. I try to remember that everyone has their own perception of "emergency". And I also try to keep in mind that if this was my family member, how would I want them to be treated? Not that that works with everyone, but I can stay civil alot longer by keeping those two things in mind. Also, there are always those small percent of complaints that you think are going to be nothing but BS, but end up biting you in the butt! Had one the other day that both me and the doc didn't give much thought to because the complaints were so vague, and that patient ended up being my sickest one. Sure helped me to remember to consider the worst possible thing that could be wrong until it is ruled out, rather than thinking the patient is not really ill. I work in a level II and we still see plenty of clinic stuff. I don't think you can ever escape it working in the ED.

Review physical assessment, IV/Blood draw skills, urine clean catch and catheter skills, and NG tube skills. And bring chocolate to share with everyone, a little sugar never hurts!

I agree with those who point out that we all have difficult jobs, and nurses in all specialties should appreciate other nurses, not knock them. I have thought about leaving the ER to find a nicer, less stressful position. I've been looking and shadowing for other jobs. I don't think a non-stressful nursing position exists. Other specialties may have their differences and seem like the grass is greener, but they also have their own set of difficulties.

Had a patient that tried to kill himself by putting a gun either in his mouth or under his chin and shooting, can't remember now where they thought he had placed it. Poor guy ended up blowing the bottom half of his face off, just his eyes and forehead were left intact. He was still conscious when he got to the ED, and I'll never forget the way his eyes looked, wildly staring about the room, and nothing but pulp where his nose and mouth used to be. He eventually got his wish, he died in the OR, but I can't imagine how horrific his last moments were. Had another patient who was hit by a car at high speed who was just broken into pieces. Went to move a leg to apply a pressure dressing to a spurting bleed, and the foot didn't move with it, the whole leg where the tib and fib should have been sort of bent and dragged. It felt as if the bones were just pulverized, the lower legs were like mush. It's hard to describe, but I've never seen anything like it.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but 10 years away from nursing is a pretty long time. A lot has changed. Taking care of family members is a lot different than taking care of patients in a hospital setting, so I wouldn't really consider that in terms of practical skills. I think the best way for you to make yourself marketable again is to take the refresher course. My guess is that once you do, you will be a hot commodity with your years of experience! As far as feeling ambivilance about getting back into nursing, and what you wrote in #2 about how you feel people are today, is it so much different than it was ten years ago? Why do you feel that way? I think a lot has changed, but a lot has remained the same. I also think it depends on where you work. Outside of taking a refresher course, have you thought of trying to apply at a nursing school as an instructor? I don't know if you ever got your MSN, but having a BSN with the intention to finish your MSN is sometimes enough to get you in as a classroom instructor. I wish you the best of luck in deciding what you want to do. :kiss

Tote bag Large water bottle Beach towel Pen/Pencil set T-shirt Pocket drug guide The gifts we get usually have some type of nurse logo.

Thanks for the update. I'm glad you are pursuing the matter and your plan is a very sound one. Best of luck.

That is great! Makes me want to buy a microphone and apply for a job there!

I think the nursing home dump is common in all ERs, and I know that LTC people get slammed a lot because of a few bad places. I do admire those of you who work ltc and take great care of the residents. It's a hard job. There are some great places out there too, but guess what - we don't see the patients from the good places nearly as much, and when we do they are not memorable because there is nothing bad to stand out. There are a few places around where I work that I hate to receive patients from because they are a mess. When receiving one of their patients they need diaper changed, they don't smell so good, they have skin breakdown, and if they had been seen in our ER within the last month they are still wearing our gown and name bracelet. (We sometimes send patients home in one of our gowns instead of putting them back in nasty smelly clothes after we get them cleaned up.) Unfortunately, those are the places that stand out in our minds the most. But anyway, about the family dump, I do understand what one poster said about not knowing what the family members are going through. I'm sure they do have it rough. But I don't condone the use of emergency services to get a break from their family. There are others ways to get a break that don't suck up our resources and keep sick people waiting.

So far, I haven't had a situation where we never find a family member. The patient I mentioned in my first post was probably the longest hold I have had. If there was someone who we could not find a family member for, we would have to do a social admit (as opposed to a medical admit) to the hospital and let social services sort it out: either find a nursing home placement or another family member willing to take the person. The thing that is so frustrating though is that the ER bed this person is taking up for hours is needed by others waiting to be seen, all because of a selfish neglectful family. It also sucks for the patient who doesn't understand why they have to stay, and eventually got mad at us, accusing us of kidnapping her and holding her against her will. I felt so sorry for the patient.

I'm sure those of you in LTC's see this type of thing quite a bit, people getting abandoned by thier families. It's very sad. One of my co-workers used to work in LTC and some of the stories I've heard are just pitiful. What I have seen a lot of however is folks that come into the ER that usually live at home with family. The family members call an ambulance, tell the paramedics what's going on, then never show up at the hospital and we can't reach them by the phone numbers we have on record, if we have previous record of the patient. Or they bring the person in, then when they get to an ER room the family disappears, and doesn't come back for hours. In the meantime, the patient has been worked up, and has been DC'd from the MD's standpoint. This type of thing happens sometimes at the holiday time, I guess families see the ER as a way to get a babysitter for a few hours so they can run errands and do shopping. But we're still seeing a lot of this going on recently.

This has been my experience also. One of my kids has already graduated from highschool and I have a child in high school now. Unfortunately if there is some type of harassment taking place, you have to be all over the school and up the chain of command to get any action taken.

How awful! I would be furious as well. I agree with Dutchgirlrn about making a police report and also having the other boy tested. I know the Hepatitis virus can live longer outside the host than the HIV virus, but as far as how long, I don't know. How do you know who did it? Do you have any witnesses, or did he admit it? You may have to have reasonable proof to present to the school and police. Good luck on dealing with this. I know I would have a very hard time keeping my cool. Please update here on what action gets taken, I'm very interested to see how the school handles this.

I know it's nothing new, but I'm sick of people sending their elderly, usually confused, family member to the hospital for something like weakness or mental status changes and then either not show up after the ambulance arrives, or if they brought the patient they leave without notifying anyone of how to reach them. So after the big workup that goes with that complaint, when the patient is ready for discharge, there is no family member to be found. This patient took up a bed in the ER for 6 hours after discharge while we tried to locate family. The poor patient, who had a touch of dementia, cried and cried "I want to go home." At one point the patient even said "They just dropped me off and left me here!" That about broke my heart. The next shift after I left was able to finally get a family member who lived 2 hrs away to agree to come for the patient. What do you do in this type of situation? (And yes, we did consult social services on this particular patient)

Yes, nursing is a very physically demanding job. I don't think I know of a nurse who doesn't have some type of back problems, and I have recently added to my list of bodily aches and pains "Plantar Fasciitis". Turns out more than a few nurses have that too, or some other type of foot trouble. In talking with co-workers we have all found that we also suffer from GERD. We figure it is stress related and also because most of us do eat NSAIDS like crazy. I have decided to go back to school asap because I don't know how long my body will hold up at the bedside, even though that is where I enjoy being for the most part. Haunted, just an aside, have you had your thyroid checked? Sometimes thyroid disease can be the culprit of symptoms similar to yours, as well as perimenopause.

Isn't it funny how alot of relatives ask you for your advice, but then if it's something they don't want to hear, they don't take the advice they were given anyway? One of the worst offenders, a non-compliant diabetic inlaw. Gee, maybe you always have problems with neuropathy and UTI's because you are always drinking COCA~COLA and chain smoking!?!?!?! She won't switch to diet coke because it just doesn't taste good. She is on oral meds for type II and rarely checks her blood sugar, and when I suggest to her that she needs to see her MD she says she doesn't want to because "he'll be mad if he sees how high my sugar is". :stone I live in a fairly small town, and I have learned to try my best to stay away from the Walmart! Lots of our ER Frequent Fliers seem to hang out there. One day while I was walking towards Walmart in the parking lot I heard "Hey! You! I know you, you're an ER nurse! Come 'ere, I've got to ask you something!" I cringed and looked in the direction of the shout. It was from a lady putting her bags away in her car. Not even the least bit familiar to me. She told me her complaint and my only advice was for her to see her PMD. She was a bit ticked off, cause she thought she could get a "freebie" when she saw me.

Well, I don't know that I have any good advice, as I have been employed in the same place since graduation. But I do know how it feels to work in a job that you hate, I did it prior to becoming a nurse. I really think that you have to find out where you really want to be. You spend a great portion of your waking time at work, and it takes a lot out of you to be miserable for that time. Do you want to go back to the ER? Do you miss it? Maybe that move will be the right one. I don't think the job hopping will look too bad if it is just a case of not finding the right niche. I wish you the best of luck in your job hunt. I hope you find something that makes you enjoy going to work again.

I work ER in a rural area and thankfully we don't see a whole lot of abuse cases. I was involved in one in the last few years that like another poster said I couldn't stop thinking about what the child went through, and what happened on a daily basis to the poor little thing. It consumed my thoughts for a while. One of the things that stick with me is the "silent cry". The child was just old enough to walk, yet when crying would make no sound, just tears. I'll never forget having to put an IV in, and like with any other child I had an extra nurse to help me hold, and we were astonished that the child did not move, did not fight, did not even cry out or make a peep, just lay there with big fat tears rolling from the eyes. It was heartbreaking. I vented to a close friend and co-workers about the situation, and I spent many a time just crying in private for this child. I've been called to court numerous times for custody hearings, to testify for Dept of Social Services to keep the parents from getting the child back. I've not seen the child since the initial ER visit, but unfortunately do see the parents from time to time in the ER. They have still not gone to criminal trial for this case. One of the most comforting things a coworker said, is that while we do see sad and sometimes horrifying things, we are the healing presence in that childs moment of need. We stepped in and provided the first bit of love and comfort that that child had undoubtedly seen in a long while. We have the power to change things for the better. The child is out of that situation now, and is hopefully healing both physically, and mentally, and spiritually. That is one child death we will (hopefully) not ever have to read about in the paper. I hold fast to those thoughts. I am lucky that in this case, I can. My heart goes out to those children who did not make it.

I'll bet that you are not the only person this doc has treated in this way. I'll bet there are many a nurse that wish they said what you did when he was speaking in a demeaning manner! I also agree with the person here who said to go to your NM before they come to you about it. Tell her what happened and own up to it, and be sure to let her know the circumstances and what was said to you. My guess is that you don't get anything more than a slap of the wrist, if that, and maybe a pat on the back! No one should have to tolerate being treated like that. Good luck, and if it were my decision, I certainly would not hold it against you when considering you for employment.

We don't rotate, we work on "tracks". Everyone has 4 week schedule that repeats itself, and everyone works every other weekend. Our shifts are 7a-7p, 11a-11p, 3p-3a, 7p-7a. It's ok most of the time, except for holidays. If you're scheduled, you work it unless you can find someone to switch with. Some people have worked the same holidays for years.

Congrats! You'll love it! And don't forget to come back here to post about your successes!

I feel you are being a bit contemptuous here, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt since the written word is often misinterpreted. I know most all CNA's do indeed have eyeballs, and do in fact use them to see, but as I stated what they interpret the RN's job to be is probably different than what it is. What I helped to initiate at my current job is a neutral person that acts as a mediator between CNA's and nurses. It is mainly for the CNA's because they felt the same way many others do, overworked and under appreciated. The nurses felt that the CNA's were slow in responding to their requests. They started off meeting with the mediator once a month, nurses meetings and CNA meetings seperate, and had gripe sessions about what each group felt was going on out on the floor. The mediator then worked with each group on understanding where the other was coming from, and on what duties each group felt were priorities in patient care. Guess what - it has worked wonders. Attitudes on both sides have improved, each side understands the others job load a bit better, and there is a real feeling of teamwork. They meet about every other month now just to keep communications open. And the best thing to me is that this was accomplished by including everyone, making everyone feel like a valuable part of the team.