lorster

I have searched the internet high and low and cannot find an answer. I thought I would check in to see if anyone can answer this. I am a RN in a medical setting. I gave an Invega injection to a psych patient and then waited for the pharmacy to send me the dose that is given a week later. The doctor decided he wanted me to give the injection a couple of days early and i explained to him that the injection had not been sent over from the pharmacy. He told me just to give a sample and I asked what I would do with the patients delivered prescription. He said to just tear the label off and use it on another patient in the future. This does not sound legal to me and I have not been able to find an answer to this without actually calling the board of pharmacy. I refused to follow his advice.

So there is no law out there that states a male nurse cannot work obstetrics?

I have discovered recently that my hospital will not allow one of our male nurses to float to the OB floor because he is a male. We take turns floating and they continually skip his float date. The other day, a surgical floor aide(male) was going to have to float to the OB floor. Instead, they pulled our female aide to OB and made the surgical male aide come to our floor and work. I also know this OB department denied a preceptorship to a male nursing student. I thought gender discrimination was illegal these days. It is blatantly obvious this is going on at our facility. Any comments? Suggestions?

It has been nearly two years since I wrote this post and obviously struck a nerve with many nurses and at the same time, many others could relate to my frustration with our profession at the time. In that two years, much has changed for me. I am still working in the same job and even though the problems have not changed, I have. I no longer view us as a pathetic bunch. We are a great profession and have made much progress in the past many years but we do have a ways to go and I doubt it will be where we want it to be by the time I retire in 5 years. I became more active in my union organization. I became a true advocate of safety for my patients. I no longer put up with any abuse from a doctor or anyone else. And man, have things changed for me. I have learned so much and I appreciate everything that was posted here even though some of it was painful for me to read. But this is the start of a very positive position in this profession for me. I only have 5 years left and it will be the best five years of my profession. So here are some ways that any of you can improve how you are feeling about your job. Speak up, don't allow a patient to get in an unsafe situation, go to your manager, if they don't listen, start climbing the chain of command, go to your union if you have to. Don't compromise your licence or the safety of your patient for anything. Don't take abuse from anyone, doctors, managers, administraton, coworkers, or patients. Pull them aside, right away and settle it. You will not be the most popular person on the unit, but you will be one of the more respected members. I finally realized that I was not at work to be popular and make friends but I have made many as a result of being forward, talking to people, and not back stabbing my co workers. I plan on being in this profession for another 5 years and then I'm gonna be a stay at home wife, something I have been wanting to do for years. Again, I want to thank everyone for their comments. I guess I just had to unleash all the frustration I felt at the time.

Thanks for your reply truern. I'm not sure he has any recourse and I'm not even sure I gave him sound advice but what I told him to do was to get his degree in June, pass his boards and then write a letter to both the University and the hospital. I hated giving him this advice but really did not want him to compromise his position. Now I'm beating myself up because aren't we supposed to be proactive and take a stand against this type of treatment and not fear retaliation? But this is a small place and he has 4 months to go and this is the only hospital.

I am not a male nurse but I want to ask a question and get some feedback. I'm a female nurse who has worked med surg for 20 years. We have nursing students at our hospital. Last year I had a male nursing student on our pediatric unit for the semester. He was a junior at the time, a native american, on a full ride scholarship and a 4.0 student. (they have to be 4.0 to do clinicals at our hospital, long story). This student did a great job and the kids loved him. He was efficient and consistently used the nursing process and provided exceptional care to the little patients and their families. But I sensed that his instructor did not like him. She was rude to him and came to me on several occasions wanting to know if he had done anything wrong which I always said, No, he is doing a great job and will be an excellent nurse. Fast forward to last week when this student is doing his senior preceptorship on my unit again. I asked him why he chose med surg for his preceptorship and he said he didn't, he had chose the nursery. The nursery nurses told him he could not do his preceptorship in the nursery but did not give a specific reason. He also told me he had been given a C in the peds class last year which was the first time he had received any grade less than an A. This instuctor also works in our nursery. I feel strongly that this guy has been discriminated against and I'm not sure why. Can I get some feedback from some of you guys? Are you not allowed to work in a nursery or on OB? Thanks for reading this long post.

We started computer charting in early december and I absolutely love it...except...the ergonomics is horrible. The monitors were place in each room, near the window ledges. To chart in the room, I have to crane my neck upwards as the seats are too low/monitors too high. And you literally have to twist your waste to get into the space the computer sits. I am just standing to chart now which means I'm on my feet 13 hours a day. I have put in 3 requests to fix it. Other nurses are complaining also and our complaints are falling on deaf ears. Well, now I notice I have neck pain, back pain, and headaches exacerbating every time I work. I have RA and I'm not sure I can sustain this for the rest of my career. I'm not sure I can do this if something is not fixed. Has anyone else had this problem with the computers?

First of all, I want to thank your two sons for serving our great country. I do want to ask you though. Have you thought about taking a DMARD for you arthritis? This combination you are taking as you know will spell disaster for your stomach at some point down the road. Can you qualify for one of the drug company discounts? I'm of the mind set these days that aggressive is good with the auto immune diseases.

This is an interesting thread. I am a union nurse and glad of it. Yesterday, i spoke with my state union rep. He was telling me that another hospital in my state which is non union simply dumped their retirement plan. The nurses who have been there for 30 plus years and ready to retire...have nothing. Absolutely nothing. They worked all those years for that. If they would have had a union, that retirement plan would have been protected under the contract and would have been renegotiated with each renewel. Don't think your non union hospital can't do things like this. It happened to a hospital in my state and it can happen to a hospital in yours.

I am a union member at my hospital. There are about 300 RN's employed and it is closed. We each pay about 500.00 a year for dues. We just negotiated a new contract and settled it in 3 days. This is why: Our union president ran into administration in the elevator and the admin says...Hey, rumor has it that you guys are asking for 5 an hour raise, 5 and hour noc shift diff, and 3 percent for next year. Our president says...yeah, you heard right. A week later, this admin goes to our pres while working and says....we'll give you, 3 an hour, 4 for noc shift diff and a 3 percent raise next year. Our presidents says...Hey, Cool, we will take it! She then goes to the individual reps who represent our units, told them, they would take it or we would not get anything from the hospital. The reps then spent the next 3 days spreading fear among our nurses that if they didn't vote yes, we would not get a thing. A few notes were posted, a vote was held (we could call in our vote) and it passed. Is this the way unions operate? If so, I'm not sure I want to be a part of this professional organization. I am a part timer and the only reason I knew about the vote, was I happened to work during the two days they had posted the vote notice. I called our state office and complained. I'm not the only one upset about this. What do you all think of this?

May I ask what kind of meds you are on for your arthritis? Do you also have RA? I am a nurse with RA and I just went off Plaquinil after two years due to the side effects. I cannot work when feeling like I'm going to pass out, throw up, or have a severe headache. I don't know how I'm going to deal with the flares once the plaq leaves my system but I figured I would cross that bridge when I get to it.

thanks for all your responses. i contacted my attorney today. he gave me advice on what to do. i am a union nurse but my union is absolutely worthless. our reps are in managements pockets and it is about to all fall apart. i cannot trust my rep currently. i am going to go to the state rep though and file a grievance. i feel it is slander. my attorney states he will stay in the loop and if i get disciplined or fired, he will intervene. i will keep you posted.

There was no misunderstanding. The nurse that came to me heard it herself. She was shocked that such information would be disclosed at an informal meeting. Plus, I am not being disciplined at all. She lied to them. I'm angry about this and just do not know how to fix this.

I am a RN in a small hospital. Today, a fellow nurse pulled me aside after lunch and informed me that our nurse educator took a bunch of my fellow nurses out to breakfast. During breakfast, this educator informed all the nurses that I was about to be disciplined at work and I was on a list of people to be fired. I am not on the disciplinary process, have never been written up and nothing has been brought to my attention that there is a problem with me or my performance at work. I am a charge nurse frequently. I am furious. I don't know what to do. I am embarrassed as I now feel that my fellow nurses thinks I'm being disciplined, undermining their confidence in me as I am a senior nurse. What shall I do? Do I have any recourse? Was this educator/manager out of line?

I wonder what percentage of nurses who hate their jobs, work on med surg.

I'm totally confused. You got a years probation from the BON for spilling water and calling a donkey an ass? Did I misunderstand this?

Sticknurse. I took care of a spinal cord injured man for 11 years. The first three years for an agency and when I quit the agency, he called me a while later and asked if I could work privately for him which I did for the next 8. He was injured when he was 25 and passed away when he was 49. During that 11 years, I tended to more Stage 3 and 4 wounds than I care to remember. Not only did he have wounds, he had burns constantly from smoking, and tending to a wood stove that was the only heat source in his house(he lived alone). He also drank heavily. He sat in his chair for days at a time. He refused to be bathed, he refused dressing changes some days. I would go out and sit for 2 hours at a time, waiting to assist him into bed to clean him up and do his ischial dressings only to be refused, cussed at and items thrown at me. I allowed him to refuse as that was his right but not without letting him know the consequences of his refusal. He also refused to let me do foot care which is so vital with spinal cord injured people. His feet were caked with dry skin and each admission to the hospital brought questions about the care he was getting at home due to a horrible body odor, from MRSA infected wounds. I also worked at this hospital so the staff knew that this was not the type of nurse I was. It was the most frustrating years of my life but in many ways so rewarding. I often wonder what I could have done different but I'm not sure I could have changed his course. He told me he didn't want to live in his body and his refusal was a quicker way out. I tried to get him to counseling with no success. His primary MD had many talks with him. It did no good. Fortunately he had a family who loved him and supported him no matter what decisions he made. Things got so bad that I told him that I could no longer be his nurse and things changed. (I didn't do this as a threat, I felt that I was not the nurse he needed) I hired another nurse to come in and help, hired home health aides which he had refused prior. I set up a support network and we kept him busy and he was required to be 100 percent compliant through our personal contract. I'll say that the last two years, he was at his healthiest of all those years and he stated he felt better. Unfortunately he got a bad case of pneumonia in 2004 and succumbed to it. I don't think you are going to change things but just know that you are an extremely important part of his life even if he does not admit it. You do make a difference. Let him know that he has the right to refuse but you are legally obligated to document the refusal as well as educate him on the consequences. He is angry and much of this anger, he may never resolve. All you can do is the best job possible to make his life a quality one.

Hello all. I am just curious. Were any of you with HIV or HCV infected at work?

Neither of us had work comp injuries.

I'm not sure I'm posting this in the right place but here goes. Just want opinions on this situation. In August I had surgery that required me to be out of work with no lifting for a week and light lifting for the next three weeks, then normal activity. I went to my manager and asked her if I could come back in a week to light duty such as in a different capacity or as team leader, or any other area they could use a nurse in a non lifting capacity. I even asked if I could take patients that did not require lifting or pulling up in bed. I was told NO. The hospital has a strict policy that states if you cannot lift 50 lbs, you cannot work the floor (med/surg). Today, I show up to work to find that I had been replaced as team leader by another nurse, who had surgery on her arm and could not take a full patient load or lift with her left arm. She had obtained special permission from this same manager to be team leader and take one or two patients that did not require lifting. I instantly saw red as the three weeks off, had been hard on my finances. Is this a fair practice? Or am I just being petty?

I was diagnosed with Ra in 2005. I am 47. I am on plaquinil right now which has made my life so much easier. I went from working 12's to 8's and am so much happier and feel like I can make it through a shift. My arthritis is in my ankles and feet, wrists, elbows.

When I first graduated 19 years ago, it was due to the love of this profession. But to be honest, after this many years, it is for the money as it does pay more than most jobs. I would not be working if I did not need a paycheck, at least not in nursing.

There are things we can do to change this. We can start by teaching our children tolerance and acceptance of all other human beings. We can teach our children to love and accept. This is the only way to begin this change. It seems to be an impossible feat but can be done over time.

I went to work for a travel agency. I am in my 9th week. My last paycheck for 2 weeks (72hrs) never showed up. I called the hospital this morning and told them I would not be back due to nurse patient ratios and lack of a paycheck. Have I abandoned my patients. I was supposed to work tonight.

I am on my way out of this profession but I am having to realize that I cannot go from 33 to 15 an hour and make it work financially for my family. That is the main problem with me staying in is the financial. But of course that is the wrong reason to stay in this profession but the reality is, my mortgage company wants their money and I have to be able to pay it each month. At home transcription can work and I have heard that it can be a good income and you can be flexible with your work hours. Also, being a drug rep is a good way to use your knowledge but I do believe you would have to do a lot of traveling. Good luck.