cardsRN

thank you for asking. i am much better now. stiffness and the occasional spasm. much improved with daily bike riding! and back to my full duties!

i guess the answer is...some. lots of our patients seem doomed from the start (large teaching hospital that operates in cases where you think they should have their heads examined). i still care for every single one the same way. it is disheartening. it can be draining. I guess the reward is being able to treat the pt as a human being and try to make the connection for them before they leave. if you are thinking about a critical care career i would advise you to think again. as one poster already pointed out it takes a certain kind of crazy to get into nursing to begin with. it takes a whole 'nother kind of crazy to work in the ICU's. but i wouldn't ever leave.:heartbeat

busy RN and mom- thank you so much for your supportive post. it's weird how at first you think everything is fine. the morning after my shift i was in the ER like, fine- just give me a valium and i'll sleep it off, see you all tonight. maybe not. maybe i wouldn't work another shift for 3 months... ugh. i know that i'll get over it eventually with the right treatment, it just sucks now.

flying scot- i am sorry for all you have been through. i need to hear about returning to pt care! i know all will be right in time, the uncertainty just sucks. it is good to hear survivor stories of those of us injured on the job. you should hear your MD out if he thinks additional surgery would benefit you. just saying...

thank you for replying. i have been to a chiropractor before and i swear he fixed things i didn't even know were broken! i just think i feel so lost. i miss my "real" life where i used to take care of patients, i wish i knew when i would be back there again...

So i work in a CVICU, i injured my back moving a patient in early august and have been out of work since. i am doing a light duty job part time in the evenings and i miss patient care and the challenge of ICU so much but that's not the issue. i am still having numbness in my hand and restriction of range of motion in my neck. i am in PT 2x week and it is better immediately after my PT, but always back to the same the day after. i had an EMG today and the neurologist told me that it looks like a pinched nerve in my neck and that i will probably have an MRI. i see my occupational health MD on tues. and we discussed the possibility of cortisone injections already. i am just scared. i want to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation. i miss my life! i just want things to be back to normal already!

absolutely. and to understand the anger and disappointment and conflicting emotions people feel and how that makes life in general harder by orders of magnitude. also, just a word about judgmental behavior: why is it that when an older person c/o pain they get treated but when a younger person c/o pain they get that label- you know the one- "seeker".

ummm... fyi my mother would be making the trip with me to do the "lugging" if, as ruby pointed out, my doc even clears me to travel. (hadn't even considered that part). i guess that i am optimistic that with the PT i will recover quickly. the part i don't understand about your post is where you get the idea that i am faking injury. or how being out of work despite fulfilling the necessity of caring for my child makes me unprofessional. it is fortunate for you that you have apparently never been in this or a similar situation. if you ever are i hope that you will be treated with compassion.

wow thanks for all the responses you guys! the doc i saw this week said there is no way to tell how long i will need to be out of work. now i am on motrin, skelaxin and valium and am still having pain to the point that i cannot stand or sit for prolonged periods. today we were at a friends b-b-q and i had to go lay down for a spell. so this is certainly not faking. but i start PT next week and have high hopes for that. according to the doc i saw it is just a strain and will heal given time and PT. caring for my toddler makes it very hard not to lift and aggravate the injury though... it is just a strange and unfortunate convergence that the shift i need off for my family party is near the time of my comp leave. and btw for those who asked, i have not been out to ohio in about 2.5 years and my aunts/uncles/cousins have never met my son. i am not in love with my job... my unit in particular is a very difficult one to work in and we have a very high attrition rate due mostly to horizontal violence issues and lack of management support. however, i need the paycheck and health insurance. i guess the heart of the question for me is whether it is politically smarter to have the talk with my NM or just call in.

let me start at the beginning. i work fri/sat/sun nights. my unit is not staffed well and the summer vacation time was alloted by seniority at the beginning of may. this amounted to 4 shifts off for the period of may-sept. for me. took 3 as a long weekend and one as a sat night 8/11 (tonight). the thing is that in mid may, my mother booked a trip for me to bring my son out to meet the extended family in ohio at the end of august. the trip would involve me missing one friday night shift 8/31. at that time i requested the shift off and was told that there is no more vacation time to go around and i will have to find someone to cover it. fast forward. i have asked everyone, tried to work out trades, asked my nurse manager for help. all to no avail. fast forward again. i injured my back last weekend and am out on comp until at least 8/24 (the date of my next follow up appointment). if i am back to work by 8/31, what do i do? do i: 1. call and have a frank discussion with my nurse manager about not coming in friday 8/31 even if i am back to regular duty. 2. just call in sick. 3. attempt to change the flight plan and make my family cancel the party she planned for that friday night (they are already very irritated with me about this situation) i think my NM is fed up with me in specific and staffing issues in general so i am feeling very conflicted about this. thank all of you who made it this far. i do not usually get many responses when i post questions here but hopefully someone can help.

this is such a sticky question. there are those who abuse, and everyone always works short. everyone feels that your unit is the one always floating and never receiving floats, so you know that your sick call won't be covered. it makes you feel guilty. but you have to do the best you can for you, because as other posters have stated- the hospital will never remember you killing yourself to be there no matter what. you will never get those days back. i have a situation right now where i requested 1 shift 3 months in advance and was told "no" that all the vacation time was already distributed and there were no more days available. i have tried in vain to find coverage. the plane tickets are paid for. something is going to have to give here...

i recently dreamed that a large man i had taken care of for the weekend was falling out of bed head first and no one would help me. there i was, holding him by the shoulders, vent alarming, swan pulling out, trying to keep him from falling and all my co-workers outside the room going about their business. that is a fairy accurate dramatization of my unit though...

my heart goes out to all those who live in pain every day. i can't imagine how draining and disheartening it must be. one poster mentioned a 24/7 pain service that manages all narcotic orders- what a beautiful idea! our pain services is not in house after hours- telephone consult only. and they are not involved frequently enough by the primary team. no one wants to deal with the pain issue until it is a crisis at 3AM and getting an epidural takes an act of congress. in my current job the resistance to pain control for the pt is coming from the attendings. one surgeon in particular, who will not allow his patients to be medicated for pain or anxiety, he has the 2 mg morphine IV q 2-4 hours d/c on the AM of POD #1. HELLOOO... these are post open heart patients, 3 chest tubes and you want them OOB! it is so personally hard to see patients in pain, try to manage it non-pharmacologically, call repeatedly and just run into the "we don't want to over-medicate" wall it's so bad, i think even at my relatively young age, if i was told i had to have CABG to save my life, i would think twice because it is mideval torture what they put these patients through. education of our older physicians on pain control is sorely needed

it's hormonal, just be sure to thank and apologize after the birth. pedicures helped me keep my cool. just a few minutes to sit alone and be pampered. so nice that i still do it now.

just popping in to say go team! great discussion and way to keep it civil! we need more of this kind of spirit of debate on these boards! :w00t: