spectral_ev

Don't underestimate the value of your experience. When you have handled the skill and responsibility of nursing you are very competent to do something else, either for a change or for a new direction. It took me about 30 years to end up in an office ...

Good luck. You are right about this. If the employee has carpal tunnel they need a doctor, and if they don't it's a waste of a splint. If the company considers a splint protective equipment for the job they have to write it into policy. How about t...

I've had patients with MS who had extremely difficult personalities. These patients were not demented, but I thought that the disease was affecting them, beyond the stress of having such a condition in the first place. I think your patient's doctor ...

Working as a per-diem nurse in the field in a home health agency where the nurse supervisor is on sick leave. It's a strain if one of my patients is sick and their doctor is not accessible--if he does not answer requests for orders or clarifications....

thanks for all the responses. one thing I'm trying to figure out is-- how weird is this situation? I don't have any support right now in trying to make sure all the nursing bases are covered, or support in covering my own base. but it seems like th...

right now there is no one at the office to follow-up. one of the doctors is not willing to answer questions on the phone and won't answer faxes. I like the patients, and I like the job, but I feel out on a limb.

Right now the path is a fax to the doctor which is not answered and no one to back me up. I'm wondering how to protect myself, and whether this job is going to be possible.

LuLu, I never had to work in the field with no one to help when doctor's orders are needed and the doctor does not get back. It sounds like that's what you're dealing with. Can anyone tell me how common this is? Without case management or a supervis...

I always thought that the assumption is that patients are homebound-- that's the justification for sending a nurse to the home. I try to accommodate my patients but if it messes up my schedule I tell them it's not possible. I don't think the nurse sh...

yes, it's the lack of help with case management. it's tough to do all of it when you are on the road, any office time I put in is unpaid extra. I wonder how much case management is assumed when you are a per diem making home visits. Am I expecting to...

A lot of home care nursing is not that acute. You have great skills and you are way ahead of a lot of nurses in that. In my agency we don't even do the IV's, another agency handles that. You sound very well qualified, most patients and families are r...

In my previous job when the doctor didn't call back I would just note it in my report and the supervisor would take it from there. I worked weekends so the supervisor would call the doctor's office during the week. I'm starting to think I took that f...

My home health agency wants me to collect diagnoses on admission and put them into the OASIS form using a program that is supposed to bring up the ICD-9 code. It doesn't work too good. And isn't this better done by office staff? Based on interagencie...

thank you, Hmarie. I'll print this out.

Thank you. I think it is pretty shaky to have a nurse putting diagnoses into the record when we don't diagnose. Our office staff used to be better about getting the diagnoses and putting them into the program. Now I'm getting pressure about the codin...

I've asked for a 'cheat sheet'. I've never yet found COPD in the program. When I started at this agency it was all on paper. I love computers, and being able to see other nurse's notes makes it almost worth the extra time. But we are being asked to c...

If you went back to the 19th century, when women actually wore those 'victoria's secret' camisoles and petticoats, most of the body was not considered available for public viewing and judgment. as it became acceptable to uncover the body, prudery t...

Well, I'm a child of the sixties (meaning I'm kind of old now). In my day they said that facial hair on men was disgusting and unhygienic, but I like it when my husband grows a beard. It looks good on him. I never wasted time with guys like the 'dude...

Personal style is not trivial, it's how we present ourselves to the world, and small things can matter a lot. I don't like the shaved mons style, but how would I ever know in a normal acquaintance? Too much perfume, or wearing plaids with polka dots ...

I'm going to be very counter-culture and say that we are beautiful just as nature made us. But then, I'm an old hippie. I work in geriatrics, and losing your hair is a symptom of aging. I'm not happy about aging but you have to consider the alternati...

A local writer described it this way-- men have a unit, women have an area.

Of course it's their business, but I'd never want a razor near my personal area.

i just used mesalt for the first time on a patient and she says it stings very much. that makes sense since it's salt. she's going to make sure to take pain med before the next dsg change, but i would like to hear if anyone has a way to make it less ...

loved it. i've been doing home health for two years and you confirm a lot of what i've found. especially the part about keeping flexible.

thank you for that. my grandmother was a victim of rape by a housebreaker when she was in her 70's. older women are not safe, i wish in all justice that they were. for a man to take advantage of your grief to commit such a crime is an outrage. best w...