Orca ADN, ASN, RN

Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC

Member
  • Content

    2,066
  • Visitors

    30,928
  • Followers

    2
  • Likes

    841

All Content by Orca

  1. I had a septoplasty done in day surgery at the hospital I worked in. The surgeon, who I knew well, came in with a mischievous smirk on his face. He said "Are you ready to do this?" I replied, "Let's...
  2. Orca

    Did I handle this incorrectly?

    We had a patient on my mental health unit once who was being followed by a cardiologist, who said he would follow the patient for any medical needs. Unusual, I thought, but okay. One day the patient...
  3. There are times I have been tempted, believe me. Worse than this, IMO, are the patients who won't use the call light at all. Instead they insist on yelling for the nurse repeatedly and disturbing...
  4. I worked with an RN who did this all the time. She would clock out (to avoid overtime), then return to the unit to finish her work. She was truly overloaded. Management had given her the nurse...
  5. Orca

    Middle aged men are such babies!!

    I would participate in this thread, but being a part of the target group I'm too much of a baby.
  6. Orca

    Resident sent me money

    I had a former patient on a mental health unit send me a card at work with $10 cash in it. I immediately turned the money over to my DON, who wrote a letter on behalf of the facility saying that I...
  7. Orca

    Try corrections or stay in school?

    If you aren't going to take the job, do the employer the favor of canceling the appointment. As far as flexibility there normally cannot be much, unless it is a per diem position. The first...
  8. Orca

    Passing KOP's

    This supervisor has a warped sense of responsibility. The inmates are not invalids, and they are not incapable of picking up their meds. The fact that there have been assaults points out a serious...
  9. Orca

    dementia charting

    You can make general statements (i. e., "Seems especially disoriented this morning"), followed by an example of the behavior or statements that make you think that (such as the example Ruby Vee gave...
  10. Orca

    Questions about Caring for Inmates....

    1.) As a nurse, what illnesses do you see occurring most frequently among the inmate population? AIDS/ HIV? TB? Pneumonia? Hepatitis? Anything else? We have some HIV/AIDS cases, but not a...
  11. Orca

    Holiday Pay

    When I worked nights I got holiday pay for whatever portion of the day I worked. Since I worked both Sunday and Monday nights and most holidays were on Monday, I normally got seven hours for the AM...
  12. Orca

    I've only cried once...

    I don't get that either. I worked in a rehab hospital where we had a mix of RNs and LPNs on the floor. The LPNs were not allowed to touch anything concerning an IV by company policy. A couple of my RN...
  13. Orca

    What's it like working in ltc nursing?

    The long term care facility I worked in killed any desire I had to do any more LTC. I was the only RN on a 120-bed unit on swing shift, and for half of my time there I was also covering meds for over...
  14. Orca

    LVN's and RN's and Doctor's

    It's ignorance, plain and simple. While LPNs have a lower level of training than RNs, in many of the places I have worked they have the same responsibilities, with a few exceptions (one place I worked...
  15. It is neither time consuming nor expensive to swab the tops. I have always done it by habit, and I see no reason to
  16. Orca

    Sleeping aides at work

    OP, it seems as if you wrote this employee up very reluctantly. I would have done it without batting an eye, with no regret. This employee did this to herself. You also seem apprehensive about the...
  17. Orca

    Interpersonal conflicts at work

    It's tough to break into a situation where there is already a clique in place. Denting that circle is pretty much impossible (not that you want to join it, but you do have to work with the people in...
  18. Orca

    Peds/Psych- Resources on Restraints

    One facility I worked at used the Mandt method. It seemed to be the most useful of three or four different methods I was taught at various facilities. One thing I liked about Mandt, apart from its...
  19. Orca

    Common Correctional Nursing Interview Questions

    Another interview question, which can be very telling sometimes: We ask applicants if they have ever been fired from a job, or have ever been asked to resign in lieu of termination. Sometimes the...
  20. Thank you for sharing. What we do, day in and day out, becomes routine for us. It is easy to forget that sometimes it is not so routine for others involved. The smallest of gestures can have a...
  21. Orca

    Met with supervisor today....

    I wouldn't tell them anything. Just go in and cheerfully do your job. You don't owe them an explanation. This is very true. One of the best things that happened in my career in the long run was the...
  22. Orca

    Met with supervisor today....

    With the precedent your manager has set, your authority has been undermined to the point that I don't see how it can be restored. When subordinates can get a supervisor reassigned just by complaining,...
  23. Orca

    New grad burnt out

    I can identify. I was placed into a charge position right out of nursing school, and I wasn't ready for it. I would have liked a reasonable amount of time working with and observing a seasoned nurse...
  24. Since bipolar disorder is an Axis I diagnosis and borderline personality disorder is an Axis II, I don't see how they can be used interchangeably. Borderline would be treated primarily with...
  25. Orca

    Switch to 12-hour Shifts

    The first time I worked 12-hour shifts after five years of doing eights, I thought it was going to do me in. To be fair it was in rehabilitation, which involved a lot of heavy physical labor (lifting,...