lever5

Already starting to eat your young? In the 20 years I have been nursing, I have found many beds unlocked. Falls happen for many reasons, you can not assume the unlocked bed was at fault, although you tell patients not to get up, you set bed alarms, you put them in posey beds, you put them next to the nurses station. you have family in the room. They still manage to fall. One patient we had rocked a posey bed so hard it went over. Another time a NA left the zipper undone on a posey bed, when the patient promised not to get up and he got out the minute he left. A NA was feeding a patient, sitting next to the bed and the patient fell out into her lap. I know that during every nurses life she will find countless beds unlocked, people will fall. I have never seen a person fired for this. This poor student will feel bad for a long time, she will be angry, the loss of money she has invested is a waste. Are you experienced nurses replying with this condemnation? You know it is really not the student that should suffer, her teacher is supposed to be watching her, and the teacher is really at fault. It is the teachers responsibility. Just as when I precept sutdents it is my respnsibility to make sure what you do is correct. This is why you are in school, we do not expect you to be perfect. I hope this student fights this. She should find another program, who needs to be in a program that has teachers that do not accept thier responsibility.

Don't blame the CABG on losing upper body strength, this happens to everyone as they age, I am 56 and have had to find new ways to use my body to keep up with the demands of my job. I love nursing, and will continue to compensate as long as I can. When I pull poeple up in bed, I make room for myself at the head of the bed near the wall, grasp the draw sheet, brace myself on the bed and pull toward my body. Much less stress on arms and back. I never pull alone. Good Luck, don't sell yourself short.

Well , you won't like the barbecue here, nothing like NC. It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. We have the cheapest gas prices throughout the US. I work at Southcrest, I have listened to nurse's talking about the bad pay at St. Francis, I think St John's is ok, I did a contract there, they are more nurse friendly there, but a lot of nurse political nonsense. I don't know about the pay there. The ICU at southcrest does wonderful with open heart, they have thier own way that seems to work well. Different than in NC. I lived in NC for 25 years, Greenville, Raliegh areas. Getting a job will not be a problem. Good Luck!!

One of the best schools, and one of the most beautiful areas you can be in.

arizona is a walk-thru state

Our hospital has installed camera's in all the pt's rooms, they will have to agree to be on camera and there will be internet access for families to see thier loved ones at home. (If they don't have time to visit or are in another state.) I do not know how I feel about this. I do not like the idea of being filmed. I am looking for other information on hospitals that have initiated a program like this.

I have worked in hospitals across the nation, mostly in caradiac. The hospital I am working in places a ice bag and a weighted bag on the cath site during recovery. I am wondering why? They say the manufacturer of angioseal and others recomend this. Does anyone else see this practice?

Peg tube's are directly into the stomach, ng tubes need to be checked for placement with air. The tube may slip out a way and be in the mouth or throat, or maybe in the lungs, if it is in the lungs you can feel air comming out of the end in rhythm with the persons respirations. Just what do you think you would hear with a misplaced peg tube while checking with an air bolus? Take my word for it you would hear the same thing you would hear if it were in the right place. You should be able to aspirate green fluid if no feeding is infusing. But, if there is tube feeding going, the only thing that will tell you the tube is misplaced is a fever, and a ridgid abdomen. This comes from personal experience. How can a facility judge you on misinformation?

An orientee on the first day of the job is not responsible for the patients, I am a travel nurse with a typical 2 day orientation, in two days I can learn what I need to know, in less than 1 day I could not function. I would get out of that situation. We experienced nurses can function with miminal orientation, but not with less than 1 day. She has nothing to worry about. Would any of you be able to function at a new facility with less than 1 day orientation? This is a real failure on the facility's part, who gave permission for the staff nurse to leave? If you want to keep your new staff, you do not leave them on the floor alone. Yes, she should have notified someone up the chain of her situation, but, I can see her frustration. When we are orientating new staff, we are responsible for thier actions and mistakes. Orientation is how new staff are evaluated, this is how we decide if the new staff is a good match for the job. A lot of problems here, don't get fixated on the nurse's behavior, let's give equal credit to a bad facility.

The person being precepted is not responsible, the nurse precepting is responsible for the orientee and the patients. This is why it is such a responsible job to precept new employees. Orientees are often pulled off the floor for classes and photo ID's and such, that is why someone else is always in a position to carry through with the patients.

I ran into a nurse that travels with cctc , and does dialysis. They must have a division. Maybe all the companies do. I would check out all companies. She was in Arizona, and going to PA.

Menolly 33, Feel free to ask what you want to know, I use a loptop computer while I travel. Most parks have telephone services, right now I am in Mesa, Arizona. We recently upgraged our RV, big mistake, many breakdows and recalls. Be sure to check out the history of the RV make and model you are purchasing. But things also go wrong with houses. We are covered with good insurance, so the new RV was probably a good decision. I get to run from snow in the winter in the North east, and follow the sun in the winter. I have good and bad experiences with work, some hospitals are better to work at than others. I want to see the US and that is hard when you are at the whim of employers that refuse to schedule vacation time.

You contact the hospital, many have seasonal contracts, you get health insurance and all the perks of regular employment, especially in areas like Fl or Arizonia, any hospital will work out the problems for you. There are many ways to work as a nurse and not get caught in the politics. per diem, work three or 4 days a month, no benefits, provide your own health insurance. Wherever you are, there is some way to go without working as an employee of the establishment. I am now working with CCTC, I like them, but sometimes they do not have jobs in areas that I want to go to. This may become a problem with my next assignment. So I will contact a hospital in that area and ask about seasonal work. I consider this contracting for myself, not a lot of work. Maybe even an email will do it.

I have been traveling RV style for years, I have found most RV parks are OK. some do not have the services of others, but those services are always available in the community. I often get to a job, having found an RV park through Woodall's or on the internet, and I find that other nurses have found parks closer to the hospital. Many parks do not advertise. I would love to see a site that lists parks that are close to hospitals. I really think my recuiter should have this information for me. But they have not found a need to provide this kind of information.

I have seen nurses work as independent contractors. I worked with a male nurse in Florida that does it and he had no problems, and has me thinking about trying it. I believe there are books that can help smooth the way. I think maybe if we all became independent contractors, every nurse in the nation, and then stated what conditions we would accept to work in, maybe we could do without the middle management and change nursing. I will have to think further on this. I know sometimes I would like to be in a certain area, but the company does not have hospitals where I want to be. When I get good and fed up with home tax forms, and proving I am a us citizen. Maybe things will change, or maybe I will retire. LE

I have travled without a tax home for 2-3 years, no problems at all, your salary just gets taxed, still make money, not that much difference, Cross Country trav Corp has an office in Boston, My recruiter Shannon Wright works there, I am in Florida, I keep kidding her about all the snow, I don't get online that often, but you can call and ask to speak to her. She might know what is available. Linda E.

Lizz, How wrong you are, in this day and age where call bell's are so important, you must answer "promptly" how do you respond when you are up to your elbows in poop? Patients ring the call bell when thier IV's fall apart... and they do.... and wait for some one to show up.... as they bleed out. We have bed alarms that are effective in preventing falls, you run to the room to catch the patient before they end up on the floor, without the nursing assistants, even lazy ones, there would be many more falls. I am not willing to work in a place where they don't have NA's.

Thunderwolf,, Great reply, after years of experience, this is the truth as I see it.

Hey, You are reading posts that are negative, you have seen that if a positive subject is posted, you get positive responses, This is a place that you can get any information you can think of, and a place where you can find sympathy, a place to releive stress, and a place to see that others often feel similar to you. Although I do not post often, I scan the posts most every day, I love my job, I am agency to avoid politics, You will love your job, but you can tell us your stories and we will let you know that you are not the only one.

Saline down the trach is still effective if you have a muc. plug, they stopped doing it because they felt whatever germs there were got pushed furter down into the lungs when saline was used.

Florida Hosp have a large system with 7 or 8 different hosps. I have been here, working in Winter Park Hosp for the last 3 months, I believe you may start a little lower, but these people are not hurting for money. go to myflorida.com, you can download all of the information about the license, you need fingerprint cards, it can take a long time. If you have the money they will give you a license. Sometimes it just seems like a money making proposition. Good luck.

What is PharmD? As a traveler I have run into many problems when the schedule is set by pharmacy, some people like to take their meds at night, some in the morning, the DR. sometimes write for specific times, sometimes I want to start an antibiotic right away, the scedule says wait,( for what, the bacteria to kill the pt?) I believe this is part of my scope of practice, there are too many variables for any one branch to have complete control.

You will end up paying taxes on that money, no fun. better to take a job for 30.00 an hour.

Merry Christmas!! This is why prn is a good job, you want control you have to do agency or prn, there will always be those that get the good time, and it will never be the good nurse or the strong nurse, it will be the best liked, nurse with the best sob story. This is the way the world works, not only in nursing, protect yourself and don't believe a word that is promised to you. Managers are taught to lie, it is a requirement of management. Management is also taking the flack, from those that direct the team. Those directors are also masters of the promise. Learn this lesson well, this is truth. I do agency, I make my own hours, my own days off. I give the best service to my patients that I can, I do the best job for the facility that I can, but , alas, I am not a team player.

Hey Mark, whole new set of posters on this site, they don't remember all the neat stuff you have made available for them, I miss your posts, have you added information to your site, I got a few ideas from all the areas you have addressed. Keep posting there are a lot of us that still can appreciate a joke.