dbscandy

1.This one is on one of the ER Docs where I work. End of January, I was in the ER for a lg perineal abscess, draining plus a rather lg hot/red area of cellulitis, all wrongly treated for two weeks. After waiting on the stretcher for 3 hours, the doc finally got me into an exam room. Now I am a lg woman and have been married but never heard these words when the covers were pulled back, "Wow! Now that's impressive"! He was immediately stunned at his reaction, but the nurse and I were immediately hysterical!!! We all had a good laugh as they rushed me to pre-op!!! He knew I worked there too, but glad it's not the ER. 2. NICU nurse, meeting the father for the new admission. Two men (20's-30's) and an older gentleman, all concerned but beaming. Stupid me looked at the older man and said "Is this your first grandbaby"?...wait for it... "No, he's my third SON! These are his brothers, Chip and Dale" (names chg'd, of course). Now, I just say who's the new daddy, but even that can backfire if the baby-daddy is in the wind and the new BF is present. Oh the parental unit/baby world today!!! **These posts have made me hysterical!!! Thanks loads!**

Absolutely no durg testing. You are accused but innocent. It is up to the co-worker to prove this. Ask for a meeting with your lawyer, the administration/your immed super and this co-worker. Force her hand to accuse you and prove the accusations. Do not leave without having these accusations settled. It will make you look guilty otherwise.

I recently endured two weeks and 3 surgeries in 'my' hospital for a rather large (so am I) and deep perineal abscess. My surgeon was a wonderful, dignified, Indian man who was very respectful of me. However, by discharge, my crotch had been seen so many times that I just didn't care anymore. He joined the discharge nurse, my nurse and a male nursing student to observe and approve the home dressing procedure. When the DN was about to start, I said, "Oh wait a minute. That guy from Housekeeping isn't here yet. He hasn't seen it". We ladies just laughed and laughed, and I even got a red-faced smile from the surgeon. That young student looked as if he wanted to find a door; however, he did learn something that day, and my body was the teacher. Ruby, I wish you smiles AND your dignity as you're enduring. You have a great attitude. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. BUT, don't be in too big a hurry to get back to work. It will all be there waiting.

Could you not do work as a telephone nurse? Perhaps you could look into that?

Our Pharmacy states the vial tops are not sterile; if you look at the cap after you pop it, it is not air tight so...not sterile. This is esp true of pop top blood culture bottles. The vial MUST be scrubbed with alcohol and air dried before blood specimen is placed in. I've worked in 2 states, three hospitals and three dialysis centers. All pharmacists/pharmacy liasons stated the same...top is not sterile, needs to be scrubbed. It's a no brainer, really.

JonesRN, never say you are "'JUST' med/surg/onc" or anything else...EVERY nurse is as important in her/his work as any other. Please know your worth.

In my NICU, only PICC team members or the NP can remove them. Oh, and the MD but most likely one of the others.

Oh Jordanl, you will get a more use to it as time goes by, but there will always be that one thing that just pushes your puke button. After 37 years in nursing, I still have a few. If I hear a person 'hock a lewgy" (?sp), I feel it, even if I'm NOT in a clinical setting; dirty dentures; the smell of pseudomonas in a trach (shooting mucus up to the ceiling); the smell of warm vomit; just to name a few. But the eye??? Oh man, when the retinologist sticks those 'metal sticks' behind that baby's eyeball and pushes it around, I just about hurl. I swear I could eat lunch in the middle of an autopsy, but if they start on the eye, I am out of there! We played the game in the unit one day: What would you do for a million dollars? There was a suction bucket half full with GI suction from a baby. The qualifier was all the antibiotics you would need and medical care. Would you drink some of the contents? There were some takers!! If I had a million dollars, I would test them on it HAHA! Seriously, to me, the smell is what gets me most often so if you are going to a task that you know may be a problem, keep some Vicks in a small lip balm container, and put a little under your nose. It helps, but everybody thinks you have a clogged nose!!!!!

:eek:AAAGH!! No cleaning, no flushing, cap and call the MD!!! Actually, you couldn't pull the line without an order, and if the MD let it stay in, it's on him/her. Did the patient at least get antibiotics to cover this situation???????

skicoachrn, you are doing fine because you DO recognize how DUH something looks when it's not correct. I've been nursing for 36 (OHMY!) years and there are still times I will make a mistake. Because experience and time do NOT make you a perfect nurse. Don't believe that from anybody. It simply brings memorization of rote activities, a deeper knowledge base, details that will become second-nature and critical thinking which is inborn in many people (alas, some NEVER get it, including nurses who do tasks very well). Especially today when there are so many changes and advances, and the work is craziness non-stop, mistakes can, and do, happen to the best of us!!! You need to simply keep doing what you're doing. Question everything, even if it seems you question too much. Someday soon, you will find yourself gradually feeling more confident, more self-assured and answering your own questions with your experience & knowledge. Best to you as you find your way. I hope you will always have co-workers & leadership who will nurture you and help you keep the faith in yourself and your abilities.

Aren't you being a little harsh??? She was on orientation, nervous, and did NOT administer a lethal anything! And if her preceptor was appropriately orienting her, these IV pumps, doses, syringes, etc, should have already been covered. Perhaps she was not being trained well? And no, I don't think calling her DANGEROUS is helpful, either. And how is it 'a good laugh' that your cancer patient had 'breasts' from hormone treatment? Would it have been just as funny if he had been having female hormone treatment for a sex change operation?

Ruby Vee. that is a priceless story!!!!!!!!!

Mushymash, you have written a very good article which hits home with many nurses who, rather than being 'burned out' as suggested by Heartnursern, are simply working to be the best they can be. Yes, bedside nursing is labor intensive, heart-wrenching and sometimes dangerous (elderly people are often powerful). Families are occasionally a little psychotic & dangerous, also. Reading this made me realize how some days are when I come home and feel I have been left in high gear. I'm just grateful I 'kept 'em alive 'til night shift got there'. However, this is not every day. And happily, more days are ones of feeling I really made a difference in that patient's eventual healthy outcome. Or, if too critical, perhaps I helped the patient in some small way in the passing of life. I don't know how it is in Manila, or in other US settings, but nurses everywhere have to learn to take care of themselves and watch each other's backs. I am 57yrs old and used to be the owner of an 8-12hr bladder. I could hold it with the best of them. I realize now just how stupid it was and not something of which to be proud. There are no awards nor thanks for this except pee pads later in life. You are of no use to your team if you are suffering and not up to full health. Not peeing, eating, or sitting down for five minutes is ridiculous. You have to make it happen. Talk to the nurses working with you and be a team. Watch out for each other's patients for the few minutes it takes to take care of yourselves. Refuse to risk your health for your patients. There will be many more days of going home feeling better about your work when you do. Mushymash, thank you for your dedication. Take care of yourself, though. We need nurses like you.

Have you looked into the reason this other hospital offers so much more? Do they have to do this to retain nurses in a bad situation? I would be a little more leery of why they pay more. Also, is there a night diff where you work now? If you really need more money, try that for a while. You might just love it!

"In any case, the preceptor is a teacher and a good teacher knows how to turn any student to a good nurse. With patience and building confidence in this student the skills and everything that is needed would come along". Uhhh no!!!!!!! This is not true. There are some people who will NOT be good nurses, no matter what the preceptor does. I knew a new grad who was the very same as the one described in the post. He thought he knew everything already, refused to learn the way things were done, relied on his background (not in nursing) but was a smooth operator. Got himself hired (can you say warm body?), made a major error with a patient and damn-near killed him and finally was fired. And he had a great preceptor, someone who had the patience of Job and tried every trick in the book to get this guy to listen and understand that he did not know it all, that lives were in his hands. His incompetence was reported every step fo the way in the process, but was hired anyway. I can honestly say I did everything in my power, as his preceptor, to prepare him. His attitude was his own worst enemy.

I am not up on this subject very much, but I know some nurses who don't have this disorder and are dangerous, day shift and nights. You mentioned hoping for a night shift, but how does that help you? I, too, do much better working nights but does that mean you can stay awake/alert much better then? Also, if you are not able to get through clinicals or classes, seems it won't be long before it will start to hinder your progress. Please see your MD and try to fine-tune your treatment. It sounds as though you really have a struggle, and I feel for you.:redpinkhe

When I was DON of dialysis units in SC & FL, there was a very fine line between information and slander/libel. Employers were allowed to only say whether the person would be re-hired, NOT why they would not. I believe that law still stands. I would certainly test it if my name ended up on that list and it cost me future employment. BUT, on the other hand, why would you want to work in that arena again, knowing they have such practices? MOVE!!!

Interesting that I am reading this now in the throes of the very same symptoms!!! I had the injection Thirsday afternoon, stung a little going in and not painful now; However, I have had a sore throat, runny nose since last night and today, feverish and fatigued...just a lousy feeling! I did take the combo shot. I work tomorrow and will wear a mask, as I work in NICU. No call in for this! By the way, anyone @ my place who does not take the injection has to wear a mask within 6ft of pt. contact, the entire flu season, including the docs!! It was this way last year and the people wore masks!

Oh yeah, one more thing...try to stay off night shift!!! As much as I love it, it's a killer for some people!!!

Misskatie, I am obese (now about 300lbs) and have been since I was a candy-striper 42 yrs ago. I became an LPN, won the Clinical Nursing award and began working in a multi-trauma ICU. From there after a year, I was recruited by the Nephrologist of the first hemodialysis unit in my city. After 5yrs, having gone back to school for my ADN, I became DON of that unit + our acute care unit.. In 1984, I moved to FL and was DON of another dialysis unit for three yrs then moved into NICU, where I still reside now after 22 years. During all these years, I have successfully lost wt many times, and have successfully gained it back. I have prayed for about 6 mths of anorexia, have liquid-fasted for 6mths (twice) and am now back where I started. (Please don't write any advice to me, folks. Been there, done that, can write a book...and still struggling). Misskatie, what I want to say in this long story is that through all these years, I knew my stuff. I studied hard, excelled in clinicals and made my mark. I never let my fat get in the way of my abilities & knowledge as a nurse. I could climb on the bed for CPR with the tiniest of them, push those beds, roll those patients and sweat my butt off. I never let it be said that I could not pull my weight (ROFL) when it came to any job. I simply went in to each place with the assumption and personal assurance that I belonged. "I'm here to learn, teach me and you won't be sorry". You are going to meet walls; sadly, some of them will be your instructors, some your patients, some nurses who are supposed to train you. You will have days of tears and frustrations which will make you want to just walk out. Hey, guess what...skinny nurses do too!!! But don't you dare!!! You belong and you deserve it as much as anyone! As you go along, always try to make yourself comfortable. If your uniforms don't fit, look until you find some which do. If you sew, make them. If you can't, find someone who will make them for you. Always be clean, fresh and keep clean neat hair. Society looks at overwt people and just expects them to be smelly and unclean. Don't be. If you are in a class/clinical and feel icky, keep hygeine items in your purse/locker and refresh yourself. Try to keep as fit as you can for you will have to move, stoop, crawl, climb, walk, run and push those damn beds. It will be expected that you can keep up physically, mentally and emotionally. I know you can, for I did it, and many, many others in your shoes have done it, too. Hold your head up, smile and march right on in and make them want you to be their nurse! Good luck and keep us posted.

WOWm heathIam!!! Why don't you just tell her how you REALLY feel about her??? I'd say you can't really know her, either. I see a problem with new nurses getting a lousy orientation from long-timers too frustrated and burned out to even care anymore (and I'm 56, nursing since 1973, longer than you). And I see student nurses ignored, not spoken to, not even given a bit of recognition when they are so thirsty just to get a little hands-on. And what are they thinking as they struggle to finish the hard years, take the test, however many times, and pass with enough confidence to face some of the beasts that seemed to not care if they learned in the first place? Yum Yum, eat 'em up, don't forget your napkin. I'd say this nurse deserves a chance to show herself, to learn and grow. She obviously has a brain in her head or she wouldn't have made it through nursing school, right? So instead of ripping her, and blaming her for the demise of good nursing practice, how about a little encouragement? Me thinks she's struggled enough.

Well, you know what they say...The guy at the bottom of the class is still called...Doctor!

I'm sure your tears were an avalanche of pent-up emotions after such a long road. But just know that at that particular moment, you may have entertained an angel unaware. You were able to see outside yourself and lend a hand to another human being. Keep this compassion; you will be a great nurse.:redbeathe Congratulations, BTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weeeelllll, I don't know about psych! It might not be a butt to clean BUT, a nurse told me a story of her patient taking the batteries out and filling his flashlight full of poop and smearing it all over the walls. Okay, I guess you could throw away the f'light and call housekeeping to clean the walls. Rats! Foiled again!

@Happy2learn: You cracked me up with the whatever I have to shove up my nose!! I think one of those Altoids would just about do it!! Ohhh, you had it in your mouth?! just kidding. Just let me say, I work in NICU and there have been some times that the little preemie stinker has made me gag, esp when they give that innocent look and $**t all over my hand, the inside the isolette, out the arm hole...yep, it may be a smaller butt, BUT it can still be a stinky butt!!! Hey, I'll take it over dentures, ANYDAY!!!