deespoohbear

I have had glasses since I was 9 y/o (now in mid 30's) and had no trouble getting into school. I had to have a general medical check-up but I would think as long as you can read the eye chart with your glasses or contacts you should have no problems. Best wishes.

Yep, same thing happened at our facility. The nurse was removed from her management post and was given a position with no weekends, no holidays, no call. Made for a lot of hard feelings at our facility. This has been about 18 months ago and still hard feelings are harbored against the administration and the nurse in question. Other people have been disciplined (or terminated) for a lot less.

I would think any doc of either sex would want another person in the exam room with them when they examine you. Big time liability issues there....

I have been assigned a Nurse Tech to orient to our med/surg/tele/peds unit. She is an LPN student and will graduate in August. Our hospital hires nursing students as Nurse techs after the complete a certain amount of clinical time. I really don't mind having a tech to orient but I am never positive about getting them acquainted with all the paperwork, routines, and such. If you orient a new nurse or a nurse student do you have a certain plan you follow? I don't want to overwhelm them on the first couple of days but I don't want them to be bored stiff and feel like they aren't learning anything. I could really use some tips and advice here if anyone has some. I have been using the orientation check-off list for a guideline but it is pretty overwhelming at first. I did let the tech chart some (under my direct supervision) and pass a few oral meds (with me watching). I am a believer in hands-on-learning. Fortunately today was a good day and I had time to explain to the tech my rationale behind each nursing action. She seemed eager to learn which is always a bonus. I would appreciate hearing from some of the recent grads (or nursing students) who have recently been through orientation. What did you like that your preceptor did? What did you dislike? Any advice for me? Thanks.

That is way too many patients for med-surg tele! And did I read you right about the vents? There is no way in Hades I would take 15 med-surg patients and no way I would do a vent on a med-surg floor. Period. You need to start documenting your shifts and go up the chain of command. And start looking for another job with safer (and more sensible) ratios. The most med-surg/tele patients I have on days is 8 (occasionally 9 but that is very rare and I make my opinion known loud and clear to my manager). Is this a larger hospital or a small, rural community hospital? I work for a small hospital and I could see our administrator and DON trying to pull this nonsense....if we didn't stick to our guns. Vote with your feet!! NOW!!!

We have frozen meals too, that the staff has been accused of eating. Yuck. I won't serve those things to the patients much less eat them myself. To be accused of stealing and eating them is a direct smack in the face as far as I am concerned. We are a small hospital. We don't have everything the bigger hospitals have that supposedly makes them "better." What we do have is the chance to give a little hometown kindness to our patients and their families. Dietary is making this very difficult for us. Almost all families who are staying with a very sick and/or dying relative appreciate a hot cup of coffee, or tea (or whatever their preference) or a pastry once in awhile while they keep their vigil. And for the patients who request that little extra something once in awhile and receives it makes them feel special and goes a long way in PR department for our facility. A little positive press is a good thing, especially in this day and age of cut-throat advertising.

It is a power struggle with the dietary department, period. Our dietary department supervisor is so warped he got the administrator of the hospital to make a rule that the hospital staff cannot take food out of the cafeteria at meal/break time. Our cafeteria is too small and there is no way the hospital employees and visitors will fit in the dining area at meal time. Who cares where the hospital staff eats as long as it is not in patient care areas or other inappropriate areas? Our pantry is stocked with Pepsi and 7-UP products. Occasionally we get a pt who prefers Coke products (and are kept in the dietary department). We have actually had to argue with the dietary department to bring up Coke instead of Pepsi (again for a pt with no restrictions whatsoever). How can nursing be to blame because a patient preferes Coca-Cola over Pepsi? Or that a relatively young man with a DVT would like a second tray? Nursing is suppose to be able to control the preferences of the patients now?

I don't what is causing the burr up their butt lately. You would think that the extra money that the food costs (all $2.13 of it) was being taken right out of their pockets for pete's sake. They act like the nursing staff doesn't have enough sense to come in out of the rain. I am not talking about renal patients here who definitely have to have a regimented diet, but just your average people. I always thought a good appetite was a sign of good health. So very often most patients don't eat enough to keep a bird alive, and I have someone cleaning his plate and asking for more. That is a nice change of pace for me. I definitely plan to talk to my boss Monday, as do some of my co-workers. This weekend was flat out ridiculous.

Oh, my patience was tried to the upmost last night at work. Why? The dietary department, again. I don't know who they think they are, but I am tired of having to argue for every little extra thing for a pt. Last night for example...have a young man who is in his 30's in with a DVT...good size man. Ate 100% of his supper and requested a second tray. No dietary restrictions. We call dietary and ask for a second tray. They call back and say they can't send one. Why? Because he had his allotment for the day. Hello, the man is on NO restrictions. After a 3 minute discussion with an asinine dietary clerk who kept telling me that he can't send up another tray because a dietitian hasn't okayed it I get ticked and say fine. I will just call the doctor and you can explain why you are refusing to give this man more food. So, we paged the doctor and told him the story. He said no problem and to give the guy a second tray. Second scenario. Pt refused her tray at the beginning of the meal pass. We left it on the cart. After the meals were eaten the dirty trays were put back on the cart. Then the patient decides she wants her tray. Call dietary for another tray. Another line of BS. (Plus the pt is diabetic and has a BS of 60). Dietary says they can't send another tray. WTF? After arguing 5 minutes with them we did get them convinced to send a sandwich. I don't if dietary thinks we are hoarding this food or what. Maybe they think we don't know our patients. It was a major power struggle all weekend with them. The CNA's on our floor never ask for anything for the patients without checking with the nurses first to make sure it is okay. Then the nurse usually calls down and requests the stuff. We aren't asking for filet mignon here folks. Simple stuff. Like a piece of pie. Or a bowl of soup. Just trying to make things easier for our patients if we can. I feel better now. I just hate having to argue with people over stuff that doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the scheme of things. I have other battles that need to be fought.

I just got a call from my boss about the holiday schedule for the year. Said it is giving her the biggest headache of her life. Wants some of us to come in and discuss it Friday. Here are the sticky points: We have six holidays-New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We are suppose to work every other holiday. And if we work Thanksgiving you get Christmas off, or vica versa. The last two years our hospital has hired "weekend" only people who work only weekends. They don't work a holiday unless it falls on the weekend. Which really puts some of us in a bind at the holiday time. The last couple of years they have pulled day shift people to cover 3-11 on the holidays, which is a very sore point with the day people. The management says that is the only way it is fair. We say bull****. Anyway, I am trying to find out how other facilities to the holiday schedules. Do you do every other? Do you get pulled off your normal shift to cover? Any ideas here would be welcomed. Thanks...

TMI!! for me!

Exactly why I do not do home health care!! (Besides the gawd awful paperwork you have to do!) I don't have any advice for you but I can tell you that you are better person than I.

Definitely not a nursing duty. That is why there are admission clerks and receptionists.

Definitely off topic here, but I have never heard of a carotid blow out!! Wow!! Bet that was a sight to see....glad to hear the pt made it.

Mine were so long ago I can't remember. Seriously I have worked med-surg for 8 years. I don't ever regret starting out in med-surg. You will definitely learn organization skills and obtain a large working knowledge of many disease processes. If you are not sure what area of nursing you want to specialize med-surg is probably a good place to start. If you know for sure that you want to do Ob-Gyn, NICU or something like that I am not sure how much help med-surg will be for you. Don't be scared of your med-surg clinical. It may not be as bad as you fear and you might even end up enjoying that rotation. Med-Surg nurses are usually very well rounded and very knowledgeable about a lot of different areas. Best wishes.