softstorms

If you are meant to be a nurse, you will be one! Funny thing is, after that...it will never be about you again. It will always be about the pt. So, if you intend to think only about what you want and you need...then don't becaome a nurse. If on the other hand you want to care for other people and help them....GO FOR IT! Being a Nurse is never about what we want, it is always about what the pt. needs.

What did you think nursing would be? I have worked in hospitals and nursing homes. I never knew what it would be like. No matter what job you look for, all will have some of this in it. You have to define...what is better! All jobs you seek will have something you don't like.

The best way I have seen it done was to have a nurse from each unit come in for a night and just work on Mars. Pay the extra hours and have some one do them! We have tried giving assignments to nurses, but it has not worked ( they have admissions and critical pts.) So, give up the money and pay your nurses to come in and do them! Less errors, less stress, less money.

please define the term "charge nurse"? you have someone to help? or just supervise

LTC...Long term care= one nurse for 44 pts. You are kidding me?

As I said, it is a loaded question. As a nurse in Ohio we had a union, as a nurse in S.C. we do not. But, that aside, I have a friend who has been an LPN and just got her R.N. She thought all the years she worked as an LPN should have given her more than what they offered her as an R.N. (with in the same company) They offered her no more than any new R.N. would get fresh out of school. She is so angry that she wants to leave and go elsewhere! But, most places judge you by your new license, not your old one. No matter how much responsibility we have as LPN's....it is not an R.N. It is like starting over. I worked as a CNA for 10 years before getting my LPN....should I have been paid more for being a CNA prior to being a LPN? Nope, was based on me being an LPN.

You got thru nursing school, you got thru the test. Now you are on your own! Use what you have learned! If you where a Med student..there would be a time you had to cut into a real pt! NOW IS YOUR TIME! You already have the skill and the knowledge,,,,,use it. Ask questions when you have to and ask for help if you need it, but....YEP...it is your game now! Trust in what you know to do. You can't be a student forever.

Best thing I can say......DO NO HARM....and you did none. Some will laugh...by memory of what they have done...or what they have not done yet! After 20 years of nursing..the thing I know best is that I never know what will come this day. I have to LOL at you, because we have all "been there...done that" Move on and welcome to our world!

Please check out the state laws within your own licensure. What do they say about nurse to pt. ratio? Even here, in S.C. it is 1/44 for a long term/dementia unit. Stay if you have to, but look around and move on! Never put your ability to use your license to care for people in danger,,,,it is not worth it! Best Wishes

WOW, loaded question....IT DEPENDS..on a lot. We always think we ae worth more than what we are...and it will be defined by how they judge new hires. Keep asking around, but be prepared to start at the beginning and work your way up.

It comes down to One-on-One...they can't offer it, but they want to make it look like they have it! I am all about making my company (hospital, acute care unit) look good, but in the reality of it.....we just can't do it!

Hard Question! I have known many who come into question and have not been in the line of fire. Others...who have been ..very open...and still not been questioned. I am really sorry to say it may be a game of numbers and politics.

You need a mentor! If you work alone on this shift..then there are other people working on other units. Ask for help! If you ask and no one helps....then hang around after your shift in the a.m. and tell them you need to know these things! They don't know you need help..unless you ask them!

They all think they are paying for HOTEL HILTON!!!! And when Mom,Dad, Sister,Brother,Child or Friend.....goes home? Who Ans. the call bell then?

As an LPN who is now going for my RN on line (please don't laugh) I know about the world you speak of. I have found my world (long term care-converted to rehab) a very challenging world. I know I will never be the Trauma nuse on E.R......but I want to be more than I am now! TPN!! in a rehab/long term care setting? YES! I want that training and knowledge! As a LPN supervisor, I do almost all of what the R.N's do who work beside me! It is time I stepped up and ask for the job I do and get the pay! LOL

Agreed....but when long-term are was started and the powers that be decided the we need this many nurses and this many adies to take care of this many people......they were thinking ."long term care". and it worked. But so many facilities have went beyong that and moved up to rehab and sub-acute care...that they can not keep up with pt. care. They are accepting pts. that require more care than long term pts. But as "long term care/nursing homes. they are judged by those rules and can't get pass them. Either the nursing homes need to step up and be acute care units and leave long term care behind or they need to step back and become nursing homes again. The transition is killing the nurses and aides.

I have read thru 6 pages of text....and it all come down to personal responsibility! Nothing or no-one changed anything for you. You made a choice. You had a moment in time when you thought it would be O.K. and it was not. Now...you spend all this time looking for justice! Sometimes...when we make a mistake....the answer is just NO! Believe that and move on.

WOW.. We have both long-term care and short term rehab-acute care. Before you all start laughing...Yep! one side of the facility is long term care and the otherside is rehab-acute care! Yes we take a lot of people on our acute care/rehab side that we as nurses know will never go home and never be re-habed LOL. Forgive me now...we call them Jumpers. They are at the desk, watched 24/7...because they have dementia and will jump up and fall at any time!!!!! End stage people, 89 years old, but brought here for "re-hab". At the same time...we are doing IV's on multiple pts. and taking care of people who are going thru chemo and getting TPN. I think it takes away from the pts. who need the care..both the long term dementia pts. and those acute care pts.

You already know what to do! Just do what you are taught. I know you do not believe this, but just keep going! You will do great and no matter how you feel about co-workers.....just do what you know is right. After 20 years of being a nurse....I know that no matter where I work or in what environment, it all comes down to me and my nursing eithics. I think you will be fine with that LOL.

"STATE" will look for "text book". You already know how to do that. Just do everything by the book. That sounds hard, but it is not. Do what you have been taught. One thing to remember. If you do not know the ans. to the question.....just say so. but say.....give me a moment and I will find that ans. Then go back to the person and give them the ans. Best wishes

I am not on the front line......but I see this every day. Acutecare/rehab. Multiple drugs with multiple side effects. Admits with over 30 meds. is more than usual. The pt. and family usually have more impact than the Dr. on the needs of the pt! Ask a pt to change something they like? Change the way they live? Good luck on that. They don't want to know they have to have responsiblitiy for that! They just want a pill.

I have not seen this ad, but I think we are all so used to seeing people use alturnative methods of changing our bodies, that most don't see it as invasive. Injections, and surgeries are the norm now, so no-one see's the reality of tubes put in for life saving purposes. Now that I have looked at it again....I think it is an add for letting go of all the hot air that the advertisers feed us!

I have not worked for agency for over 10 years. At that time I had been a nurse for 15 years. I made great money ( over $34 an hour as an LPN for one weekend shift) But you had to be able to stand on your own to work agency! The ability to walk into a unit and take up the job and work it. That is why we got paid well. Most places did not like agency nurses...we came in and worked, but did not have to follow-up with anything. No continuity in care. But I can say, that it taught me to think on my feet and develope good skills. I was able to go to Dr.s offices, do home heath, work in clinic's and do some ER work. Go for it if you want some fast expirence, but not if you want stable income.

The one thing that is personal to all, no matter your believe or sprituality, is that at the moment you leave this life, it is all about you and no one else. You have no friend or family that is going with you at that time, no one to tell you what to say or do! It is just you and your faith, light or god at that point! So I think that anyone who is by your side at that time, be it health care worker or family, should just be there.....There is honor in a life well lived, even if not for a purpose we believe in, and peace in death after that life. What do you say to an aithist who is dieing? GO WITH GRACE.

anyone want to say what happens if you use the staple remover backwards? and it pushes the staple into the skin? Then explain to the MD. why you can't get the staple out? LOL.