Jelli_Belli

I think that in order to pick up your welfare check every month you should have to get a Depo shot. No Depo shot...no free money. I don't know about you guys but I am sick to death of paying for other peoples kids. My husband and I are going through some fertility issues right now, and because the insurance that I PAY for won't cover fertility treatments we can't AFFORD to have a child because 60% of my paycheck goes to taxes to pay for every dead beat in the world to have 4 or 5 children. And they get free healthcare. The whole system makes me want to puke.

Oh honey, so sorry! No this is not, I repeat, NOT normal. If it was I believe I would have to look for a new job. Thankfully my unit is actually usually very well staffed. We usually have 2-3 licensed staff and 2 techs for 12 patients. Not to shabby!

My meltdown moment came about 2 weeks after I got my license. I was working as a nurse on the same psychiatric unit that I had worked on as a tech through school. Actually I was still orienting (I had about 3 weeks to go). There was a really big snowstorm and the two other nurses I was supposed to work with called in. So I show up after fighting to get there through the storm and it is just me and the tech for the night. The day shift nurse tells me that the hospital is so short on nurses and the best they could do was send an LPN from the float pool to help with meds, but she has never worked our unit and never done psych before. Oh and guess what, I am charge nurse. :banghead:I start freaking out already saying I can't be charge, I'm still on orientation. I really considered quitting right then and there before I even took report, but I didn't because I really like my job and unit. Okay so i psych myself up, saying "It's going to be okay, you can do this." And it probably would have fine if that night wouldn't have been sent straight from hell to test me. Turns out I am walking into the 7 patient we already have, plus I have 2 brand new admits one from 1820, and 1840, and there was an admit that came at 1400 that no one had even started on. So I have three admissions, 2 who are fairly stable and frequent fliers, and one who is crying so loud you can hear her through the glass partition in the nurses station and before I can even go out to talk to her to calm her down, I get a call from the ER saying that the police have brought in an Emergency Detention patient and that they are on there way up in the elevator and "Oh, by the way, he is in straps and you probably will need to keep him that way." So I hurry to get out there to meet him, grab the tech, and the police help us get this guy restrained in a seclusion room. So I am hurring back to the nurses station to call the doc to get Ativan for the sobber, Haldol for the restrained guy, and call my supervisor to get a tech to sit 1:1 for the restrained guy. Before I make it there a patient stops me and says she is having chest pain so I take her B\P and it is through the roof, like 180\100, or something. So I go in the nurses station, close the door, ask the secretary to page the psychiatrist, the CP ladies MD, and the supervisor, and then I start sobbing. I just felt so overwhelmed I couldn't stop crying. So of course this is the time the supervisor arrives, sees me crying and freaking out, and instead of staying and offering to help, she goes back to her office and calls my unit manager and tells her I can't handle it as charge nurse. It all worked out in the end though, I got my extra tech. Thank God the tech I was working with was really good, she did so much to keep the milieu together and work on the admission paperwork.:bowingpur I got orders for everyone and CP lady got better with a little attention and Nitro. Everyone got medicated, and went to sleep. We made through the night, nobody died and all the paperwork got done. Unfortunately, none of the patient got the attention they deserved but you can only do what you can do. It really was one of those nights that makes you question your career choice.

I was a tech at my prn job not to long ago (like 3 mon.!), so when I am the charge nurse it can feel a little weird. Lucky for me though, the techs and LPN's I work with are great, we work together wonderfully as a team and everyone knows their job and does it without me having to ride their backs all night. I work on a psych unit though, and personally, I feel that teamwork is better on psych floors vs. your typical medical floor. There isn't the same emphasis placed on hierarchy. There is one tech where I work that drives me crazy sometimes. She's a really hard worker but she always wants to be helping out with nursing duties and therefore ends up leaving the floor with no one watching it. The other night she was the only tech and I was in the nurses station (it's separate from the rest of the unit and sealed in by glass walls) and she came up there and started printing out paperwork for the next day (normally my job but something that she knows how to do). The next thing I know I'm getting all the drinks and cigarettes, and I'm out in the milieu helping people to the bathroom and showing them where to do laundry. Suddenly I realize, She's up there doing my job and I'm back here doing hers. So basically I swallowed a big girl pill, and went up there and told her I appreciated that she was trying to help but there were phone calls that I had to make and it would be more helpful of her to stay out in the milieu with the patients. She was mad, and it sucked having her mad at me, but sooner or later she'll get over it and I had to do what I had to do. I try to be as helpful to the tech's and pitch in where I can, and while I can do all of the techs job, there are parts of my job that only I can do and if I spend my whole night doing the tech's work then nobody is doing mine. That was one of the hardest lessons to learn post nursing school. Sometimes you just have to delegate (whether they like it or not).

When I took my NCLEX I had at least 10 SATA, 2 med calcs, one question with several pages of documentation you might find in a patient chart, and one one with a picture that you had to type in the number that corresponded to the correct answer.

Why should your boyfriend have to prove anything to your father about his health issues? Maybe he is embarrassed to discuss his testicular issues with your father, especially if your father has made it clear he thinks he is a liar. To answer your questions though: Yes, you can have testicular cancer for more then a year, yes sometimes they use a "wait and see" approach to treatment. Especially if he has no insurance and the cancer is not growing. And yes hospitals can and do allow people just "have cancer" because they can not pay. Hospitals only "have" to treat emergent immediately life threatening conditions. Hospitals could care less if people live or die with a chronic disease if they can't pay for treatment. IMO, you and your father both owe your boyfriend an apology. And, if you truly believe he is lying about having cancer, why would you stay with someone like that? It sounds like you have some serious trust issues to work out in that relationship.

You are absolutely right about this one. I NEVER allow my techs to pre-pour meds and advise them against giving the residents anything that they did not pop out of the blister packs themselves. No one should be giving anything out that they didn't prepare themselves- nurse or tech. I think it is great that you are so concerned about the care and safety of the residents there. Best wishes!

Actually it is perfectly legal for "med techs" to give ROUTINE meds to residents in assisted living or group home settings. I work as a community outreach psychiatric nurse and I supervise the residential techs that supervise our residents taking their meds. The logic behind it is this: The group home is the resident's HOME and at home they wouldn't have a licensed nurse come to their house everyday and dispense their meds to them. The techs are not dispensing the medication, they are simply reminded the residents that they have pills to take and assuring they take only the pills that are prescribed. When ever a resident has a new pill, I come to the house and give the first dose, monitor for reaction, educate both the techs and the resident about what to watch for and when to call me. After that the med is considered routine. I assume this is kind of the same logic used in assisted living. I never understand why nurses get so upset over this. It is the same as sending a pediatric patient home with a prescription for Mom to fill and give to the child. Nobody gets upset that Mom is not a licensed nurse. Nobody gets riled up over patient's taking their own meds at home without supervision by someone licensed. With that said, though, I am absolutely against med techs in hospital or skilled nursing home settings. Med techs shouldn't really be used outside of a residential setting in my opinion.

I'm a new graduate that started orientation on a behavioral health unit about 2 weeks ago. Things are going pretty well and I am actually enjoying my new position. My preceptor is great, my reviews have been awesome. Unfortunately a new policy at work is making me consider jumping ship and finding a new job. I work on a psych unit that is part of a regular medical hospital. Up until 2 weeks ago, when we hired a new administrator and DON, policy stated that the behavioral health nurses could not be floated to other units, unless it was in the capacity of a "sitter" for the mentally confused or psychotic. Well, needless to say, this didn't happen very often because the hospital doesn't want to pay an RN to do a job they could have a tech do for half the money. Yesterday I got to work and it was posted that policy had been changed and that us psych nurses are required to float to all "non-critical" areas when a need arises. This includes postpartum, nursery, labor and delivery, telemetry, oncology, med\surg, and ER! They are not offering any sort of orientation to these units. I'm a new grad so I still remember a lot of medical stuff from school, but some of the nurses on my floor haven't done anything besides psych for 35 years! There is no way they can jump in and hang on a telemetry floor. And it's like I have heard on so many posts here, it takes a year of post school education before you are truly competent in working in any specialty. It is sooo unsafe. Our unit director spoke to the DON and she said something like, "If they can run a Pyxis they can work the floor." :trout:I'm sorry, but if the new DON doesn't realize that there is more to nursing than just handing out pills, this hospital is in a world of hurt. So what do you guys think, should I hang in there? I really like this job but this floating thing has me terrified for my patients and my license. How would you feel having a psych nurse floated to your unit that was expected to hang drips and monitor postpartum mothers? Personally it gives me chills thinking about it.:angryfire

Hi all, I'm a new grad and I have been orienting to my new RN position this week and something just keeps bothering me. As a student I spent so much time in school working on critical thinking and the APIE model because I was told that the main function of an RN was to use their nursing judgment to assess and plan for the patient's care. But as I learn the ropes of my new job it seems all I am to do is fill out form after form and those forms are what tell me what my patient needs. There is a form to tell me if a patient is a fall risk, suicide risk, elopement risk, violence risk, skin breakdown risk, sepsis risk, .... I could go on all day. And if I happen to disagree with what the form says? Nope, sorry, policy states that we do what the form says. Here is an example. I'm filling out a risk assessment on a new admit. 21 y\o, strong, healthy, no ETOH or drug intox, a little irritated at being court ordered to be there. I fill out the fall risk assessment, and he scored as a medium fall because one of the questions is "Have you fallen more than 2 x in 6 months?" and he answered "Yes" So according to my friend Mr. Assessment Form. I have to place him on fall precautions. Mind you, In my opinion, this guy meet no criteria to be considered a fall risk. So when it comes time for bed, he gets a little more irritated at the idea of having a bed alarm on, so I ask my preceptor if can just cancel the fall precautions on him because he obviously has no gait or balance impairment. She states, "No he has to be on them because he scored a 5." It's not really a big deal, it just made me wonder if there is actually a need for nursing judgment. It feels like all my decisions are already made for me in the form of forms, protocols, standing orders. Honestly, I don't feel like I am using my education at all. A trained monkey could fill out all this paper work and follow the instructions on the bottom of the page. What do you guys think? Do you feel like you use your nursing judgment daily? Do you feel like your judgment means more than established protocol. Or has nursing judgment been micro-managed out of the profession? Sorry this is so long, I guess I have been a little disappointed this week by the lack of opportunity to apply my education to my work. Thanks all for any replies.

I'm graduating with my RN in 3 weeks and have accepted a job at a psychiatric inpatient facility as a graduate nurse. I also have a BA in psychology, but that really has no bearing on psychiatric nursing certification. I can help you find a job though. I beat out several other candidates because the facility liked that I had a degree in both psychology and music therapy. This facility requires 1 year of experience and then they will pay for you to become certified in psychiatric nursing. Technically though, even without the certification, as soon as you start a job in a psychiatric facility (and pass boards;)) you can call your self a "psychiatric registered nurse". And I'm already counting the days!

I'm going to say something not so popular but here goes anyway. I graduate in 3 weeks from nursing school and I just accepted a position at an acute care psychiatric facility on a unit that only admits 18-50 y\o males with schizophrenia who are ambulatory and self-care. I sought this job out because a) I love treating patients with schizophrenia and b) I hate cleaning up feces and I know this type of patient is going to be 99% continent. Say what you will about me, but I can recognize my own weaknesses and I know that if I took a position in geri-psych or med-psych I would be unhappy because everyday I would dread the "code brown". Lots of nurses do this. Nurses who hate phlegm and mouth secretions probably avoid jobs with a majority of vent patients, and nurses who despise vomit would probably avoid an oncology floor. I'm not "above" poop, I just don't think I could be happy in a job where is was an everyday reality. I've cleaned up my share during nursing school as a student and as a tech at a regular psychiatric facility. I am taking a pay cut to leave the facility where I am at to go to this new job because I know we have started admitting far to many nursing home patients, and that is just not the patient population I got in to psych nursing to work with. I won't ever "get over it", I know I won't and I'm not ashamed to say that my niche in nursing involves no poop or bathing contact. I'm still a going to be a damned good nurse and I will do everything to help my patients with what they need. P.S. Too the poster who thought you had to have a BSN to be a psych nurse... thats not true! I am graduating with my ASN, but I do have a BS in psychology, although that is not required. Most every nurse that works on my floor, even our unit supervisor, has an ASN. Good luck!

Do you have any schools around you that accept students from a wait list and not by GPA? If not you may just have to buckle down and retake some courses to get a higher grade. Check with your school first and see exactly what classes you have to have done prior to applying and concentrate only on those. My school admitted on a point system, you had to take certain classes and the grade you got in those classes received a certain point value. I transferred late and did not have time to complete all the pre-req's prior to the application cut off. Several people told me not to bother applying because there was no way to get in without having all your points. Long story short, I did get in. In fact I was #5 out of 20. It's scary to think, but if I had listened to those people I would be graduating a year from now instead of in 3 weeks! I guess my advice is don't believe everything other students tell you about points and GPA cutoffs. Go straight to the horses mouth and talk with your programs academic advisor. Good luck, and I'm glad your finally able to pursue your dream.

Hi all!!! I am graduating nursing school in 3 weeks and just received the great news that I have been hired as an RN on the same psych unit that I have worked on for 3 years as a tech. Although I am very excited about beginning my career in nursing, I'm really worried about how it will affect my friendships with those that I used to work with and under. I am really good friends with another tech that I work with (like we hang out on our off days and call each other several times a week) and I can already feel a rift between us. She says things like, "I'm not doing anything when your charge, you know how to tech so you'll be able to do it yourself." and "I think I'll just quit 'cause there is no way I'm taking orders from you." Problem is a) I don't want her to quit. I like working with her and she is a really great tech. The patients love her. and b) there is no way she can find another job that pays as well with only a GED, and she can't afford to take a paycut. I'm so worried that when I finish orientation and become charge nurse she will really resent me for delegating tasks to her and not always being able to pitch in with tech duties because I know I'll be sooo stressed and busy. I'm also worried about the LPN's that I work with. Some of them already seem hostile about my soon becoming the charge nurse and having to report to me. In my facility, the RN has to double check and sign off on all duties that the LPN performs. When I told her about my getting hired she got real quiet and said, "I hope you don't think that I'm gonna be taking orders from you, I've been a nurse for 17 years and you're no better than me just because you have RN after your name." I just kind of sat there dumbstruck because I don't think I am better then anyone else, I know I am going to rely on the LPN's there for quite a while until a get my nurse legs under me. I tried to tell her all that but she still seems almost "mad" at me. I'm really not an arrogant person, and I've never thought of myself as better than anyone. I love working on this unit, and before all this I got along great with all my co-workers. Sorry this is so long, I've just been really surprised about how harsh some people's reactions have been. It's not like I've been hiding the fact I was in nursing school. So I guess my real question is how do you go from working along side someone to being their boss without hurting the friendship? Have any of you made the tech to RN transition on the same unit successfully? How did you do it? Thanks for reading this super long post and I appreciate any responses.

I work on a psychiatric unit too, and we also those "nifty" little grievance reports and we now have an interim manager that has no psychiatric experience. So now we keep getting called in to her office for complaints like "Mrs. P says you poisoned her food with bleach" or "Mr. X said that he was denied water for 2 weeks during his stay". The real kicker was when she suggested I write a letter of apology to a women that claimed I stole her un-born baby. Get real lady, they are called DELUSIONS. Fortunately the DON agreed with me, but for God's sakes, how can anyone take that seriously?