NurseDennie

I lived in Overland Park from the time I was about 11 to when I was 17. I loved it. I wish I'd never left!!!! That doesn't tell you anything about what you were wondering about work, pay levels, etc., but I just REALLY wanted to mention how much I loved it there. Love Dennie

I worked with a nurse who had very nice, tasteful acrylic nails. It was against hospital policy, but it wasn't really enforced. Anyway, one change of shift, she and I were standing in the hallway, talking and she drew up some med, "flicked" it with her fingernail and the fingernail went FLYING down the hall!!! WAY too funny. I have unpleasant nails, too. My mother had truly HORRIBLE ones, that never grew out to her fingertip and were peely and curled up and just nasteeeeee, so I'm lucky that mine aren't worst. But I don't like to spend time/money, so I just keep them trimmed short. Cheap, easy, quick (heh heh - that's me!) Love Dennie

SheRN - how can that possibly be legal???? I can almost see how you would kind of have to "take it" if they called and said that your shift was changed from 7a-7p to 11a-7p and they might still call you off... you're kind of stuck. But to have to sit waiting for a 3 pm call? I don't see how they can make that stick. If they call you at 10 and say they don't need you yet and they'll call you if they need you at 1500, I'd say I'm not available at 1500, don't bother to call me, you've called me off for the day. I guess you could even say that at the first call..... I just don't see how they could make this stick. Even a little bit. Sheeeesh And Allison S - I'm with you, too. Whenever they sent a nurse home or pulled her to another floor at 1500, it was always the last 4 hour of HE!! on that floor. No slack at all and every one of the rooms that that nurse would have had got filled up. Whenever they asked if anybody wanted to go home because they were going to either go home or get pulled, I always BEGGED to go home - because everybody else is just sc***ed, tattooed etc. Needless to say there was a lot of competition for getting to go home early!! Love Dennie

Hi - Just dropping in because this seems to be kind of a common misconception. The cap they're talking about is not capping costs or lost wages or things like that. People who were injured so that they will need extra special care the rest of their lives would still be able to be awarded millions of dollars for their care, and also for lost wages of a breadwinner, etc. It's the "pain and suffering" amounts that would be capped. And I think I have to say that I agree with this. If you're compensated for tangible things like that, then I think that a quarter of a MILLION dollars is pretty reasonable for pain and suffering. There has to be a limit and that just doesn't sound bad to me. Love Dennie

One of the instructors was talking about charting, and how we were to chart the patient ambulated "x" number of feet, as opposed to pt ambulated to BR. Well, my friend and I were... well, of course, stressed and overworked and all that, so we were ripe for the ever-popular hysterical laughter. So of course, what comes to MY mind is my patient ambulated 100' to the bathroom because she was confused and went into another patient's bathroom. She and I fell all over ourselves laughing about that. You have to be sleep deprived and stressed to appreciate that mental picture. But I REALLY laughed several years later when I got report from the nurse who said that one of my patients had been very confused and restless all day, and recently started complaining that somebody was in her bathroom, crying. I went to check it out, and sure enough, there was another one of my patients, crawling around on the floor in the bathroom, crying because she was lost. The patient being lost wasn't funny.... well, it WAS funny, but it was only funny because it was the exact situation we'd freaked out over in nursing school. Love Dennie

Ewww, I wanted to say how gross that one story is (trach care education) but it makes me gag to think about it! Ewwwwww This is just a poop story, but it was NASTY poop. PT had this guy up and started to lose him. I had a student and I ran in there and stuck my knee behind this guy as the PT guy is holding that belt and I yelled for the student to bring a chair - she thought I meant wheelchair and ran down the hall. I meant THAT chair right HERE. We got him into a chair, but not before the PT guy and I both had a LOT of nasty poop (not just poop) all down our scrubs legs. Ewwwww Love Dennie

I would be quite sorry that you were offended if I asked you to show me the vials, but I would still need to see the vials. I'd probably also apologize if you were offended. But still, I'd look at the vials. I've trained students, I've precepted other nurses, and I know how to check somebody's work without being offensive. If I'd gotten to know you, and you'd demonstrated your knowledge and skills over time, then I'd probably be less vigilant. Personally, I've never been offended when somebody wanted to see vials/wrappers or anything like that. It just makes sense to be cautious when it's your health. Love Dennie

Wow - I hope you heal up quickly! I know shoulders can be VERY painful. When I fell and broke my arm at work, I was put on light duty, as well. Yep, a one-handed nurse again, only I broke my right arm and I'm right handed, and the fall messed up some tendson, too, so I couldln't even really write. They gave me stuff to do on the computer for some management department for a while. Then they would bring me charts and I'd do chart audits. I wonder why they figure that intermediate would be easier to do one-handed than subacute??? I was angry when I was hurt, because I thought they should have given me some time off to get over being so shaken up. But I guess they do it to reduce workers comp cost to them, plus they only pay you 60% of your regular salary when you're on workers comp, so that's something else. At least in TN. Heal quickly - be careful with that arm!! Love Dennie

You're right - I think it is a change, but I don't know when it happened. It was quite a while ago... Maybe as far back as Vatican II?? I don't know, but for example in the past, the church didn't agree with cremation, like when my grandmother was young, but it's not a problem now. I can't believe that there was ever a specific directive not to have a MS drip from the church. I'll bet it was the directive of somebody in mgmt who had some sort of bug up his/her nose about it, and a minimal amount of knowledge. Love Dennie

OMG Perky! That's horrible. And it's certainly not in keeping with the Catholic doctrine, either. I'd have a major problem with that, as well! We're not allowd to kill someone, even as an act of mercy (legally or per the church). But a person who is terminally ill and in pain deserves pain relief, even if it does hasten his or her death. Morphine is God's gift to people in pain and suffering from panic and air hunger with COPD. You can't give it with the intention of taking life, just to relieve pain. Rock - it depends on what kind of nuns you see whether or not you'll know they're nuns. Dominicans wear habits. They have long white, traditional habits with a black veil with no wimple (that white part that goes across the forehead and under the chin and covers up the neck). The novitiates (baby nuns) either wear a dark skirt and white blouse and black sweater, or they wear the habit with a black veil. Depends on whether they've taken vows yet. I've seen quite a few Sisters of Mercy with a blue dress with a belt and a blue veil. I'm drawing a blank on which order, but they wear dark dark brown habits, still. Love Dennie

I've worked in a *gasp* Catholic hospital. Of course, being Catholic myself, it wasn't much of a gasp. It was the hospital where I'd done a lot of my clinicals in school (*gasp* Catholic college as well). My college is run by the (Double gasp!) Dominicans, and they are all teachers and nurses, so there were quite a few student nurses and graduate student nurses in the big white habits. I liked it more when I first started. It was run by nuns (not Dominicans - Sisters of Mercy) who were nurses. That was great. It was the flagship hospital of a small (3 hospital) chain and we were always in the black. So my hospital helped support the 2 others that didn't do as well AND gave the employees a "share the success" bonus each year. Now they have a MD with a MBA in charge and the first year he was there, he had them put in about 2 miles of marble tile hallways - yeah, that's safe -- AND that was the end of the share the success bonuses. But as far as working status .... I guess corporate culture... that was okay, too. They do start the day with a prayer over the intercom, (my hospital does, I don't know if others do). Of course, there were no elective abortions there. But they would do therapeutic ones. I had a friend who had to have one. I was surprised that the hospital made a BIG point in not accommodating any nurses who were expecting. I saw a lot of them leave and never come back. The chaplains were always available - not all Catholic by any means, and perhaps the ethics department was a little more involved than in some other hospitals. When we had our discharge planning sessions, the social workers, unit management, chaplains, us, of course, RT and PT, a rep from the pharmacy, and the ethics committee rep were always there. As far as the hospital meddling in the private affairs of the employees, that didn't happen. There's an employee assistance department, as always. There didn't seem to be any policies for or against any particular way of life. TPTB knew that I was having some pretty major marriage problems. We had openly gay and lesbian nurses. One of the service personnel was planning a sex change operation, and so began functioning as a woman. The only "official" word about him was when he couldn't afford the actual operation, and went back to dressing and looking like a male. There was a note sent around so that he wouldn't have to explain it 20,000 a day. I think they're pretty much the same as any other hospital. I think the days are gone when the Church had enough money to support Catholic hospitals in the way which they were accustomed, so a lot of the free and very-reduced cost care has gone away. I guess when a lot of your patients are Tenncare, you're already doing very-reduced-reimbursed care anyway. Love Dennie

It is a big issue, I agree. I put all my money into tuition for my daughters, and even borrowed for one particularly good prep school. I really NEED to retire right now (50 in May) but maybe I'll get my blood counts up and feel able to carry on for a few more years. But it's not JUST nurses. It seems like I've seen a LOT of people cut loose from "nice" companies JUST before they become vested in the good retirement plans. Love Dennie

Wow - thanks, you guys. I knew there would be people on here who have given it and/or seen it given. Thanks for the links - This was thekind of information that made me panic in the first place! Plus, the hematologist said "I hate to do it -- but I'll do it!" Actually, First, we've changed from ferrous sulfate to ferrous gluconate, still with the 500 mg of vit. c with each iron tab. In order to get the best from the stupid iron pills, you almost have to take them like fossamax - only with vit. C instead of completely alone. And she said that sometimes helobacter can block the absorption of iron. So we're doing the different kind of iron and the abx and rechecking and if that hasn't worked (but I'll bet it will!) then I'll have the IV iron. So, I'm not SO VERY worried about it anymore. I think I will make sure I've got a living will and all that lined up in the meantime, though! Thanks!! Love Dennie

Here's one of those annoying questions, I guess. I've looked it up, but the procedure sounds very scary. Doc has to be the one to do the test dose, etc., etc., I've never given it. I've never heard of it given where I was working. None of my friends have ever given it or been in on giving it. I've learned the z-track IM method for if I ever have to give iron IM, but I never have done. Doc says that anaphylactic is almost as common with IM as IV. So - have any of you actually administered it, or witnessed it? Did the person who had the infusion survive the whole thing? I'm having problems with anemia. I don't want another transfusion, but it's almost sounding like that's safer than the IV iron??? (I'm just kidding - no way !! - 2-3 units of blood Q 3 months - Not with the blood shortage and the Hep situation). Although I do have a lot of O+ people who are willing to donate for me. Love Dennie

I loved the ethics classes I've taken. When I was in high school, I dated a philosophy professor, and .... Well, it didn't end very well, actually. I think he may have been gay. But I took the ethics class that was required at my nursing school (they wouldn't accept ethics classes from other schools) and I would joke about it at work. "I have an ethics test tonight. Perhaps I'll cheat."Hah hah - very clever. But then, of course, I only got a "B" in it. I don't really have any help for you - some classes you do just have to slog through if you can't change to some other class. Our professor was just wonderful! I wonder what kind of teacher "my" philosophy professor was/is? Probably not very good - he was pretty dry, just as a boyfriend. Love Dennie