UtErRnEmt

I'll tell you my experience with Fastaff. I was supposed to have gone to work for them outside of D.C. I finished my notice where I was working and called the hospital I was going to to verify when I was to start. Imagine my surprise when the NM told me that they no longer needed me and that the recruiter should have notified me. I then called the recruiter who did not even apologize for not calling and updating me. Needless to say I did not travel with them and my former employer would not hire me back (even after I worked out a notice). I ended up going with RTG and was not impressed with them (had to find my own housing, the hospital did not put all my days together as was promised, had my purse stolen). That was several years ago and I am still leery of traveling though I've been thinking about it since the salary in the south is degrading to nurses.

PT, OT, or medical billing. no night or on call duty.

the wrong size bp cuff, if you have to manually keep the Velcro from ripping away, use the next size up. going to get a portable monitor or dynamap and it wont even turn on (you actually have to put the plug IN the outlet, close doesn't count). patients who hit the call light almost as soon as you close the door. visitors that are more demanding than the a&ox3 pt....sorry the sandwiches and sodas are for the actual patients. the dramatics that go with acute hypohydromorphonemia and hypohydrocodonemia....the list could go on

RUN, DO NOT WALK away from nursing! If you are looking for a new career, investigate a business degree as the bean counters are the only ones with security in healthcare anymore. If you are clinical, if you even look at someone strange then you are getting pulled into the office. Nurses with experience, at least in my locale, are being replaced continuously with new grads. And don't even get me started on the whole ADN vs BSN issue.

A friend of mine was triaging a pt when out of nowhere the pt hauled off and slapped my buddy in the face. She was told by administration that she couldn't press charges because "it would look bad". meanwhile the same pt threw and broke a dynamap and charges were pressed that time....explain that one

even if the person threatens to come after you physically?

after having a pt curse me out and than losing my temper, which i'll probably get pulled into the office over, i was wondering how management at other hospitals react in this type of situation. do your supervisors allow the staff to be verbally abused?

i had a manipulative pt come with a c/o vomiting blood so of course the er doc ordered an ng tube. i lubed the tube with lido jelly. well the pt refused to cooperate and wouldnt swallow and started swinging at me. so i pulled the tube and asked another nurse to come in and help me. the pt flat out refused to allow us to try again. i charted everything that had happened and told the er doc. pt ended up being admitted. a few days later i had to respond to a complaint lodged by the pt to the pt advocate because i "used some sort of jelly on the tube". the kicker is the pt advocate is a NURSE :angthts:. guess next time he comes in he gets a dry tube...jk

don't tick off the ems crews. they can make your life he** and bring every pt they pick up to your er. practice stretching out your bladder for the time where you don't get to pee for the entire shift. learn to appreciate pizza and other foods you can eat quickly and while standing up. most of the er nurses i work with are overbearing and can be abrasive. don't take what they say personally enjoy the periods where you get to sit down and NEVER EVER say the q word. most important bring your sense of humor :chuckle

nursingis4me i hope you dont plan on working in an er. without some type of sense of humor you'll be burned out within a year. as another poster said we're just blowing off steam so we can return to work somewhat sane. i didn't mean to offend anybody with my thread.

thought these were funny and true. add on if desired.... Alas, sometimes in the ER the family is harder to deal with than the patient. Here are some family member we all have seen in our ER: DOORWAY GAWKER- stands and stares at the staff, arms folded, from the doorway with an impatient, angry looks on their faces THE VENTRILOQUIST - talks for the patient until you tell them to stop it THE SHADOW- you have to pry this person away from the patients bedside in order to do your job. then they watch every move you make as you start an IV, give meds, etc. APATHETIC ANN/ANDY - brings a book, laptop - has a sort of been here/done this attitude - seems uninterested in whats going on THE SUCKER - accompanies a patient with some kind of bogus chronic problem and has bought into it hook, line and sinker THE KLEPTOMANIAC - you might catch this person rummaging through the cupboards, drawers and perhaps pocketing a thing or two THE ERRAND RUNNER - may come up to the desk requesting warm blankets, footies, water, food, more pain meds, etc etc etc MAMAS BOY MAMA - accompanies their grown son or daughter to the ER and sits with concerned look at bedside BABY DADDY - accompanies girlfriend to ER and is suspicious of any male that comes into the room. Wants to stay there when pelvic exam is being done. THE DUMPER- drops off confused mom/dad/annoying sibling/girlfriend/boyfriend and leaves SPACE INVADERS - crosses that line into the staff area or follows the doctor into their area - definitely a no no MAJOR HOLIDAY GIFTERS - brings mom/dad/grandma who they haven't seen for months to ER because they "aren't doing that well/can't take care of themselves/need to go to a nursing home" CHICKEN LITTLE - runs to triage desk requesting help for mom/dad/etc in the car who are dying (99% of the time they are fine). Comes up to the desk and tells you heart monitor is dinging - is that OK??!!! SUSPICIOUS STAN/STELLA- takes notes - wants names of staff, name of medication, name of tests. Has special "medical notebook"

thanks everyone . maybe one day the vip's will open hospital usa that they teach us about in nursing school where there is extra staff in the wings to get us thru a brown nosing crisis

i tried travel nursing 2 years ago. i compared it to being in dante's seventh level of hell if that tells you anything. however if you decide to do it just remember the agency recruiter and the rep from the hospital will tell you anything to get you to sign on. if you want anything specific such as working all your days in a row make sure its in the contract before you sign.

i don't know enough about legal nursing but maybe someone can advise. the manager of my department can read any email we send or recieve via hospital email. i would think this is an invasion of privacy. also the manager can and does check what is going on in the hospital department by checking her computer at home. as the computer program shows pt names is this a hippa violation as she is not directly involved with pt care. thanks in advance

how do other hospitals treat board members and their friends/family when they come into the er as a pt? i don't have a problem doing one on one care with mi, cva or other critical pts but i do have a problem when a short staffed dept is made even shorter because a nurse is pulled to care for an arm injury.