mjamesRN

Had to comment here as a GAY male nurse -- never had a problem until I tried to re-enter the job market..."Faith-based" organizations immediately rejected me (no, I have no proof, but I know); any hard up recruiter, gay/ man-hating, resentful women a...

Drug-seekers on a Med-Surg floor can be a difficult endeavor -- one you really shouldn't have to manage alone. Most hospitals have a Pain Management team that can help. Hospice is an entirely different animal. I had a guy with endstage pancreatic...

I've been doing hospice nursing for over a year now and have found it very gratifying EXCEPT the fact that everyday I am facing my own mortality and somedays it freaks me out. Thankfully, my office is very supportive and if there is ever a time I ne...

I've been in Hospice nursing for just under a year now and find the most difficult patients, physically and emotionally, are ALS (Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs Disease or Motor Neuron Degeneration) patients. The common prognosis from ...

I did a double take to see that there are actual ads promoting the Bush Agenda and selling pro-Bush novelty items. This is really quite inappropriate for a forum that is supposed to be unbiased and nonpartisan. MODERATORS??

Let's not forget the stages of dying which affect the family members often moreso than the patient. Depression and Denial seem to be most prevalent. I spend alot of time talking family members off of emotional ledges; they of course, are an importa...

If I may echo a previous post: Give them WHATEVER they WANT. If you have a problem with drug-seeking patients, hospice isn't where you should be. If you were dying of a terminal painful illness, I think you would want to be as stoned as possible....

If being HIV+ required disclosure, we would all be tested for it as a mandatory requirement to employment. It's nobody's business. And if you do disclose it, say, to your employer and there are negative repercussions, they would be in violation of ...

One our newly-appointed Clinical Directors stepped out of school into hospice 7 years ago. She never worked the floor. I guess if you want to jump right in, go for it and learn as you go -- however, I agree with some of the other nurses' posts here,...

I agree with Canoehead on this one. Haldol is for violent agitation (if it occurs) in the active dying stage. Any nurse who has given it knows that Haldol will zonk someone for long periods of time and many elderly patients are senstivie to it: hall...

Been hospice nursing for four months now and it really is a special field. I love the flexibility of it job-wise. In the nursing end of it (no pun intended), teaching and encouraging and reassuring families and patients, and dispelling the misconce...

I've never felt subordinate to doctors. I give them the respect they deserve and expect the same from them, and usually get that respect without asking for it. Healthcare today is a "Corroboration" -- nobody is above anybody. Nurses who suggest do...

What kinds of pain management protocols for Ortho patients are used at your facility? Which do you find most effective and for which patients? I am specifically interested in pain management for the elderly, many of whom go bonkers from opiates, sc...

I'm in hospice training right now and for full time case managers, they "believe" that 16 is adequate. HA! I'm amazed at the paperwork. There are like 40 different documents I'm responsible for! Why is it that every nursing job seems like I'm just...

Diversity isn't JUST cultural. Sexual diversity is included. And gay and transgender are two completely different diversities.

More judgement among us. Talk about physical limitations: I suppose being pregnant is different?? or being so fat you can't get out of your chair?? Ladies, C'mon!

I guess NURSE CATHY who started this thread bowed out. Frankly she should bow out of being a nurse educator. You're supposed to teach and support diversity. Transgender people are perfectly capable of advocating a patient. Get a grip.

DO NOT QUIT SCHOOL!!!! It's almost over, stick with it. I'm sure all of us thought of quitting at one time or another, and then you blink and it's over and you're a nurse. I went to school with a girl who had three small ones and had decided to divo...

Directly received from PACU, and as long as pain is controlled and an Abductor pillow is in place, you should be able to turn your patient -- carefully of course -- you have to tuen them usually anyway to remove excess linens and listen to lung sound...

Just recently, a dear friend of mine died after months of a decline in health secondary to HIV. His medications had made him unable to eat, his counts dropped and he could not recover. I was involved both physically and emotionally with his partner...

When I was in Nursing school I HAD to have something in my last semester so I tried Zoloft. Didn't help. After 2.5 years on the floor, I've had it -- anxiety set in badly. I just quit my job-- I need a change. I don't know where I'm going, but I...

NoBODY should be signing off your meds except YOU! If you let her, it's your fault. Nurses must above all defend their license despite the comradery we have when we're working together. And this other nurse is an idiot to let anyone else in on st...

There was a guy on our floor who couldn't keep his hands off himself WHILE HE HAD A FOLEY. I think he was turned on by the fact that the Foley gave the illusion that he was larger than he really was -- the girls were horrified and wouldn't enter the...

Marijuana is an excellent anti-emetic as well as apperitif. My uncle got prescribed rolled joints when he has cancer -- that was before Nancy Reagan. As far as recreational use...WOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!!!

Nurses need to drop their sense of martyrdom