jrbl77

I received employee of the month at a small town hospital. I was considered somewhat of an outsider since I wasn't from the town. It came as a total shock to me! I didn't know how to respond. I cried. By this point I was well into my nursing career. Probably at the 30-35 year mark, and old enough to be most of the staff's mom. It was wonderful and I keep the paper in an envelope of cards and notes I received during my nursing career.

My story is very similar to yours. I practiced as a RN for almost 42 years when I called it quits earlier this year. I remember doing the same things, drawing up chemo in the med room assisting with inserting peritoneal dialysis caths in the treatment room, hanging the hospitals first TPN and chest tubes changing from glass bottle set ups to the plastic pleura vacs. I was lucky enough to work with a great team for my first 29 years of nursing. I had 2 nurse managers in those 29 years. Our floor was the place to be if you were really sick and not in the unit. My co workers were like a second family. We watched each other get married and have kids. Unfortunately, a few left this world before their time. After I left my original job, I worked at 4 places. Non was as good as that first place. I saw nursing change as I grew older. By the time I left bedside nursing, we were following a script to speak to our patients. I never got use to following a script and not speaking from knowledge and my heart. My last job was away from the bedside and in the community. i enjoyed it for 5 years. At that point, I was tired of hearing others problems. In retirement, I do things as I want to, when I want to. I will always be a nurse at heart, but my brain and body don't work as fast as they did years ago. One of the things I enjoyed the most was washing pts feet. Many people had never had someone wash their feet. You can really get to know someone while washing their feet. Hear their store, what made that person special. The two hospitals that meant the most to me, the ones I spent the most time at are both gone. Torn down and empty fields now.

Reading this post has made my pulse race. It sounds very much like days that I have had. So glad that I'm retired. Although, I often have dreams that have me running around all night doing pt care! Once a nurse, I guess, always a nurse!

Anything that involves an eye injury.

My husband and I have been married for 39 years. I started my nursing career 3 years before we got married. For the majority of my working years, I made about double what my husband did. But he was able to get the kids up and out in the morning and took care of them on the weekends I worked. In the grand scale if things, we both worked hard at what we did. I was able to retire at 62 while my husband will work till 65 and we can get on Medicare. Money isn’t what life or a marriage is all about.

I’ve had these dreams for years. I’m now retired and I still gave them. My work dreams always take place at the hospital I worked at the longest. None of the other places make it. The dreams are always how I have forgotten a patient etc.Usually I’m totally inept. Ive talked to other retired nurses that have similar dreams. Apparently nurses are not alone. I’ve heard teachers have similar dreams related to teaching.

I retired in Feb 2019. I love it. I can hardly remember the days of all the stress and hard work. 41 years is long enough and I want to have time to do things that make me happy. I have re found my interest in sewing, some days just read. I do babysit 3 days per week for grand children. I love looking at the toothless grin smiling back at me. Plus the more I hear about the state of health care, the happier I am that I am out!

I always loved to place a ng tube and get great results. Same as placing a foley in the patient that couldn’t pee, no matter what. They felt so much better after the foley was placed. I was pretty good at starting IV’s and often enjoyed the challenge.

I have 2 memories, both about codes years apart. I had been a nurse for about 5 yrs and was pregnant with my first child. I had a pt that needed a CT scan but wasn’t doing well on the med surg floor. This was in the early 80’s. I went with him, of course, he coded. No crash cart in CT. Bed in high position, unplugged, I’m hugely pregnant. Don’t remember the outcome, but CT got crash carts shortly after this. Much later in my career, I had a pt come in with resp symptoms. I had a bad feeling. I was working at a small community hospital with no ICU and no resp therapy on weekends. As she declined, I kept telling her she needed to get in bed. She was rather on the large size and I could see her coding in the chair. I finally got her in bed and things came together. ER doc intubated her and we hooked her up to the vent. Shipped her out to a larger hospital. She came back to see us about a month later. I asked her if she know understood why I wanted her in bed. She laughed.

I had a license in 2 states. The state I live in I will maintain. The other state was up for renewal in April and I placed it inactive.

At one point in my career I was afraid that I was going to die while working. I would cry most mornings while I drove to work. I am fortunate in that my husband and I have managed our money well. We lived in our starter home for 38 yrs. I understand that some cannot retire, but I didn't want to be dead rather than retired.

I’m sorry to hear about your accident and wish you the best as you recover. Unfortunately, the world has changed. In the past, your job would could have been held. Now what is done for one person must be done for all. If your job is held, the next person with a similar situation will expect the same thing. Health care is big business today. I believe all things happen for a reason, maybe an even better job is in your future. Good luck!

I understand how you feel. I’ve been there. I just retired after nursing since 1977. No real time off, but didn’t work full time most of the time. Nursing is unlike lots of other careers, especially teaching. Often teachers can retire at 55 and work in another career. While our health insurance is work based,most will need to work until they qualify for Medicare. I feel fortunate, my husband covers benefits for me. I carried us for our younger years and now he covers us. Good luck, nursing has changed in the past few years.

I’m from Illinois and I’m fairly certain a sheet as indicated earlier is not available. Plus we are near ST Louis Mo and some kids receive care in that state. I’ll check the dates more closely. Thanks!

I'm a med surg nurse with no peds experience. I'm learning things I never thought I would! I have been reviewing immunization records for a day care. My question is regarding the HIB vaccine. When I check sources on how many doses a child is to receive, it says it depends on the brand used by the health care practitioner. Of course, none of that info is on the record I get, just the date. I have sent several children to get another dose of the HIB only to be told they don't need it. I have no communication with the parents or the health care providers. I report my findings to the director and she takes it from there. She agrees this is a concern. This day care is in a very poor area and health care can be received from many different places. Has any one else had this problem or concern?