blondie

Please help. Tomorrow I will be assigned to a patient with orders to flush the T-tube with 5 cc normal saline. The order reads "flush forward only." Forward? Which direction is this? After I unscrew the two parts of the drainage tube, do I flush...

For clarification, it's a t-tube for biliary drainage. I asked a couple of other nurses last night, and there was some confusion. The frst nurse said she didn't know, and the second nurse said she flushes toward the patient because that's what she ...

The supervisors at my long-term care facility are getting rather frustrated with the lack of respect given their authority by the Certified Nurses Aides. A supervisor will tell an aide she needs to float to another unit to help out, and the aide wil...

Thanks for all of your responses. The best suggestion seems to be the verbal warning; written warning; termination--all done with fairness and consistency. The aides do have a tough job, and there are plenty of good, underpaid, underappreciated ones...

Ditto to everything said by cargal. I am the one RN for 40-45 residents, no LPN to assist. On top of this, our aides are so used to seeing only one nurse on the unit, I think some of them see it as normal. I recently had one say to me, "Maybe if y...

What strategies do you employ to motivate a diabetic who does not adhere to the prescribed treatment regimen of daily fingersticks? The diabetic in this case is an educated young adult who feels that as long as there is "nothing wrong with me" other...

Thanks! Coming from the perspectives of both diabetic and nurse, your letter is particularly helpful. I didn't realize the correlation between diabetes and depression. I've done some research and discovered that there is a five times higher incide...

A half-hour is automatically deducted for a meal. If I only get to take 15 minutes or so, I let it slide. Comes with the job. I believe none of the nurses at my facility take the full half-hour. However, if I don't get to take a meal at all, I no...

I have worked in LTC for over a year. I truly enjoy the people. I would love to be able to stay long enough to become "an experienced nurse." However, the working conditions are appalling. When I interviewed for the job, I was told that there woul...

I work as an RN in LTC. Staffing at my facility has become so nonexistent, I'm wondering how much longer we can continue. Giant holes in the schedule are filled not only by mandating nurses, but supervisors as well. The other day I went in to chec...

I work in a nursing home. We are very short-staffed. There are serious holes in the schedule. Mandating has become the norm, not the exception. For example, when it is my weekend to work, I know I will wind up working a double on Saturday (7A-11P)...

I'm working toward my BSN. A young college student in my Statistics class said today he doesn't believe health insurance is the right way to go for someone his age. He believes he's better off just saving his money, and paying for any bill himself ...

Thanks for all your help. Should count my blessings my family has been relatively healthy. Can't get over the cost of having a baby these days. When I was pregnant 20 years ago, the package deal from the MD for a vaginal birth was $800 or $1200, I ...

A few years ago, while I was still in nursing school, one of my instructors referred to a heplock as a "Vicra." She said that's what they used to be called, but it's not really proper terminology since it's a brand name. When I recently mentioned t...

This term was used by one particular instructor on several different occasions during preconference--Mrs. Smith has such-and-such disorder, is on O2 at 2L, with a Vicra in the left forearm. Then when she started calling it a heplock, I questioned he...

"We do all the hard work?" C'mon, we ALL do the hard work. I am an RN who worked last Saturday from 7 AM until 10 PM with only one 15-minute break and one 10-minute break to eat and go to the bathroom. That's 25 minutes out of 15 hours! As for phy...

I've been bit, scratched, thrown up on, told exactly where to shove my pills, etc. As long as you show up on time to relieve me, I'm not going to make a deal of it, either.

This past fall, while researching ways to get my BSN, I went to an informational seminar for The College Network. It is associated with Excelsior College. This might be a fine way to go for others, but the presentation made me a little cautious. M...

When in doubt, play it safe and use the term "women." As someone old enough to have a daughter in college but still very young at heart, I like to be referred to as a "girl." However, this is a personal preference. I have the same problem as you w...

In response to nur20, this is a great website! Approximately a 14-minute presentation on fall assessment and prevention. Not just for nurses. I'm thinking it would make for a great inservice. The aides might be educated on the importance of remem...

Everybody does. It's facility policy. It's like the supervisor is the charge nurse and the charge nurse is the aide (who just happens to be licensed to give meds). I wonder whether is has to do with liability. Someone else once told me that for th...

Honestly, I think my facility could benefit by putting scheduled tests and appointments on computer. Making changes would be so much easier, and it would nice to have everything in one tidy data base. Not really seeing that in the near future, one t...

I've thought of that, but as I've said, I've enjoyed getting to know my residents. Do you need to call the supervisor when: The new admit arrives? The pharmacy calls to verify an order so that the supervisor can then, in turn, phone the MD? A resid...

Yes, I perform a multitide of tasks: I do meds, treatments, admissions, picking up orders, faxing the pharmacy, the ever-popular CHARTING, etc. What bothers me may be peculiar to my workplace. I am an RN. I have been trained in many areas. Yet it...

I am an RN who has worked in a nursing home since last spring. I have enjoyed getting to know my residents, and feel this familiarity leads to better health care. Staff in a nursing home can immediately tell when something just isn't right. I've al...