Elisheva

Food is a great healer. I was going to suggest taking a plate of brownies for the janitors and the nursing staff on shift. Just say "yesterday was a bad day and I felt really bad about it." Period. It's not necessary to do anything extra. You said you were sorry and we all have bad days. But sometimes just a little extra something goes a long way.

Be yourself and be your best self. No matter how you change, someone will find fault. When I was a teen-ager, I worked as a checker in a grocery store. The first few weeks when I was new and nervous, this same man would get in my line every week. Each week, I did some small thing wrong - count back his change wrong, not give him his receipt quickly - and he always cussed at me. Finally, with a little experience, I checked him out PERFECTLY. He stood there a minute, turned to go, turned back around...and cussed me out anyway. Those people account for a certain percentage of the population you're going to have to always deal with. You go, Miss Perky! I'd love to be perky, but teenagers killed my perky gene.

I could have written this post the day before I gave my notice 10 years ago. I felt like I was going to absolutely lose my mind. I left, and I found a terrific job as an admin asst. making almost as much as I made in nursing with a LOT more perks. Did that job for several years but found it boring. So, now I'm going to try nursing again. But if I get the feelings you describe in your post, I'm walking out. Life is too short. I'd rather work 2-3 part time jobs than to live feeling that way.

I want my BSN but it really has nothing to do with nursing. I want a four year degree because a lot of different jobs require A four year degree, and an RN to BSN degree is going to be about 34 hours shorter than entering a new field. Having a BS is a personal goal for me, not professional.

You're a better nurse than I am. I considered myself lucky if I got all my IVs hung and my dressing changes done by the end of my shift. I can honestly say I've never had the time to earnestly advocate anything to a patient on a med-surg floor. Maybe I need to try being an Army nurse.

lucky for me that i don't preach. teach a little, maybe. preach, never. :wink2:

Thanks for the replies. No, this was my regular GP. I saw the NP the first time, and just called in for a refill this time. I'll actually see the GP in 8 days or so. It's just that when I threw the idea of vascular stuff out there, no one bit. I'm trying to read up and see if that's a real possibility. If so, I'll ask for a consult with a vascular guy when I see the GP. I'd just like to have some feedback from nurses who have had real life experience with cellulitis.

I prefer the word assertive.

If you leave your job, let me know. I'd like to apply for it. Don't waste your time worrying what those other people think. They're probably just jealous. If you're happy, that's all that matters.

I put this post on the med-surg forum but I didn't get much response. I'm hoping someone here can help. I was encouraged to put it here by the responses to the thread on eczema. I had a bad car wreck 5 years ago and suffered a comminuted fracture of the tibia and fibula. I've had two surgeries on this leg, and the doc told me I lost a lot of soft tissue. The ankle will swell slightly if I'm on my feet a lot. I had a bout of cellulitis in this leg a couple of years ago that resolved on its own. However, I've now had cellulitis for the 2nd time in 6 weeks. I'm on antibiotics but it's not clearing up as fast as it did a few weeks ago. I suggested to my doc the possibility that the cellulitis might be related to vascular insufficiency in the damaged leg. He didn't react much, but this worries me. I'll go back to see him in 10 days and I want to bring it up again. Do any of you have any personal or nursing experience with recurring cellulitis? If so, I would appreciate your input.

Well, I have to say, this forum is a blessing. I'm learning in advance to think about things I will and will not do. I will lose my job before I will float to two floors in one night. That's ridiculous. No nurse should be expected to be able to acclimate to such a number a patients with such varying dxs. Nope. I'll be wearing the blue vest at Wal-mart before I do that.

pat, just another note. It would be unfair to nurses in all other locations if the test were easier in a couple of locations. The state boards of nursing require a certain level of knowledge - a standard of practice - regardless of location. Having a test that is easier or harder depending on location would mean that some nurses could be less qualified than others and still pass the boards. Wouldn't be fair and it wouldn't be safe for patients.

No, I don't think the test can be any easier due to a specific geographic location. The test results completely depend on how you answer each question. The test is geared to throw more questions at you regarding a specific subject if you don't do well on the initial question. Therefore, the ease or difficulty of the test depends almost solely on the test taker, not the location of the test taker.

My class (94) took the first computerized NCLEX. We were told that each of us would essentially have a different test because how we responded to a question would determine which question the software pulled next. If you gave an "iffy" answer, you might have to answer 4-5 more questions in the same vein to determine if you just misunderstood the original question or if you didn't know the material. Things have probably changed since, but each of my classmates finished the tests in different amounts of times and with different questions.

I think you're a terrific nurse for sharing your story. Errors happen; thank God no one was hurt. The most difficult part for the nurse is forgiving him/herself and moving on with confidence. I hope you can do that.

So...how do we change this? We all (including me) vent about it, get angry about it, but, in the end we accept it as "just being nursing." I'm guilty of that, too. But, it's kind of like being in a bad marriage and complaining about it every day: you either have to leave or you have to change it. I left 10 years ago. I'm going to TRY to come back (and I'll leave just as quickly if I hate it). The only people who can change this situation are the nurses: the hospitals, the administration and even the patients to some degree (most of them get well, go home, and put whatever their hospital experience behind them) have NO incentive to change anything. Our bottom line is that the onus is on us to change this situation. How? I wish I knew. The only thing I could even guess would be nurse solidarity and a refusal to accept unacceptable conditions. I think it can be done, but it will take a greater mind than mine to achieve it.

What's the difference between a nurse and a doc (and a distinct advantage for being a doc)? Oh, I'd say about $150,000.00 a year.

4.0, kept it through nursing school. I had to keep my grades really high because I was a single parent counting on scholarships. In retrospect, I wish I'd kept a 3.2 and had more of a life during those three years. AND - your GPA is no reflection of how good a nurse you will be. I did great on the academic stuff but had more trouble with clinicals; being a perfectionist on a med-surg floor is a tough thing to do.

This is what I hate: I'm sleeping fairly soundly, and the sheet slides over my leg, setting off the most incredible fit of itching. No more sleep. I have not had a problem with my leg being sore. The area is warm, red, raised, scaly and ugly but not really painful. I hope this isn't something I have to look forward to. I'm more concerned about the why; what the heck is going on in my body that I can't kick this bacterial infection? I'm determined to get to the bottom of it. Thanks for sharing. For what it's worth, you've made me feel better!

Wow. I'm amazed. It's a pain, isn't it? The itching drives me nuts. I've been surfing the net. I think the injury to my leg may be the cause. I, too, have chronic edema due to the loss of tissue in my lower right leg. My GP isn't very aggressive and they don't always like it when nurses "recommend" things, but I'm thinking a vascular study might not be a bad idea. As a home health nurse, I treated a lot of vascular ulcers. No thanks! I wish you luck. Keep me posted, please.

Got chewed out royally by a doc in front of a patient and his family for something I didn't do, a scene so vile the family reported it to the supervisor on my behalf. Waited over two hours for a stat chest x-ray. Went home following a 12 hour midnight shift to find feces all over my shoelaces. The next night I gave my notice, finished my two weeks and walked out the door on a June night in 1996. Never looked back. Until now. I admire you guys. I just couldn't hack it.

I know that we can't give medical advice here, so if this post falls under that, please close it down. I had a bad car wreck a few years back and suffered a broken leg and arm, and I've had three surgeries. I lost a lot of tissue near my ankle. I'm now having recurring trouble with cellulitis in this leg. I've "suggested" to my NP that this may be related to the injury to my leg, as in a vascular insuffiency problem. I'll go back in ten days to see if this second round of antibiotics clears this up (2 occurences in 6 weeks) and I'd really like to know if I'm thinking clearly before I bring it up to the NP again. I'm not asking for medical advice like treatment, but I would like to know if any of you have seen recurring or chronic cellulitis and what may contribute to it. I know that immune deficiency can (high ANA titer for 5 years). I'm open to suggestions.

Best argument I've seen for writing a person up at the time of an infraction. Without dated documentation, the meeting will be she said/she said.

I did join AWHONN even though I'm no where close to being in L&D yet. And I do have two years of med-surg experience, although it's been 10 years (hence the refresher course). Thanks for your feedback. It's really helpful.

I've been to the ANA website. Not very user friendly. I've never heard a single representative of the ANA on the news, in print, anywhere. Kind of a depressing situation. Maybe it's time to get more involved, and that's another problem. Nurses are so drained by the kind of work they do, it's really hard to find the energy to be an activist.