Nancy45

I have felt this low at work before but it does pass. I think it may be related to new situation which has knocked you down, and also family situation at the same time. I have worked agency too. One thing I notice is some places you are considered a terrific nurse and other places question your basic ethics. I have gotten over being insulted (written up for visiting medscape). You may not be able to find the strength to continue now, but if you have been doing this for three years you have experience already and I am SURE you would be a great instructor if you want to. All some of my instructers did during clinicals was talk at the nurses station! Also, now that my family is grown I can't believe how much easier everything is. Two of my sons are in nursing school. I guess I influenced them more than I thought! Don't worry! Whatever you decide this time, there are plenty more opportunities to come.

I recently had this problem at work. The person I worked with was loud, intimidating, questioned my judgement and belittled. She even came over and changed orders on my patients. Also I heard on the grapevine, called me "stupid" Well! As I am not a new RN, I proved her wrong everytime. I went to my supervisor, ADON, Don. They all said I should confront her, which I did. But the atmosphere remained tense and she still critisized (not just me). They also did not address the things she was doing wrong, i.e. giving all the meds at one time!! Since I still felt I could have handled things better somehow, I started researching and found the book "The Gentle Art of Verbal self-defense, by S. Elgin. This Is a great book, with information I wish I had learned in high school as the author suggests. I did find another position, and also will read and reread this book until I can defend myself and still not be "tough?" Hope this helps.

Sorry for the long absence. I did a lot of digging. Finally I was told the Don doesn't want to get a dermatologist involved because we'd be reported. So the NP is treating the residets with lotrisone and atarax!!! She says when this doesn't work she well take the list and give it to the DON to make her take action. Well... I'm not giving it much longer, I found another bit of red rash and scabs on another resident today. A CNA was reporting a bruise ( we have to fill out a six page incident report for bruises, new wounds or skin tears) and I saw the patch. So did the woman's daughter. Most of the nurses are just rolling their eyes and making loud jokes because they are now aware of the problem and very frustrated. I know this is not going on much longer because it's in the open. We're charting on everything and showing the Dr. all the rashes. Well, thank for giving me the confidence so I could start the word rolling. I'm a float so I always seem to be stepping on toes when I go after long term problems that haven't been addressed. But I love to fix people up. You know?

Ah. thank you very much for the info. I really need to get to the bottom of it because I can't just watch them itch. And it did cross my mind that if word got out , we would definitely lose residents. I can't decide if I should stay at this facility where they really need me or go somewhere where somebody has a clue. Ha ha. There are some really good people here, mostly on nights. Thanks again, I'm going to the websites now.

thanks for your reply adrienurse. I just asked the laundry people, they have not changed anything this year. The lesions are all over, chest, back, lower legs on some people, scalp on one lady. This really is a mystery. I see a lot of people have seen my post but only one reply. I will talk again tomorrow with the DON about a dermatologist!

The LTC facility I am working at has at least 7 residents who are itchy and actually have scabs from scratching! They have been treated with elimite, methylprednisolone, atarax & hydrocortisone. This is driving me crazy, not to mention the poor residents. I have called the Dr. repeatedly and talked to the ADON & DON. They don't seem very concerned. They haven't had anyone consult a dermatologist. Tomorrow, I am going to the DON again as I think this terrible and must be resolved somehow. All the scabies skin scrapes turned out negative. Anyone have further insights?