RN-PA RN

I'm considering taking medication for a period as I cope with stress and increasing anxiety related to nurse-to-patient ratios on our med-surg unit and to our hospital going on line with computer documentation in just over a week-- not to mention Chr...

I work part-time on a med-surg unit and receive pay for sick days and vacation days. I accrue the time very slowly, regardless of the number of hours I work beyond my 5 days per pay period (2 weeks). I get around 76 hours of paid vacation which is cl...

I'm locked into a "pattern", certain days I work every week. It doesn't allow for much flexibility, but I can make plans 10 years in advance. :)

I don't know how you're getting any of your own work done since you're doing much of what our PCT's are doing on my med-surg unit. I have 5-6 patients and the two PCTs have 12, sometimes 14 patients apiece if we're full. They start our 3-11 shift get...

I always tell my patients to take a deep breath right before I jab the needle in them. Then as I'm injecting the med, I tell them to breathe out. If I'm giving an IM in the buttocks, I add to the deep breath: "wiggle your toes!"

#1- Direct admit LOL: Exacerbation COPD. #2- POD #2, prostatectomy: progressing well. #3- POD #2, total vag hyster with bladder sling: better urine output and pain management today. #4- POD #5, sigmoid resection, NPO-- good bowel sounds and flatus. W...

Barely out of report and hand-irrigating 3-way Foley with CBI for many clots; repeat numerous times over next 8 hours; call doc 3 times for orders. Replace cath with another #24FR cath. Still clotting frequently. CT scan results = probably cancer, OR...

I wrote about this on Allnurses a while ago, but I still have to say one of my best moments in Med Surg came about as a result of caring for a young female patient who was admitted with a kidney infection. She returned to our unit six months later an...

I'm sorry, but that's just crazy that your hospital expects you to float to med-surg! As a med-surg nurse, I wouldn't feel the least bit comfortable-- or safe!-- if I was pulled to L&D and asked to do all that you've been trained extensively to d...

Sunday, 1445-2315 shift: 1.) S/P colon resection, new colostomy, progressing well. 2.) LOL O2-dependent, CHF- Many med questions. 3.) LOL with pneumonia. 4.) Admission: rhabdomyolysis, admitted then transferred to private room-- "R/O C Diff". 5....

We have admission nurses and I agree with what Thunderwolf said, " I value the admit nurse greatly...almost to the point of worship." Our unit clerk kids me that I have the admission nurse on speed-dial, so I can contact her the minute I hear I'm get...

Thanks for asking what would be helpful to us med-surg nurses in a transfer report. I'm someone who likes MORE information rather than LESS, whether I'm getting report from the previous shift on our unit, or from the ED, ICU, or from wherever the pat...

We had a staff meeting yesterday where two representatives of the RRT gave an update on the RRT which I think was initiated within the past 3 months. They said that the RRT members for that shift (ours only runs from 1900-0700 at this point) are dete...

I frequently administer Protonix 40 mg IV (in 50 ml NSS) to patients, and when it first came out a while back, we had to change IV tubing with each Protonix piggyback we hung and it also came with its own filter. It couldn't be mixed with any solutio...

I call 'em "Floor-Kisser" shifts. I get home from work, get down on my hands and knees, and kiss the floor, THANKFUL to be safe at home away from the chaos and craziness. A nice bowl of ice cream often helps, too.

WOW-- that's interesting. If I get a chance this weekend, I'll ask one of our pharmacists if IV push Protonix is in the wings for us, too. Only drawback would be that the LPN's wouldn't be able to give it and it'd be one more med we'd have to push fo...

Congratulations on becoming an RN, Shawnette! I also thought I could never work med-surg after negative experiences during clinicals, but I ended up liking it for the same reasons you do: the variety of patients and all there is to learn and experien...

They may attract people but many won't stay once they experience the working conditions.

Administration at my hospital is planning to make us a "Universal Beds" hospital in a year or so. I work part-time on a med-surg unit, and the plans are to make more beds in the hospital telemetry-capable. On our 30-bed med-surg unit which has an on...

Good question-- I have no idea and hope someone will answer. I have a friend who used to work with us as a Unit Clerk with no background or training in the medical field and she's now a Unit Clerk/Monitor Tech at another hospital. I can't really imag...

You and some others have mentioned monitor techs, but as far as I've heard, we won't be using them. It seems like it'll be tough to keep an eye/ear on monitors while I'm running around (as usual) caring for a variety of patients. Also, you're very fo...

I'm not sure what it'll be called. It's supposed to be implemented in the next 6 months and what you quoted from my post is all I know about it so far. I know management and the committee working on computerized MAR's has considered various methods t...

We're taking a 3-day course at a university hospital and then taking an exam to be able to administer chemo, so it should be safe; the problem is that we don't get a lot of inpatient chemotherapy patients-- Most are going to our outpatient infusion d...

Hi Anna! What Cheerfuldoer expresses above is exactly what was going through my mind as I read your post. I've never been too great about receiving criticism and when you're being oriented, your preceptor needs to sometimes criticize-- constructively...

We also have handwritten MAR's at my hospital, but are going computerized within the next year. I don't mind the handwritten MAR's-- they're what I've always known, but the handwriting can sometimes be pretty bad. If I run into something that could b...