doubleplay

I guess I don't understand that it cuts out on call lights. What is the difference in going to the room when the call light goes off and going to the room when you round, both are a visit to the room. You should count all the visits rounding just like you would count all of the call light visits. 5 patients, 12 hr shift, equals 60 visits plus call light visits. That does not sound like a time saver to me.

We have 5 patients at night, no tech, no unit clerk and really no charge nurse. We do all the admissions also.

Good for you!!! The hospital doesn't care about you so you did the right thing and told them what they could do with that kind of job. I don't know what it is going to take for these hospitals to give a dang!!!

If your bills are so much that you can not have a day a week off, your bills are too high. You might want to see a financial counselor to help you find ways to save money. This might take the pressure off of you to then relax and find something you enjoy doing. I work on a med surg floor and it is easy to dislike.

The pay is OK, but you can get called off a lot. I would say get a job as a tech and see what you think.

We got a zipp up jacket with the hospital name on it and a free meal.

I work med/surg and it is terrible. I do feel that some day I will find a job that I like but this isn't it. I don't mind being busy but you should have time to think. I really feel like I am just a tech. We have no unit clerk or tech at night so most of the time is spent answering the phone, call lights and cleaning up people that are incontinent. There is nothing wrong with this but do you need all of the school work to do this? I had a patient tell me last week that it was unfair that he would have to stay in the hospital longer because we did not have the staff to walk him as much as he felt that he needed walked. What do you say to that when he is right? I guess the post is "Am I crazy because I love med/surg?". Well if you are staffed the way you should be then no, but that is RARELY the case.:angryfire

We do not have a UC at night so we put the orders in, but the question is what to do about your UC? You need to hand her the orders and have her do the job she is paid to do. If she doesn't get things done then you need to go to your boss and let them know what is going on. They are paid to do a job and that is that. How mad do you need to get before you stop letting them push you around? I hope the time is near when the doctors put their own orders in. The handwriting that we are expected to read is a joke and is the dirty little secret that no one will address.

How do you do paper work on 10, 11 or 12 patients?

We just started to round. The problem I have is that we tape report so by the time the nurses listen to the taped report on all 18 patients it is time for our shift to be over. They come out of report and then you have to find out who has your patients which is always a combination of 2 to 3 different nurses. You then have to wait in line to take your nurse to the room for introductions. heaven help you if you still have paperwork to finish or the patient really needs to go to the bathroom because we do not have techs.

webmansx, why are you switching if you know it will be harder???

The hospital that I work at told all the LPNs that they would no longer be used as LPNs but as techs. They was also told that if they stayed they would receive a pay cut over the next three years until they made the same as the techs do. Great place to work!!!

I make a check list out of the main things that I have to get done by the end of the shift. This is a copied list that I have for each patient, anything other than the main things I add to the list as I go. I just make sure at the end of the day I have checked everything off or at least told the next shift about to have them finish up.

Does anyone now or ever worked in a VA hospital?

You must be crazy to leave a teaching job to be a nurse. Your husband didn"t want you to change careers for a reason. Let me be honest, there is nothing fun about being a nurse. I guess if you enjoy helping to lift 300 lb patients and then spending the next half hour cleaning them up from a bowel movement fun, then you will have a blast. The hospital is run by people whose only job is to make money. This will put you at the short end of the stick. Enjoy your summers off and have a good time with the kids.