jrussole

Thank you for sharing! This is what I am talking about. It goes on everyday. Nurses are abused and it has to stop.

Confidence? You have a calling. It obvious. Look at what you have accomplished thus far. It's not easy being a single mother. Going to work. Going to school. And being "Mommy". Your strength lyes in your childs eyes. You are a terrific role model. And you'll probably make a wonderful nurse. Keep the faith.

Thanks Victoria. We were childhood friends. Grew up on the same street. It caused a rift between all of us. It has been 18 years since I had to make that difficult choice. And its around Christmastime that I think of her. She runs a health club now of all things. I can only wish that she too finds the courage to be a friend when a friend is in need. It is important to confront a friend when you may see something that you fear for them. Even at the risk of losing them, forever. She is alive today, maybe because I played a small part in helping her realize her disease and forcing the issue for treatment.

I can understand what you must be going thru. It is a tough decision. You do give up your life while in nursing school. At least, I did. You have to be 100% committed to prosper in anything you do to advance yourself career wise. Nursing school is only the beginning of learning. Nursing itself is a commitment to lifetime learning. Sometimes rewarding, sometimes not. It will give you rewards that you could never imagine. Its a tough world out there and nursing is not an exception to the rule. If anything, you have to work twice as hard in order to gain respect. I believe it is mainly due to it being a female dominent profession. Because if it were male dominated, we would retire in 20 years. Get paid better. Be respected more. Have our own billing system and not be placed with general hospital maintanence fee's, etc. Nurses could bill directly for our services. Like a physical therapist. I don't want to discourage you. But it is a big commitment. And the profession is far from perfect. It is getting better day by day. But it hasn't gotten a whole heck of alot better since I started 25 years ago. After 25 years, I still work my tail off everyday at work. Somedays are rewarding while others are my worst nightmare. I suppose you take the bad with the good and hope tomorrow it will be enough. You have gotten thus far, what you have to consider is if your up to the challenge? It isn't going to be easy. But nothing worth venturing is. Give it your best. You have everything to gain and really nothing to lose. You can always go back to pushing papers for a living, if that is what you do now. No nurse no matter what area of the profession has it easy. We all work our tail off, everyday.

Yes, this is an old post. But workplace violence occurs to nurses everyday. And not much is done about it. I worked with this MD, who was having a difficult time with a procedure. So he flung an IV syringes across the room in anger. It almost hit another nurse, who actually lost it. She began to scream at him. She reported him, but nothing was done. Administration probably didn't do a thing. He brings money into the hospital. The nurse quit that day. Never to return. She felt victimized by the MD and the hospital. He still flings things across the room that are bloody to this day when he is angry and NO ONE does anything about it.

When my kids were little school nursing prn was good for me. I was able to keep an eye on them and be there to pick them up and drop them off, etc. The pay was terrible. The respect was also terrible. But I suppose you have to take the good with the bad in any given situation of work. At least, I could go home everyday and feel like I didn't miss out on anything with my children at the time. Most of all, I didn't have a babysitter telling me any "firsts" that the kids may have done that day. I was there, after school. I didn't have to leave at 6am and come home at 8pm while they were already for bed or asleep upon my arrival. I suppose its a trade off. If you can swing it financially. It worked for me when they were little.

I once had a friend who was bulemic. Most of our "group" of friends knew about it, yet never did anything about it. To this day, I sort of feel bad about 'ratting' her out to her family once she confided in me. She doesn't speak to me to this very day because of it. But she was vomiting blood. It was at a dangerous level and someone had to do something. She is alive and well today. She was forced to get treatment after I made that phone call to her mother. It may have cost me a friendship because of it. But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel that I saved her life because of making a difficult choice. Maybe oneday, she will realize how much I loved her. And then again, maybe not. I tried to tell her myself. But she was not hearing my concerns at the time. I was a friend to her. I loved her, still do. And atleast I know that I tried everything I could think of before calling her mother to help her. Someone had to do it. And I suppose it was me who had the courage and paid the price for it.

Rica, Hope you are feeling better. It is probably related to the GERD. I had the same problem years ago. I would go to work with a lump in my throat because I hated it so much. The stress wasn't worth it. Once I left that position, the symptoms almost immediately ceased. I now work prn in the ICU. My husband has great benefits though. So I am willing to do without vacation time, etc. Sometimes, when you under a great deal of stress you need to evaluate if its worth the aggravation. For me, it was the job. So I eliminated the problem and the symptoms of a lump in my throat and GERD disappeared. It also opened up more opportunities for me. Which in the end, was well worth leaving a job that I was very unhappy in and finding something that was more fulfilling. Closing doors, opens others.

In my situation, I called the police. I made a statement, I tried to press charges. I tried seeking legal representation. Nothing was done. The patient assaulted me. He was a known sex offender. They sent two of us, anyway to his home for a homecare visit. If anything, they made me feel more victimized at the time. And to this very day, I tell everyone I know about what happened. When it comes to a nurse being assaulted by a patient, nothing is done. Patients continually get away with it. And this needs to stop. We take enough crap from eachother. We don't need it from patients and or the places we work for to boot. It's a crime to assault someone. Whether it be verbal or physical. Just because we are nurses doesn't make it ok for someone, anyone to abuse us, ever.

Plus, working prn you don't have to deal with all of the **** that goes on a daily basis. Nurses can be pure evil people. With prn, you do your shift, work your tail off and say goodbye till next time. You don't have to deal with all of the attitudes. All of the nuses that are on their mighty "I'm better than you, crap" etc, on a daily basis. They are just insecure people who wish to lash out on others to make themselves feel and look better due to their own insecurities. PRN is far better. If you don't need the benefits, it's worth it.

Why are you people jumping all over my case? Why can't you be civil? I made a err and omitted "general", excuse me. That is the problem with nurses most of us are so busy to jump down someone's throat for a comment or an opinion. I don't need to be corrected. If this person received a cut without anesthesia whether it be general or local it is still an incident and needs to be reported. No one should ever be subjected to such pain. And yes, most women would undergoe the pain in order to save their baby. But that is another discussion, isn't it. Your replies to my answer were without question, offensive to me. Stop being know it alls! I can't stand nurses like you. You took my words, screwed around with them and turned them inside out. And for what reason? Do you feel superior now?

I don't think we have received the whole picture of the incident. Because if she wasn't given a local, wasn't given pain medication in any manner, than it would be a reportable incident.

My best experience at being a nurse, it's hard to pick just one. I suppose when an elderly patient during his last breath called me his angel. He thanked me for helping him through it. I simply cried my eyes out after that one. My worst experience at being a nurse, it's hard to pick just one. I suppose when an elderly patient put his hand down the back of my pants while I wasn't looking. I was on the phone with his MD. Nasty old man! I stood up and he came at me again. I put my hand up to stop him from coming toward me. The MD still on the phone. The MD asked to speak with the patient, after that the patient sat in his chair and I ran out of the house, crying ofcourse! Later the MD apologized to me stating that he and the agency didn't inform the nurses about the patient's previous assault charges on women in the past. That he had a long history of trying to touch women in the street, etc. I just don't know how they could have overlooked something like this!

I believe you are all right here. There is no nursing shortage. There are plenty of nurses. There aren't plenty of nurses willing to work on a short staffed unit. I agree with mandated staffing terms placed upon all hospitals. Nursing services should be billed independently. We are a profession not an item like soap and IV supplies. Then and only then will our services be recognized and valued within a hospital setting. And not short changed as far as staffing concerns because unit managers want to meet their quota.

Most mothers that I have come in contact with are pretty good with their children. I believe it is important to note that if you feel the mother is going to be irrational or inflict fear into the child, it might be best to ask the mother to step aside or into the corner of the room where the child may not be able to see her face, etc. I usually calmly explain that her fear are going to reflect upon her child negatively. Whereby, a negative outcome can and will probably develop. If they continue to be irrational. I let the MD handle it. People usually respond better to MD anyway. I suppose they feel its ok to mistreat a nurse but not speak to a MD in the same manner? Even tho the nurse is probably much more skilled at putting an IV in than a MD. *(We get more practice) especially with kiddos!