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!

I can tell you that I tried apheresis. I didn't mind the learning aspect of it. What bothered me was my preceptor. He didn't eat the whole 12 hour shift. He expected me to go all day without a break to eat. Honestly, I couldn't handle not eating for 12 hours. Maybe some of you can, but hypoglycemia is not my cup of tea! I believe if I had a half normal preceptor, I would still be in the profession today. I like it. But his training was unreasonable and hazardous to patients if your not 100% on top of things. Without food, we don't have enough fuel to operate right. He was unreasonable to expect me to go that long without eating. Isn't there a law somewhere related to this matter? I wonder?

If the anethesiologist is not available- we wait until one is. Never has an MD delivered a baby in our facility that I know of without them. It increases the OB MD's responsibility if something occurs. Most MD's aren't going to risk delivering a baby in such as manner. Sounds pretty horrific. If anything, a dose of Fentanyl and Morphine might due to trick.

Anesthsia isn't used normally during C-section. Only if the epidural doesn't work and the patient continues to experience pain. At least in our facility. The patient even walks into the OR, receives a dose of pain medication thru her epidural line or the epidural line is inserted at that time. Most of the time, mothers want to be awake during the birth of the baby. Therefore, anesthsia is not the option of choice during c-section delivery. A local is not used in this event. It is not necessary, except for the implantation of the epidural catheter.

I suppose working as a new grad and prn will be a challenge, no matter where you would work. It would only be beneficial if you were allowed an adequate training period. But I have never worked in LTC. And when I was an LPN we worked the same as RN's. Actually, the LPN's were the ones who gave the meds while the RN's gave the treatments in the hospital. So alot has changed in 25 years of nursing for me. Once I became an RN, I found there were no boundries as far as what I could do or wanted to do. For me, med/surg sucked big time. 10:1, days, come on! I worked like a mule. Now in the ICU, 2:1 is a much better ratio. They may be sicker, and you need to know your stuff. But I no longer feel like a mule, that's for sure.

Hi, my girlfriend Carol took the Regents classes online. She was previously a teacher, but wanted to become a nurse. It took her two years and then she was a nurse, with an ASN. I think it is a more practical way of affording college, especially if you have children at home. Honestly, you don't really learn the real stuff until you are out there working anyway. You learn the basics in nursing school. I don't think you need a certain GPA to get in. And I believe you can transfer quite a few credits in the program. If I were you, I would look into it.

Is there any type of treatment that can irradicate a certain gene that one has genetically been predisposed to ?

Catwoman! You cracked me up with the photo of Hannah! LOL And yes! This post was from 2004. Sorry. I just had to reply after so much time. I was wondering about her. I am glad things were resolved for her and that her school backed her up as well as the hospital. And I no longer feel as a RN mule. Where I am now, I am valued and respected. Something I should have received in the first place. :uhoh3:

Hi, Its been awhile since I last visited this great site! I wonder how the nursing student ended up? I hope she's ok!?! Anyway, as far as my case- I did go to the Harrison, NY police department and reported the incident. No one has ever gotten back to me in regard to it. As a matter of fact, when I reported it, they looked at me as if, "Lady, this sort of thing happens all the time"! To tell you the truth, if it would have happened to me 10 years ago, my natural reaction would have been to flatten him right on the floor! I was never known to be a push over, and being raised in Yonkers NY- I suppose I learned how to protect myself pretty well if I need to..... Well, nothing ever happened in my particular case. No one has ever called me in regard to it, either. Just because I am a nurse, doesn't mean that a Home Care Company can send a nurse out without letting them know of the particular dangers with a particular patient, etc. Especially when they sent out a little girl the next day (CNA) to care for him and it happens again! They should be ashamed of themselves! You know who you are. And if anyone ever asks me about working for you, I will tell them! Run! Because you obviously didn't worry about the safety of your personnel. Just remember, what goes around comes around eventually...... You should have provided us an escort. So shame on you!

jc: Thanks for the info. Still Riding is a nursing student. How will or would this apply to her? It wouldn't be a workman's compensation case if she is a nursing student. To All: If that would have happened to me during nursing school, I know that the school would have found a way of getting rid of me fast. Calling me a troublemaker or whistle blower, etc for wanting justice. No one, no matter where you work or who you work with should ever be allowed to touch you in any manner shape or form! Back in my years of college, if you didn't fit the Florence Nightengale "look and persona" you didn't get to the next semester. Things may or maynot have changed since I went to nursing school. But there was quite a bit of discrimination when and where I went. If you weren't white, pretty and in shape they found a way to rid themselves of you at my school. My Nursing School Administrative Staff had a problem with me because I was a military wife. I waited 2 years before being accepted into the Nursing Program. So, as a nurse I have found discrimination right from the get go in Nursing. They looked at me as a person who would eventually leave the state and not be beneficial to their states nursing shortage! Even though my husband was stationed and fighting in the Persian Gulf for them! There was a war before the war, you know. Just because we are nurses are we to subject ourselves over and over again to violence, discrimination and be victimized by society and our employers? No wonder there is a nursing shortage. If I were to do it all over again, I don't think I would have went into nursing, honestly. I would have gone into Law! I have seen so much over the years in my profession. I don't recommend a nursing career to anyone that I may meet. Things have to change in this profession before I recommend anyone into it. My profession it isn't about caring any longer. It's about getting the job done in the fastest possible manner with little or no time for actual wholistic nursing. Nurses who cut corners or are apathetic in the workplace usually are the ones that prosper. Ok, I must be getting narcissitic or something here. Maybe it is because after 20 years of nursing, being sexually assaulted by a patient, fired from my job because of it, being called Unprofessional, etc may have something for me to complain about here! To the nursing student.......... You appear to be a person of intelligence and good nature. Go into law and change the way Nurses are treated in the workplace. We aren't mules. I believe anyone who works on a medical/surgical unit may from time to time believe they are treated as "simple" nursing mules. I worked ICU after medical/surg. I increased my knowledge base and skills to avoid feeling like a mule. I went into homecare for flexibility around raising children, while continuing to work per diem in the ICU (to keep my skills up and the money was better). To tell you the truth, their wasn't much flexibility in homecare. Atleast where I had worked. They had our nurses work 7 straight days when scheduled for weekends. No overtime pay involved. They told us that the nurses who worked the weekend before have first dibbs on days off that particular week. Sure comp days came that Monday and Tuesday following a seven day work week. Or you could get paid and continue to mule for the week. Not much of a choice if you ask me. So the hardworking nurses would work straight thru or take their comp days when scheduled the next following week. Now how efficient would you be as a mule working 7 seven straight days? How apathetic would you be when a patient needs some extra time and tlc? After seven straight days, I just looked forward to finishing the tasks at hand and going home to my family who missed me. To tell you the truth. I was always Professional. And I resent the fact that after being sexually assaulted by a patient, that the DON and Supervisor weren't supportive. And the fact that they must not have trusted my complaints by sending a poor uneducated HHA in the next morning to verify that this said patient was "handy with his hands"!!!!!! I was a liability that needed extinction as far as they were concerned. So, I am back in a formal nursing environment, in the ICU. And more than Happy to be there. It just took a phone call. In homecare, I have seen nurses going out on Call all hours of the night. Without proper directions to very ill patients who probably should not have been discharged from the hospitals to begin with. For many years, I just went with the flow of it all. Now that I am older, finanically secure and have a stable homelife, with husband and children in tow, nursing is secondary in my life. My family and well being come first. And if given the opportunity, I would go back to college and begin Law School and fight more diligently for Nurses. Now, any of you are entitled to not agree with the aforementioned. All I ask of you who don't agree with me is to work one day on a medical surgical unit. Maybe say, on a Monday. Then you can come back to me and disagree. But I doubt you will. Just call up your local staffing agency, sign up and go to work probably the next day once you mention the fact that you are willing to work med/surg. Once you have 10 patients during a day shift to take care of, no aide or maybe sharing one aide between 3 nurses, 3 discharges and 2 admissions than come and lets talk. Nursing student: If you really want to continue nursing school after they treated you in this manner, all I can say is find another school. Go straight thru to the highest level of nursing you can afford. Professional speaking, your PhD and or MSN atleast. Or you may feel like me in 20 years of being the mule. May the roads rise to meet you. May the wind be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rain fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Thing is I am really emotional hurt by all of this. I have found myself being a recluse the past week. I believe I have too much time on my hands this week. So I have been making appointments for interviews, etc. Getting my paperwork together for the return to the old stomping ground of my ICU position in the hospital. I have been trying to keep my thoughts together. My brother is a lawyer and states that this is a civil suit. I will feel better with the knowledge that the dirty old man is either put in prison or a lock down facility so that no one else becomes a victim. Psychosis or not, no one is ever going to get away with touching me without my consent. I have a heart of gold but I am no dummy! The homecare agency may think of me as a troublemaker NOW! I shall perservere. I am a strong person who won't lye down and cry myself to sleep over this. I am in the flight or fight response and I believe I am winning! I look forward to the day to perform my nursing talents again. Saving a life, holding a hand, struggling with burn care because I am able to withstand much and have endured a great deal in my profession. Nursing isn't an easy path, but it is a definately a rewarding one. For that poor girl that was assaulted by that patient. Don't be afraid, fight for justice. We need you. Thought for Today "You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you." --Ruth Smeltzer