RunningWithScissors

top of scale is $30 in central MO

Be aware that being a lawyer may actually impede your prospects for nursing employment. Many nurse managers are fearful of their own jobs and see competent nurses as threats to their positions, thinking everyone else wants out of bedside nursing (the...

I am on a cardiac progressive care unit where we start and monitor drips and patients who "minor code" on the general floors come here; we have 5-6 patients on days, 6-7 on nights with 1-2 patient care techs for 32 beds. Sucks but nobody is hiring ou...

2 things: First, you got it wrong about the tax on employers' coverage; starting in 2013, you will see on your W2 a box with the employers' contribution to your health plan, and in 2014 (I believe this is the right year) YOU will be taxed on that con...

That feeling of wanting to quit never goes away. Very few of the nurses I have worked with over the 30+ years have actually loved their job. Most are looking for something else to do and move on. Bedside nursing plain sucks, and it's only getting wor...

How would you feel if you were in the midst of a code in the hospital and a visitor walked up and started taking over cpr, saying "I am a paramedic and I can help"? Do not interfere with rescue services on the street. Same thing.

Our cardiac stepdown unit has a ratio of 1:6 on days, 1:7 on nights; if census drops someone goes home and gets called back in when admssions arrive. We start antiarrhythmic drips, admit patients from emergency codes on other floors, staff the code t...

Since when??? Employers have no reponsibility to train a new nurse, only to orient that person to the policies of that institution. They are spending lots of $$ to train you, and the salary reflect that. I applaud MSG for taking the initiative to do ...

Our staffing level last fall was decreased to where when we are full (30 beds) we can only staff with 5 nurses and 2 nursing assistants. Since then, we have had several instances of elderly people falling because the staff members are spread so thin,...

I would not want to be beholden to any organization, certainly the government, for 10 years, for ANY benefit. I cherish my freedom to work/do what I want. I would PAY extra not to have to live by someone else's rules.

Trust your instincts. Forget that job. You have your license, you have achieved your goal. That doesn't mean you have to work in a hospital in a job you despise. You have learned what you have set out to. If you proceed with starting this job, it wi...

The way I see it, most if not all of nursing's mindless paperwork compliance problems rest with JCAHO, an organization which makes rules for bedside care, yet is comprised of a bunch of business people, not even healthcare people. (can you SHOW that ...

My guess is that if this lady's heart WAS to stop, the family would rescind the DNR and demand a code.

Wow. Sounds like this is going on everywhere. No wonder the new grads are having a hard time finding work, there are just so many positions that have been slashed, not the need for nurses like there used to be. And only the more experienced/older nur...

Then stop reading it. Kudos to the OP who many months ago began this discussion. I am enjoying it, except for the occasional unintelligable ramblings of a few. (whatthef, if you have to get lost in your own verbage you are obviously trying too hard t...

Is that the tunnel that has been under construction for like over a decade and still nowehere near completed?

I had a completely alert and oriented elderly man who came from home living alone ask both me and the tech to "wash my balls". Of coarse if we didn't comply we would be admonished for not giving excellent care.....

I have long thought about how expensive it would be if electricians and plumbers had to document every wire or hose used and explain why they chose that particular item and diagnosis for the problem, but also needed an order from the company before t...

I saw an episode of "I shouldn't be alive" last week where they had a plane crash and some chick runs around saying "I'm a nurse I'm a nurse" tending to major gashes and head wounds and then she runs off into the jungle with 2 others leaving the inju...

If you have to punch a clock and wear a uniform, you ARE a laborer. Simple. Also, what "profession" do you know of has to leave the office early with a cut in pay for the day if work is slow?

Thank you. Why have we come to expect warm fuzzies every time we encounter the healthcare business? Honestly, even though the person performing the test may be smiling, it is doubtful he actually cares personally about you. You are the customer of th...

Next shift, look around at your patient population. Very few of them are NOT medicare recipients, and as far as I know, Medicare pay your way to ANY hosptial (JCAHO accredited), so this insurance argument is really of little consequence. It is the o...

Management on my unit regularly admits when scores are talked about that the surveys are most likely NOT filled out by the patient themself, but a family member. Which is why we bend over backward to accomodate not only patient requests but also fam...

I am tied of these same old excuses! I think people in general have become more disrespectful of each other and we not only take the brunt of it, but management tells us that we MUST take it to improve our customer service scores!!!

Wow. I always suspected this, though, but after so many years in nursing, there is little else one is qualified to do skill-wise, so you're kind of trapped. Sucks.