aainme

i went to school in fla and right after i started nsg school my ex left and took all the money and closed the bank accts....they had a displaced homemaker program in fla and it payed for all my school and books and such..if not for that program i don't know what i would have done...but he left me 15,000 in debt and i payed that off in two years after graduation and i had enough to support myself and my daughter....just keep moving ahead....do what ever you have to do to graduate....the strong will survive:yeah:

I have signed up with an agency to do prn work in california from lousiana a week or two every month. I have talked to some other people that say i can go on staff in a northern california hospital and do self scheduling 12 to 16 hr shifts and this works also and the pay is higher.....I have no idea how this works....Any other nurses that have info for me please let me know......

we also just changed to navy uniforms...new CEO ...same old problems... short staffed...cutting hours....total upheavel....but we all are in uniform now....there are 6 shades of navy...we all never match the tops pants and coats.... we can't even wear white with the navy...just total navy blue....after the shift ends in the icu...we look like we have rolled in dirt......oh well....some things never change......it's always something:lol2:

having worked in a few places in the country, i have never been asked about my graduation from a community college....the only thing anyone ever asked for was my nursing license....when you have your RN the how and where is not important....i have met people that think graduation from an expensive school is prefered....that is just crazy, all nursing schools have a pass/fail ratio, if the nurses can't pass the nclex they will be forced to shut down the program.... good luck on your classes, we need lots of new nurses

This may sound crazy but for a year my foot was so painful ...i dragged around everywhere in pain....i started using muzino running shoes and i swear the day i started to wear the shoes my foot had no pain as long as i had the shoes on....after a few weeks of working and wearing the shoes my foot actually started to feel better even in regular shoes....i gave up my wonderful danskos(4 different colors,,,lol) and have invested in muzinos for work.... i did go to a specialty store and was fitted properly .......never had another pain

i think there are days when we have good patients and bad families and days with bad patients and good families..... and really bad.... is bad patient...bad family.....it is the days with good patient and good families that are so refreshing.....we had a patient in the icu that had a right necrotic stump after a bka.... three necrotic toes on the left....infected old dialysis femoral site...infected new site on the leg with the necrotic stump...she arrived with all this.....and the family was concerned with a small skin tear on the arm.....go figure:uhoh21:

nurse lou good luck on the job hunt....my manager decided after all the fuss to keep our new grad on days for a month to give her a bit of experience before putting her on nights....this is a dangerous world out there for nurses...we work so hard for our license and in one moment we can be in a crazy situation and lose everything we worked for.......

thanks for the input.....that was my suggestion...to keep her on days as a second nurse for a month when the manager was there so she could see her work and be there for a bad day, as a extra pair of hands...that is something we on nights do not have..i think the thing that scared me the most is that the manager saw no problem putting her on nights alone with one experienced nurse and thought that we on the night shift were making a big deal about nothing....go figure

in a 6 bed icu that usually has 4-6 patients.... we work 2 nurses most nights and can have the unit fill before morning...the manager has a new grad...just passed boards and wants to put her as a second nurse on nights...i am scared...and question the decision...i need input thanks

i spoke to ER yesterday....they would not agree to hold 2 patients if we filled up...so we would have to handle all 6 beds with the new grad if we were busy......i have to say last night was a night from $$#@... just what we are all afraid of....we had two patients to start.....both on vents...one coded earlier on m/s unit she was on levophed and having constant seizures.... bp 70-80's.... and looked terrible....the other patient was chillin on the vent...... then a new admit, 44 y/o male ....chest pain on tridil.......15 min after that admit, call from er........gi bleed.....drinker......vomiting blood and rectal bleed....gi md on the way to scope..... we were told we have to have patient transfered to icu and be ready to scope in 30 min.....and get and hang ffp before md arrives...... the other original patient who was chillin... bp 200/101...all at the same time.... we were running until 430 am and then had to bathe everyone....with two experienced nurses we had a hecktic night with only the 4 patients......please tell me how a new grad and i would have handled that?

That is something to think about....i know the ER would have a cow if we held patients...but....you are correct....6 patients is to dangerous even with 2 experienced nurses.....i am already looking for a new icu job....this may just be a reason to go elsewhere....work is abundant here...you don't have to except the unexceptable anymore....thanks for all the good advice....i am so grateful for this forum ......laura

i have to say that when the unit has 6 patients they staff us with three nurses...but....the problem is that when your shift starts at 7 pm and there are 4 patients in the unit and two nurses, anything can happen.....the codes on m/s, the direct admits from the other hospitals in the area with no icu and they come by ambulance crashing...... or just admits from the er.... once the shift starts there is no one to call in to help....there are times we have to bump out a patient to get in a more critical patient, that is when there are 6 patients and two nurses....it is these times we are crazy.....even with two nurses with plenty of experience the night can be more than you can handle....and we do the best we can in sometimes dangerous feeling situations...... we have had two people coding in the unit at the same time and the er dr at a code on m/s and the icu nurses had to run our own codes in two different rooms.....the whole thing is to scary.....i do feel that the new grad has no idea what could happen...only experience can show you that....i know these things don't come up every night....but we all know they do....and then what?

the first thing i did was express my concern to our manager....i also gave what i thought was an answer ...that she remain on days for few months as the second nurse where she would be able to get extra help from management while she was refining her skills.....i explained that we have no resources on nights to pull from if all %$#@ breaks loose....so.... i do feel i may need to change hospitals......the threat to my license looms over my head...

management decision on new grad permalink i just need some help with a management decision to place a new grad in our unit on the night shift.... we have a small unit only 6 beds...we usually work two nurses alone on the the night shift...we have been short handed and the manager hired a new grad right out of nursing school..... she has had a few months of orientation but failed her boards and had to work as a tech for 6 weeks until she could retest....she passed her boards a few weeks ago and will have three more weeks of orientation on days ...then she will work as the second nurse on the night shift with me......i have nothing personal against this new nurse....i am just uncomfortable working alone with a new grad in the icu....we have some very crazy nights there, as we are alone without the benifit of all the resources they have on days....( managers, extra resp people, techs).....to work with only two nurses we have to be very resourseful and be true team players to cope with some of the critical care patients that come in on the night shift....am i crazy to be so afraid? i think back on my first year of nursing and can see how difficult the transition was....i really learned how to be a nurse after i left school and worked on the floor....if this was a three person unit i would have no problem with this decision...that would be a good learning environment for her and there would be two experienced nurses to provide resource for her and care for the patients ...please help with advise....or your experiences, or just some new ideas for management.....thanks again

i just need some help with a management decision to place a new grad in our unit on the night shift.... we have a small unit only 6 beds...we usually work two nurses alone on the the night shift...we have been short handed and the manager hired a new grad right out of nursing school..... she has had a few months of orientation but failed her boards and had to work as a tech for 6 weeks until she could retest....she passed her boards a few weeks ago and will have three more weeks of orientation on days ...then she will work as the second nurse on the night shift with me......i have nothing personal against this new nurse....i am just uncomfortable working alone with a new grad in the icu....we have some very crazy nights there, as we are alone without the benifit of all the resources they have on days....( managers, extra resp people, techs).....to work with only two nurses we have to be very resourseful and be true team players to cope with some of the critical care patients that come in on the night shift....am i crazy to be so afraid? i think back on my first year of nursing and can see how difficult the transition was....i really learned how to be a nurse after i left school and worked on the floor....if this was a three person unit i would have no problem with this decision...that would be a good learning environment for her and there would be two experienced nurses to provide resource for her and care for the patients ...please help with advise....or your experiences, or just some new ideas for management.....thanks again

both my husband and i take lessons....it is a stress reducer....and we have so much fun...after a week of saving lives...LOL.... we love dancing and crusing...we find we can practice and then dance everynight of the cruise... i thought ballroom was just for old fogies.....but so many our age dance....we just focus on a few dances rather than get stressed out trying to learn so many....good luck...laura:monkeydance:

these are hard times for those of us in the trenches....we deal with violent patients ,violent and mean families and a board of nursing that holds nurses to a nonreality based standard.....we work hard everyday in the most extreme situations..... and violence in the workplace should never be tolerated....my husband was one of the male ER nurses charged with patient abuse for his handeling of a violent and combative patient during restraint placement...we have been thru hell and back...it cost us 30,000 to prove it was not patient abuse....when will we take a stand that in the comission of a felony whatever happens to a violent individual is their own fault.....or the patient out of control, the nurse needs to be free to use whatever force necessary to control the situation they find themsleves in... without the fear of the BON filing charges....what nurse goes to work to be involved with a situation like the one the OP was in? and God please tell me why we have to defend ourselves against what another nurse believes they saw.....we can be our own worse enemy... how about walk a mile in the others shoes instead of judging so harshly....to the OP, my prayers are with you....we have been in your place....my prayer for you is that the people around you will do the right thing........laura

i have been absent from this site because of all the things going on.... first you all must know....the BON is not a nurses friend.....they will twist and manipulate anything to make the case against a nurse stick....when they are thru with you, you will have a wound to your soul.....it is truly a life altering event....i do agree nurses need a board to look into nursing practice.... to keep the standards high....we all strive for that....i don't agree that they should be bullies and intimidate nurses into signing consent orders out of fear and lack of money.....this situation with my husband has cost us 20,000.00 to have a victory over the abuse charges against him..... the board will say they have "finding of Fact" at this point you have less rights than criminals........at this point you are already guilty and it is now up to you to prove your innocence....the fight to the full board costs 650.00 and hour for a trial, you have to pay their lawyers and your own lawyer...pay for all the witnesses and for us, they threatned us with another 20,000 in fines......how many single nurses support themselves and childern?....how could they ever fight the BON if their license was suspended.... no work...lost insurance.....the lawyer costs 450.00 an hour to defend them...God help you if you are innocent......what would happen to you if one day the mailman brought a letter saying your license was suspended...how would you feel to have your license suspended and the board never even spoke to you.... WELL....these are my "finding of facts" that what the board did to my husband was far worse than anything they accused him of.... when you have to lie, twist words and intimidate witnesses...how is that a finding of truth?....i do know that in life what goes around comes around.....that..... i take to heart....laura

Sheilagh....addiction to anything is cunning...no one ever sets out on that lonley path.. the bottom we hit is emotional, physical and spiritual.... the climb out is a day by day thing of always trying to do the next right thing... be grateful for each day clean and sober... one day turns into one month...one month into a year ....i look back at 20 years, 4months, 9 days......i use to think my life was over when i had to change and get clean and sober.......but i found that on that day my life really began....laura

this has been a struggle.... my husband decided to fight till the end ...what ever the outcome we will still be ok.... they still tried to pressure him to admit guilt....the last offer almost made him give in...but when is all said and done, he can live with fighting and losing but would have a hard time living with admitting something he didn't do laura

thanks for the reply....i can see from your posts that there is life after being brought before the board.....it just seems as if the world has stopped and we can't breathe.... the fear is gripping and physical..... i wonder if you all have any stories about violence in the workplace and if any have to do with restraint placement..... i will remember to keep asking.. God grant me the serenity....to except the things i can not change...the courage to change the things i can and the wisdom to know the difference....love to all laura

This is a scary story...my husband and i are both nurses...he in the ER and i am in the ICU.... there was a night that they had a confused and combative patient in the ER... i took 5 people to hold her down for a L.P...... positive for meningitis.......after that she calmed down and was sent to the ICU... during the transfer to the icu bed she woke up and became combative and trying to get out of the bed and hitting at the nurses.... my husband was trying to keep her in the bed and flat so the restraints that were ordered could be put on..... it was a rather wild scene ....... someone then called the board of nursing to report patient abuse..... well..... let me tell you it has been a nightmare..... his license has been suspended and a hearing is set for dec.... the board has bullied, tried to intimadate witnesses to change their testimony, rewritten witness statements and ask for them to sign the rewritten one they wrote..... we are amazed this can happen to good nurses..... one day you go to work...take care of your patients in what is some times a difficult situation and BAM your life is never the same.... it is also a sad state of affairs when fear rules the was you nurse... on any give day a nurse can be brought up in front of the BON.... ours is not a black and white profession....we work in areas of grey each day....... if we didn't love our patients there is not enought money in the world to make us do some of the things we have do every day...... sorry this was long.... i feel like i belong when i read the posts on this board.... feeling not alone in this craziness is a help.... any experiences with the board or words of wisdom would be welcome....thanks to all .....laura

thanks for the reply timothy.....i never knew it was such a threat to go in front of the board....i now have the nsg insurance, but for my husband it is to late for that....i encourage any nurse reading this to take heed and aquire insurance....our attny costs 450.00 an hour.... and no clue how many hours it will take to defend him.....love to all laura

thanks for the warm thoughts......yes my husband has a right to go before the board and fight for his license.....but he has to prove to them he did not use excessive force to handle the combative and confused patient ...the board stated "the allegation was of a serious nature and therefore he was a danger to the people of lousiana" so his license was suspended until the hearing in dec..... yes, we can take a plea....but that states he is guilty of battery on a patient.... this is just not true.... we also believe that this story needs to be told to other nurses... because my husband is a truly kind and gentle soul...and if this could happen to him, it could happen to anyone of us....it is so scary....i find myself almost crippled in my practice in the ICU.... where on a daily basis we encounter cofused combative patients..... i go home on a daily basis and have fear....my goal as a nurse has always to give the best of care to my patients and the families i deal with....now it is to cover my butt and protect my license.....love to all laura

fighting the board is a scary thing....they suspended my husbands nursing license with an anon call about how he handled a confused and combative patient during restraint placement... the board of nursing never even spoke with him...they just suspended his license until we can prove him innocent in dec....our lives are turned upside down....and we have no recourse until then..... we hired an attorney....450.00 an hour to defend him ..... lost his income ....we are lost and afraid..... if anyone had advise or words of wisdom....please send a private message......laura...