carlarn

I have just read all the posts for this thread. I agree with the people who stated you are not accepting blame for your actions. The way I have interpreted your posts: You have done NOTHING wrong (you have), you are not accepting responsibility for your actions (you need to) and you feel the school owes you (they don't). You behaved in an unprofessional manner by telling the patient you were tired. The patient isn't there for you, you are there for the patient. You not only made yourself look bad, you made your nursing school look bad. Of course you had the POTENTIAL to harm a patient, we all do when we are tired. As far as dismissing you (or expelling you) from the program, I personally feel as though you deserved it. You haven't accepted responsibility for your actions and you have been argumentative. I also feel as though the school is saving your future employers a great deal of grief because, from the way you have expressed yourself in this thread, you have the potential (there's that word again) to be a royal pain in the behind. To those who feel that there have been a great deal of people that are unsupportive or are "eating their young", would you want this person to care for you or your family member? I sure wouldn't. Even the most alert nurse makes mistakes, a tired one is all but guaranteed to make a mistake. None of us is perfect and we all make mistakes. But there is a time to own up to our mistakes, and this is the time for the original poster to do that. Accept responsibility for your actions and move on. By doing this, you show that you can be a good nurse. Being argumentative and refusing to admit you may be wrong just proves to the nursing school that you are not nurse material. Come to terms with this and move on.

I forgot this one: Thank you, nurse

life goes on laugh at yourself every minute counts WASH YOUR HANDS keep on smiling support/respect each other it's always something keep it simple death is eventual check all meds

There has been much discussion about making a doctorate mandatory of advanced practice nurses. Does this mean APNs will be comparable to medical doctors? Well no, for all the reasons already stated--nursing and medicine are two different sciences. Yes they both have to do with health and well being as well as disease process, but they take different approaches. Of course, APNs don't have the same education as MDs either. If someone advances his/her education to the doctoral level, he/she has earned the right to call himself/herself "Doctor". If I continue my education to include my doctorate, of course I will use the title, but probably not in the clinical setting. It will be on my name tag, just like MSN is on my name tag. As long as I introduce myself properly and without presenting myself as something more than I am, my title has little to do with what my expertise is. I wouldn't go to the math professor for a medical diagnosis any more than I would go to my primary care provider for a mathematical formula. This in-fighting, whether it is about title usage or something else, is the whole reason there is such a problem in the nursing field. We, as nursing PROFESSIONALS, can't get along. We back bite and fuss and complain about our colleagues all the time. The medical doctors may fuss and complain about their colleagues, but they defend each other even when they shouldn't. Why is it like this? Well my guess is because it used to be most physicians were men and men are not catty. So at the risk of having everyone out there jump on me about this, it boils down to the fact that nursing is primarily a woman's field and women are catty. I am female and am guilty of complaining and fussing about my colleagues. I can back bite with the best of them, but it doesn't make it right. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and unify and stick up for one another. Nursing can be THE most powerful organization in healthcare but we aren't. I have said it before, nurses are the ones who run the hospitals. WE are the ones who take care of the patients 24/7/365. We are the ones that the hospital can't do without. It is time the nursing profession recognizes this and does something about it, but we can't unless nurses unify. Ladies and gentlemen of the nursing profession, stop and think about how you can change our profession to enhance it, instead of finding fault with the DNP program or how APNs are not as respected as the physicians. I am sad that the nursing profession can't seem to elevate itself because the nurses, while called professional, don't act it.

My dear wildmoutainchild, I am so incredibly sorry this has happened to you. If you had any doubts about telling your story here, remove them. I am deeply touched by the outpouring of good thoughts and prayers the nursing community has given to you. I hope and pray you can work through this tragedy with as little emotional scarring as possible. I will keep you in my prayers. Good luck with your counseling and your marriage. To all of the wonderful and kind people who have added to this post, it is because of your compassion and caring that you are all AMAZING nurses. It is a credit to our profession that we, as a group, can give support to someone we know on-line and not in person. I applaud all of the posters for their wisdom, kindness, compassion and caring. Not to take away from wildmountainchild's problem, I just wanted to let you all know how wonderful I think you are. :redbeathe:saint:

HA HA HA HA!!! I think this thread is priceless. I have told people to keep their hands inside the cart at all times. I also offered to sing and dance for one old lady when I worked in the ED and she smartly declined the entertainment. She died later. I think she might have lived if I could have danced and sung for her. Not really, LOL.

You made me laugh. I have done several of those things. My mother, my sister and two of my sisters-in-law are also nurses so we discuss all kinds of gross things all the time. Family get-togethers are always interesting.

While Ibuprofen and Advil are technically the same drug, they are a little chemically different. If they weren't, they would go by the same name. Generic prescription Ibuprofen makes me dizzy as all get out but I can take the same dosage of Advil with no side effects. Weird, huh?

I was working in the ER at the time and was writing discharge instructions. The patient had been seen and treated by the plastic surgeon. I was standing at the counter writing and apparently listening to my colleagues talking because I caught myself AFTER I wrote for the patient to "Follow up with Dr. X's wife in his office". I had to write the instructions over, thankfully before they reached the patient. Several of my ER colleagues would chart "patiently easily aroused". Hmm what did they do for the patient? One chart notation for a surgical consult--the requesting physician made the comment that the surgeon should do "whatever sh*t he felt like doing". I was appalled and had to ask several other people if that was in fact what was written.

i totally forgot about the old gentleman who asked me to go to cancun with him so his son would have a companion. lol

i think at one time or another, we have all felt frustration and anger in and about our jobs. the original poster was evidently frustrated and angry. when i posted my first entry, i empathized. i work with some of the most horrible people, but also with some of the nicest people. i don't go to work for my co-workers. i go for the patients. i also need the money, but that is irrelevant right now. i agree with whomever said we don't know lorster's situation. we don't know anyone's situation unless they have chosen to share it with us or unless we are with them all the time. i would no more presume that one of my colleagues is burned out than i would presume anything else about him/her. another poster mentioned lorster needed our understanding and empathy or support or something like that. we do need to empathize and support one another. if we don't, no one else is going to. nurses are in an incredibly stressful position. we hold people's lives in our hands daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes by the second. this isn't an easy place to be. the only other people that are in our position are in the medical field. empathize, understand and definitely support each other. we are all we have. the sad fact of the matter is we, as a group, don't do this for one another. this is why i can empathize with lorster and with the other posters who expressed their discontent with their jobs, employers and colleagues. i have been in a similar place as lorster and it isn't pretty. the one thing i can say is i am sorry for any of us who feel there is no where else we can go but nursing. i am also sorry for those who feel nursing is no longer a choice for them. i love being a nurse. i love interacting with the patients and their families. i don't know what else i would or could do if i wasn't a nurse. take heart, my fellow nurses. i respect what you do and why you do it. whether you are in nursing for the money or because you really like it, do what you need to do for yourselves and your families. i will do my best to support, understand and empathize with all of you, please afford me the same courtesy and extend it to your other colleagues and yourselves. please remember this is a place to vent our anger, frustrations, problems, questions, and anything happy we want to share. if we can't vent or share our feelings at work, where are we to go if not here?

Peter and Rose made me cry too!! I love that story. While it is always rewarding to hear a "thank you" from your patients, it is just as rewarding, if not more so, to hear a compliment from one of the other nurses. I had one of my colleagues tell someone she wished she could be more like me because I made every one of my patients feel like they were the only patient I had to take care of. One of my colleagues told me I inspired her to return to school. I was finishing my MSN and she went back to finish her BSN. One horrible day in the ED, I spent over three hours with a man who had been in an MVC with his wife and his sister-in-law. His sister-in-law was seriously injured, his wife didn't make it to the ED and his injuries were basically nothing. He had asked about his wife at least three times in the first 15 minutes he arrived. He told me he heard the paramedics ask for the coroner and wanted to know if it was for his wife. I told my ED doctor and asked him what did I do and should I tell him the truth about his wife? My doc said if I was comfortable telling him, then I should, but to check with the coroner first and call the hospital chaplin. I did both and walked into my patients room. He took one look at my companion--the priest--and said "This isn't good, is it?" I told him no it wasn't and of course began to cry. I spent a lot of time with this poor man. I found out his first wife had died of breast cancer and he didn't think he would ever find a woman he could love as much as her until his second wife came along. Now she was gone as well. I called his family for him, but everytime I would try to tell someone on the other end what had happened I began to cry again. (Boy I was effective that day!) A few weeks later I received the nicest note from this man, thanking me for all I had done. I have kept it and it has been many many years ago. Now that was a nice thing for him to do, but it was at the end of that horrible day when one of the nurses I was working with (who isn't one to hand out compliments) said to me, "You did a nice job with that guy. I don't think I could have done that. You stayed with him for hours and helped him." I don't expect thank you's from anyone, patients or coworkers, because I am doing my job. Yes they are nice and I won't turn them away, but I don't expect them.

i would like to say (and have actually said some of them): 1. you don't know me well enough to say those things about me; 2. if i am having an affair (which i am not) with one of the doctor's what business is it of yours or anyone else's? it isn't intefering with my job; 3. all of your nasty comments about me and my supposed activities really hurts my feelings, but i will never tell you this because it just gives you ammunition to continue hurting me; 4. i am not going to share things about myself with you because i don't like you and you are not my friend; 5. i will die and burn in hell before i ever cry at work because none of you understand me or the reason why i feel the need to cry; 6. i talk to the doctors because they are nice to me and flirting makes my job much more fun; 7. if you took the time to get to know me instead of talking about me, you might find out that i am interesting, smart and tons of fun to be around. and i am willing to help with anything you would need me to do; 8. i am a good nurse and a hard worker; 9. it isn't rocket science working as a circulator so don't insult my intelligence by acting like this is the hardest job in nursing; 10. stop trying to suck up to the doctors at your colleagues expense; and 11. i am an adult and a professional, remarkably so are you. start acting like one.

i chose this color to post because i am seeing red. of course we are a pathetic bunch. i agree with so much of what the original poster has written. my colleagues and i were discussing something similar over the weekend. why do we put up with all the disrespect? because when we have stood up for ourselves (and when was the last time any of us stood up for someone else?) against a physician or another nurse what good did it do? my colleagues have gone to management about some of the issues they have with the doctors. me, i go straight to the doctor and tell him/her in no uncertain terms i will not be treated in that manner. i have done this with some of the other nurses as well. what good has it done me? i am treated with a little more respect. i don't expect management to do anything for me, i am an adult and prefer to be treated as such. once we stop behaving like we are all stuck in junior high or younger, then we will start being treated like the adults we are all supposed to be. so the next time any of us witness bad behavior by an attending physician, resident or another nurse, by god, we need to get off our complacent assess and defend one another against the perpetrator. this is the only way we are ever going to get the respect of anyone. now if any of you want to blast me because i had the audacity to group all nurses in this category, have at it. i have worked with enough nurses to know that as a majority, we are indeed pathetic---apathetic, dysfunctional, codependent, weak, immature, mousy---whatever. we need to grow up and act like the professionals we are.

wow! this has been a very passionate thread. there have been some good thoughts here. i would like to add you could also call for a "care conference". that brings the family and care givers together to come up with a plan for the patient. for the op, you don't seem like you are "writing everyone off". i do understand that you are trying to assess each individual for their own needs. keep plugging away and don't forget you are the patient advocate. btw, for all of the people who read this, whether you are in the medical field or not: dnr does not mean do not treat. as most of us in the medical field know, there are many illnesses that are treatable in someone who is a dnr. please don't confuse these. and i am not singling anyone out, i am just reminding all of us of the difference.

ha ha ha dog collars, leashes. what else in the animal world can we liken this to? how about a bell on a cat? would i wear one of these? probably not. i can get into enough trouble being in the wrong place at the wrong time on my own.

ok so i have just read with great interest all these posts about "whats to enjoy about nursing" and couldn't help but post my own response. i have been in nursing 17 years. i have not only my bsn, but my msn. i have worked in icu, ed, or, neurointensive care and as a nurse practitioner. i have had good days, bad days and going half-mad days (to quote jimmy buffett), but of all the professions i could have entered, i am more than satisfied with my choice. i have held the hands of family members as they received good news and as they received bad news. i have been yelled at by patients, doctors and my coworkers. i have yelled at doctors and my coworkers. i have cried because my patients died or because my coworkers have had family disasters. i have also laughed at/with/because of my patients, coworkers and doctors; and i have even made fun of all of the above. why wouldn't i like nursing? i have seen the best and worst of people, well and sick alike. i haven't always liked everyone i've worked with but they haven't always liked me either. i don't always like doing what i had to do but oh well. it happens i have had the pleasure of telling someone she is pregnant/not pregnant. i have had the displeasure of telling someone their loved one died. but these are the things that make our profession special. nowhere outside of medicine can you find a profession that offers such a contrast in life/death. we hold the power of both in our hands every day. we are the ones, appreciated or not, that make our healthcare system work. it isn't the hospitals, the administrators, the doctors or the insurance companies. it is the nurses. we are the ones the patients look to for comfort, support, care and pain relief, just to name a few. our patients take out their frustations on us because we are there. for better or worse, nursing is one of the most honored and trusted professions. it is often ranked above the physicians. i love being a nurse and a nurse practitioner. i wouldn't, at least right now, be anything else.

I couldn't help myself, I just had to read all of these and add my own two cents. Sugar: ED nurses, hell all nurses for that matter, have EARNED the right to vent about their patients. As most of the other posters have pointed out, it is a VENT. Do we really say some of these things to our patients? Well, I have said things to patients that needed to be said. No I wasn't sorry I said them and no I wasn't rude about it. I used to tell patients who threatened to hit me, "I have a right to defend myself so I will hit you back." It shut them up every time. I would also tell them to stand in line when they said they were going to sue me and that I didn't have anything anyway. I do recognize the fact that everyone who comes to the ED has a need. Am I able to fulfill these needs all the time? F*** no. And it shouldn't be my job to try. I worked the ED for over ten years and in that time I had my share of frequent flyers, homeless people, drunks, abused children and adults. I have had to tell a man his wife died in a car accident he walked away from unhurt. I had to go to court and testify in a murder trial because for whatever reason the murderer decided to confess to me. Do I look like a priest?! So, all of you out there who have decided ED nurses, or any other nurse, have no compassion--piss off. Life is too short and I don't have time to molly-coddle you and your feelings. I am a VERY good nurse; I am compassionate and caring. I took VERY good care of my patients REGARDLESS of why they came to the ED, but it didn't mean I was their best friend, their mother or their confidant. I took on those roles at different times but it was because I wanted to. I comforted the ill, the sad, and those that weren't either. I have loved this thread because I can empathize with all the nurses out there who put up with the same crap every day and still go to work. It is because of this site we can hold our heads up high and say "I am a good nurse because I didn't kick the s**t out of that patient or their family member when they deserved it." Don't let the kill joys bring us down. We need this and it has been a hoot! By the way, I am still a DAMN GOOD nurse and continue to treat my patients like they are the only ones I have to take care of; I am just not in the ED anymore.

ER nursing, aaaaaahhh, I miss those days. Is it like floor nursing? To a degree but then again, not at all. I agree that Jennifer and Jen2 have said it best. I have had varied and wide experiences working in the ER, some good and some not so good. I also agree with shadowing an ER, or other area, nurse for that matter. It would benefit you beyond belief. As for placing a foley when it isn't needed just as a convenience, think of how fragile that 80 year old hip fracture's skin is. Now is it a necessity or a convenience? I think it is necessary to prevent skin breakdown and it is convenient for the patient because he/she no longer needs to worry about PAIN when he/she needs to urinate. Not all hip fractures are surgically repaired. It is up to the surgeon and the patient or the patient's family regarding the treatment. So foley or no foley? I vote foley everytime because the patient will eventually get one in the OR if he/she makes it there or from the Ortho-Surgical floor nurse.

well as interesting as this has been, everyone has failed to point out that the person in scrubs may have been a doctor and not a nurse, medical assistant or nurse's aide. all the people in pacu wear scrubs, including the physicians. nurses are not the only ones capable of making inappropriate comments; as all nurses know, the most inappropriate comments often fall out of the mouths of the doctors. again, the individual who wrote to "dear abby" was behind a curtain and didn't see the person who made the comment about the "truth serum effect" of the anesthesia, be it conscious sedation or a general anesthetic. yes, it would have been hilarious if the wife would have asked "where is all the money?" but what would the person on the other side of the curtain have done with that information? he/she certainly wouldn't have been able to complain to dear abby then.

Along those lines ^ A man takes his wife to the doctor because she has been experiencing some forgetfulness. The doctor says, "I have some good news and some bad news. What would you like first?" The man says, "The bad news." The doctor tells him, "Your wife has alzheimers." The man says, "OK, so what is the good news?" The doctor replies, "She isn't going to remember." Sorry if this was offensive to anyone.

I don't really remember how I found the site, but like many before me, am sooo glad I did. I have recommended this site to other nurses. Keep up the great work!:balloons: :yelclap:

Over come by Jesus--people who come in because they fainted, felt faint, had chest pain or whatever during church services Taking up good air space--this applies to patients and coworkers. The book "House of God" should be required reading for all nursing and medical students. It is hilarious and, though it is a bit dated, still appropriate. The author talks about "turfing" your patient. That entails finding a reason to send them on to another service--from ortho to neuro, for example. I have recommended this book to my doctor friends.(EEEK! did I just admit I have friends that are doctors? lmao) I totally agree with the posts re: working for awhile and trying to make sense of things that don't make sense. When I was a student I had the opportunity to witness a code in the ED. I was surprised, to say the least, when the staff was making inappropriate comments during the code. I discussed it with my instructor. She wisely explained how it was stress relief. It made sense. Who among us have not told a patient to "go toward the light"? I have. I have also told a man his wife died in the car accident he walked away from unscathed. I have had a patient confess murder to me while the police officer in the room didn't hear a thing. I have cried with my patients and with my patients' families. I have laughed with my patients as well. It lowers their blood pressure, by the way. I have made (and still make) fun of my patients, sometimes to their face, and of my coworkers. You do have to know who you can make fun of to their face and who you shouldn't. I did (do) these things to survive. It is difficult to take care of and work with people, some of them so unappreciative, every day without seeing the funny side of life. If we can't laugh at human nature and ourselves, we will all be "coo coo for coco puffs". We need it, we deserve it, and we will continue to do it. So, until I am no longer a part of this inane reality we call life, I am going to make fun of human suffering so I don't have to cry over human suffering.

One embarrassing thing happened in nursing school: I was in my OB rotation and I had just finished assessing a new mom. The entire family was in the room when I was exiting--face first into the closed door. I told them I was competent despite the fact I had run into the door. One of my other embarrassing moments happened when I was preparing a patient to go to surgery from the ED. I was sitting on one of the little rolling stool talking to my patient when the stool rolled out from underneath me, spilling me onto the floor and sending the stool crashing into the wall. One of my co-workers came into the room to see what happened and asked my patient if he wanted a new nurse. He said, "No, I want to keep her for comic relief!" I know there are more.

Take off all of your clothes...... The doctor will be in a minute to check you out. (Yes, I really did say this to a female patient about a male doctor.) I need you to take off your pants so I can look at your member. When a patient has asked, do you remember me and you answer, I didn't recgonize you with your clothes on. When was the last time you had sex?