RFederer

Wow, the people who are supposed to be the most compassionate individuals sure are the most miserable I ever met. Like I said before, get another job. This has been a passion of mine for years. I vow never to become like you, I have no pity for the person who puts themselves in a situation only to complain about it. I have a degree in psych. I didn't like it, so I decided to go with my true passion. I didn't sit around an complain about it and laugh at people who wanted to major in psych. How completely immature. Just because you hate your jobs and can't handle them, doesn't mean you should encourage enthusiastic people to do the same. I am truly sorry you are so miserable, hopefully you will find the passion and joy you once had for this profession.

That thread is true about nurses eating their young. You all were students once, I guess you seem to forget that. If every nurse stayed as enthusiastic as she was when she was in nursing school, patient care would remain excellent. You don't like your job? Your burnt out? Move on. Don't be mean, nasty and hateful to people around you. I'm not even under the nurses I am talking about. I am tired of hearing them all ***** and moan in the break room. Get another job if you hate your so much. Nobody is making you stay.

No I am not certified as a CNA.

Thanks for your response. I was inquisitive with the charge nurse and she couldn't really tell me much, the only thing she said is hospice takes care of it and that it is out of their hands and it may be the family's choice. She also stated she was concerned and couldn't understand why they would D/C everything down to the Effexor. But it didn't seem like she cared to be an advocate for the pt. either. This is why I am having second thoughts sometimes about becoming a nurse. I thought nursing was about compassion, comfort, caring, healing. None of which I have seen from any nurse I have been on clinicals with. All they talk about is raises, money, time off. I don't understand why they are there?? Why did you become a nurse. To me, being anurse is more than passing meds. They all sit around after med pass etc. It's frustrating to me, and a few of the girls I am in clinicals with work in hospitals or are CNA's other places and make it sound pretty bad too. I feel like the nurses I am shadowing act like they are to good to give someone a shower or too busy to just hold someone's hand. It's frustrating.

The whole thing is with reporting this is that we are basically told without saying it that we will get kicked out of school. Two quarters ago a girl called state for a clinical site abusing a pt. The next week the dean kicked her out and was mad because we lost that site.

Yes I too was surprised as why he was put on hospice. Honestly, I feel they are just trying to off him. He is still brought to the dining room to eat pureed food and was admitted in 2003. He was walking up until 8 months ago and driving right before he was admitted. His primary admittance (so it says) is BPH and UTI. I am quite confused. Thank you for further educating me on HD. Does anyone know why the pt.'s scream towards end of life?

I'm sorry for the sorrow in your family. I hope I didn't upset you. I have been researchingthe disease a lot, mostly because I have never heard of it. I am also doing an exstensive project on it for school. I can see your point of view. I am just very saddened because I don't think his son could realize that just him coming and reading to him would make his life right now. Watching a love one die is horrific, but I could never let my family memeber die alone and lonely. It's hard for me to understand. The conversations we have had (long and slow mind you) he mentions a lot about his son and it breaks my heart that his son wants nothing to do with him. Do you go to any support groups for HD?

Here is an excerpt from the physician's desk reference on the use of Effexor with Huntington's - I too was wondering why he was prescribed it and did a little research a few weeks ago: Other, newer antidepressants we have used with success in patients with Huntington's disease include buproprion (Wellbutrin), venlafaxine (Effexor), and nefazodone (Serzone). These all require dosing several times a day. A new formulation of venlafaxine, Effexor XR, may be given once a day, and nefazodone is sometimes given in a single bedtime dose, despite the short half-life. It is often difficult for depressed patients, especially those with cognitive impairment, to adhere to a complex medication regimen. Therefore these drugs may not be good first choices if there is no responsible family member who will help make sure that the patient takes his medicine. I'm sorry to hear about your mother, have you tested for the gene yourself?

Why are you shocked to hear of an HD patient "Alert and Oriented"? He understands everything I say to him and can answer my questions. People don't realize that this disease is like being trapped in your own body. Treat people with HD in a dignified and caring manner throughout the course of their lives. Even when communication is severely limited or not possible, people with HD continue to understand if they are treated with dignity and respect, as do their families.

Thanks everyone for the info, so do you suggest I speak with someone at my school or at the ECF? The ECF offers their own training I beleive.

I don't work there, I am on clinical rotation at this facility. There is nothing I can do unless I want to get kicked out of school.

Well in the facility I am on rotation in, I'm not saying all over the world. I am just having a horrible first experience in the medical world as you'll see from my other posts. And the same goes for the ECF I'm in. They don't show up and they don't even write them up. The one nurse there tells me she just stopped coming to work and two weeks later they were calling her and begging her to come back to work. I don't get it.

I'm not going to give up my childhood dream either. I think that was an awful thing to say. I've only been on my rotation for 8 weekd and let me tell y9u I have yet to meet a good nurse. I agree with pay raises and better benefits. My friend works in a hospital here where a nurse can miss up to three day, with no calling in, no questions asked. What other job could you be sooo much more irresponsible in???? I have never seen anything like it.

Oh and about the isolation, all they do with my pt. is feed him and put him to bed, all day long as they do with most residents. I wanted to take him outside after I was done last week and asked the nurse if it would be ok. All I had to do was change because my instructor said we could voounteer as long as we change out of uniform. By the time I came back they had already put him in bed. Also, I am too aware that he is at a great risk for aspiration and they lay him flat after every meal. I feel they are trying to kill him. And one more question, most of the pt. who are laid down all day, they leave them with no bottoms or breif on, so they go on a pad. This just doesn't seem humane.

Well to top it off, this isn't an isolated incidence. The CNA's at this facility are horrible, calling tha patients names, and even while changing them sayng how bad it smells, not giving them privacy or a shread of dignity. When I was assigned my pt. they told me to be careful because he is combative and has explosive outburts. None of which I have seen, maybe an occasional cuss word if something I am doing hurts, but that is part of this disease. He has never been combative with me. I have stayed after rotation to read to him and do nail care etc. As far as I knw Hospice seems to come twice a week. Last week when they came, the LPN I was shadowing told me that they will give him a shower unless I wanted to. I didn't care one way or the other, and at that moment his hospice aide came. The LPN introduced me as my pt.'s nurse for the day. This is what the hospice girl did "Oh great, I got's nothing to do today" and she took off. All the hospice people are about 18-21, which seems a little young to me. The nurse asked me later about hospice taking his vitals and I said they left! Needless to say, of course I gave my pt. a bath, and he was not combative with me at all, I gave him dignity by covering his private area, which I have seen none of them do when they give these pt.'s showers. On top of all this craziness, and this isn't even the half of it, we confronted my instructor about the situation and she said that we are guests in their facility and that cannot afford to lose a clinical site. So she basically doesn't care about the pt.'s either. I'm not sure what to do now. It pains me that this is going on, but I feel they would kick me out of school if I called state or complained. I have since become quite involved in the HD community. A few of my classmates and I even started a petition for the HD Parity Act (http://www.petitiononline.com/HR6259/petition.html) I can't imagine what my pt. is going through. I have read him newsletter from the HD Indiana Chapter, and he has really enjoyed it. And the the saddest part is my pt. won a volunteer of the year award in 1988 from the HD Chapter for volunteering in pt. Care and companionship, now after all his hard work, no one is there for him.