Alex_RN2b09

I work on an adult rehabilitation unit, which primary gets neurologically impaired patients many of which are confused. Consequently I often run into sitters and volunteers on my unit looking to enter nursing or healthcare in some form. Those entering nursing I often encourage if I feel they would fit well in the field. I do tend to go out of my way to help introduce them to the wonderful world of human excrement whenever possible. I consider it a little hazing to see if they have what it takes to get to the serious stuff down the line. Getting past the gross parts helps people see the bigger picture and focus on the patient. Also it's fun to watch them squirm a little. :-) For example I had a patient who was a moderate TBI and would paint with his feces if you didn't watch him closely. So I enter the room with the call light on, the sitter looking to enter nursing informs me in a shocked stammer, that the patient is playing with his own poop. I look to my patient who has succeeded in painting himself, the bed rails and linens fairly completely a nice light brown. Obviously this sitter wasn't being as attentive as she should have, so I think what a better time to test an individual! I get setup with supplies and inform the sitter to glove and gown since this will be very messy. She gives me a look of such horror and I must say I look no small enjoyment from her reaction. We then proceeded to clean everything on the bed and patient, which took easily 45 minutes. Intermittently she would make faces and once or twice a gag. I took the time to teach the sitter about the importance of skin integrity, infection control, and other safety related issues pertaining to this patient. Despite her current, sweat soaked (oh the joy of TBI's on contact isolation with poor thermoregulation) and filthy condition she soaked it up like a sponge. Later that night she even came up to me and apologized for her actions, and thanked me for showing her the importance of her role, and how she can help her patients in the future. So I suppose even those that may be in doubt can be redeemed, all they need is a little encouragement and education.

I gained about 50 pounds. Yeah, since I just graduated I'm working on getting those off now. I'm a stress eater and would often study with food or take breaks and play video games, also with food. Do your best to take care of yourself during school, it's not always easy. And occasionally schoolwork comes before your own heath, it's sad but true.

Thank you for sharing your story, it made my day. :-) You will make an awesome nurse and I wish you nothing but the best now and in the future.

I'm sending my good thoughts your way. I hope everything turns out for the better. *hugs*

I also recommend a Career Counseling session. I took a personality test during mine, which they cross matched with common career choices for persons of my personality type. I believe the first was Social Work, the second I can't remember and the third was Nursing. It helped introduce me to new ideas that I hadn't even thought of before. I hope things work out well for you, good luck!

I'd say you were totally in the right. They wouldn't allow customers/patrons into staff areas in other business. I can't see why this would be any different. Not to mention there would be computer monitors and charts that could have pt info, thus leading to HIPPA issues.

They are evil, tedious and totally impractical in many workplaces. Luckily I only have a year left of school, then it's off to the real world. Where nurses give you funny looks when you rattle off all the patients nursing dx and your interventions/rationales in report, few might even laugh. :chuckle To share a care plan story, I was doing my OB rotation with a high strung and flighty instructor whom also happened to teach my lecture. She gave no feedback on any of our paper work until our final evaluation, so it was a little nerve wracking. I had done many care plans by the end of the rotation, and since mother baby units tend to have the same thing over and over (omg babies!) I had to stretch sometimes for a fitting nursing dx. This was particularly difficult due to my masochistic desire (some might call a desire to learn) to use different nursing dx for each assignment and have as few repeats as possible. The care plan she ended up calling me out on at my evaluation was one of my better ones, or so I thought. I had a dx of Effective Breastfeeding with good interventions and rationales, some might say sounds good but no. According to her all dx had to be negative, you heard me.. So I showed her the NANDA book and my care plan book written for the NANDA book, she still insisted that I must be doing something strange and that it was wrong. I'm glad I fought her though it bumped my grade up a fair bit. Needless to say she was a little off (read crazy) and I'm glad that rotation is done and gone. Maybe someday we can find a way to relieve future nursing students from the horrors of care planning. :zzzzz

Yeah, caths are cake. If you want gross go with overflowing colostomy bags or trach suctioning.

When I make a list off the top of my head of all the things you can give IV that won't kill you and all those that will... Guess which one is longer. RUN! Also do they have a website or anything? I'm really curious how they are presenting this to the general public versus what they are actually supplying.

This post inspired me to look around on the JACHO website and I found this address by the president of JACHO to the IOM quite interesting (see below). At the very least it shows they are concerned about the topic of ratios but do present the problem of a one size fits all model not being appropriate. To summarize they point out that their method of assessing the efficacy of staff can be used with a model that may later be developed for staffing ratios. Acuity needs to be assessed so time can be managed appropriately for nursing staff, this is unquestionable but the methods are unclear. This address is from 2002, which leaves me curious to what the current research has to say on this topic and if it has changed their stance on this issue. I'm not knowledgeable enough about JACHO to pass judgement, but I would like to hear from someone familiar with the issues and how they relate to JACHO's current status. Click here for the address. I can empathize with floor nurses since JACHO must often just seem like another frustrating nuisance to deal with in an already stressful day. My suggestion is to try and get a broader view then that of your colleagues and friends before passing judgement. Additionally, for those nurses that have a broader perspective and still hold negative views of JACHO I would like to hear your comments. I'll continue searching on the JACHO website and post any other interesting tidbits I find for those that are interested. -Just a student who is trying to figure out this crazy thing called healthcare

You're in luck everyone! I want to go into federal policy and represent nurses on a national level in Washington. Reading all the debate on this forum is wonderful it's great to see people being politically aware and expressing their opinions. Nursing contains a very diverse group of people, I want to help solidify that group into a powerful force for change and reform. I just wanted to let you know there may be some hope for the future, so don't give up just yet! -A young and idealistic student

I think it may happen eventually but we have much larger issues to deal with in nursing and healthcare in general before this should be addressed. Standardization of education is great but it's very difficult, many current nurses, students, educators, colleges and other programs would be adversely affected. If anything happens it won't be fast and will suffer a very large amount of scrutiny before being implemented. In other words, don't hold your breath or bite your nails over this one. On a personal note I am very much in support of making the BSN degree the standard. I feel it would help unite nurses as a profession and give us a better image overall as a profession, since people for some reason look down on those without four year degrees. I don't understand or condone this idea but I do feel the different levels in nursing can be confusing and a source of discrepancy. Ultimately I think with a more cohesive identity we may prove to be more effective as force for change in policy and politics. Just my 2c.

In all seriousness much of a clinical experience depends on how your learning styles meshes with the instructor. I found the hands off throw you in the room style to be very empowering. They showed me that I could do it with a little kick in the behind to start. Confidence is worth it's weight in gold, you'll have better patient and co-worker relationships, and most of all you will respect yourself. Because at the end of the day you can say I made it, I did my job and was safe, competent and compassionate. I wish you the best of luck, we all make mistakes so don't take things too hard even if you mess up.

Keep your chin up, stay on the ball and HANG ON!

Sadly it has to do with how our culture perceives nursing, and that is generally as individuals which are submissive, self sacrificing, and compassionate. People don't see us as being in a position of power, respect, or high educated. Yes, these people are angry, stressed out, and out of their comfort zone, but that is not an excuse for abusive behaviors. This is something we as nurses need to change, we are the professionals and we have the power to show people we won't be walked on. I sincerely hope us nurses can help change this image in the future, it's not going to be easy but no doubt it will be worth the effort.