abbaking

I have a life outside of work --- Makes me sound like an addict, but I have a drink and a cigarette among other things in my orificenal outside of the hellhole of work - peace out

The good old Philly Side Car --- with our society the way it is, Im surprised its not happening more often or that its not in Media -- but sooner or later, it will

If the dad was a hospital administrator, then things are making more sense

sense!

also known as a philly side car --- ahh, working in corrections and juve has enriched my feeling about humanity

One of the unit secretaries we used to have was a very beautiful young lady. She was thoughtful most of the time and polite, but an airhead and very unenlightened. She did not know or had no clue as to why I could not answer the phone. Mind you, this is a busy Med/Surg/Oncology unit with intentional short staffing. Here I am fist deep inside a patients rectum disimpacting them with a river of semi-solid C-Diff deliciousness all around me, and the unit secretary wants me to take a call NOW. UGH!!!

After having read yet another RN/LPN vs CNA story, I got to thinking what are the good experiences we have had with our assistive personnel. I think the positive experiences outweigh the bad and truth be told, I have had more positive experiences with the CNA staff than bad. 1. There is a night shift CNA I work with who goes above and beyond to help the patients, the nurses and the families with almost everything. The little things he does make a big difference, suck as making sure toiletries are provided upon admission, the bed linens are folded down and the patient handbook is ready. He communicates with me with abnormal vitals and behavior changes. He knows he is not Superman; asks me for help when he needs it. 2. A female CNA on dayshift is very optimistic and joyful regardless of what life has to hand her and what she faces at work each day. I pray to God, I will one day have her zest for life and optimism. 3. Another night shift CNA looks like a gangster - I admit I was kinda scared of him for a while. But its all a front. He is a mouse and very dedicated to caring for his patients and working as a team. He does however curse like a sailor at the nurses station, but I do the same thing, So I don't care about that. What contributions do you see in your CNA staff?

You are my HERO!!!

Do you ever have those patients or family members who write down everything? Your Name, Your title, your care provided, etc. I get annoyed sometimes but If its a once in a while thing, I am okay. If its a repetitive everytime I go in the room thing, I get a little defensive.

This is something that is so dumb and so stupid, but I must confess this because it is eating me up inside. The other night at work (1800-0700), I was so massively busy I didnt have time to get my dinner from the cafeteria. I am a big boy, and I must eat something or I will feel light headed and dizzy. I went into a patients orders, made a food request, and then picked up the food from the tray line, and chowed down in the break room. Yes, I know it was dumb and wrong. I was very very hungry and I needed to eat. Thats all I have to say

So, In an effort to "control costs" the hospital has taken DRASTIC and UNSAFE steps to save money. Honest to God ( NO JOKE) a partial list of the new policies are listed below. There are three 20-bed units on my floor (all general Med/Surg) keep that in mind. - No more morning and evening shift unit secretary. Now secretary will be 12-hour shift from 9am-9pm. No more secretary on each unit. Now the secretary will spend 1 hour on each unit on the floor ("Rotating"). - No more CNA for each unit. Now CNA will rotate between all three units 1 hour on each unit. - If a patient need to be a sitter, No more floating extra CNAs or calling in Registry CNAs. Now the CNA will be the sitter. If more than 1 patient is needed to be sitter, the sitter patients will be moved together. If patients needing sitter are ISOLATION and other are NON-ISOLATION, the new protocol is to co-hort the non-isolation "healthy" person with the isolation patient and make sure handwashing and infection control measures are followed. If 3 or more patients need to be sitters, the family conference room will be converted as a multi-bed ward for this purpose. - No more housekeeping on the units. CNA and RN staff will be preforming housekeeping duties in addition to patient care. - No more individual case managers per unit --- Now 1 case manager per entire floor. - 1 Team Leader per floor --- no more individual unit team leader per shift. Welcome to the new world order - Healthcare Nazi-ism! Enslaved and over worked staff ensure that higer ups can recieve their $5,000 bonus this year.

Was out of work for 3 months of medical leave/Stress leave. Returned full time on 10/26/12. All has been well up to last thursday when i was fired by a patient. No specifics were given to me by my TL, so I didnt think much of it. Cut to this past weekend (i was off work). Very intense vivid nightmares about being fired from my job, committing suicide at work, police escort off property, and a blur of other intense terrible and frightening emotions/thoughts. I know it sounds silly, but these dreams were so intense I woke up feeling briefly physically ill. What could this all mean?

Can you confirm that Bellevue Hospital has been evacuated?

Current hospital I work in was built in 1967, but its roots go back to 1905. There used to be an old sanitarium that housed the patients in large open wards. This building is still used for administrative services and staff education. Its very creepy. Former employer had many different buildings and architecture all on one site. When I worked there in 2004, the patient-care buildings (some of which are now gone) were built in 1929, 1950, 1965 (the round tower) and 1985 (Triangle tower). That place was a trip - the unit i worked in was in the 1985 building. The ER was in the 1929 section --- although modern and efficent, the exterior was kinda scary with old red bricks.

You could always politely ask her to change it out. You can smell the tuna - Toxic Shock Syndrome can cause major mental and mood disturbances. Sorry, I know its wrong but I couldn't resist - In all seriousness, DOCUMENT!!! Be sure to write her up to the state medical board. And take none of her poopoo anymore

Advise from the hood : Raise your eyebrows, put one hand on your hip, slightly lower your head, curl your lips, put your hand up and say girl please and show Miss Thang who really runs the show. Think Nene form real housewives of atlanta. If you can pull it off (I have many a times), you will send a clear and resounding message. Of course, this is if all else fails and following all the "proper" ways to handle the situation dont work.

Sounds like you work with alot of sex crazed women - man hating. Save yourself the misery and going into an area in nursing with more testosterone like ED or ICU. Nothing good comes from these kinds of women

Call the nurse manager and let them deal with these lunatics. I am not paid to be a patient relations officer or an administrative compliance director. The minute I see the notepad come out, the names being jotted down and the demands called out, I excuse myself and get the big boys involved. Other people need my care more and frankly, I am in no mood to be on the defense while trying to provide care. My advise : Stay cool, Smile, Pretend you give a crap, and get the powers that be involved. Problem solved

Hello Everyone --- thank you all for your compassion, words of encouragement and advise. It really has helped me cope during the past 48 hours. I wish I could say that I went home from work on sunday (the day this incident occured), relaxed and went to bed with a clear head, but that would be a bold face lie. In reality, I think i had a catharsis at work. Perhaps its the conflicting values of being a caregiver and the ideology not to abuse a patient that kept my brain up all night. Maybe it was a combination of the terrible workloads, the stress from administration pestering the floor staff about JCAHO crap, the rise in the level of verbally and physically combative patients and the never-ending excuses from the powers that be not to hire more staff. In other words, this was a volcano waiting to erupt - sooner or later. And by the time I got home, lets just say that Norco and Vodka, a hot bath and a marlboro red 100 cigarette make a GREAT post traumatic tranquilizer. I am thankful that I have time off work the next few days - I am scheduled to work Friday and Saturday nights, but time will tell if I will be working. I am seriously considering disability time off work - The simple prospect of going in makes me sick to my stomach, i get dizzy, i have a terrible feeling about my job and the patients. Basically I have come to the conclusion no nurse wants to make --- I HAVE SEVERE BURNOUT! Bitterness is a good word to describe how I feel overall. I need time off to reflect and to understand. I want to take -ME- time. How many times as nurses do we focus on others more so than ourselves? In terms of the specifics I did not address in my post (about the patient, the actions, etc) , the more I think about it the more I am convinced I was confronting Satan himself disguised as a human. Maybe thats my Catholic upbringing talking there, but In 10 years of nursing experience I have never encountered such vile hate and anger. Be it directed at me or not, the fact of the matter is this patient (from what i could see was alert and oriented) was full of hate. She looked like a meth user or a crack head due to the unkept appearence, the missing teeth and the erratic behavior. She had threatened me with her attorney. (this is where I began to explode) I told her that drug addicted people like her cant afford an attorney and that what little money they do have goes to Wal-mart and Crack-Cocaine. I told her that staff have rights too and one of them is to be treated with respect. I told her it is a FELONY to assault and batter another person and that any competent judge would throw her in Betty Ford and then in Chowchilla (womens prison). Basically I told this creature of Hate everything that needed to be said -- No fluff, no sugar coating, no bs. As a person and as a member of the human species, I want to know where it is that says that your basic rights are denied when you are a nurse. There is this notion that exists that expects nurses to be abused and take more abuse and then say "On its no problem at all, you were confused, or angry or this or that". As long as I am still a member of the human species, I WILL be treated with respect and I WILL NOT TOLERATE ABUSE WHATSOEVER, Sorry If I am rambling. I needed to get this trauma off my chest. I really think I am going to take time off for FMLA (disability - paid in the state of California), relax, take ME time and perhaps see a therapist.

In a nutshell, I am so fed up with nursing that I will do anything to avoid it. 10 minutes into my shift it was a madhouse. I didnt ever recieve any report yet and The call lights were going off like crazy. I went into a room 12 to check on the lady in the second bed since she had called for something. I could not even get to her because the lady in bed one (whom I have never met before) began to verbally and physically attack me. This is only some of what the crazy lady in bed one said (replace with curse word in your mind since i cant post them on here) : "Knock on the door you fat jerk. Are you a nurse or an idiot. Your a fat piece of lard. I have rights. I pay your salary and I dont care if Obama was here you will do what I say. I will find where you live and have you TAKEN CARE OF". The patient began to throw the meal utensils at me and anything she could grab. I backed out of there. In 10 years of bedside experience, I have NEVER seen this much verbal abuse and aggression directed towards me - EVER!! And in 10 years of bedside experience i have never lost my cool - except tonight. I SCREAMED back at this vile lunatic of a person as loud as possible to back, relax, and not give me any crap cause I will not tolerate it. I told hee I have feelings too and she will not abuse me. My stress and anxiety boiled over and I lost my cool by screaming at her (although I must say, she did deserve it). The lunatic called the house supervisor and demanded everything under the sun. At this point i was outside my body watching myself react. My adrenaline was in full swing, I was shaking uncontrolably and i was on the verge of a hysterical breakdown. I gathered my backpack and I left. I told the team leader the entire situation and she said to go home and relax. She said that I was not fit to work in the condition i was in being a nervous wreck. Before I left i told the house supervisor my side of the story and email my boss. I am now home. Regardless of how "I could have handled the situation differently", I want to make it very clear that this patient was beyond out of line. Nobody - NOBODY deserves what i experienced tonight. I am in a deep state of shock right now. I am severely depressed and i have awful anxiety. I am so streesed. I am on one hand happy that i stood up for myself and put this lunatic back in her place. On the other hand I feel like an ass. Regardless, I realized that I cant do nursing anymore. All the deliberate short staffing, terrible hours, bad working conditions, and stupid people all served as the backdrop for my breakdown tonight. I dont think I can even go back to work. I am thinking about going to my doctor tomorrow and asking for emergency FMLA time (work induced stress/depression). I think I am going crazy. If anyone can offer any advise or words of encouragement - I need it now. I am home crying and just feeling terrible

Always makes me laugh when i hear the CNA vs. RN Lazy complaint. I had a old co-worker (an RN) who used to nag and complain about everything under the sun the CNA did or didnt do. This co-worker eventually transfered to a different unit with a primary care nursing model. Now she misses the CNA staff dearly and is burnt out beyond belief doing "CNA Dutues". Having been a CNA for many years, I can attest that 90% of all the CNAs i worked with were the hardest workers in the hospital. Its not to say that there were boring days or slow days, but overall we as RNs tend to forget the demands placed on the CNA. Often they have downright ILLEGAL workloads. As an RN i rarely have more than 6 patients. When I was a CNA, I rarely had less than 16 patients! Its all a matter of perspective. If you are going to hunt the CNA high and low just to tell them to empty a urinal or do a set of vital signs, that to me says more about your priorities and tact

Attention all CNAs : I was once in your shoes! I feel your pain (physical and mental). I understand that there are some (not many, thankfully) RNs that are degrading, insulting, rude, and just downright crappy people. I cant tell you how happy I was to see you stand up for yourself the other night and put the temp agency RN back in her place where she belongs. Praise to you for telling her to fetch her own supplies! I saw how she was sarcastic, yelling, rasist, sexually inappropriate and overall INSANE with you all. Your courage and strong will is an asset to healthcare. Like I always said - Eat or Be Eaten. Dont feel like you were all alone on the battlefield. I had tried to talk with nurse ratched but I would have had more luck talking to a tree. I did email our boss and I side with you! NOBODY, N-O-B-O-D-Y deserves abuse (repeating myself in the rare event that said offender just happens to read this letter). I admire your strength and realism....seems to me that you all have a better sense of reality and life than some of us. I remember the pay --- it was awful, but on the flipside it keeps you honest, realistic, blunt and individualistic. Hats off to the CNAs of the world!!! I will ALWAYS side with you guys. Yours truly

I feel compelled to side with the OP. In my experiences, SCC patients are among the worst offenders of the healthcare system. A typical SCC patient profile on my unit looks like this: 1. O2 @2l via nasal cannula is ordered - RARELY have I seen SCC patients wearing the Oxygen 2. Hoarding food - Never eats any of it ...having been homeless at one point, I see this as total and complete Crap! 3. Aggressive personality (mainly the female SCC patients) - Enough said before I get labeled a racist 4. Verbalized pain level and affective behaviors do not match - Saying your pain is a 10/10 while on the IPad, laughing with visitors and texting is not what healthcare providers generally think of with patients having severe agonizing pain. 5. Narcotics - Pain is never under an 8/10 even with Morphine PCA, Fentenyl patch, and PO norco 6. "My way or no way" - They expect it there way cause they have been hospitalized so many times, but you'd think that after so many hospitalizations they would be compliant with care - not usually. Sounds bad but based on my own experiences, I can attest to this and stand behind my observations

During our recent hospital wide disaster drill, I thought to myself (bad idea) "What would happen in a real fire?" It sounds a little naive to wait for the administrative staff to decide when we can evacuate if there was a massive fire. Has anyone on here ever experienced a disaster at work (Fire, Tornado, Blackout, Etc)? What happened and what was expected of you and what did you really do? Did administrative managment offer help or walk away?

Just a pet peeve....I hate when I do a set of vitals on a patient and the vitals are clinically stable but the patient insists its abnormal. Example: Me - Just checked the temp - reads 98.4 Patient (40 something drama queen) - "Thats high for me...I think i have a fever" Me - "Do you know what your temp normally is?" Patient - "My normal temp is 98.2" Me - "Your temp is FINE...all your other vitals are FINE" Patient - "But i really am sick if I go above 98.4.......blah, blah, blah Just irritates me....