JennieO

Have you noticed how much SEIU is doing for the Swedish negotiations? The Harborview contract expires in July 2011 as well. SEIU has done ABOSLUTELY NOTHING except to take our union dues. I hope Swedish gets a good contract because Harborview unio...

I am interested in picking up 2-3 shifts per month as a PACU RN. Does anybody know which nursing agency in Seattle pays the most?

An RN friend I work with, was just diagnosed with MRSA from a nasal sore. Can she still work as an ICU RN? Can the hospital make her take a leave? She is debating whether or not to tell our employer. She has a mortgage and cannot afford to be out...

Does anybody know which book is the best study guide for the ASPAN (PACU) certification? Thanks.

Nursing is a field with many areas--everyone seems to find one that they like. Many areas, you never see a bedpan or start an IV. You do get used to doing things, rather quickly, like drawing blood, starting IVs, watching someone vomit. In the...

I appreciate all your replies. Unfortunately, I do not have absolute proof of this, so I will keep quiet at work on this issue. I will let someone with more "clout" on the unit raise the alarm. I am not obligated to report something on suspicion a...

Dear Heron and Jolie, I am not "covering uP" anything. This is exactly the inappropriate nursing behavior I have written about. It was not I who jumped into the Pyxis or diverted narcotics. As my previous post reads, I have put myself in...

I work in the recovery room. Like the ED, the top excuses for not taking the pt. on the floor/ICU are 1)It's shift change (let's make this an hour ordeal) 2) the room is not ready (call housekeeping, or I will) 3) that pt. has not been assigned (ps-...

Dust off your resume. You will be better able to care for your father if you are not worried about $$ and whether you "get" to work tonight, probably after sleeping all day. The ship is sinking, bail out.

Dear Embarrassing, I do not know how getting a DUI is the same as diverting narcotics at work, working impaired and potentially ruining the careers of other RNs. Let's not compare talking on the cell phone while driving with stealing and us...

Hello, I am the original poster and I think all of us have had our opinions formed by personal experience. Seven years ago I had the experience of reporting an extemely impaired RN after several other RNs had voiced their suspicions and had bee...

I am not in support of NOT transferring pt. at report time. Let's be real, the receiving unit wants to count the 20 minutes before report and 20 minutes after report as report. This works out to be over an hour, several times per day. I work in a...

Should drug addicted nurses be allowed to return to practice when their rate of relapsing is incredibly high? Should they be allowed to potentially harm pts. and compromise the careers of innocent RNs in their attempt to place blame for their behavio...

The odour is not in your mind. I had an ICU pt. with the worst breath ever. It would curl your eyelashes. The next day when I got in my car I was hit with the stench from this pt's breath that lingered long after I exited the car. NOT IN YOUR MIN...

Do you have a union? About 15 years ago the major union in my city made it illegal for a hospital to send anyone home involutarily. I believe almost all of the hospitals around here do NOT engage in this, but I do remember when they did. Also,...

I have worked at both Harborview for 12 years and Swedish for 7 years. I have never met a nurse personally who has been assaulted at HMC, nor have I met a nurse who has left HMC for Swedish. On the other hand, I worked in the ICU at Swedish and dur...

I have worked at both Swedish and Harborview. I do not have anything bad to say about Swedish, but I far prefer Harborview. I worked at Swedish for 7 years in many areas and have been at HMC for 12 years. I have never felt unsafe at Harborview. In ...

Absolutely. We all know our judgment is impaired when we are exhausted. You could make a serious error that could harm a pt. or ruin your career. It is less about your being tired, as that you could make a serius and unreverseable error.

Do you mean three WEEKS?

I was sad all day about this. I have a 19 year old son who lives in the engineering dorms of his university. It really hit home. These kids are just kids and so vulnerable. Your freshamn year of college should be exciting, not terrifying. I just...

Well, if your hospital allows two patients per bed and allows pt to go to ICU without orders written yet, perhaps. Where I work, the is only one body per bed and if you EVER bring a pt. to the ICU without orders you are in deep do-do.

PACU is great. It is where you go after ICU. We are a level one trauma center and always have two RNs on at night. We never leave an RN alone--I actually think that would be illegal. People do NOT die in the PACU. At all costs, the pt. is not to...

Let's face it, with some nurses it is like the Grand Inquisition and they can locate the information themselves but do not want to. A cure to this is to give a very long, very detailed report with all the minutiae included. They will tune you out a...

I work in a critical care unit that has 2-3 RNs at night. There is an employee, ancillary staff, who quit our area a few years ago. My dilemma is, she is on our unit at night 5-7 hours/night surfing the web, chatting, interfering with our business,...

A&P. I do not think so. We are rapidly losing our abbreviations yearly. Unfortunately, many instructors are far removed from the act of nursing.