paperdreams

as nurses we all have embarrassing moments. what was yours? let me tell you mine..... while working in ambulatory surgery; which held 16 beds, we would pre and post -op patients. in addition, we had to assist in the minor procedure room. on top of that, i was in charge. well, we had a nurse call in one day which left 2 of us and i had to assist in minor procedure. after a hectic morning, i had a couple come in with their son for a scheduled circumcision . while filling out the paperwork, i had to ask name, any medical history of the child and the sex, in addition to other questions. so, i said, "hi, my name is mary, i see the doctor is doing a circumcision. i need to ask you a few short questions. what is his name? ( they answered "scott"). is he a boy or a girl.........?" the parents just stared at me...... i could've died!

32 years experience, BSN, certified in MED/SURG nursing and ACLS. Work 2 hrs North of new york city. $43.43/ hr base, days (12 hr shift). No contribution to my retirement by employer. Tired.....

It certainly appears to be unanimous that something needs to be done about the visitor situation. I honestly do not know when the idea of an unending stream of people all day, everyday being a positive part of the healing process came about. Yes, I agree, visitors are certainly an integral part of the road to wellness, but 12 to 14 hours per day; especially when you feel like garbage? No, it shouldn't be like that. It's like going from the sublime to the ridiculous. I have been a patient. I know what it's like to be in the bed to have a steady stream of people in and out, either for you or your roommate. You have to pee? Get out of bed and undo the IV, find your slippers, get your robe, all while trying to keep your gown closed so your butt doesn't hang out....not easy. Feel sick? Maybe puke in front of a room full of people visiting your roommate and or course you feel worse and they start making comments. Have to have a colonoscopy prep? Can't make it to the bathroom? Yeah, let's use the commode on the other side of the curtain that doesn't close all the way. Then stink up the room! I still am an advocate for the patient. The patient needs rest. The patient needs care. The patient really doesn't want others knowing all their business. It's a free for all and it's got to stop. I liked the sign to put up that one member mentioned. Any other ideas as to how to change the policy in the hospital to limit the hours /numbers/age of children?

i find some of the posts on this topic very interesting to say the least. i also see that there is an underlying tone of anger towards nurses that have more experience. i can understand this, but believe me, not all "older, experienced" nurses have forgotten what it is like to be new. that's why many of us, myself included precept and volunteer to work with new grads to help the transition. my question comes not from their lack of organizational skills or the ability to handle more than 1 or 2 patients, but from lack of basic nursing skills. after 2 or 4 years, this is based on the program graduated from, many of these new grads still do not know how to use a manual bp machine, baths are things they try to avoid. bed making? forget it...the sheets are sideways and the patients are left up in the air with the siderails down. syringes are left on top of carts and the 5 rights are something used by police before an arrest. this is basic stuff folks!!! oh,by the way... the new grad that was drawing up 5cc of regular insulin was an honor student with an attitude. i had given her the job of checking the patient's fingerstick ( which, by the way she had no clue as to how to do), and drawing up, but not giving; thank goodness the insulin appropriate for coverage. i would be checking it and then going with her to give to the patient. she had nicely drawn up 5 cc of regular. she also had to use mutiple vials to do it. i hope they teach that this alone should be a red flag. after seeing this, i asked her why she drew up so much and she insisted she was correct. i had to review units vs cc with her. *****scary stuff!****

boy, do i long for the days when visiting hours were 2-4 and 6-8!! just when did this ridiculous idea of "free for all" visiting based on having family and friends around for faster healing get so out of hand?? in my facility the hours are 0800-2100 hrs. there are no restrictions as to age/number of visitors/how long they can stay...etc...it is a free for all and i can not stand it. i spend a good part of my day working around visitors, answering and re-answering questions from visitors, asking visitors to step out of the room and then getting nasty comments from those visitors about my request. patients have no privacy and the embarrassment that many have to endure because of visitors is unacceptable. preps/procedures have to be done with a parade of people in and out all day. am care and adls have to be accomplished with an audience of strangers. curtains are pulled for privacy only to have visitors pull them open or worse yet, step in anyway and then berate us for "keeping them out." children are brought in and allowed to crawl on the floor. babies are in strollers and are not kept quiet or removed. visitors want to know everything from soup to nuts about what is being done to their aunt, uncle, minister, neighbor, friend down the street. when we cite hipaa they raise the roof. visitors ignore precaution /isolation signs and then bad mouth us when aunt tilley gets sicker. and then we wonder why mrsa and c-diff are spreading like wildfire. please, someone....stop this madness! we can not do our jobs properly anymore...all in the name of patient satisfaction! hogwash! :angryfire

Many of the student nurses I have encountered lately appear to be ill-prepared for the real world.What is going on? What are these students being taught and prepared for? Ex: Student drawing up 5 cc of insulin thinking it's 5 units. What are they doing????

"a more appropriate response would be to work together with your fellow employees to present the reasons you feel the rule should be changed and parameters you feel appropriate to insure that it is not abused, and request a trial period to see if it impacts patient care. this would be the professional way to address this issue. " this is to "bagladyrn": i will keep it short and simple: the hospitals/facilities have their rules and it is a lot easier for them to enforce them than change them. i have worked in administration and found it extremely frustrating to abdie by their so called "better way to do things." believe me, i have enough experience in many areas of health care to know what is necessary and what is not. as someone posted earlier...the better way would be to concentrate on those that go against the grain and abuse the system than those that use it on occasion. it's easier to make a blanket rule than enforce it case by case.

I am second born and not to an alcoholic father.

i do carry my phone around -even though i'm not supposed to. it is in my pants pocket and on vibrate. all family members know to text me with any problems/emergencies and then i step in the bathroom or some out of way place to check it. i never check it in front of other staff, patients or families. if it is a problem the really needs to be addressed, i text back or go in the bathroom and call home or wherever.. i know it's against the rules; but personally, i don't care. i don't make a habit of it, i don't sit and chat and it never interferes with my patient care. i am 52 years old and i feel i can make choices as to what is proper and what is not. i've raised 3 children, gotten my degree, am certified, and a darn good nurse. if they want to "let me go" over a cell phone; so be it. i know i can get a job anywhere and be working the next day!

Recently we had a code on our floor where the 8 family members were asked to step out at the start. The patient was an 85 year old cancer/ heart patient that we had had multiple discussions with his family regarding making him a DNR. The family could not agree. The poor man had deteriorated to 90 pounds, had a TLC, PEG, Foley, none-rebreather mask and had come in with multiple infected breakdown areas. He finally gave in and we hade to "code" him. The family, crying and carrying on in the hall caused quite a disruption on our 42 bed Telemetry unit insisting they had to be in the room to " be with him until the last second." His roommate and family was assisted out immediately. The patient rooms are semi-private, and the hospital was built in the 1920's, so the rooms are not that big to allow all the equipment, staff...etc... Believe me, this was one of those situations where we would have "walked around the floor a few times before finding him" if no one had been there, to give the poor guy a peaceful and dignified death. We tried to have a staff member stay with the family right outside the door to give them an explanation, but they insisted on being in the room at the patient's side. Unfortunately, we had to call security to take them to the day room where they stayed until it was all over and he was prounounced. They were allowed in immediately after the gentleman was cleaned up a bit. We are now getting flack back from administration saying the family should have been in the room. I disagree.... What's your opinion?

I have always found that humor works in manys ways. In addition, I have always been "up front" with people who either mis-represented themselves or were, let's say a bit dishonest in some way. I wouldn't bother at this time to go through all the hub-bub of turning her in...etc... the red tape, aggravation and heartache will most likely lead nowhere and besides that, it could take years to come to fruition. I would, the next time she introduces herself to someone as a nurse, in front of that person, give her a BIG hug and happily say "Wow, Linda (or whatever her name is) I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA you got your Nursing degree! Congratulations! How did you find the nursing boards?" Embarrassment can work wonders!

How do you feel about the requirement of a certain number of CEU's in some states for registration renewal? New York state currently does not require CEU's to renew an RN registration, although many states do. What state do you practice in, do they participate in this requirement, and if they do how many do you need each renewal period?