Bridget O'Malley

Hello all! It's been a while since I posted and I doubt anyone here remembers me. I've recently encountered a new situation and immediately thought of allnurses.com and know I can get some honest answers here. I have an opportunity to work at Chinle Hospital in Arizona but have never done any travel nursing before. I will be leaving behind my husband, three kids, and two little dogs. I am concerned because the agency has given me little information on what housing will be like (will I have a private room?), how I will get transportation to the hospital, and must I work seven days on and seven days off? I have gleaned a little information from a few old thread here but they have raised more questions than answers. Also, will my family be allowed to visit from time to time? What about bring my youngest and enrolling her in a local school? It's a 13 month contract but my husband is unemployed and this offers great money and I want to work and be immersed in another culture. If anyone has any experiences they would like to share, I would really appreciate it. I've been waiting to hear more from the agency but my cell phone broke (wouldn't you know?) and my replacement should arrive tomorrow. I've e-mailed the agency but have not received a response yet. They would like me to start January 2nd and I don't want to turn down a local job offer if this is going to be a horrible experience for me. But I want to experience this. I'm just in the dark about day to day details and would appreciate any tidbits anyone can throw my way. Thank you, Bridget

Press Ganey will improve nurse/patient relationships. People come to the emergency room for emergencies. Your pain can rate a "10" even when your vital signs and your consumption of junk food in triage doesn't reflect it. Nurses are valued members of the the healthcare team. I'll try to think of more myths later.

I've yet to meet anyone who watches Oprah who DOESN'T fit this description. Oprah is an entertainer. If anything, I envision her doing a show on killer nurses or other such garbage. She will not do our profession any favors by attempting to factually represent our problems. In fact, Oprah distorts more than she educates. And don't we want a different type of public to hear our voice? People with political pull who can actually do something instead of turning one of her sappy shows into a reason to blame a nurse when they percieve their health care as poor? I cringe at the thought. Anderson Cooper, now, that's another story.

Your co-worker was treated horribly. I'd be bringing the big guns in on this situation as cisco recommends myself. Now I'm going to threadjack and give a different perspective. At my hospital, L&D nurses are told at their orientation that they may be expected to float to a med/surg floor that specializes in gyn and male urinary problems. They are given monthly competencies specific to that unit. And yet, every time a L&D nurse comes over to act as an aide (they are never given patient assignments) they refuse to give meds such as Toradol and Zantac because they are not familiar with them. They refuse to assist in caring for men because "We only deal with women's parts in L&D" and will not go into a room unless it is strictly post-op in case they get "called back to the babies". Why these nurses can't look up meds they are not familiar with like the rest of the nursing population; take care of an infected foot of a diabetic (as though everyone who delivers a baby and her multitude of visitors is 100% healthy); and apply an ice pack to a scrotal injury is beyond me. I love my L&D nurses, really. They took wonderful care of my babies and deal with as much family BS as any ER nurse. But at my hospital (don't know about any others), I just wish they'd stay in babyland or think of ways in which they CAN help instead of reasons why they can't. Now back to the original post--

satchmo, I'm sending good Karma your way right now. It sounds as though it was good for you to get out of that job, although being unemployed brings its own problems. Do you have any short term goals for now?

If only we knew then what we know now. A few nurses and I were just wishing we could be CNAs for a couple of weeks or so. We could still the very important nursing jobs like skin care (no sarcasm intended) and have comparably little responsibility. I don't think anyone can appreciate the enormous responsibility of an RN or LPN until he or she works under that license for a while. Angie, if your posts are any indication of the person you really are, then please give yourself a pat on the back for being such a compassionate, open person. More and more I find myself doing things in which I am taken care of in some way--either waited on at a nice restaurant, surroundered myself to a good massage, or became a spellbound voyeur of a wonderful escapist film. Put yourself first for a change.

This old nurse will be going to hell because of all the evil thoughts she thinks about the patients who drive her batty. In the interim, I, too, am searching for something else for the future. Anyone know any successfull get rich quick schemes?

That's interesting, steph. I doubt if patients at my hospital have either the common sense or the motivation to read it.

"I know more about pancreatitis than that ER doctor. Get some doctors that actually know something." BTW, nursebrandie, I love your little dog and your happy sig line and party picture. Reminds me to think of warm, fuzzy puppies and good friends when the job gets me down.

starbin, After rereading your post, I would like to add that if your co-workers know it bothers you and continue to do this every time and they are fluent in English, then of course it is rude and unprofessional. But if they are able to work more effectively by communicating in their native language and speak English when they address you, then I don't consider it so.

And there are different accents within England and Ireland, respectively. I would definitely revert back to an American accent. I think the key is to remember who you are communicating with. Two nurses speaking to each in a foreign language can communicate better by speaking their native tongue. However, if an English-speaking nurse needs to be included in this communication, than speaking English is necessary. Balder, that's great advice. Giving report in another language when others need to hear it is a different matter and absolutely unprofessional.

Just wondering, would you find it equally rude if English-speaking co-workers carried on conversations about a subject or event of which you had no knowledge, for example talking repeatedly about a TV show or sporting event you didn't watch? Are you bothered because you think they're always talking about you, because you feel left out of a conversation in which you would like to contribute, or does the chatter alone just bother you? I know occasionally the females at work repeatedly talk about specific female concerns, or sometimes parents will talk on and on about their kids-leaving the childless secretary totally out of the conversation. Also continuous chitchat about things can be distracting when you're trying to concentrate on charting or keeping all your tasks and patient care in mind. I would think carefully about this before I would file a complaint. I nver assume my Hispanic co-workers are talking about me. It's rather egotistical to assume that they are, despite the above posts in which a few have been caught.

A nurse was fired for this comment (and some choice other comments to patients), but I love it: "You just passed twelve fast food restaurants on your way here and now you're hungry and want me to pull a meal tray out of my ass?!"

Maybe I just had a bad day today, but I think that if you leave your exam room for any reason other than to potty or go for testing, you should have to be re-triaged Jen, I agree with this wholeheartedly.

medrn, you took the words right out of my mouth. Also, the nineteen year old with the UTI analogy hit home for me. Where I work, because of Press Ganey, we are encourage to let as many visitors back as the patients want. Of course, many visitors just assume the patient is comfortable with them watching everything and insist on going back with the patient when I believe the patient is too timid or sick to speak up for him/herself. The doctors hate having more than one visitor per room, but I get divided opinions from the the nurses I work with over what is acceptable. Personally, I refuse to answer questions about lab values or XRay results to visitors in the room unless I ask the patient, "Is it okay if I answer this question?" first. Also, it's a bit unnerving to be poking for a vein in someone arm only to literally feel someone's breath on the back of your neck as they look with you. I also feel ridiculous bending over a patient and practically sticking my backside in someone's direct line of vision. Hope they enjoy the view.