Caffeinated

I have been wondering about this myself. I accepted an offer to work as a sitter for a family when I was in nursing school and they paid me pretty well. I wouldn't mind doing it again but I'd be worried about the liability that may be involved in doing so with a license and if you could even identify yourself as a nurse in a situation like that...speaking as an LPN without anyone to work under.

When this nurse shared her horror stories about her other patients, I'd be likely to wonder what fault she'd find in me to share with others. I guess I am lucky to have never really encountered any remarkably bad conditions within a client's home. I suppose you can only try to educate people on more healthy habits; share with them what you know and respect their right to not follow a word of it. People do things all the time that they know are not good for them, but knowing doesn't necessarily make it any easier to change.

I'm betting you work at a state prison

I know in this state you can get a grant for vocational school that will pay for the program almost entirely. It is funds generated by the state lottery and there are no income requirements on it, but they'd let you know about something like that when you filled out your FAFSA.

It always tickles me to see the super cheap stethoscope on the TV and in ads. I always wonder if any nurses or doctors actually own one of them. I know some facilities have them lying around for staff use but they are just awful; guess they are cheap to replace by the truckload tho :)

I also live in TN. When I was in LPN school I took a PRN job as a CNA that was offered to me during my clinical rotation. I was able to become certified without any classes or experience in it other than what I had done in school for nursing. I had to submit some papers to the state showing I had training equivalent to or greater than what would be obtained in a traditional CNA program and I had to take the test. It was a very easy process. I am fairly certain you wouldn't have much trouble either. As far as how the process went the company that was recruiting me did most of the leg work. I had to obtain some documentation from my nursing school showing what I had completed but they arranged the rest. I'd say contact the board or perhaps you could inquire with some prospective employers.

I think they may have meant something along the lines of asking if this nice gesture was actually done by a man. I don't really think they are questioning if Steffers is a man with a boyfriend or not.

I was thinking something quite like this. Maybe you could get him a nice smelling men's bath and body set and tell him how much you adore it's smell. He might be inclined to use it to please you. If he did and you let him know how great he looked and smelled afterward it could boost his confidence and maybe he'd be inclined to use it more often. As for counseling I'd try suggesting couple counseling first as it will probably seem less intimidating.

Had a patient that was listed as allergic to warfarin but took Coumadin on a daily basis. I could see if they were allergic to a certain brand but last time I checked Coumadin is still warfarin.

Same question...why would you sit for the NCLEX-LPN if you are eligible to take the boards for your RN?

poor hygiene could be a symptom of depression; low sex drive could be as well. Besides tooth decay and gum disease poor oral hygiene is linked with cardiac disease. Abscesses wouldn't be very pleasant either.

I currently have a write-up hiding somewhere in my file for excessive absenteeism; I missed work for two consecutive days with a doctor's statement. Our policy states three or more episodes of absenteeism in a 30 day period is excessive. Because I work weekends, 12hr shifts, the director says this is the equivalent of three days. She also interprets each day missed as an "episode". These are the only days I have missed in a period of about 9months. I considered arguing the write up with corporate, etc but in this facility I think such action would do more harm than good so I summarized the policy in the comment section and left it alone. Trying to talk to any of the management in this place is like talking to a brick wall, only with more attitude. I think its just awful that your manager reported you to the BON, however I just love that it resulted in them coming after her for her policies on sick employees. :)

Try reading Sickened; a book written by a woman who suffered through this as a child. http://weread.com/book/0553381970/Sickened+A+Memoir+of+a+Munchausen+by+Proxy+Childhood/BOK-14109562-1 I need to pick up a copy of the book A Child Called It. I've heard of it before but I never got around to checking it out.

I am completely serious. The inmate reportedly managed to fall down a flight of stairs which resulted in him having a fractured leg and a few assorted injuries. He was ambulatory with his crutches (it isn't uncommon to have WC bound inmates in general population) and didn't have any medical reason to need to be in medical all the time or have extra nursing supervision. We didn't even have an infirmary...if his condition was bad enough to warrant infirmary care he'd have had to been transferred to another facility. His arrangement all came down through both the heads of security and the medical administrator and wasn't at all kept secret. Do anything remotely like this for some random inmate and you'd most likely be terminated or put under investigation on the spot. This was at a privatized prison. In my experience the privatized ones do seem to have more "perks" but nothing like this. I'm sure there was an interesting story buried behind it, but I never did hear anything as to what that might be.

I have seen a lot of facilities here that use these for agency nurses. In the form I've seen its nothing to be really concerned about as it isn't anything that goes to the state or even outside of the facility. It doesn't even indicate that you've done anything wrong as a nurse. Usually its just a little list that is kept in the office of the person who does the staffing of the facility. They add people to it mainly for not showing up for the shift to avoid it in the future. I know of one in particular that will also add you to it for something like failing to complete all the charting assignments etc. All that happens is that if your agency is filling spots for them and they offer the name of someone on this no client return list then the facility staffer will say no and ask for someone else. I've never known of an agency that will stop using a nurse for that reason though, they'll just try to staff you elsewhere.