flowerchild

Sounds like a wonderful idea. Unfortunatly, the laws pertaining to our practice are governed by each individual state and this will not change. What they could do is give us reciprocity. The problem with that lies within the fact that if a nurse has a licensed revoked in one state, could go to another state, start working before anyone knew that they really didn't have a license anymore.

I am having a difficult time understanding how I would ever know the info posted on this BB re phenergan. Every drug book I have looked at on this subject lists IV as a route for the med. I have always relied on those drug books to give the best care possible to my patients when it comes to giving meds. I am not involved with nor a member of the INS, so I would consider myself giving prudent care had I been the OP and chalked it up to a complication. So many meds are hard on the veins, as mentioned here on this thread. Do we just refuse to use ALL of them just b/c there is a chance of a problem? Tell the doc to give all the meds that could cause a possible complication themselves? How is this any different that following P&P, checking the drug book, giving any drug, take lasix PO for example, to find the patient dehydrated or hypokalemic, or any other s/e or complication. We KNOW of the possible complications and watch out for them, but problems do arise. With standards being set by who ever decides to set a standard and then not allow anyone but members be privy to the information is not right and leaves us all open to being held negligent. Of course I would always advocate for my patient to the best of my ability and knowlege, but how can you do that when you have P/P and drug reference books that agree with your own practice standards. Remember, anyone can sue anyone, for any reason. The hospital will every time try to pin it on the nurse when something goes wrong to decrease thier own liablity, but if you stick to the hospitals P/P, how could you as a nurse be held soley liable? As far as the sentinal event, that should be used to increase the standards of care to avoid something like this from happening again. The investigation should focus on that issue. They are required to ask the questions they asked of the OP to get to the bottom of the problem and hopefully avoid it happening again. I don't think the OP caused the complication, esp if the OP followed the P/P and since the books use IV as a route, what else could one do?

Robinette, I'm so sorry to hear of what happened to your family. Our son was only 7 when my husband had his. I am very greatful he is still with us and I'm sure anyone who has made it through this feels greatful too. I can only imagine the loss you feel as the thoughts of losiing mine were very real and not many days go by that I wonder when and if it will happen again and he will be gone from our lives forever. I fear that what happened to you will someday happen to me. I can only hope and pray that my fears are unwarrented. I thank God every day that he is with us. My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to you and your child.

NICU-Nurse, I would recommend that you talk with All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg. I worked there at one time and it is a great place to work. The NICU is the best in the area. I would also recommend St. Pete over Tampa any day. Best beaches, better all around. The hospital is near the interstate so it is easy to access from many areas of the county including the beaches. Good Luck in where ever you go.

Thank you for sharing. I don't think my husband will ever know the devestation I felt when he had his heart attack at age 35. He almost died and would have if left up to the ER staff as they refused to listen to me and dismissed his symptoms, misdiagnosed him, and threatened me. I will show him your poem. Maybe, after all these years, he will understand that he wasn't alone through this. He has never been the same man as he was before but the heart attack did not win. He is still with us. And now, almost 9 years later we have adorable 6 y/o girl twins who would not be here today if we did not perservere. It took incredable strength on my part to have more children with this man. I was so scared he would not be around and I would be left alone with our children to raise. Finally, I figured that if we did not follow through with our plans to have another child that the heart attack would win, I was so right and thank God everyday for him and our children. Again, thank you so very much for sharing. I could never put what I felt into words as eloquently as you did.

Here's a trick that worked for me. I was placed on the waiting list. I waited and waited and did not get called. So, on the last day for enrollment, I called the nursing admissions and asked if there was any openings. One of the accepted persons decided not to start, leaving one space open. They gave me 15 minutes to get down to them and enroll in the nursing classes before the closing of enrollment. I drove as fast as I could and got there with 2 minutes to spare. She plugged me into the computer and I was IN! Worked for me! They perferred to take me rather than let the spot go empty but it was only my perserverance that got me there and got me in with no time to spare. Lucky me!

It is OK to have a personality conflict with another person. It happens. You have to find a way to live with it. Try keeping contact with this person strictly professional. In my work I have never tried to "make freinds" at work. I am there to do a job, not socialize. Not everyone is going to like you and you will not like everyone, but you still have to work with these people, so you find a way to make it as best as possible. Don't dwell on it. Don't let it affect you. Just accept it for what it is and find a working relationship that you can both live with.

The ear thermometers are only accurate IF you hit the tympanic membrane correctly. If the person has otitis media, forget it, you get the temp of the hot spot, not the core temp of a person. The forehead thermometers are fairly accurate IF it is used correctly but will not give you an exact temp measurement. If a person has just been working out and is hot and sweaty, it is not accurate. The most accurate temps are rectal or oral, for an oral temp IF done correctly, placed under the tongue and HELD in the proper place by the person taking the temp. Rectal temps are the most accurate of all but not done b/c of the route in most cases.

I didn't think this thread would live. Too much good to get most peoples attention. Just as the media doesn't report "good news" b/c it just doesn't sell. Sigh. Oh well.

In 1995 I was making 58,000/yr doing HHC RN visits with benefits in Florida and loved my job. My income had risen to that point from the time I had graduated from college in '91. I remember starting at 12.50/hr as an RN newbie. At the time you could buy a house in Tampa Bay starting at $35,000 and my grocery bill was $60/wk. By the time I left my first hospital job in '93 I was doing pool w/o benes for $20/hr. Now, I make less than $30,000/yr. Govt pay ---- Thank you Florida for thinking so much of your public health nurses. Benefits have been whittled down, cost for benes is up. I do work FT. I have this job for other reasons besides the pay and I love my job. No I didn't HAVE TO settle for this pay, but I choose to accept it and move on. So, since I can no longer live on this measly pay it's back to the bedside for me. I negotiated my pay at my new job and did a decent job of it. I'll get $23/hr plus shift and w/e diffs as house super. I plan on doing some OT and figure I'll should make at least $50,000/yr. Still a far cry from the 50 I wanted w/o OT. But, I tried! I will be pushing to get into admin/mngt for the higher pay. (Comparison Now: same house is now over $100,000 and grocery bill is 120/wk.) The $$ is out there but not like it used to be. What happened? I'll tell you. A huge money hungry Corporation with bosses and CEO's that would even break the law for profits sake, bought every hospital, every HHC, and anything else they could get thier hands on. This Corporation bought the HHC co I worked for and treated us as they did the hospitals. They bought then closed every HHC, and Hospital (2 in my community), thus eliminating the competition. They moved nurses from other HHC co into my office as now we all worked for the same co. Then they thinned us out. Cut our pay. Cut our bene's. Left us w/o ANY benefits at first. They did this b/c they had ALL the control. Eventually, I was laid off too, after several years of service in the same HHC office. They said I could get a job as a NEW hire at another location but I would have to interview for it. I'm sure I could have taken that offer and had a job but I was so mad that they wanted to erase my years of service and start all over again that I told them forget it. Ever since then I have not been able to find a job that paid as well nor that I liked so much, as before they took CONTROL. The state LET them do this, then the state and feds came down on them, but it was too late. They still owned so much of the market. They just changed thier name. A few went to jail. And the nurses got the shaft. They did this all across the state. Luckily, there is more competition now. Many years later. But they still own a good majority of the hospitals and they set the pace on pay d/t the size. Wages are set by the hospitals. They call, ask, share, find out what the wages are at thier competition. I have done this job before when I was in admin. You use the info to set "competitive wages", ie: in line w/ what the other place is paying. This keeps wages down. To top that off, Florida is a right to work state. You can loose your job for any or no reason at the employers whim. Unions have been shut out of Florida for many years. They are just now gaining momentum in this state. No union, No power. But since it's a right to work state, employees are afraid of being fired, which does happen when they start talking union. A few years ago this was common practice. Then you wouldn't be able to get a job elsewhere b/c you were fired, and if they hear about the real reason why, you'd never get a job. I live here b/c I was born and raised here. I am not leaving just b/c I can be paid more $ in some other state. I hope that many will stop flaming those of us who live and work here. There are reasons that it is the way it is and it is a bigger fish than any one nurse can fix. It will take years to recover from what the corp world did here. More to get us all unionized. AFL/CIO here! And even more years for the state govt to protect employees if ever. The big corps have all the $$ to get the laws they want and the state wants to attract big business, so they will keep the laws on the side of the corps. I figure that the nursing shortage will in fact become so bad here that we will finally get decent pay to offset, what we Floridians consider a high cost of living.

I received that letter the other day. I don't believe the gov't has any right to say that I am obligated to join a private organization - ie: CE Broker, so I ignored the information the first time I'd heard about it via other nurses discusing the issue. Knowing it is not legal for the BON to require this. I figured there would be some kind of grace period in case I was wrong, or I'd just deal with it. I didn't even open the first letter from CE Broker, probably b/c it was not from the state so I just saw another advertisment in my mailbox to ignore. The state always sends more than one letter when ever there is a change in how our license is handled. When they changed the renewal dates a few years ago I remember receiving at least two letters plus it was brought to the attention of our employer who spoke about in a meeting. I was also in the publication that they send in the mail. I can definitly understand your feelings about this. When I got the letter from the BON, of course I opened it and read about the "misunderstanding" I did think about all those who joined up. I wonder whose at fault. Did CE Broker just print this up without final approval from the Bon on the contents of a letter that had the state logo on it? If they did, CE Broker should be charged with fraudulent advertising and shut down immediatly. If they did it with approval, then the BON should be responsible for any requested refunds to those who followed the letter from CE B. Don't we have a right to know how this happened and who is taking responsiblity for it?

Hi Everybody! I think we need a thread titled as above. A place where we can post all good things about nurses. A thread that shows just what nurses are really about. There is so much negativity out there and it would be nice to have a place to get a positive warm fuzzy. Not to mention the effect it may have on those deciding on becoming a nurse. I mentioned it to Brian and he suggested that I open a thread to see if there is any interest. Good news usually isn't that popular though, but we will see if it is something that is worth it to us. All of us have heard of a nurse hero. Perhaps you have your own story. We could post current or past stories, or awards to nurses. We could tell our own personal stories. We can even talk about ourselves and how a patient thought we were thier hero. What do you think? I'll start with a nurse from a local hospital where I once worked. Here is the link to the story. http://www.allkids.org/News/Media/Releases/2002_Diane.html

OH YEA! I remember going to school with my bathing suit under my cloths, still wet, wet hair, and of course sand tween my toes. Teachers never thought much of it, good thing. We didn't have air conditioning in the schools then and the breeze would blow through the big windows on a nice day. The school my kids go to now, has NO windows. It's closed up tight, no wonder my kids suffer from RAD. We used to take the boat out by ourselves as kids, we'd take a pack of saltines and some tobasco so we could eat our lunch off the oyster beds in the bay. Those oysters are LONG GONE, wouldn't eat an oyster out of Tampa Bay now. I remember riding our horses down to Boca Bay to let them swim, then if we were feeling really bad, we'd ride them through the rich folks golf course, then run like mad before we were caught. LOL, we were just havin some fun. I remeber taking our gigs and heading out for fish, big, huge schools of fish, it was so easy. I remember my Great Gma cooking up Coquina Soup, Yummy. She made it so good. I'd bring home the Coquinas and she'd cook all day. And, clams, so easy to find the key holes, they were everywhere. She'd make me clam chowder too. When I was growing up, we didn't have much $$. Dad would net mullet. We'd have mullet, stew, fried, broiled, steamed. Not so fond of mullet these days though. We made our own skateboards from skates and wood, and our own boards for the beach and behind the boat. We'd wax the one for the boat and my Dad would pull me behind the boat, I was 4, I'd yell, faster Daddy, FASTER!. Mom would be Yelling at Dad to slow down and we'd just laugh and he'd push the throttle forward. We flew. We used to hit the road, just for the fun of it, finding natural springs, hidden areas of nature, and anything else we could find. We'd drive for hours to have some REAL Catfish and hushpuppies. You could go anywhere, do anything, NOWDAYS, so many private, keep out, do not enter, do not breath on my land signs. Fences, etc. Just too many people I remember getting caught on an island d/t summer storms and we'd make a lean to, or get under the boat and just peer out at the storm till it stopped, then make our way home. We'd go to the woods and see plenty of fox, bobcat, etc. I saw a Florida Panther once in NORTH Florida, there are no more Panthers in the North these days. What a majestic animal to see in the wild. We'd eat swamp cabbage, rattlesnake, soft shells, poke weed, etc. It was all so abundant then. Well, I did go scalloping last summer, and plan to do it again, kinda sucks that the nuke plant is always in view there though. Same for the crabbing. Still do that too but I have to drive for 2 1/2 hours to get where the pickins are still decent. I remember going out Kingfishing, what fun! Dad would put me, this little kid at the helm and say don't go off course no matter what, just stick your head up through the center window so they can see you. You should have seen the faces of those other boaters when they saw a little kid in control, they'd get out of my way fast and we could keep our course! LOL. Ah yes, the nostalgia. Remember when we all laughed b/c Disney bought all that SWAMP land in central Florida, the middle of nowhere? If you ever wondered why Disney has so many lakes it's b/c the drained the swamp and had to put the water somewhere. Too much of that has led to NO WATER for our faucets. Can't wash the car, my kids wonder why they can't play in the hose, my well smells like death-yuck-and to think we used to drink from our well, can't water the yard. Oh well, all in the progress of man. They can have it, I'm outta here. Hoping to find a place where my children can run free, not worry about the child molester on the next street, where my children can ride horses for miles, where they can play in the water without worrying about high bacteria levels, where they can find wildlife, fish, mullusk, and just have some real kid fun. I think I found it, we just bought a home on 12 1/2 acres in the country, on one of the largest pristine rivers in the state. 500 ft. on the water. Natural protected forests everywhere. And if I want to keep my Christmas lights on my front porch all year long, there will be no stuffed notherner to call me names! Speaking of such, I've had it with being treated as second rate b/c I'm a real Floridian, for years, and it's gotten worse, people come build homes on pastures, then proceed to cut down, call names, to any "cracker" . I know, b/c I can act very refined and not show my accent, I'm a professional. They start talking, and I've heard what they say about me and my fellow natives. It's not nice, they have no respect for us. I let them run at the mouth and then tell them, then they say, oh not you. WELL, who else then? Give me a break. Superficial, they can have it. Oh, and to finish our 40 years of living here, (in the county, not city limits) we were just fined $350 d/t my 71 Chevy sitting under the carport, hiden by lattice from view of the road! THEN, the state sends my hubby a letter stating he is being indicted on criminal charges for an inoperable vehicle, he must appear in court or an arrest warrent will be issued! They can fine us $500 per day or go to jail! We have NEVER been in any trouble with the law. This is so appalling to us. Of course the car is now up on our new property, I DARE someone to come onto our property and tell us we can't park it there under our new carport! Our current "wonderful" neighbors, not real floridians called to complain about the car, and this is after we spent $1000 on our yard with landscaping, painted the house, it looks great, but they just couldn't leave us alone long enough for us to get out of here. I just hope we get out of here before they realize hubby pulled the motor out of our race car and it is sitting on the car trailer, inoperable. I jsut can't live with others telling me what I can do and can have on my own property. It's not like the place is a dump! It's a beautiful home, clean and neat and well manicured. Give me a break! These old folks who come here just don't have anything better to do than to drive around and find any violation they can to report it. To top that off, this is a new law, we moved to the county in the first place so we could have our cars, and pets. Now they say I can't even have chickens or ponies here anymore. Can you tell I resent all of this? Well, I do, and for good reason, imo. SEE YA!

"......I have heard that fort walton is still nice....maybe I'll get there before it changes too." Too Late! I was there last summer. Absolutely some of the prettiest beaches I've seen here but already built up and crowded and the areas near are slated for development plus new and wider roads. Big new stores, all the top stores, big $$$, golf courses, etc. Paper co and developers fighting state to use protected management areas to build the road through the forest. They'll get the OK as usual. The only places left are in the marshes if you want everything we had minus the white sand beaches but even places like Cedar Key are built up. And the flats go for miles before you can hit deeper waters. But it's what's left. Even in those areas a mobile home on the water is going for $200,000 and we're talkin many miles to the closest town. This beach baby is heading inland. Sigh. At least I'll have miles, and miles of wide open, peaceful river to play on that is vastly protected and owned by the state for preservation, thus limiting the expansion of urban sprawl. I can always drive an hour to the beach. Shoot, it takes me almost that long to get there now on a w/e and I'm only five miles away!

This is a good page for grad/pinning ceremony. http://www.stclairc.on.ca/programs/departments/nursing/Candlelightceremony.html Try lamp of learning on your search and you'll find more on passing the lamp to the underclass students.