socalpca

I was a beach lifeguard for 14 years until I suffered a pretty bad knee injury that severely limited my ability to do my job. I'm about to finish my first year as a RN on a medical-oncology unit and I'm very happy I made the career switch. Not only do I have more job security, but the opportunities for advancement and learning are much greater.

There are nurses on my medical-oncology floor who use clipboards and some who don't. As a new nurse(7 months), I have tried a lot of different things. Here's what I've come up with that has worked so far: -Get to work early. My shift is 1900-0730 and I will get on the floor at 1800 and start to gather info on my patient team for that night. This way I can get all my information gathered and claim a computer terminal before the rush begins. I have also been able to start my assessments earlier. -I have a computerized print-out of my patient. Each patient is on a separate sheet of paper, and the labs are printed out with the name of the test, the value and whether the value is low, high or critical. I highlight any abnormal value for easy reference. This sheet also has plenty or room for notes. The pre-printed sheet also has spaces for diet, meds, IVs, activity, skin condition and isolation status. -Ask your fellow nurses. There are a lot of good ideas out there. Find out what they are and try them out. Some will work, some won't.

I wish I had something positive to say about where you are, but it will get worse before it gets better. The great thing is that it will get better. I've been practicing for 7 months now, and it took me 6 months to get used to being on my own and not feel totally stressed. It's crazy, but just after I hit the 6-month mark, it was like a switch was hit. I felt more relaxed almost overnight. Don't get me wrong, I still get stressed & overwhelmed. The difference is now that I'm better able to handle the unexpected things that always happen on a shift. Good luck to your career.

Wow!! Reading this string really made me feel lucky. I only have a max of 5 patients on our floor. As a new nurse (7 months), I have a hard enough time getting out on time with the 5 patients I deal with. I could not possibly fathom taking care of 7 or even eight patients. To me, that's absoultely unsafe and completely criminal.

True, but most of the unreaonable patients I care for don't know that.

Speak for yourself, lorster. Don't attempt to pull all this "we" crap. If you feel pathetic, then that's fine. I certainly don't feel that way. The MDs in my hospital would be taken out behind the woodshed for yelling at a nurse in the nurse's station.

Patient: blah, blah, blah, some unreasonable request. Me: We will be happy to help you, but right now you have already had all the pain medication I can give you right now. If you will return to your room, we will be able to talk further when I get there. Basically, I tell them that PRN doesn't mean scheduled and just because it's been two hours, that doesn't mean that you will get that medication every two hours....especially if I notice you sleeping/passed out. If the patient becomes unreasonable/loud/abusive, i tell them that their behavior is not helping their situation and that this outburst of energy shows me that you are feeling better and not in need of more medication.

We use Stat-Locks for PIVs as well as PICCs. While I love them for PIVs and am satisfied with how they secure PICCs, I would feel more comfortable with PICCs being sutured, especially during dressing changes. However, I don't want to rely on sutures and tape to replace Stat-Locks. I just want as many layers of safety as possible for my patients.

i was a pca for 4 months after failing the nclex. during that time, i learned that rn's as a rule treat the techs like dirt, but don't know it!!!! like you, the rn's on my floor are quite a bit younger than i am (i'm 33). now that i'm a rn, my time as a pca taught me "how the other half lives" and showed me how i do not want to treat any tech who helps me take care of my patients. i know that i could not do my job without them, and i do my best to tell them and show them my appreciation.

Don't bother trying to learn individual drugs-- there are too many. Instead, try learning the different classes of drugs. If you learn what the SSRI's do, how they do it and what the side effects are, then you have 5-10 drugs nailed right there. Also learn the suffixes for each class(-olol, -pril, etc) Hope this helps and good luck.

I don't think Mike is over-stressed or burned out based on what he's posted. I think the only generalization he made was comparing how his OR works to the rest of the healthcare field. My unit certainly is not like that. Any healthcare professional-- from CNA to MD-- would be severely disciplined for yelling the F-word to any other staff member.

I don't know what it's like to work in the OR, but I would not take it well or calmly if someone were to yell at me in front of all. I'm not trying to attack you or the way you do your job, I'm just telling you how I am.

There is a difference between being rude to a person and yelling at them. If you yelled at a co-worker on the job in the hospital, that may be grounds for disciplinary action levied against you. I'm not saying you deserve it, I'm just telling you like it is in this uber-PC world of 2008. Also, yelling at someone doesn't earn you respect.

I hate to sound cold & heartless, but there are times when you have to take care of #1. Unless you or your friend have documented evidence of unfair or unprofessional practices on the part of the instructor, there is little to be gained for you and so much to lose. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but just be 100% sure before taking any action.

It's been my experience, albeit a brief 7 months, that almost every nurse in every specialty thinks that they have it as tough or tougher than the other nurses in other areas of the hospital. On my unit, there is quite a bit of bad-mouthing of the ER in general for various things. I'm sure there are other areas of the hospital that bad-mouth my unit. I don't really care. I'm just trying to clock out less than 30 min late.