SpringerCab

My mother says Tydenol for Tylenol and Eptilepsy for Epilepsy. She is now 85 and I have stopped trying to correct her.

I have had a similar experience as the OP. The nurse that I oriented went through three preceptors. We all tried to work with her. She called in almost once a week, she was asked to remove staples from a patient after she had been shown and she had been at the hospital for two months on orientation. She tried to change the tubing on TPN on the opposite of the bed, refused to even be shown how to pull a jp drain, and walked out on a patient in the middle of the afternoon because I was being mean. I was the third preceptor because according to her they were mean as well and were not patient with her.She had been a nurse for over 15 years and did not have hospital experience. All the nurses, social workers, respiratory staff etc tried hard to work with her. Some nurses are dangerous and should not be working as nurses. You can be as kind and patient as possible but that doesn't mean they are going to get it.

We don't know everything she posted on her fb. In the article it also states that "She also posted another remark we can't repeat." It may not have been the "cop killer" remark but the other remark she made. I have several people from work on my fb because they are also friends out of work. I do not however post comments about work on fb and my privacy settings are set as far as I can make them private.

I went to an inservice years ago where the nurse had us cross our ankles and we were to keep them that way until she said to uncross them. Of course it was to show just by doing that for 5 or 10 min the pressure area that is there.

We have PTO at our hospital as well. Our policy is if you have the PTO time you can take time off, if you don't have any PTO then time off is not supposed to be approved. I would certainly ask human resources to clarify the policy.

I went to nursing school with a lady who was a Pentecostal and she wore a skirt or a dress. In fact we were the first vocational nursing class to be able to wear pants. We had a designated uniform we had to wear so we had to make sure that it was availabe in a dress as well. She was not treated any differently by us, the hospital staff, or even the patients she took care of. I also have worked with another LVN who wears skirts for the same reason, and she is not treated any differently than anyone else. If you the skirt or dress is done modestly then I don't see the problem.

In addition to what is written above, I would like to have been told don't depend on management to praise you. It is more important what your patients, family members, and co workers think of you than management. You need to take your 15 min breaks and lunch breaks most of the time. It is not always possible but don't fall into the trap of I don't have enough time to take it, because the break refreshes you and lets you finish what your shift.

I didn't grow up wanting to be a nurse, in fact I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Due to my parents I ended up in nursing. I don't love nursing and I am not doing bedside nursing now. However I have worked many areas in my 30+ nursing years. I don't hate nursing but I don't love it either. The days can be long, the work very had, the patients difficult to take care of, and the families can be terrors. I have had wonderful patients, families, and co workers. I would go back to work on the floor if I needed to but I love the job I have now which includes teaching so it is perfect for me.I learned a long time ago to appreciate how my patients and families members cared about me. There are those who will always hate nursing and to them I say go find something else to do instead of wasting your time with all that stress. Life is way to short. I believe if it is what you really want to do go for it. Just make sure it is what you want to do.

Years ago when I was complaining about a patient and family members to my sister she got a little upset at me and said "you nurses need to understand that they patient is not at their best when they are in the hospital." I was upset with her and stopped telling her about the situation. I thought about it later and realized she is right. Although being in the hospital does not give anyone the right to treat us the way this family treated you, we might want to remember the patient and family are not at their best and try to understand how they might feel. Just my 2 cents.

My advice is usually to realize that you have to give yourself time to learn your new job. It may take up to 6 months or more to feel as if you know what you are doing. Don't be too hard on yourself and as vharris said don't be afraid to ask questions. You will do well.

Ask yourself how you can change your practice so hopefully you won't make a mistake. I am always wary of any nurse who has nursed for a long time that says I have never made a med error. My question to them is so you have always given every med on time. If they answer no then I tell them they have made a med error.

I work for the HIS department at my hospital. I am one of two educator/trainer in our department. I was asked why I wanted to leave nursing and I told them that I loved to teach and wanted to learn something new. So I think your answer is a good one. Good luck.

It all depends on where you are. I live in Texas and LPN's at our hospital can hang the blood as long as two nurses have checked it and at least one of them is an RN. LPN's cannot do comprehensive assessments, which means here the initial admission assessment, but daily assessments are done by both LPN's and RN's. If you are in a state that doesn't LPN's to do the above then D would be the answer.

After 30 yrs of being an LVN I have decided to go back and get my RN and I am 52, so I don't think you are too old. I am taking one class at a time but I will get there.

It is not your problem unless you make it yours. They are using peer pressure and that only works if you let it. Take the time off and get done what needs to be done.

Your time is as important as anything else in your life. It is hard to say no and just no. I always wanted to make an excuse why I couldn't help out. Just say no you don't have to give a reason why you can't work. Take care of yourself because no one else can do it for you.

We used to have a hospital skills day but got so it took too long that now it is divisional related. Some of the things we did were check off on PCA pumps, IV pumps, and what the process was to get blood from blood bank and how to check the armband. We involved every unit and so there were so many different equipments and skills for every unit it just got to be too much.

I work in Informatics. My hours are Mon - Fri 8 to 5, but they are flexible. We are on call every couple of weeks for two days and every 8 weeks we take weekend call.

I had a similar experience but with an LVN who had 20 years of experience but not in the hospital. She had three different preceptors. Two of us had the same amount of experience she did and the other one had about 10 years. We wrote down where she needed help, what she was doing wrong, and how we felt she was a danger to the patients. She left the floor at one point when I was precepting her because she was angry that I had told her that she had an order to removal staples and she told me she didn't know how. I told her that I didn't believe her that in 2 months she hadn't been shown how to remove them. She clocked out and went to talk to someone in administration. She had not charted on any of her patients for the day, but she was allowed to come back and chart and then leave. I was then responsible for the patients the rest of the day. I had made my assessments and knew what was going on so it was easy to take over. She was on orientation for 3 months, never learned how to take care of hospital patients, and was only fired for calling in sick. The reason she was fired for calling in sick according to the nurse manager is because you don't collect unemployment for that if it is well documentated that you have been talked to about it. One thing to think about if your nurse manager does nothing consider peer review if your facility has one.

The hospital I work at has not mandated it yet. If we take the flu shot though we get a star and if not we get a frowny face. Once we get the sticker we are supposed to post it on a sheet of paper next to our names. Talk about treating someone as an adult, this is not the way to do it IMHO.

It will still take some time for you to become confident in your new position. Anytime I have changed positions or jobs it takes me a little while to feel comfortable with what I am doing. I changed positions about 3 years ago and it took me several months to feel comfortable. Not only with what I am doing but with the people that I work with. I had actually already worked with two of them and still it took me time. Don't be too hard on yourself. Good luck to you.

I have been a nurse for over 30 years and when I was first in nursing school I was watching a blood gas being drawn and almost passed out. I went to surgery and watched a lady partsl hysterectomy being done and almost passed out. What I found out was that if I don't look around while certain procedures are being done I get that feeling. As long as I am assisting and not just observing I am fine. I don't have any trouble starting IV's or even drawing blood. Hope this helps.

20 years ago something similar happened to me in Texas. The administrator and owner of the LTC I worked in would call the doctor and get an order if their was a resident he felt was too "loud". He would then go to the DON and tell her what to write. I questioned it and said I don't mind taking an order if the DON talks to the doctor and writes the order but I will not take an order that the administrator received. I told him if he is allowed to by law I would take the order. I agree about not putting your license on the line for anyone, because it is your livelihood that is at risk.

When I have been a preceptor I try to tell the brand new nurse or new nurse to my hospital that it will take 3 - 6 months to feel comfortable with what they are doing. I think it is normal to feel the way your are feeling. One nurse that I oriented would be so upset when she went home each night she thought of quitting. She stayed with it though and now 18 years later she is confident, a good nurse, and is going back to school to get her RN. Just hang in there and it will come in time. Mistakes happen, just make sure you learn something from them so hopefully it won't happen again.

I have worked for over 30 years as an LVN in Texas and have found that what an LVN can do varies by hospitals. All hospitals have to follow BON but in our hospital LVN's are allowed to hang and spike blood and are allowed to start and stop TPN.