Alley Cat

Sorry, my mistake. I should have said nurses and left it at that. Did not intend to ruffle feathers. Now I remember why I quit visiting this forum or replying; can't seem to keep myself out of trouble.

Am working in a facility that recently forced everyone to bag their patterned scrubs, RN's now are in white and/or ceil blue, nurse tech's (aides, if you will) are in navy blue, as are the desk clerks/HUC's/unit secretaries. Other departments have n...

That reminds me--I have a neighbor who recently graduated from Hutchinson Community College's program, she got on day shift @ Select Specialty and only has to work 1 weekend a month. She was nervous about her skills also, and since Select gets lon...

What did you find out from your discussion with your nursing instructor? Some hospitals have refresher courses available, or have had in the past, but you would probably have better luck checking with their Human Resources departments. Also, sit do...

By "distress assessment" do you mean pain? If so, we use the FLACC scale in assessing pain in our nonverbal patients.

As an Rn who happens to have a BSN and has been in the profession 20+ years, here's my two cents' worth: 1. When it's about the check or who- did -what- to -whom battle with management, it's time to either get out or re-prioritize. 2. My burn-out s...

Very interesting thread, folks. Lots of very valid points. Recently I had a back problem occur--woke up one morning, couldn't move. Usually can loosen up with heating pad, etc., but didn't work this time. Went to my primary care doc, gives me scri...

Danamegg, I noticed your post was a while back. How's your daughter doing with her rotation?

I'm not sure I totally follow exactly what you are currently doing. In the states, "clinic" means more like a doctor's office rather than a hospital setting. Whichever type of area you are working in, it sounds overwhelming--or an awful lot like an ...

Okay, so I didn't exactly read the question right. What I meant was, lack of confidence in your abilities will really impede one's professionalism and function. From this stems all of the things I just yammered about up above.

Excellent Question! Also love these answers for strengths, but I don't see anybody saying what weaknesses they'd hold back. My primary one is trying to curb my mouth before my brain kicks into gear! (Also known as TEMPER !) KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS! ...

OOPS!:chair: Thanks, sjoe, didn't catch that one! What I meant was that the particular uniform did not necessarily represent the entire profession by the time I entered nursing as a career, con-trary to what I'd heard constantly from my mother and "C...

I decided to become a nurse when I was four years old, after a lengthy stay in the hospital; I didn't change my mind even when high school counselors and other forward-minded well-meaning people said "You're too smart to be a nurse, you should be a d...

Having stable administration helps. When there's a lot of change and unrest going on in the ranks, it's hard to keep things together. I do think working with the same crew can help--if everyone in your group works well together. Sometimes this can ...

BTW, thank goodness for those "inexperienced staff"! You know the saying "see one, do one, teach one"--if we handle the teaching right, more of these individuals would be inclined to "hang in there" with us instead of bailing out. Attitude makes al...

Most of the mistakes I've seen made have happened because people get in a rush OR because they're not paying attention. Our risk management dept. studied this a few years ago and found the staffing numbers made no difference, which surprised most of ...

Also, JMB--sorry you think quoting scripture is preachy. I just view it as a quotable source since there are no other written documents (that we know of) from Jesus' day other than scripture. Yes, I have a scripture in my tagline, but it's because ...

If one tries to rationalize Jesus/God's existence, you don't get very far. Personally I don't understand how a person can believe in Jesus but not the miracles or any of the scriptures. (Maybe I should say it sounds contradictory--just a thought, I...

:kiss Well said! Actually did leave the pedi world for awhile, found that to be too physically exhausting, as well as frustrating because adult patients are even worse to deal with--they act like kids, but you can't treat them like children . Anot...

There's a lot of truth in that statement. I hear a lot of nursing students already saying, "I don't want to work nights or weekends", they complain about working holidays, etc. HELLO~I can appreciate that these aren't cream of the crop hours, but af...

I realize it's been awhile since you posted this, but here's some more food for thought: The JOYS of pediatric nursing If you stay in a long term position, seeing how kids grow and change (yes, this has its drawbacks as well). The KIDS The coworkers-...

DIFFICULT PARENTS HEAD THE LIST!!!!!!! People that want their child sedated for procedures, but want you to put them to sleep before you put in the IV! A CRNA I'm NOT! Or want medicine that they can drink so they don't have to be poked. People tha...

My oldest daughter was colicky until I switched from breastfeeding to a soy formula after 6 weeks. She was having really BAD smelling explosive stools while I nursed her, didn't make any difference what I did or didn't eat, but you could time her cr...

Interesting. In our area, the agency/traveler people get to work first if they've signed a contract with a specific area. So, what happens? The agency person works while the regular staff get floated or called off--a dissatisfier to them, of cours...

Good question! In our area, there are no longer any diploma programs, and I don't know about diploma programs in other states; locally, I still feel the ADN programs prepare more students better for bedside nursing. However, the BSN programs are im...