vanburbian

Hoping to start July 1st as well. Not sure I'll make deadlines, as I don't have the official interview with the enrollment counselor until this Friday. Paperwork is all done, transcripts sent, just hoping there won't be hold ups as I'm on an employer timeline as well as far as reimbursement goes.

We do it on nites where I work, I hate it, because I may not even know I have a pt in a room for 20 minutes if I'm busy elsewhere, but the chart says they were roomed at a certain time, and it ends up looking like I ignored them the whole time. Plus, my opinion only- to room someone with a very minor complaint immediately after they have walked thru the ER doors is just asking for trouble. I would prefer they wait in the lobby until I am available to spend 10 minutes triaging & settling them,deciding whether or not I really want them to get undressed.

Been using it for almost 2 years now, the transition will be a huge PIA. It's a good system, it's just so very different from anything else most people are doing. Things like the code or trauma narrator, charge capturing and documentation so that patients are billed for everything we actually do, the MAR and the way it's set up-all will initially be very confusing, but eventually it will start to coalesce. As a super user, be prepared to repeat things multiple times. And, practice, practice, practice the blood transfusion process. It is VERY confusing- we still have to get the book out each ad every time we give blood, and we've been using EPIC for over a year. I would say those 2 to 3 things-code narrator, trauma narrator, and blood transfusion-were the most difficult, at least in our ED. That and trying to figure out where to document the little things like wound care, pelvic exams, bladder scans, etc. Not necessarily an intuitive or logical program, but it works.

I always say I would make the ultimate sacrifice, and remarry if I could only find a man who had a playlist like mine....

well, seeing as how it was a 5 or 6 dollar bottle I've had since Xmas, I didn't want to waste the reindeer on guests or anything. Not like that stinkin' bottle of Freja (drink local) sitting in my fridge. Wodka is too much for me (I am a pansy).... I only drink that when I'm jobless and looking for catheter volunteers.

We can help your chicken. I'll get the bovie out and fry him right up.

Yeah, but I work nights too. And days. And mids. I am a dreaded VARIABLE RN. And I don't think it's freakin fair, cuz I have been a nurse for 23 years. Just cuz I just started in ER last year, I should have whatever shift I want, you know, cuz I worked for 23 years already. I'm gonna finish my bottle of Electric Reindeer rose today.

Crap...are you telling me that my reply to rnbeauty was a wasted effort at reality confrontation because that poster was writing tongue in cheek? I wish I would have read this whole thread before I replied, darn it..... Oh well. I was anxious to go see the horror, since I apparently missed the soft Media. That'll teach me to actually do wasteful stuff, like review for PALS, show up to work on time, etc.

Ahhh yes, I recall the good 'ol days, when I was a "regular" young nurse working ortho and gen surgery floor. Everyday I asked myself- "Self, WTH is wrong with these people that had a BM last night and now are asking for MOM, or an enema? Who has nothing better to do than monitor their BM's?" Well....now, 25 years later, I am a 51 year old whose very own colon has more and more frequently become rebellious. And, it makes me miserable at times. So miserable that I will sometimes change plans. I personally don't care if I go 10 times a day, or once every 10 days, and I really don't even keep track, mentally- as long as my gut is not so bloated I feel bigger than I was during all my pregnancies, or the pressure is making feel like I need to urinate q 10 minutes, or I can't take a deep breath. I don't care about anything else aside from feeling like the weight of a bowling ball has been lifted from my pelvic girdle support structures. And now, I've become "one of them"...I eat fiber cookies, fiber rich fruits and veggies, pro biotic enriched yogurt, and flax seed, chia seeds, etc. I'll try anything once.

What happens when stoma sex occurs with a nurse in scrubs???/ Stomites....

i can only second what bostonterrierloverrn stated: "but, if your hearts really in it, i promise you that every minute of the battle fatigue, stress, fear, even panic sometimes, and the general feeling of drowning-they are all worth it, and the reward is beyond words." yep..nothing else in the world like this job/art/calling.

Well, I've had to work for 2 days, and missed this til now, but hellzz yeah!!! I want me some Fomite Factory Scrubs, can you make them in poo brown/ bile green/blood red camo?

I see you know my last blind date....

Pardon my interruption here, just performing a routine Fomite Inspection...carry on.

We will occasionally start a PIV in a fistula arm in the ED, but generally only after getting an OK from the nephrologist. And, it's always a very distal line, like hand/wrist. It's only meant as a very temporary stop gap until someone can get a port/picc etc.

Anyone who thinks I am gonna go home, change and clean up after I just ran my azz off for the last 12.5 hours all night before I stop at the grocery store on my way home is, IMO, only seeing half the picture here. All that "ick" that I came in contact with last night?? Hate to burst a bubble, but those peeps came in wearing their street clothes (many of them from a bar, by the way) and they have already been out "fomiting" it up all over town. At the grocery store, the tavern, the library, minit mart and McDonalds. Now, if I had a night like last night, and I have a patient who is projectile vomiting enough blood to spray the walls behind them, well...I change scrubs at work right away. Otherwise, no- if I have to stop somewhere, I do it, in my scrubs. Not like I'm hugging the aisles/display cases.

Geez..can't even make a joke about Real Nurses not crying in a thread about nurses feeling harassed by older nurses without being harassed and corrected that yes, indeed, real nurses do too cry.. I need to go cry now. In my closet. With a bottle of whine.

Did my "wink" not show up?? Not a LITERAL statement here folks. Hence the wink.

I am shocked- SHOCKED, I tell you- that the older nurse was Chinese. Because that has everything to do with why you're (OP) feeling harassed? Hmmm...the fact that you mentioned her nationality leads me to believe you already have a pre conceived bias against this individual, and you are not interpreting her messages as she may mean to convey them. And, oh I don't know- just shrug it off, acknowledge that you did indeed make several mistakes, and don't cry about it, learn from it. Real Nurses don't cry.....

Majority of my pt.'s are homeless, and we send them out walking. Otherwise, the insured visitors generally have someone they can call, or we make them call a cab, or if we know they are driving we don't narc 'em.

I am so stealing this line.....and I'll use it too.

You're still young, so I'm, not sure you really know exactly what you love. As far as nice house, car, paycheck etc...if that is why you think nursing is for you, DON'T do it. If you LOVE the building job, go for it. I LOVE nursing, but if I didn't, I would have been gone 20 years ago. It's far too much of a commitment, IMO, for someone who doesn't love the job. And I don't mean the education/schooling part. I mean the damn job. I don't mean to sound rude, but I honestly don't feel nursing is the best path for you. At a certain point in your life, you will look back at the previous 20 or 30 years of your career and either be miserable, because you chose something you "thought" was a good path, or happy, even though you may not own a current year car, take vacays in far away lands, etc. but you will have been happy doing what you've done for that period of time, and still love doing it.

No IV Valium either, versed on limited list...Oy Vey. Interestingly, I got an email from Medscape today and they had about 6 articles, as well as Methotrexate shortage on MSNBC/national news. 258 meds listed as shortages.

The answer will be different from probably each and every nurse you ask. Heck, it could be different depending on the day you ask the same nurse. Too subjective to gather any quantifiable data OP...sorry. Why don't you start by telling us what you think constitutes a nursing error, and give us a specific scenario.

Bonus for working ER- hot EMT's and Police Officers....