inava

Thanks for mentioning that you need to treat writing as a business. The administrative part of it can certainly take up half your time. The fun part is the creation, but that alone does not bring home the bacon. (I'm probably dating myself with that reference.)

I was recently hospitalized for five days with flu and pneumonia. I tried very hard not to second-guess everything. But I'm the first to admit I'm a terrible patient.

That's the spirit!!! Take it day by day and you'll get there soon enough.

I join the chorus saying do not bring this to your manager's attention. Big NO! NO! Other staff's salaries are not up for discussion and you will only establish ill will from your manager towards you. Trust me, you do not want to earn the moniker "problem employee".

WOW! Congrats. Age is relative. I thought I was old when I graduated at 27. Took time out to have a baby and spend the first 2 years at home with him. And that was 30 years ago. How time flies. And now I feel just as young!

What I would tell all my orientees was that they needed to know 2 things: 1) What they don't know and 2) where to look it up. I find that nurses who act on what they presume to know are dangerous. And no one can know everything all the time. You have to be ready to receive new knowledge constantly. The mantra "we've always done it this way" is passe.

I took all my non-nursing classes before entering the program and even so it was not easy. I ended up taking only 2 classes per semester and that was a lot of work. I did have a toddler at home so I was busy. What makes nursing hard is that you can't fall behind. You are building knowledge as you go. If your foundation isn't secure it's hard to build on. It was very challenging but very rewarding and worthwhile. It's been a while for me but I have never regretted my choice to go into nursing. Keep positive thoughts. You can do it. And you are very much needed.

It's not glorified like you see on TV. You don't have time to stand around the nurse's station gossiping about every body else. Here's a small sample of what I have seen and done: --Handed a dead newborn baby into his mother's arms to hold for the first and last time. --Worked like mad with everyone else for months to save the remaining leg of an 18 year old accident victim. --Called a code to jump start a response from residents for a patient with double pneumonia who was soon to code and needed to be moved from med-surg to ICU ASAP. --Provided information and emotional support to a Mom whose 4 year old had just been diagnosed with diabetes. --Emptied countless Foleys, marked and read hundreds of Pleurovacs, hung numerous bags of blood products, started too many to count IV's, auscultated thousands of hearts and lungs, wrote an encyclopedia's worth of charting, and listened to many, many voices as they entrusted me with their needs.

it's easy to come across as holier than thou. it's a lot harder to work to fix the problem. the losers here are the patients who end up being shortchanged in their care due to lack of staff or lack of professionalism in the staff. we are all human but some of us act more so than others. i hope you find a better working situation so you don't get completely burned out.

I'm sorry but I have to ask: why do you tolerate this situation? I would have turned in my resignation long ago. This looks like a no win situation.

My pediatrician told me a few years ago that he was seeing an epidemic of adult onset diabetes in young children secondary to obesity. This is a real shame. When I drive around practically every corner has a fast food joint with a drive thru. Food dripping in fat and preservatives plus a disastrous public education system does not bode well for the future.

Who's in charge at this place? How can this person leave early? Is she being paid for not being there, in which case that would be stealing. Not to mention the liability you would incur for taking responsibility for the whole unit without supervisor's approval or knowledge. I would hightail it out of there pronto. I have worked with this type of personality. There's basically one in every unit. Shortly after I became manager, I was given the impossible task of imposing behavior modification on one of the squeaky wheels on the unit. I gently reminded my superior that I had not created this monster and therefore could not perform any miracles. But, this type of personality improves when you ignore them as they get no payback for their drama. But gall takes all forms. Like the LPN who, being in an accelerated RN program, complained to me about her assignment saying she couldn't take the every 2 hour feeder. When I asked why she said she had too much homework!!!!! My only response was silence as I let her digest what she had just said.

I can understand how you can still have some concern about the situation you were placed in without your consent. If it had been the patient then it would probably have been easier for you to oblige them a small comfort and then gone on about your duties. But, being that it was the physician who basically roped you and the patient into an impromptu prayer circle is what probably nags at you. You were probably made to feel subservient to his wishes and personally, I don't like that feeling either.

I have always addressed doctors as Doctor because that is what I was comfortable with. I preferred not to blur the lines between the familiar and the professional. In return I have been called "honey" as well as by my first name. And I'm sure some other choice words when I didn't kowtow. But the best example of interpersonal relationships was the hospital where everyone was known by last name only. No one used your first name. Our charge nurse was named Escobedo and she quickly became known affectionately as "Scooby-doo." The place had its drawbacks but one was not tension between staff.

Not to mention introducing textile fragments into the tissues. Never heard of such a thing. Except on TV shows.