vashtee RN

I am wondering if anyone can offer guidance about how to choose which PRN blood pressure medication to give when there have been multiple types ordered. For example, when might you choose a calcium channel blocker over a beta blocker? Patient (in the...

I should add that the patient was experiencing heart pauses throughout the day, 2-3 seconds long.

I hope your patients are low acuity! 6 neuro patients can be a lot if they are all stroke patients!

I hadn't worked (for money) in many years when I applied for my current position, so I listed all my volunteer work on my resume so they wouldn't think I did nothing during all that time. It seems to have worked for me...

I couldn't possibly care less if someone calls in sick. We have patient ratios, and my workload is the same, regardless of who else shows up.

I hate those surveys, too. Our nurse manager insists on having meetings to go over them as a group (this after 12.5 hour days), and they really only ever cover the complaints. It's so demoralizing. Also, based on these stupid surveys, they are ac...

I work in a community hospital, and we definitely treat tons of these. In fact, I work on a floor that takes all the stroke patients. We get lots of "ordinary" diagnoses where I work. The thing we DON'T get are *unusual* chronic diagnoses or pedi...

I made up a day planning grid when I was in nursing school, and I still use it every day. There is a column for each patient, and each hour of the day is listed in rows. Before I start working, I just list all the tasks I need to do throughout the...

edited - just in case it could be construed as a privacy violation. Too bad, too. It's a great story.

I think if this happens again, you should simply hand a pair of gloves to the phlebotomist and say, "trust me: you should wear these".

Leslie - Thanks for clarifying! Also, I wanna work with wooh! :)

I just wanted to thank you for noticing the difference between days and nights. I agree that day shifts (at least on MY floor) are crazy, but I could never stay awake all night. To each their own...

I hated nursing school, but really admired how smart my fellow classmates were (after the 2nd semester, anyway). I was very happy to graduate. The best thing about being a nurse is that you are never bored, though honestly, I think it would be very ...

Lack of moralities? I don't know what kind of people you work with, but none of the nurses or CNAs I work with are "immoral". They are just really busy.

I truly wish there was some way to diplomatically tell family members they should be participating in their loved one's care if they want them to be shaved or have their hair fixed if they are a patient anywhere besides ICU, and that I have as many a...

HAH! We document about our patient's cardiac activity every four hours, but we have to do hourly rounding. Looks like Wisegeek (website) isn't so wise.

I work on a DOU floor that also takes *all* CVA patients. There is a very high patient turnover rate, and the majority of our patients are total care, or close to it. People hate floating to our floor because of the pace. I would LOVE to take 2 pat...

Oh, lord. Come back after you get a job on an understaffed floor where 85% of your patients are total care, and tell us all about how we should manage our time better. Until then, you *honestly* don't know what you don't know.

We have Definitive Observation Unit/DOU separate from the telemetry floor, although all DOU patients are also on telemetry. DOU patients are higher acuity than the tele patients, so the nurse:patient ratio is different.

I - for one - would LOVE someone to come in and teach me how to get better at time management. Maybe then, I would have time for at least one of the 15 minute breaks I am legally entitled to, or maybe I could have a lunch break before 2:30 or 3:00. ...

I generally hope for the best on days when I have a team of 6-8 total care patients on a floor with 2 CNAs for 18 patients. Yes, the CNAs know they are supposed to do it, and I do it myself when I can, but seriously: since I KNOW what it's like to ...

I had a patient "fire" me before. I felt awful until the doctor asked me how I did it so he could be fired, too. Sometimes people are just irrational jerks.

The phrase I get sick of hearing on this site is "lateral violence".

Our consent forms say something to the effect that "Dr. So-and-so has explained the risks, benefits, and alternatives", so as far as I can tell, I am only witnessing the patient's signing. One thing I won't do is have the patient sign consent forms f...

The hospital I work in says they will be starting bedside report soon, and I am also dreading it. Our floor is chronically short on CNAs, and most of my patients need stuff done the second I walk in the room (bathroom, water, turning, changing). Ar...