beautifulb

Hi ~ I don't know if you are working there now as this thread is a few months old, but I worked there as a traveler around 4 yrs ago. I liked RIH because it was a teaching hospital and the interns were extremely hands on and very helpful and I felt as if they respected us as nurses. The downpart was that I would have 9-10 (at night) patients on a medical-telemetry floor (r/o MI's), be charge, and draw our own labwork. Reading through these boards it looks as if it is not uncommon to have that many patients but I found it overwhelming and I did not feel as if there were a lot of support personnel. I feel that Rhode Island is beautiful with it's quaint little sections, the ocean is close by, the diverse cultures. The area surrounding the hospital is not the greatest but I never felt unsafe.

I went to a wedding that weekend in Boston and took a flight back to North Carolina on Monday September 10th, just in time for my 7pm-7am shift at the hospital. I came home exhausted after my shift and slept all day. When I woke up, the phone was ringing of the hook. My friend Kristi was calling me all day, hysterical, because she thought that I was flying from Boston that day (9/11) instead of the day before. I could barely make sense as to what she was saying to me. When I finally realized it, a whirl of emotions came over me. My cousin who had got married that weekend in Boston flew out of Logan Airport on Sept. 10 for her honeymoon in Aruba. When she found out about the terrorist attack she cut her honeymoon short and got the first flight back. That dreadful day has had such an impact on so many people.

Hi! I am from MA also! One of my most favorite places while I was a Travel Nurse was in Wilmington, NC. Beautiful, beautiful place.

I know, it is so hard to talk to someone about their weight. If the weight is due to overeating, it is so hard to change their weighs (oops, ways). Seriously though, if I have a pt. who is asking a lot of questions as to why they have diabetes, heart problems I will honestly tell them that part of it may be because of their weight. I don't say it in a demeaning way or a way that would make them feel guilty or uncomfortable, but instead in a way that is in an educational way. I actually have only talked to a handful of pts about this in my past 12 yrs of nursing. The pt's that I have talked to have been pt's that I thought would not be offended and that I had a good rapport with. But I agree, tread lightly.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I ended up getting canceled the next day (nothing to do with the outburst ~ hopefully...). Today I went into work to drop a few things off and I had my adorable baby boy which made everyone smile, so hopefully it will keep their mind off of my terrible rant. And I guess what some of you said about always being "peachy" is true...So thank you everyone for helping me to feel better. :)

Oops. I thought it was gen. nsg. forum.

Well, yeah, I am exactly like that too, but since my show the other day, I am going to have to remember that it is not the janitors fault, but that floor polisher machine. Oh, Boy. Not looking forward to tomorrow.:imbar :

If a pt is groggy then I will gently tell them that I am going to be repositioning them. While changing their position I tell them to take a nice, deep cough. If the I.S. is there then I will have them use that a few times. While they are in the midst of drifting back off to sleep, I tell them the importance of the resp. exercises. When the pt. is more awake, I more actively enforce it.

Hee Hee! :rotfl:

I totally freaked out at work the other day. It was extremely inappropriate and uncalled for. I am embarassed to go to work. The other morning, right during our 8am med pass ~ including all the insulins ~ the janitors were waxing the floors which meant that whole portions of the hallways were totally blocked off from the pt. rooms. I had a heavy assignment which was the farthest from the med room, pts that were unhappy, tons of meds. Each time I entered the pt's rooms there was something extra that they needed. Well, with just "busyness" and inability to even remotely catch up, I freaked out at the janitors. Okay, I am very embarassed to even admit this, but I began what started as asking them why portions of the unit were totally blocked off, why couldn't they just do half of the hallway, etc. in which I eventually got more worked up. At this time, there was PCA's, other nurses, new orientees, student nurses that stopped to watch the whole confrontation. I eventually "mini" stormed off. Afterwards, I apologized profusely to the janitors, in which they accepted my apologies, but of course, I am now looked at upon a different light. Usually, I am happy, friendly, smile at everyone and I am not like this. People were kind of keeping away from me and talking about this incident all day (understandibly). I am working tomorrow and I don't even want to go in because of this. I respect the janitors. It is not my opinion that they are below us (my husband was a janitor), it was basically that I felt that the management scheduled it at time when the floor was the busiest without any consideration for the unit. I sometimes feel that the nursing staff is disregarded and unimportant to basically all involved in hospital operations. Please help me. I don't know how to face work now and am terrified for tomorrow and every shift after.

I have oftened wondered--what is more important, sleep or exercise? I too would wake up early, exhausted, to exercise. I was losing sleep, but still exercised. Now, I wished I only had the desire to exercise. Actually, that is what I am supposed to be doing now since baby is asleep and I have to work at 3. But this is my way of procrastination.

It is interesting that sometimes mental disorders become more prevalent following a pregnancy. I feel that every mom or mom-to-be should be screened to see if they are at risk for ppd, especially since it can lead to pp psychosis. As to why some dads keep pursuing the moms to have more children, who knows what they are thinking. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that the suffering person can just "snap out of it."

In my 12 yrs. I have never done that, nor do I ever expect someone else to give what I have drawn up. Noone has ever asked me to either b/c it is just something that you don't do.

One of my first jobs was working on a geri-psych unit. I found it to be very challenging to say the least. Definitely not a walk in the park. As for this boy, it sounds as if he is not going to end his torturing ways anytime soon. I hope that something works, for everyone's sake. Good luck.

If a pt. had asked me for a pain medication and then I left to prepare it (which at times could take 5mins or more) then go to the pt's room to find the pt. sleeping, I would gently shake the pt's shoulder and say "Ms. jj, I have your pain medication." Usually the pt. would wake right up and then take the pill. If they don't wake up after that, I will waste the med until the next time they asked. But I do as TriageRN does. When I come in for my midnight shift and do the initial assessments, we talk about pain control. "Would you like me to wake you up when your pain med is due or would you rather be left asleep?"