Bugaloo

Two nursing students have been up all night long writing out notes for their clinicals, studying for two big exams and writing a paper that was due yesterday. They have only had one hour of sleep in the last 24 hours. As they stand before their instructor, there are both in a stupor. Their eyes droop as she asks, "Now, what conditions would we use this medication for?" The students reply at the same time. "Sleep?"

A long time ago, I was taking care of a little old lady who had just had a hip replacement. She has Sundowner's and kept trying to climb out of bed. The bed alarm had went off about 10 times in one hour. Concerned for her safety, I called the on-call doctor, thinking he might order a light sedative. The on-call doctor, unfortunately, had a well known problem with alcohol. And unfortunately for me, he was inebriated when I called him. Here's how the conversation went: Me: Dr. G, the patient in Room 201, Mrs. M., is confused and trying to climb out of bed. We have been unsuccessful in trying to get her to sleep. Could you please order a light sedative to help her relax? Dr. G: (Slurring his words) Nah, just tie her down. Me: So, you are ordering restraints? Dr. G: NO! I said "Tie her down!!" Take some rope and tie her to the bed!! Me: No disrespect, but I don't think we can do that. I'll run that by my charge nurse. Dr. G: (laughing hysterically) Naaaahhhh!!!! I'm just messing with you! I know we can't do that! So, in all seriousness, let's do this. Let's tie her to the bed with rope. Me: Ummm. Alrighty then...... Needless to say, I never got my order for a light sedative.

Learn to listen to your intuition. If "your gut" tells you something isn't right, more times than not, you should investigate things further. If you aren't happy in your current job, look for something else. The great thing about nursing is that there are so many possibilities for us to explore! Be courteous and polite to your patients, coworkers and everyone you come into contact with.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

I have signed checks and receipts with RN at the end. Haven't we all? I look at veins too! I diagnose people in my head when their color is "not quite right". The job I have had for the last 11 months is in a secure facility, which requires unlocking and locking every single door that you walk into and out of, so after a particularly grueling 3-in-a-row, I find myself coming home and trying to unlock and lock every door at home I come across (without keys). It is so annoying! We also carry heavy radios on our hips, and sometimes I feel the weight of the radio on me after I leave work. I embarrass myself by slapping my hip and starting to panic, thinking I brought my radio home, LOL!

Only in nursing do you get raked over the coals for "human mistakes", this I have learned. And, yes, I have cried over write ups too. We have feelings, therefore, we cry. Please try not to beat yourself up over it. Learn from it and move on. I hope things get better for you soon! :)

Reading some of these comments made me feel as if I had to say something. I have worked as a nurse for 17 years. Not once, when I made it in from 45 minutes away from my home, in snow and ice, have I been thanked by management or patients for making it in on a "snow day". Not only that, but it also was not remembered when my evaluation came due. AND I got to sleep in the facility, missing my family for two or three days. I also got to spend my own money buying snacks out of the gift shop. Meals were not provided for those who made it in. That being said, NO ONE cares if you risk your life for your job. That is a judgement call you must make yourself. If the roads are too bad to be out on, don't risk it. I have had several friends wreck on the way home or to work in dangerous snow and ice conditions. Personally, I put myself and my family first. If your employer cannot understand that, then you probably do not want to work there. Go ahead and flame me now, lol!

As a med-surg nurse, I always did thorough head to toe assessments on my patients, and I have been a nurse a long time. That being said, I highly suspected that there were some nurses who did not. Why? Because it is impossible to assess your patients, pass your meds and be finished with your charting two hours after the shift begins. There were certain nurses that I worked with that were able to do this every time they worked. They never had a bad night, they had time to read, chat and text. I never asked them what their secret was. I was afraid to know!

I could really use some advice right now. After almost 17 years as a medical nurse, I have the opportunity to work much closer to home at a sexual offender's unit. As I understand it, these are men that have been convicted of sex offenses and have been committed. None of them have release dates set in stone, so as of right now, they are there for life. The pay is good, the hours are good and the benefits are excellent. But I am still concerned about safety and harassment. Will this be an emotionally draining job instead of physically draining job?

I really feel that it depends on the facility that you are applying to and how badly they need help. I worked as a traveler for a year at a facility. When I decided to move on, they asked me to stay on as an employee, yet we could not come to terms on an agreeable salary. I offered to leave for a while and then come back so that they would not have to buy out my contract or pay the travel agency anything out of pocket. They made it perfectly clear that I was free to do that, but they would not budge on the salary they offered me. So for a measly $2.50 extra an hour, they refused to hire me on my terms. The excuse that HR gave me? They said, and I quote, "We WILL NOT compete with ABC Hospital. We do not care what they offered you. We will not match it because we are NOT in competition with them." Huh? With that sort of attitude, I now know why they have a huge turnover and why they cannot attract nurses. I sort of felt as if they were telling me that they did not care how much experience I had, this was the salary. Take it or leave it.

Thanks so much for your response. That makes a lot of sense. What is really crazy is that I had to actually leave one place of employment for almost three years in order to come back at a higher rate of pay. If I had stayed on throughout those years, my salary would be even less!

Why does it seem that in the nursing field, salaries do not seem to really increase that much with experience? I was an LPN for ten years and have been an RN for six. I have a lot of experience in many different fields. I was talking to a friend of mine who is graduating from nursing school and was shocked to find out that graduate nurses with absolutely no experience are starting out at a base pay just $5-6 per hour than what I earn (before differentials). I realize that I live in a state that has a fairly low cost of living (Missouri), so the wages are going to reflect that, but come on! It seems almost like a slap in the face after all the years I have put into this career. People seem to have the impression that nurses make BIG BUCKS and maybe some do. But where I live, most nurses work a lot of overtime or have prn jobs just to make ends meet. Has anyone else noticed this in the nursing field: Experience does not always equal a higher salary?

I don't really hate nursing. I LOVE caring for people. It is all the other stuff that takes up a 12-hr shift that is totally uncalled for: crazy family members, out-of-touch administration, pulling staff 2 or 3 times, quadruple charting, etc...

Considering the way most of us are treated when there is NOT a pandemic, why should I risk my life to go to work without PPE to protect me? I have a family that depends on me for an income, which I cannot earn if I am dead. AND the government is going to demand that I work? I. Don't. Think. So! :angryfire

IMO, on our busy Med-Surg floor where almost half of the patients are Psych, drug overdoses or drug-seekers, Ativan is a God-send. I also think that Ativan should be available in spray bottles for family members that are getting out of line

Yep, I had a female patient the other day that was in her 30's. She was a nightmare. Anyway, as I walked out the door of her room, she said, "*****!. I wanted to clobber her, but instead I went to the computer to start writing my book/documentation on her behavior.

Unfortunately, I have seen this happen a few times myself. It takes a lot to get that nurse fired, for some reason. When they do finally let her go, she just applies somewhere else and starts the same pattern. I have SEEN it happen!

It really depends on the circumstances. If they are writing down VS, or other things they would like to remember, that is one thing. But when they are asking every person who walks in the room what their name and title is, it sort of creeps me out. Especially if by doing so and focusing so much on "the notebook", they lose track of the fact the person in the bed beside them needs their attention and love. I have often felt threatened by family members writing in their notebooks, and when we get report or give report from floor to floor or shift to shift, this is something we always mention so no one is caught off guard.

Yes, there has been a trend lately. I agree. And I have posted in a lot of those threads. I think nurses are just tired of being treated as if they do not count. First of all, in an acute hospital setting, the nurse/patient ratio needs to be based on acuity and not numbers. And the numbers have to come down from 8:1 to more like 4-5:1 to provide quality care. In some areas, factory workers make more than nurses. Raise the pay! That is just two things. I will think of more later!

Actually, at Walmart, if a customer acted like some of our patients do (self-entitled, verbally and physically abusive), the police would be called and the customer would probably be asked to leave or be escorted out of the building in handcuffs. We, as nurses, are expected to "take it" because they are "sick". Well, on my floor, the definition of "sick" depends on many things. A lot of our patients are frequent flyers who do not take care of themselves, yet demand special treatment by staff. They come in for IV pain meds, period. We have a lot of drug overdoses and alcohol detoxs. We also have the little old people that the families bring in saying, "They aren't acting right", just so that they will be admitted and we end up babysitting them for a month. We have more and more young people with weird stuff they have picked up somewhere. You can never find them because they are always off the floor smoking (in a non-smoking facility). We get a TON of patients with Altered Mental Status as their diagnosis, yet they have a 10-15 year history of Alzheimer's, dementia-type. I have always wondered how the hospital gets paid for a diagnosis like that. A huge majority of the public really have no idea what nurses really do. Thanks to television shows and media that represents nurses as "Angels of Mercy" or nitwits, most people just don't get it. Nursing is a profession, not a calling from above. We are supposed to practice nursing, but the way the healthcare system is set up, we usually are not able to do that. A lot of times, nurses are taken advantage of. We often stay way past our shifts. We cannot call out without being made to feel guilty. There are not enough of us to take care of our patients. We are not really free to complain about being taken advantage of, because then we are not "team players". We are labeled as troublemakers or shown the door. And God forbid, that you try to go on strike, because that is just not how things are done in nursing. Within five years time, I hope to be at least part-time in nursing, if not out of it entirely. I am ready for something else. But for now, for me? Patients are patients, NOT customers. No, I will not be hit, cursed or kicked unless you are very confused. I will not tolerate. If I get hurt, and it is not my fault, you can bet that I will do something about it. I will do the very best I can do in twelve hours with the 8 patients I have, but don't ask me to come in on my day off. The three days I spend at the hospital are enough for me, thank you. And, would it really hurt you to actually pay me for all the years of experience I bring to your floor, instead of offering me a measly hourly rate and acting like I should be happy to get that? I almost forgot the point of all that. Finish school. Take your boards. Work for a while to see if you will like it. The first year is always the toughest. After that, you may just find your niche! It is not for everybody, but you won't know until you are actually out there doing it. If you don't like it, defer your student loans and go back for something else.

{{Hugs}} I know how you feel. Really, I do. And I also carry the insurance for my family. Call your counselor and try to get in to see them ASAP, please!! Then, maybe it is time to find another job (with benefits).

Something happened yesterday to a co-worker of mine that reinforced my decision to get out of bedside nursing, if not nursing all together. I can't really go into it, but trust me, it was bad. Life is too short to have a career that makes you unhappy. I myself have struggled with the feelings of guilt caused by no longer loving what I do. But everyone has to decide for themselves what makes them happy.

Good luck with everything. I am currently on a 2 1/2 week hiatus from work myself (for the same reasons). Only one very close friend knows why I am out (besides my boss). I am taking the time off to look at other options in nursing that are less stressful (yeah, right!) But, go back, try to have a positive attitude and try not to let things get to you. We have all been there!! {{Hugs}}

I think you are being too hard on yourself. A lot of times, they do not complain right away of pain. A lot of times, the fractures do not even show up right away. Do not let the opinions of the other nurses make you feel bad. It is SOOOOO not worth it. {{{HUGS}}}

No, You are NOT off mark. But the thing is, there is not a NURSING shortage. There is a SHORTAGE of nurses that are willing to work under the conditions that have been created for us. There is also an overabundance of CEOS/Admin who feel that it is okay to cut costs where they see fit. Very seldom do you see someone in administration lose their job or work like a dog. But nurses, as someone else mentioned, are actually seen as "budget breakers" because they are a great expense. But the thing is.....if nurses actually said, "Ok, We are done. We aren't taking this anymore", and walked out....there would be sheer panic from the Big Dogs. Okay, it is a pipe dream. We can't actually do that, because they would call and report each and every one of us to State Board of Nursing. They have us in a bind, and they know it.