NurseRachy

Every shift i doubt my choice of profession! Sad but true.

Carebear06 - Firstly - good luck in your new job. You'll never know unless you try it. I have a couple of friends that work in prisons and they LOVE it. They always have officers around them and are NEVER alone with the inmates. They would never come back to a hospital and they tell me the extra money surely helps too! Good Luck and ENJOY Rachel

I'm sorry to read that you have had a bad time in nursing. These issues are identical in nursing world-wide! I can fully identify with your issues expressed and they are very similar to reasons why i have decided to leave the profession at only the end of my 2nd year of practice as an RN. It really is a shame that people like us are leaving. I have rotated through various areas of nursing at various establishments and the bullying, backstabbing and horizontal violence is all too common. It is not healthy or satisfying when you are working under constant intimidation. Out of 10 of my nursing friends from uni I am the 8th leaving the profession. I will be doing temping positions for over $12 an hour MORE than i got when casual nursing!!!! AND this is admin duties with a tenth of the stress! SO - good luck with your baby - your future is bright. You do not need to work as a nurse if you don't want to. Your skills are transferable - when one door closes another immmediately opens. All the best, Rachel

Hmmmmm... let me think...... Absolutely NOTHING!!!!

Unfortunately not in Australia either.... I'm in the same boat. I have qualifications in Public Health and Health Promotion...... The powers that be are struggling to see the connection to nursing practice and how my knowledge is of assistance to our patients.... very disheartening really!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, I would LOVE to be a teacher. Mother was a teacher - really don't know how i ended up nursing..... can we please swap qualifications? Rachel

How about medihoney? It's real honey from bees but a certain type with better healing properties. I have also used normal honey on myself, but that was just for a graze when i tripped. Worth a try..

Sorry Marla I've never heard of it either but I hope that everything ends up ok!! Sending good wishes.. Rachel

Hello jetta1, Yeah a good friend of mine was written up by a Dr because she paged the Dr to query a dose (INR 3.3 and 3mg of warfarin written up to give) and when the Dr called back she was really nasty, yelling and carrying on down the phone that she (Dr) had already clarified this with (with who we do not know) and who was she to usurp her authority and she was "just a nurse" so she should "shut up and just give the damn thing as a good nurse should" and when my friend said "Excuse me, when you can speak to me like a decent human being you can call me back on xxxx and my name is xxxxxx on ward xx" and proceded to hang up the phone. Well, that was it - the Dr came flying around and put in a complaint about her. The nurse unit manager called my friend in, laughed at the complaint, wrote it was a pathetic on top of it and filed it in her file. If I was in the same position I'd want to do the same, but I think that I'd probably just cop the abuse and move on. Rachel.

Wow - I've never been asked if I've been saved. I'm sure i would blurt out "from what, what do you mean?" Other than that I think I would just answer "yes thanks" and quickly busy myself with another task. When people (usually 2 young men) knock on the door to give me pamphlets I politley and answer "No thanks" and close the door. If someone jammed their foot in the door I would freak and probably stomp as hard as i could on their foot. Oh, i hope that never happens!

ALL THE BEST!!! I fondly (haha) remember my 4 impacted wisdom teeth being removed. I had to go to a hospital's day surgery and had a general anesthetic. Well, I too had the bruising, SWELLING, pain, SWELLING, numbness, oh, did i mention SWELLING really bad. My face was like a square for at least 2 weeks and i couldn't talk or eat at all (lost a lot of weight that i really couldn't afford) and was on pureed baby food for over a month ( so 6 weeks from date of surgery cause I couldn;t eat for the first fortnight). Luckily i loved the fruit baby food in the cans. Yes - the numbness has a VERY HIGH chance that it will go away. The swelling in time will go down, and the brusing is your temporary battle scars :) Wear them with pride :) (or at least try to!) Just think - no more problems from them EVER AGAIN!!!!!! Best wishes Rachel

oh my gosh - that is terrible news! I'm so sorry to hear about that Julie. I'm keeping you both in my best wishes. Positive thinking ((((((((((Julielpn))))))))))) Rachel

Sorry to hear that you are soo sad. i too would strongly recommend a drug rep job, or maybe work as a homeless outreach nurse- that way you might feel less like a bird in a cage. How about being a case manager for chronic illnesses like COPD or some mental health. Maybe you could even think of doing infection control or OH&S? I don't think that you should need to sacrific your salary or take a substantial pay cut, but I'm in Australia and things may be different. ALL THE BEST!! Rachel

I love nursing but I'm too busy to run around and find the patients friend a different flavour of jam for the patients toast! (but i do it anyway cause I'm a softy)

Sorry to hear this markjrn, sorry no advice just best wishes! Rachel

Oh, that's soooo unfair Marla!! I'm sorry to hear you are suffering through this *again* and I wish you speed in your treatment and recovery! Rachel x

Hi Harry Potter, Yes i have had this before when i was a student at uni during exam time. I really do believe it is stress related because as soon as my stressor went way I was better. I too had no headache or earache and was generally in good health. I hope you get better quickly and it doesn't return!! Rachel

Hello, Many GNP's offer an OR rotation, and depending on whether you like it sometimes it can even be extended too. I have a friend that was simply not happy on her ward and loved the OR so they put her back in and she's thriving now. Do whatever makes you happy :) Rachel

WELCOME BACK TOOKIE!!!!!!! Lovely to see you again :) Rachel :)

you are a very experience fainter!! I've never fainted, been grossed out, but never even thought about fainting. Have you had a medical exam to find out why you faint so much. And are you a nurse? how do you do procedures ? Hello medsurgnurse, yes i am a nurse (Div 1) and am about to start working in cardiology. I also work in Health Promotion (separate from nursing) and have been to my local doctor and been referred to a cardiologist for ? long QT syndrome ( http://www.qtsyndrome.ch/faq.html ). All my ECG's have been perfect and that hypothesis has been dismissed. I have low BP so that has been blamed by my local GP. I keep very fit and healthy and haven't fainted for about 7 months. To be honest my medical investigations concerning my syncope have came to a standstill. My mother and brother faint at the sight of a needle so I'm a bit inclined to think it might be genetic. I'm usually fine dealing with most procedures and wound care but I do my darndest to avoid trigger scenarios (like bone marrow aspirations). People are mostly supportive of my requests to avoid certain procedures as a few other nurses have their own dislikes aswell. I can deal with teeth, dentures, eyes and feet without any problems so that is usually my trade off :) Rachel :)

Yeah I agree!! In my case the lady had light sedation which was increased as she was screaming. I was assured she wouldn't remember a thing! I'm not so convinced... I NEVER want a bone marrow aspiration!

Oh that's horrible guys! I DEFINETLY know what it's like to faint. As a student i was watching a TOE (trans oesophageal echo) and was in the treatment room holding the patients hand for support whilst he was under light sedation and all of a sudden the room got really hot and all i remember was the cardiologist saying to me "Rachel - look at the screen - here is the mitral valve" and the next thing I remember was waking up on a bed with my top half NAKED (yes - shirt and bra were CUT OFF!!!!). :uhoh21: I had been hooked up to what felt like a million leads and about 20 people were in the room looking over me- my educator and fellow students included! My BP dropped through the floor and i was GREY! I had actually wondered out of the treatment room (don't remember it) and out the door before collapsing in the hallway. A nurse had seen me stumble out and went to grab a wheelchair, but by the time she caught up to me i was out cold and non-responsive! In line with hospital protocol they called a CODE and I was under surveillance for 3 days!!! They were questioning whether i had long Q T syndrome but nothing has ever come from it. Another story - I was watching a trachy being suctioned and a great big green gob went flying across the room and hit the curtain -I fainted. And another story - Was watching a bone marrow aspration from the hip and as the Dr was "screwing" it in the hip like a corkscrew on a bottle of wine and the pt was screaming I fainted! :chair: One more story (oh yes i have HEAPS) I was at home at looking at my Mosby's medical dictionary and found a really gross picture which made me feel faint. I decided that I need a glass of water and went to get it but as i was passing my chest of draws in my bedroom fainted and smashed my nose. I needed a rhino-septoplasty and in hospital every time they tried to make me walk for the first 3 days I fainted. :uhoh21: What have i learnt? *When you feel faint SIT DOWN IMMEDIATELY (yes - even beside the patients bed on the floor) *Avoid trigger scenarios - I NEVER watch bone marrow aspirations (not even for a billion dollars) and VERY RARELY suction trachy's. :spew: * Drink a glass of water * Sit down for 10 minutes - and yes I mean 10 minutes in full * Wiggle your toes when you feel like you're going to drop * Start thinking about something COMPLETELY different - like your pet It's not that I think these things are yucky in my head, but something in my stomach does a complete flip and tenses up. It's not your fault - you can't help it! From one fainter to another GOOD LUCK! Rachel

Oh how exciting! - and the signs sound like a lovely touch! This place sounds like it already has good vibes - all the best! Rachel

Did I ever skip classes to study - ABSOLUTELY! It sounds like you have had a very hectic time and sometimes you just NEED to prioritise you time and efforts. Please don't be hard on yourself- you are studying for 2 tests after all. Even if you weren't studying and felt like you needed the occasional break to do other things (and yes I do mean occasional) then that's ok too. Let's face it - some classes are soooooooooooo boring that you will actually gain more out of your time studying then worrying about your tests whilst driving to and from and sitting through your classes! Good luck on the tests - you'll be fine :) Rachel

wow guys - awesome ideas for her project. Good luck linkay77! Rachel