rnparrot

it sounds to me like you all work in a hospital setting. i work in ltc and because we have completely different guidelines for staffing etc....out patient load is endless pretty much. currently i have 21 patients to care for, and on night shift add another 12 or so. now granted night shift is a whole other animal...everyone sleeps and the nurse does the paper work and a few meds. but on the other 2 shifts its the nurse and however many aides decide to show up that day.we usually work with either 2 or 3....never any more. my floor is basically a total care floor too, with all feeders!! when we complain to get another aide we hear its not in the budget!!so pretty much everyone where i work has a bad attitude pretty much all the time, especially when we are understaffed. i don't know what a break is, or what its like to use the bathroom until i get home usually...sometimes lucky if i eat dinner, and thats only if i bring it from home! so here i complain about my job for other reasons, and i will get the replies of quit...but...its hard to leave when you really like your residents, because they do get excellent care, and are very appreciative of the workers. i have in my mind a time to leave, and its getting closer, but its not because of the working situation...i will leave when the last of my original residents passes away. so even tho i complain, i really do like my job.:heartbeat

before i even opened this thread i thought it was going to say....is this true about most nurses that they eat their young?.....YES!!! unfortunately every nurse just about has to go thru that "right of passage" so to speak in order to toughen up, build confidence and learn to think for yourself. we've all been there....i personally try not to do it with new grads because i knew how i felt..you have enough insecureties as is it coming out of school, but if you are "one of those" that comes out of school, new grad, just passed your boards and a "know it all" you will be eaten. you just have to be tough and that comes with time on the job and experience. if i can make a recommendation to you, if at all possible work full time for at least a year to get some experience and confidence under your belt, and if you can handle night shift, even better, because night shift, allows you to be in a slightly slower paced environment, but it allows you to learn organizational skills which are oh so important, it allows you to enhance and build on the skills you learned in school, it basically allows you to become a good nurse without all the suits around, your patients going here and there, meals, families, doctors, phone calls.....this is how i learned and i highly recommend it. but you also have to be willing to learn from the seasoned nurses that are already there...appreciate them and you should have no problem!! good luck to you. hope i didn't scare you....nursiing is a great profession...most days! LOL:nurse:

love love love augmentin liquid..smells like bananas! mucomyst is the worst smelling and even worse when you give it as a minineb and you get a breath of it......it burns forever!!!! i am thinking there are way more bad smelling things than good smelling. my favorite smell of all is alcohol!!! i will use them to clean my face thru out the shift just to get a smell of it!!

i was a patient in the hospital last year for sepsis in my joint replacement (knee)...i could not bring myself to ring the bell for anyone for anything! because i know how much bell ringers are hated...no matter what the bell might be for. one night i went out for a walk with my crutches and was talking to the nurses, and i said i felt like i should be helping THEM!! answering lights etc!! i was sooo bored and probably would have answered lights for them if need be! LOL they had a confused lol sitting in a gerri chair, she was being "bothersome" so i sat down and kept her occupied folding laundry. the nurses appreciated my help and i felt good that i could help also i work at a NH and the residents are all pretty wealthy. we are having construction because of a recent fire in the kitchen, and one night i went to get my dinner...the first time in a long time....and one of the workers there told me i was too early for dinner, THE HELP gets what is left after 6pm! i was so insulted that i was considered help, as if i was a servant. those are my rants for the night!

seems to happen everywhere. the paramedics and emts think they are one step below the MD's. but like was said earlier, they are the ones taking the orders from the doc who ordered the patient sent out and the rn who is giving the same order. their job is to transport the patient to the hospital, treat emergently if needed, and get them there safely. no questions asked. they may not like it, but that is there job. i get the medics who question my ability as an RN to evaluate and treat patients, and wonder why i think they need to be sent out....it doesn't matter!!!!! my job is to call the doc and if the doc says go...i send them. end of story....you can tell this aggravates me!:angryfire

i would have to agree with you on this one...i work in LTC...with 21 patients, 2 cnas who have to feed them, change them (several times) and get them all into bed. no problem right? add in some one or two falls, skin tears, calling drs. and family members....and i almost forgot get out on time because OT is unheard of!!!:madface:

that has got to be the most DISGUSTING and DEGRADING "gift" i have ever heard of. what were they thinking??? i hope everyone left them in the garbage so they could see what you all thought of their "thoughtfulness"!!!

i have received a coin purse with a logo for nurses week, a lunch bag with logo for nurses week. this was at a hospital i worked at. i don't recall being given any type of christmas gift/bonus. i am working LTC now, and last year we got a very nice catered luncheon, the residents donate money for the holiday gift fund, so we got a bonus check from the residents and we also got a 20 dollar gift card to a super market. it is going to be very interesting what we get this year. we recently had a change in management and it has been U-G-L-Y! the administrator isn't even a nurse, so she has NOOO clue what goes on in patient care, the floors etc. our DON used to be a floor nurse and she has forgotten where she came from so fast. in addition, we had a big fire at our place and the entire kitchen burned down. so i know we are having a lunch and we will be given the bonus checks, but other than that is yet to be seen. DH who works for the largest telecommunications company...gets NOTHING!! they will bring in food but everyone has to pay a small amount to eat the food!!!! how cheap!!

quick question...you don't shock a flat line?? what do you do....when DO you shock?

i work in ltc, there are alot of things that i hate, and sadly, i do not like caring for the confused, totally disoriented patient. i have no patience to "reorient" the 10,000 times a shift and chase after them when they walk off the floor. i also do not like doing the lady partsl cream thing. isn't there a pill they can take????? cathing females...no thanks. i cannot handle poop in a commode or bedpan....i gag horribly and get so embarassed. so i always try to leave some water in the buckets or pans so the poop doesn't stick! ewww grosssss!! speaking of c-diff, we just had a run of it on our floor. the smells comiing from those rooms was enuf to make anyone gag. there is just so much gross stuff we are asked to do as RN's and although we don't like to do it, we do it for the good of the patients, because, afterall, isn't that why we got into this field...to take care of people??

you can take all the c-diffs and colostomys and everything else that everyone hates to do, but nothing can be worse than doing your job susan! you are loving and compassionate when a job couldn't get any worse.:balloons:

i work in a ltc facility that is on the "upscale" side. there are so many interesting people in ltc. one of my residents is a former ceo of sun oil, taught at west point. he is 99 years old and just a facinating gentleman. his wife was a patient with us also. she recently passed away, and she loved to tell stories about being the wife of a ceo. very funny lady. we have many centenarians also who just have amazing stories. we also have a man who is 99, just had a pacer put in...a bit of a pita. but is from greece and had amazing stories of being captured after being near a bomb blast. i have to say that i have worked in hospitals and ltc. as for people with the interesting stories ltc takes the cake. when i worked in the hospital, we had will smith's mother as a patient. that was always exciting when he came to visit with his family. we have had other famous people from the pro teams. but i favor the ltc people and the real life stories that they behold, for when they are gone, so is their little part of living history.

one of the things that is new where i work in LTC....if there is a change for the patient, we have to write the MD a note, and FAX it to his office. when he gets a chance he will FAX back a note sometimes including orders. How many of you think this is OK? i don't like it at all... other changes i've seen in the last 10 years is no more nursing caps, a ton more paperwork, more DNR's due to more education...i'll think ofmore

i agree!! he is doing the YMCA!!!!

sad to say my MIL has alzheimers and my BILwill never say alzheimers no matter how many times i've corrected him. he always says "old timers". i always say...if she had cancer would you say she has cankor??? My BIL thinks nothing i say matters since i am not a "daugher"...i know that part isn't part of the discussion, but just had to add in a vent! sorry.....

now here is what a NORMAL fear factor show should be like!!! this thread keeps getting grosser and grosser, but funnier and funnier....but i am still

in case anyone reading these believes what you read about LTC nurses, it is totally false. our acuity level is so much higher now than it ever has been. BTW, one of my residents recently told his daughter that this "hotel" is very nice here...they even WIPE YOUR BUTT FOR YOU!!! :lol2:

this was a great thread. i couldn't agree more with all of you. the one that made me laugh the most is MURSE~! never heard that as a male nurse, but i HAVE heard it used to mean a MALE PURSE!!!:rotfl:

lori i am so sorry for the loss of your job. but something bigger and better will come of this. someone who will appreciate all of your hard work. its a shame that your dedication didn't overide the decision to just call out for the night. i know that is such a hard thing to do, i too have that problem. recently i started back to work at a local LTC facility, was hired for EOW, then picked up the attached friday...long story short i was picking up hours left and right because another coworker had gotten injured. i just started back into nursing again because 5 years ago i had a total knee replacement and have always had pain, but financially i needed the paycheck again, so i just sucked up the pain. well somewhere along the lines i picked up an infection in my replaced joint, and the whole point to this story is about calling out sick...i worked 5 days in a row, the next day i was off, ended up in the ER and was admitted for infection and needed surgery. i was AFRAID to call out, afraid i was going to lose my job. i get no benefits, so i too have been without a paycheck for 8 weeks now! see if you can lawyer up and get back pay and whatever else they can tack on to that unfair firing. also try to get unemployement comp in the meantime. when you are fired you are eligible. your exemployer won't like paying it but TS!!!! good luck and keep us posted.

am not afraid to go to the ER for what i consider a true emergency that cannot wait. i recently went because i was having severe knee pain and swelling and unable to bear weight on a joint replaced knee. it ended up being infected and i was admitted and had surgery. about a week after i came home i was having panic attacks for no known reason....i actually had to call the EMT's because i started to drive myself and felt like i was going to either kill myself or someone else on the road. embarassed? yes, of course i was, but i felt like i was going to be helped and felt better knowing i was in the ER where if something went wrong, i would be taken care of. that time they d/c'd me and i had another panic attack on the way home, and thought i could get thru it, but this time my husband took me back. this time they weren't as nice to me...i felt they thought i was drug seeking. but i was admitted and got meds to help. so, i go when i feel i have an emergency. i've been for kidney stones, taken my kids for broken bones and bike accidents and whatnot, and the stomach flu for intractable vomiting....but other things i see my PCP. the main thing is to make sure they don't know you are a RN!!

i am not afraid to go to the ER for what i consider a true emergency that cannot wait. i recently went because i was having severe knee pain and swelling and unable to bear weight on a joint replaced knee. it ended up being infected and i was admitted and had surgery. about a week after i came home i was having panic attacks for no known reason....i actually had to call the EMT's because i started to drive myself and felt like i was going to either kill myself or someone else on the road. embarassed? yes, of course i was, but i felt like i was going to be helped and felt better knowing i was in the ER where if something went wrong, i would be taken care of. that time they d/c'd me and i had another panic attack on the way home, and thought i could get thru it, but this time my husband took me back. this time they weren't as nice to me...i felt they thought i was drug seeking. but i was admitted and got meds to help. so, i go when i feel i have an emergency. i've been for kidney stones, taken my kids for broken bones and bike accidents and whatnot, and the stomach flu for intractable vomiting....but other things i see my PCP. the main thing is to make sure they don't know you are a RN!

i have had supartz injections in my left knee with excellent results. it is the same type of medicine. i had synvisc in my right knee but that was after i had it scoped 2 times and there was very little cartiledge left. if your knee has never been touched surgically, it should give you some relief. and the nice thing is, you can have the injections every 6 months. get the doc to freeze the site as he injects and it won't hurt so bad. the worst part for me is after the first injection is standing up. you may want to just sit and wait a few minutes. GOOD LUCK!!!

about 5 years ago i had a total knee done. healed perfectly well, although i have always had pain in it. i never went back to nursing after i had it done for other reasons, but in the last few months i returned to nursing in a ltc facitlity, and lo and behold i come down with an infection in the joint. the cultures grew nothing so the docs didn't know what they were dealing with...strept or staph. so i am being covered both by levaquin and IV vanco which was recently changed to IV daptomycin. anyone have experience with this?? i have recovered well, luckily, but the PICC line..ugh!!! i have been experiencing panic attacks as well, one landed me in the hospital for the weekend. was just wondering if ANYONE out in the world has experienced any of this. i was thinking i picked up mrsa from someone, but nobody can give me answers. which frightens me to go back to work, and i work in a super super clean facility! :confused: appreciate anyones input..thanks!!!

i just started working in LTC and most of the residents keep their rooms at a stifling 75+ degrees...in the hot summer heat. its been in the 90's here for some time now. i am hot just from walking in and then going in and out of all the rooms i sweat profusely. my coworkers have asked me if i am ok or if i want to sit down. it is so embarassing. i totally understand what the rest of you "sweaters" are going thru. i get embarrassed because my sweating is from the neck up. i have found that keeping a cloth in my pocket and wiping my face before seeing a resident and occassionally washing my face with cool water helps too. i take medicine on a daily basis with tylenol in it so i am going to try not to take it and see if that helps, because i literally am dehydrated by the next morning when i wake up. i get horrible leg cramps and void very little. so i really have to force the fluids thru out the day just to turn around and depleat myself all over again. i do drink gatorade which helps. i am going to see my pcp if this continues to r/o anything serious. thanks for all of your replies! this was a great post!

Hi, I just returned to nursing after being away for about 5 years. I took a job in LTC. I had my first night of floor orientation last nite and it went well. I did the med pass in good time. But I still have alot of anxiety about returning...fear making a mistake, not knowing what to do in case of an emergency, something happening that I wasn't trained on. Does anyone have any words of advice, encouragment etc? Thanks