lilpoo_1

I give you all credit for being able to do such heroic efforts in L/D and NICU. Just reading these stories has got me crying my eyes out. I would never be able to function as a nurse in this capacity. So thank you all for the wonderous work that you do!

I do this to my husband all the time. I will be talking about something from work and we'll be eating dinner. He'll stop me midsentence and say, "Umm, honey, we're eating right now." I'll look at him and say, "So?" Then the lightbulb goes on that everyone doesn't have a "nurse's" stomach.

Should have yelled, "Ta-Da!" LOL Easily could see that happen to me as well. If I were named Grace, would have been an oxymoron. :chair:

Although I would never make it on the show, these posts are great. One I thought of that almost made me puke myself is "stand in front of a trach patient who is coughing huge amounts of flying phlegm.....with your mouth open." Can't even type anymore than that...Grossing myself out. :imbar

guilty as charged

You've got that right. No shortage in Wisconsin. Moved back to the Fox Valley last August and applied like mad and finally scored a position with a temp agency for insurance nursing in OCTOBER. Tried agency work but no hours! Yet, when I worked med/surg 3 years ago in the Fox Valley they were importing nurses from India since there was such a shortage. Now when you look up classified ads for nursing jobs here you get a few here and a few there but nothing substantial like the hype states. Should have stayed in Northern WI, at least they paid better.

You should be able to find some at http://www.kayscaps.com. That's where our school directed us when we were graduating. Don't know if the link still works but is worth a shot. Otherwise check with uniform shops in your area. Generally they can order them for you. Good luck!

Why would this person by default be a distraction? Are divorced people or African American people a distraction in the classroom also just because they are "different"? Just my input.

There really is not enough information from the OP regarding this person to qualify whether or not they should be a nurse. My thoughts about this from reading the post is that it sounds as though the OP has a personal issue with transgender in general. I don't think the true intent that it is for the "safety of our patients" is the true discussion here. Unless the guy looks like a guy and has breasts or dresses provactively as a woman but has a full fledged beard it should not matter to the patients whether or not he is transgender. Our personal lives shouldn't matter to the patients. Some nurses are gay, divorced, christian, black, white, etc. Patients don't know a lot about the nurses caring for them and if the transgender issue is not obvious then it is none of the patient's business. Unless patient care has been compromised, none of these "differences" really matter. Glad you were not my nursing instructor. Hope you don't teach cultural diversity or ethics.

grade school teacher and have enough land for a dog rescue.

I have a similar problem where I work. We do "written" report so during our shift we write down all the pertinent info needed to pass to next shift. We have little bins where we put these reports so the next shift can find them. I work PM's and the NOC shift comes in at 2300. We get done with PM's at 2315. I always leave my "pink sheets" in their respective bins before or shortly after the noc shift comes in so they can read and question me before it is my time to leave. However, this one particular nurse delights in coming in, gossipping with her cohorts, and then TELLS me as I am out the door to give her verbal report. One of these days I would like to have the guts to say to her "read the pink sheets". Yes, she is a bully, not just to me but everyone on the unit. Yes, she writes everyone up if they breathe wrong. She wrote me up once for not giving her report. I went in to talk with the manager as the mgr called me in. I asked the mgr then why do we have written report if it is to be verbal? She told me just to deal with this nurse. Pacify her. Bull crap. I am not staying over for a half hour just to listen to her jawjack with her cohorts and when I try to butt in with report they look at me like I violated them. She too will ask me stuff that could be looked up in the chart (same way I find out this info in the first place) just so she doesn't have to get off her dead a** and do it herself. Sorry but the animosity has built for this nurse. Yes, if there is something critical about a pt then indeed I verbally tell the respective nurse but if it is to be written report then that is how I am doing it!!!!!!

This is such a sad subject. Six years ago my niece (then 12) was preggers and didn't tell anyone. She hadn't really popped out and it wasn't really noticeable. She didn't have a bf (still playing with dolls) so of course it was the last thought in the world for us. Went skiing with her in February and she was complaining that her snowpants didn't fit. Kiddingly, I said, "What, are you pregnant?" I will never forget the look in her eyes. She gave birth in April to a baby boy, Mom's live-in leech of a friend (male, however not male bashing here) went to prison as he had been molesting my niece for 7 years prior!!!!!!! My sister is still on probation and had lost my niece to a foster home for the year after the birth. My niece gave the baby up for adoption, thankfully, to a wonderful family and the adoptive mom just happened to be a nurse (so is my sister and I). I think that helped as my niece and her mom have a good relationship and she could see her baby go off to a good family. It was quite the tribulation for all of us to get her beyond what she thought was "love" with this man. Mom left her with him while she worked as he had been a family friend for years before they ever moved in together. We thought we "knew" him and he and I got along well as we were both the same age (at the time, 25). My niece is now 18 and is engaged to a man of 21. She has now healed, although not completely, and can lead as normal of a life as possible. Sorry for going on and on about this, just touched a very dear part of my heart seeing all of the bashing back and forth with the young mother story. Yes, it all depends on if you are ready and willing to be a parent but at 12, you definitely do not know what it takes to be a parent. At that age you should be playing with dolls, watching cartoons, and enjoying your freedoms as a child!!!!!

not a fair post. Almost all of our nurses at our hospital are ADN's as we have a supreme ADN program here. Last year we received the Solucient award among many other awards. We are the 11th top hospital in the US. I guess ADN's just can't hang with the "big dog" BSN's. Don't get me wrong, I would love to get my BSN or better yet masters. I just won't get the big head to go along with it. We all have to take the same boards exam and all need the same required skills and textbook knowledge to become a nurse. We just have different letters after our name (except in my hospital we are ALL RN'S).

When I was in nursing school I worked as a CNA in an assisted living facility. We were the cooks, waitresses, room cleaners, entire facility cleaners, and med passers. We were only CNA's (certified nursing assistant) and the only med training we got was a 30 minute video on medication administration safety. I was the only CNA there going to college. I often wondered how we got away with passing the meds. The only nurse at the facility was the nurse manager who managed the CNA's. She worked banker hours. Never was a chart cosigned by her for med passing, however she was great at writing us up for the meds not given to the patients who were supposed to administer their own and forgot! Two months into that job I finally quit. Was put on night shift alone (only care person in the whole building) and was supposed to do the "cleaning" of the whole facility, pass night meds, answer lights for 30 people. My last night there had 2 falls and quit the next day. Just not safe for the patients! Mind you, others that I worked with also administered meds like antihypertensives for pt's with very low BP's, etc. All sorts of unsafe rituals!

nada, nothing, zippo, zilch for ANY holiday. What we do get is a phone call, "Can you work today?"