Going80INA55

It has been a LOOOONG time since I posted here. After reading this post I emailed intellicare. The recruiter replied to my email the next day and Friday we have an INformal conversation set up. Any tips??

Don't sweat it. Some patients are just that way. I do a few different things with tough patients: Kill them with kindness (dont always work). Baffle them with nursing/medical jargon and pathophysiology IE I put them on the eccelerated learning curve. (for the ones who think I am ONLY a stupid nurse). For that guy I would have laughed and said "thanks for the tip" and in 10 years when he grew up he would have figured out what it really meant.

Very nice review, Thanks.

One of the reasons sterile water or tap water is used verses NS is the salt content. The new nurse is correct it can through off the lytes in a patient.

We have a very strict dress code. No jeans EVER. Dress pants with a nice shirt is considered dressed down for this office, where most of the nurses where suits. No, this won't get them into management. There is very little room for advancement here. The nurses who do end up in charge, have extra responsibilities but NO extra pay or perks. The managers do come from the rank and file nurses, however everyone of the managers is at least 20 years younger than the average triage nurse's age. But we like our jobs, so we do it.

I would also say it varies on area. I have checked a few in my area and they seem to pay the bottom end of what someone would get at bedside nursing. There are trade offs for any job and believe the triage jobs know they can pay less and the nurses will still work for them. Less stress, regular hours, no physical patient contact. The list goes on.

We do the same as you when it comes to leaving a message on someones machine. I find it gets sticky when someone other than the person you are trying to reach answers the phone. So when I call for the husband and the wife answers I cant tell her anything except for who I am. Anything more, with out verbal permission to discuss health issues with her I would be a violation of HIPPA.

We do the same as you when it comes to leaving a message on someones machine. I find it gets sticky when someone other than the person you are trying to reach answers the phone. So when I call for the husband and the wife answers I cant tell her anything except for who I am. Anything more, with out verbal permission to discuss health issues with her I would be a violation of HIPPA.

I had a very similar incident with a GI bleeder in the unit. He ended up needing 6 units of blood, ffp, vasopressin IV push etc etc. They quickly become a very busy patient when they go bad. My only difference from your experience is I called the GI guy and he came right in. He was excellent. Thats the difference b/w a crummy doc and a good one.

MerryRN, Did you take a refresher course or was it necessary? I have only been out for a year and considering going back to bedside...just wondering how they percieved your absence. I don't want them to start me at a new grad level. (no offense meant) Before leaving bedside I did the unit. We did all the baths. We had one aid, if you were lucky enough to get her you got help with the bath.

Hey Laura when I did charge nurse my duties and load were exactly like yours. That is why I no longer do it. It was not uncommon to be charge, resource, bed mngt, etc with 8 patients. I would love to be a charge nurse and really be charge...ie...be able to help the other nurses and make their loads easier. That is how I view the role of charge nurse.

NO. Our policy is NO monitor NO IV Lopressor. I would be very concerned giving it on a very busy med/surg floor with out the benefit of a monitor to see what happened to their pulse rate. Had a situation once where a woman had an order for IV lopressor and she was on med/surg.....we had no bed on step down to take her....so I shlepped up stairs with a portable monitor, hooked her up and gave the med.

I must say I liked med/surg when I worked it as well. I learned so much in the time that I was there. There is always something new.

In my old hospital, the per diem got yearly raises. But then per diem meant no benefits, but they got the same rate of pay as if they were staff. The only bene was that they did not have to do call and they could pick their days to work.

At our place we know way ahead of time which holiday we are working. We have 6 and need to work two a year. Last year I was X-mas (which I traded to another nurse) and July 4th. This year I am Turkey day and Memorial Day. Weekend only people ONLY work the holiday if it falls on the weekend. I think that is very fair considering they are giving up EVERY weekend.