nitenurse02

Yes people have made similar statements regarding our hospital. We have had numerous warnings and education. We are cautioned against posting anything that could reflect negatively on our facility in ANY way. She should be cautioned as this could harm her career. I don't think she will get fired for making these posts but it could certainly be used as a supporting cause.

You were spot on when you said that the real knowledge comes from on the job experience. She will gain a base of knowledge in school but wont really apply it until she is out there practicing. I would just like to add a few thoughts on this. 1. Some of the best nurses I know (I have been on the floor for 7 years as an LPN and am just about to finish my first semester of RN school) were C students. Tell her not to get all hung up on the letter grade. 2. School is most certainly jumping through hoops, learning the basics, and you will be surprised what you really do end up knowing no matter what your grades reflect. 3. Sometimes the answer is not the most correct but the least wrong. You can usually narrow things down to two answers, then have to decide what they want you to choose. Remember the question is a big part but Airway, Breathing, Circulation and Maslow's heirarchy etc always apply as well. My point here is that even if it is a mental health test, if your question is asking which of four patients you should see first, the one who cant breathe will always come first. Every time. 4. Relax. Make sure that she is taking time to recharge herself. Sometimes taking 2 hours to watch a movie is more important than studying. Not every night but once in a while. If she is constantly pushing then she will run herself dry and wont be able to get ahead at all. And tell her I said Good Luck!!!!!!

I have worked nights for seven years. And I love it. It takes a little while to get used to it and some people just cant do it. There are certainly pros and cons but I would say try it and you just might like it after all.

Happy hour for short people I laughed when I read that one. I am kinda short (5'1") and I get the teasing a lot. (I can take it though and poke fun at myself a lot too.) So I really enjoyed that answer. Thanks for the laugh. But I digress, I have never heard of short hour either.

The original list was pretty funny. I agree with most of those statements. However, I have seen the argument that being called an angel is degrading a little too much lately. While I will never wear white if I have any control over the matter, being called an angel sometimes is an honor. We as nurses don't claim that title for ourselves. The title of angel is typically bestowed upon us by our patients. And it can be for the little things. When you are in a stressful trying situation, and someone takes care of even a simple thing, they might seem angelic in your eyes. For example, when my father died a few years ago we were all around his bed. There were probably 10 or 15 people. His nurse simply stood there to turn the alarm off because it kept beeping. That simple act helped reduce stress at a very difficult time. I have always thought of her as an angel. She may not even know it and probably wouldn't remember the event seven years later. I fail to see how this is degrading. In fact I see this as an honor and a compliment more than any employee of the month or loyalty award could ever be. Not saying that being called an angel by one or twenty patients has a bearing on how good of a nurse you are. I don't believe that either, but I don't see any reason to be offended to hear that you in some small way improved the experience of your patient. (getting off soapbox now, sorry)

I am sorry your med pass is even more stressful! Having been a med nurse, I can attest to the fact that computers can almost make things harder.

Nurses not doing assessments? That is scary. Nurses documenting assessments that were never done? Even scarier!! I have a stethoscope but dont always wear it (being a LPN i dont always have a team of patients to assess). When I do have a team, I will do my assessments and then usually end up leaving my scope laying on a desk somewhere. But I have assessed my team first. I would not like being in your facility if you are the only one doing an assessment! Keep it up and dont let the other work ethic influence good patient care.

We have one supervisor who is as ditzy as they come!!! She will put people on low census and NEVER call them!!! I am so glad that she isn't a floor nurse. I would be so worried about the patients. Luckily she works days so I never have to bother with her but oh she can be so frustrating!!! Does anyone else have any stories of working with scatterbrains? I am surely not the only one!! littlepretendnurse.blogspot.com

I start the last part of August. I have been an LPN for over 6 years and an now going back for the RN program. My advice, if you have the option to get your LPN and then stopping before finishing DON'T. I did and I regret it. Wish I had stayed in when I was there, but that was then and now I am finally going back. Long story short it wont be fun but will be rewarding at the end. Good luck to you and hold on to that excitement. You will need it!

Yes any pain or discomfort the pt would feel is usually temporary. Sometimes they will feel pressure or even pain from a catheter that has been inserted previously but this can usually be fixed. As far as causing pain to the pt, sometimes you just cant avoid it. Shots are one thing but dressing changes, posistion changes, and a myriad of other procedures cause pain. Our job is nursing is to deal with that pain in the best way we can. Simply by doing a task quickly, adjusting the task to the pt, giving pain meds, or even just holding their hand. As a nurse you WILL hurt your pts. There is no way around it. We learn ways to minimize and take away pain, but we must be prepared that there are some pains we can do nothing about. Stick with it, dont give up because of this one aspect. But when you do hit the floor be sure to be perceptive of and responsive to your patients pain level and you will do great.

I would have done the same thing. If she cant move her upper arms to take the pills then I would have been scared to give the pills as well. And she did have access to pain meds. People like this are why nurses get so jaded.

Thanks for all the support!!

I just got into ADN school. I have been an LPN for over six years and it is past time for me to finish my degree. I just wanted to share my news with everyone on here. I have really enjoyed this site and plan to be using it a lot more while in school. All the people I know are getting sick of hearing me say it. lol. And a few prayers would be helpful too! Thanks

As I read this I have thought about how many times I have been in tears or near it passing meds. It is sometimes scary and difficult, but somehow we get it all done. Most of the time without incident. (By the grace of God) Kudos to you and all of us that try our best!

A couple of pts come to mind. One is a 20 something frequent flyer who used to go to another hosp till her primary doc quit attending there. Now she comes to us. She comes in with exacerbation of Crohn's although no one has ever seen a bm. She gets demerol and phenergan and reminds us about 15 min before it is due. Setting her cell phone alarm so she won't sleep through a dose. Right after the phen she will want her sherbert (heated in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften it). She has even conned some of the staff into walking her to the canteen for candy even when she knows that she is on a liquid diet. She demands a private room and if another patient is put into that room she has a fit and the supervisor has to be called. She has run off enough room mates to fill our entire hospital. This is one of those pts whose name is never mentioned. At most just initials are used. Even when she is in house!!!

She may not ever do it, but I can assure you that most of us have wanted to!

Do not lie on your resume. Nurses rely on integrity to do their job. We ask patients to put their lives in our hands. We should be trustworthy people. I would try starting in a NH. Then with some experience in the field you may find getting a hospital job a little easier. Also, most colleges have a department that will help you write a resume. Not to lie on it but to phrase things in the best light. Take advantage of this if you can. Good luck.

There is not really a typical anything in nursing! :0 but here are my two cents anyway. It really depends on the facility that you work at. There are 8 hour shifts, 7-3 3-11 11-7 Then you have the infamous 7-7. Some places even do a 3-3 or an 11-11. Most of us do either 8 hours or 7-7. At our facility, 36 hours a week is considered full time. Most of us do 3 twelves a week. Some spread them out and some scrunch then together and have more days off in a row. there are a few of us that will do an extra eight to make the 80 hours per pay. But there are really all different choices. Kinda rambly but hope this helps.

we have started something at our small town hospital that i wonder how many of you have seen. we are admitting patients to the hallway. we will be renovating our er in the next year so they will not be able to hold our overflow pts. we are currently renovating our downstairs unit so some beds are not available right now. in light of this we are now putting pts in the hallway. in theory this will happen when we are expecting a discharge and the pt will then be put into that room. however last night we admitted a pt to the hallway at midnight. this poor lady slept in the hall all night. she couldn't sleep because the light above her was on all night long (there is no way to turn it out). to use the restroom, we wheeled her into the nearest female room. she was on o2 which we had to use a portable tank. her call bell was a silver ding bell. we had "privacy screens" up but they didn't afford much at all. i was just wondering if any one else has seen this? i don't see joint commision being happy or the fire marshall. and we have worked so hard to get our press ganey scores up. we finally succeed in that and then this. :angryfire each hall can hold two hallway beds. this would take our normally 22 bed unit to 24 pts. :bugeyes:and no extra staff is allotted. we are frustrated anyway and this is just making things worse. we are all supposed to be "on the bus" and most of us are feeling that the bus is just running us over. sorry this is so long, but i would appreciate any responses. thanks nitenurse02:nurse:

Ok this story is not a nursing story per se, but it certainly falls into the Christmas category. I had just started at my hospital as a brand new LPN. I was young and scared to be on my own. My first night off orientation was on Christmas Eve. And they floated me. From the medical end which was my "home base" to the surgical side. Very similar units at that time under the same nurse manager. Not a big deal now but as my first night solo I was terrified. The nurses were great though and I did ok. One of the vetern nurses had been floated and called to check on the newbie. By the end of the shift though I was exhausted. Physically and mentally and emotionally. Finally, it was time to go home. As I walked out into the Christmas morning air, I realized it was snowing. A small moment of exitement untill I realized that I would have to scrape the white stuff off my car. My heart was heavy as I walked to the lot. I saw a man scraping snow off a truck and thought hmm wish he would do them all. I know I didn't speak out loud, but he started doing just that. I was amazed. When I started the car and got out to help him, he told me to get back in and warm up he had it covered. A few months later I was talking to a wonderful nurse and found out that that wonderful man was her husband. He had taken her to work that night and was picking her up. While waiting for her to get off, he was scraping windows for all of the rest of us. He will always be my Christmas Angel for making the end of a very long night just a little bit better. I'll never forget him.

You will always have those residents that grab your heart. Even in the hospital where we only know these people sometimes just a few days, we get attached. This is normal. Grief is real no matter what the relationship is. If you need to cry at work, go to the bathroom and do so. If not crying in the car or for a few minutes at home is perfectly fine. If you don't let the feelings out you will not last long. If you need to talk to someone, whether it be a spouse, trusted friend, coworker or clergy. Remember the person and the good things they taught you, both about the job and about life in general. Remember grief is normal. Vent it in a healthy way and you will be fine.

Amen!

i work on the med/surg floor and we certainly see our share of the drug seekers. we have one who comes in with exac of chrohns who sets her cell phone to go off 20 min before meds are due to remind us. she is very demanding and treats us like we are the local hilton. with patients like these (and the docs who placate them) it is easiest just to placate them. as an lpn i can't give her iv meds having to rely on the rn to do that. the night goes much smoother if the rn just gives the meds when she asks for them (following orders for time frame of course). i had one nurse who wouldn't give her the meds till she did this or that because she didn't think she needed them. then got upset when pt kept asking. it is hard to change the patient and until they are ready for a change, pointless to try. just my 2 cents

Bed number 10 by Sue Baier. a wonderful book written from the pt's perspective on how the good and bad of nursing affects a pt. we had to read it when i went through my high school cna class. highly recommend it!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a staff nurse for more than 5 years now. Personally, I try to be friendly to new hires and travelers. But I have seen some nurses get pretty bent out of shape with agency nurses. Some veiw it as a hindrance because our facility does not let agency nurses give blood or take care of patients in restraints. So we have to be very careful about how the assignment is made. For this reason some nurses get frustrated when they have to adjust their assignment because of the non-staff member working. They are really frustrated with the process not the individual nurse and it just comes across wrong. I understand that this does not apply to everyone but is just one more hmble opinion.