Platypus

I was hired out of nursing school by a LTC facility for Night shift supervisor. Granted, I was a 40 yr old woman, but I was shocked and asked why they would hire a brand new nurse to supervise a night shift. Their answer "we just see something in you." The DON told me she was available by phone if I needed anything, and she was. I was given 1 week orientation and was nurse on the alzheimer unit as well as Supv. I was TERRIFIED! Every day I would pray everything would be OK. I did that job for a year and learned so much. I would NEVER put a new nurse in that position.

Not at all. It has happened 2 more times and I have been really lucky to find someone at the last minute. They keep putting nurses and CNAs on the schedule who are repeatedly calling out. FIRE THEM!! Im sorry, but calling out or no call/no show 7 times in 1 month is grounds for termination IMO. Why hang on to deadbeats, even if they are good at their job..they are no good if they do not show up!

I am currently on light duty (work related injury) and am a shift supervisor. I have been working primarily on the desk, assisting staff where I can. Recently, we have been given the schedule book and call off phone and I track when people call off and try to fill the openings (previously this was held by an on-call nurse. admin.) One night, we had 4 admissions. I had one CNA leave early due to family issue another CNA called out and an RN called out. This is STR and LTC, there must be an RN in the building at all times. I started calling staff about the open shift. I was able to get the CNA openings filled, but no luck on RN. I called the staffing agency and let the DON know she needs an RN for overnight. She asked me for CNA numbers, tells me to strike off a CNA for the next day. no response to the nurse issue. I called her..no answer. As the end of the shift approached, I called her again. I called the unit managers who also did not answer the phone. I called the administrator, who also did not answer the phone. The two agency nurses (LPNs) for the other units needed to get sign ins for the building. These had not been taken care of, so I spent over an hour dealing with that. The two nurses who were left without a replacement were very upset. One did finally say they would stay if taken off the sched. for the next day. I stayed until 4 am to help get as much of the 4 admits completed as I could. I am very angry with the admin, particularly with the DON whose license is on the building. It is her responsibility to the patients to ensure staffing is in place. In the past, they have actually come in themselves or arranged to have a unit manager come in. I felt abandoned and just amazed at the lack of accountability. Would the nurses that were here at the end of the shift been in their rights to just hand me the keys and leave? I cannot physically be on the cart at this time. I did end up calling the corporate complaint line because of the ridiculous amount of time I spend trying to get sign in and passwords for agency staff and that nobody was responding to my calls. What if there was a fire, building collapse or active shooter incident?

I am beginning to think I need to sew my own scrubs. I am perimenopausal in the summer. I am suffering from the heat and cannot drink enough cold water to cool me off. I have a little fan that helps a little, but polyester just makes me hotter and every solid navy uniform comes with a poly cotton blend. so frustrated. at the end of my shift I am dehydrated and sticky from sweat and exhausted. There are apparently others like me that need cooling scrubs.

Yes - I use gold toe mild compression socks with new balance sneakers.. I am a big lady and it has made a huge difference with how I feel at the end of my shift. BTW, I was worried they might feel hot, but they really don't.

I hate that everything has mostly polyester. I get very HOT at work and need cotton. I like the stretchiness with spandex.. but need to cotton to keep me cooler. I am a bigger lady 5'9 265 lbs and perimenopausal (hot Flashes) so polyester fabrics cause me extra cookery I don't need.

I felt that way working in LTC at first too. I was given 3 days orientation and expected to run with it. But, I did the best I could and stuck with it. I found nurses who were willing to give me answers before and after my shift. Most nurses remember how it was when they first started out. I remember the first time a pt was dying, they were DNR and the CNA said they thought they had passed when they went in to check on them. I had no idea what to do. I called another unit and asked "what do I do?" I had not been taught this. They took the time to walk me through it.

Sigh - just wrote a long post and it never went through. I know about the coumadin issue because I work with this patient 5 of the 7 days every week and was off 2 days and knew exactly how much she gets ( 2- 4 mg tabs) and how much was left before I was off for 2 days (3 -4mg tabs). This Pts INR is usually 2.2 and 2.3. That Thursday, when I returned, it was 1.6 and there was 1-4mg tab left. The nurse in question was on the cart both days. I have talked to the nurse, suggesting night shift is a slower pace and might help her learn the computer system and how to enter orders better as there are less distractions. She wasn't interested in working night shift. I also suggested that she might want to take notes that she can refer back to if she is stuck on what to do, like for admissions or putting in orders. She didn't feel the need for that either.

In LTC and rehab, I have seen up to 40 patients per nurse. It is crazy!! I work evening shift. On my unit, we have 8 to 14 pts per RN, We can have multiple admissions ( which takes 3-4 hours just to get into the system and assessed) This is a short term rehab unit that takes care of patients post surgical, IV antibiotics, dialysis (manual and cycler), TPN, PEG tubes, NG tubes, cardiac rehab, and trach care among other things. I get there and I go, rarely get any break. The only "quiet" time when we can get a break is spent calling doctors about lab results and pt issues. Often I am there 3-4 hours after the end of shift to complete treatments and write notes. God help us if there is a fall or an emergency..and all the documentation that follows. we have to do vitals on all the patients (many LTC only do vitals once a week) and we have to write notes on every patient (most LTC only write when needed). On top of this, there is no building receptionist after 7, so we also answer calls and respond to the door bell. All this, while providing excellent customer service to patients and their families. I work hard, walk about a mile every evening and have a good team to work with. we help each other out as best we can. That being said, admin piles more and more expectations on nursing. we can't keep a unit manager because they see how hard we work and try to help us and get frustrated by the unwillingness of the admin to recognize that. The patients even see how hard we work and tell admin we are short staffed. Per their numbers and the state regulations, we are not short staffed. Changes need to come from the state regulators...staffing based on licensed nurses in the building, including DON, ADON and Unit managers in the building is not accurate when they are in meetings and not actually doing patient care.

I helped to orient a nurse at my facility. She is an older nurse that had many years of experience, but had been out of floor nursing for several years. I was looking forward to working with her because I thought I could learn a lot from her. However, after orienting her for several weeks, it became apparent there were some issues. She was forgetful, did not pay attention to details and often either didn't listen well, was forgetful and/or just didn't understand or "get" what she was being told about the way things needed to be done. I found myself having to repeat the same things to her over and over. I was not the only one with concerns and she stayed on orientation for nearly 3 months. I wrote a lengthy note to HR about my concerns. The nurse said she hated the job and put in her 2 weeks and quit for what she thought was a better job. 2 weeks later she was back and said the other job had one nurse to 40 patients. Our unit might have 1 to 15 ratio, but it is hard work with the acuity of the patients. Apparently the note I wrote was either ignored or forgotten about. She is off orientation and I have heard that patients have complained about her and do not want her providing care. Recently, I worked after her after my being off for 2 days and saw that the incorrect coumadin dose had been given to a pt for 2 days. I told the unit manager and she said there was no proof other than my word. There have been some more serious issues which have come up and I don't want to detail here in the event someone recognizes the issues. I feel my patients lives are in danger due to this nurse's incompetence. I have made my concerns known to administration and they have seemingly brushed it under the rug. I truly feel they are more concerned with having a warm body with RN than having someone who knows what they are doing. Anyone else see this going on or have any advise?

I have never had anyone ask for my GPA for a nursing job. The only ones who care about GPA are the learning institutions in my experience. I think they realize that once you are passionate about what you are learning you will excel. Good Luck with your goals

Some people are just difficult. I have many that I have to deal with daily, they stress me terribly. I leave their room and I sing kumbaya to myself and take deep breaths to keep them from ruining my night. Each time I deal with a difficult patient / resident / customer (whatever they are considered at your facility), I think I learn something new about how to deal with difficult people with every encounter. I once had to deal with a very difficult family member when I started working at a new facility, Everyone was afraid to call her and I soon found out why. She verbally yelled at me for calling her and telling her that her mother had no clean clothes (which is what she wanted per orders), and when she arrived at the facility, She berated me for steadying her mother when she angrily was putting clean pants on her while standing and having nothing to hold onto. She made official complaints to my bosses. Believe it or not, we ended up being friendly and she would only call to talk to me when she had some issues with her Moms care. I have co-workers who are difficult as well. I had a narcissistic boss once...that was a stressful 6 months. Our country is very focused on customer service and the customer is always right mentality. This creates entitled customers who feel they have a right to do or say whatever they like.

I work at a company that requires RN and LPNs wear navy blue scrubs. Scrubs are nice, comfortable and look like pajamas. I would like to find navy scrubs with a collar, I think the collar looks more professional. The only ones I have found come in white. Anyone have any suggestions? I saw some "Johnny collar" scrubs but they do not have them in navy. Thanks!

I work night shift and we are required to chart on certain rooms/patients (rotated between shifts) so there is at least one note a day on the patient. They don't want "patient slept all night". They want to know how the patient ambulates, treatments they get, if they are doing OT, PT, ST, are they continent, incontinent etc. Sometimes, I may never see a patient ambulate, go to therapy, how they are eating/drinking ... but I still have to chart on it. I rely heavily on report, previous notes, doctors notes and my CNAs who actually spend more time with certain patients than I do. I don't like it, but Admin is happy and state is happy.

Keismers, see my other post on this topic -but other stuff I did to get through nursing school was pray and go to church regularly. My church was very helpful to me - often youth group activities provided me with time to go to the library to study. I got a job tutoring at the community college, which also afforded me time to study. This college was great because they had so many computers and a video library. I could work on the weekends, bring my kids and set them up to watch movies, or play on the computer while I worked. It was a great set up and my girls were well behaved! This college also had a child care center for students, but my kids were too old for it. I can tell you, every semester I had a point I was ready to quit. But, I kept plugging away and before I knew it I was done with the semester.