April1rn

See that's where differing opinions make the world go around. More hospitals should shell out the money to help nurses and students enjoy the mentor/mentored relationship better if need be. That way those same SN whom had good experiences will remember which facility to go to for a job after graduating. I would just about bet the OP won't want to work on this floor, with this CN now. Also I'm assuming if the OP is in nursing school she has enough intelligence not to bombard the nurse she's following with question after question. Everybody takes everything so literal and personal; it drives me crazy. In addition I do not feel ( see this >>>IMO) that she made such a mistake as to ask a question during report to begin with. PS: Our program is not used to orient new employees, we actually get to choose to take the class and then were allowed to precept. There are several of us nurses out there that can do and teach at the same time.

I hope your not suggesting that I slammed you at any point? I think I refrained from that even though it took much willpower; but I'm also not going to sit back and let you twist my words to suite you. I know my first goal is to take care of the pt's, then to teach. All I'm saying is a good nurse should be able to do both. I mean how long would it have taken to answer this girl's question in the first place? I have personally never sat through a report and not asked questions ever. Now I can understand why you would tell a student not to. I also made this suggestion in my original post if you really took the time to read it. I did tell her to question if she did not get enough information in report; don't be a blind follower as this will lead to trouble. I also never said at any point that you condoned the 'look it up' response either. Also, the CN was never giving the report; she was standing in the background and should have been minding her own business as it pertained to this since there was no question of pt safety involved. Just a power trip problem IMO. Re-read the original post and mine for that matter or let it go.

I won't repeat myself as you can read my post on pg 8 that I directed to another friendly nurse such as yourself. By the way at my facility we do get paid more to preceptor students. We also go to an all day class to learn how to be good preceptors. We even take refresher courses. We are also always asked if and who we want to follow us. Maybe you two should work on this in your facility, so that you are better able to handle your pt's and your students who follow you. Not only do nurses 'eat their young' but each other as well. Thank you for being so kind and by all means next time finish taking it down the road you might as well have.

Honestly, it's people like you that make me not want to post to boards. I'm pretty sure everyone knows the first and most important job of a nurse is to take care of pt's but thank you for pointing that out. Now I know what I haven't been doing all day at work. Wonder why they keep paying me to show up there.

I was thinking the same thing. Of course I have to say though that I would not want this nurse to be my preceptor if I was a new nurse. Slam the OP a little harder next time, I think you might have left a few things out.

I see you have received many replies to your post but of course I want to get my 2 cents into it...lol. I hate that so curt reply that every student or new nurse will receive a thousand times, "look it up." If it's a drug by all means you should be looking it up, but you can still have questions about it afterwords. I mean come on, when did teaching leave nursing. I still learn something new almost everyday when I go to work and I sure as heck don't have the time to look it up when I'm there...lol. The only advise I would give you is next time refrain from asking questions during report, except in my opionion, maybe about things the off-going nurse left out or didn't cover enough (but as a student be very nice about it and tread lightly). Then after report ask all the questions you want of the nurse you are following for the day, that's why she's there. To teach you. I wouldn't apologize to the CN and I wouldn't bring it up to her again. Personally, I think she was unprofessional in reporting you to your instructor, I mean what is this grade school and she's the Tattle Tale of the group? lol Don't fixate on this you will have plenty more important things to fixate on, like passing NCLEX, deciding what area of nursing to go into, picking the best facility....ect. LOL Good luck!!!!

Get in touch with your local Labor board and get there take on this situation after reading the facility's employee handbook. The whole thing sounds fishy to me. You should get your accrued time off from them at least. This depends on facility or employer policy. Some places cut checks for unused vacation time and some don't. If you have an employee handbook it should be in there. It's up to employer, they don't have too per most Labor boards. I wouldn't go back there to work either, your better off. When you fill out applications i would note that there is explanation for termination and you are eligible for rehire from this facility that way you at least have a chance to explain what happened.

Ok seriously that's just crazy. You have to wonder about some people and judging by the picture in the article you posted I don't have to wonder to hard...lol. A friend and I went to the local library when I was still in nursing school in the middle of summer (in Fl mind you) and pulled in beside a car with 3 kids in it. They were all under 5, one couldn't have been more than a couple of months old. None of the windows were even cracked, so were talking outside temp in the 90's. God knows how long they had been in there and how hot the inside of that car was. I went and told a women at the front desk and they called the police saying it's there policy to call police then they page the parent. I was standing there wandering 'My God they have a policy for this, how many people do this?' World is freaking crazy; they really should make parents take classes and get a lisence to have babies. I mean heck you have to have a lisence to fish and hunt for goodness sake.

I can't tell you a whole bunch but I have taken care of Pt's with Amiodarone toxicity. I actually had one about 2 weeks ago and he passed away, so this is serious stuff and he needs to check it out. He also had diabetes II, and presented with symptoms of severe weakness, and very sob. O2 sats on arrival were in the 60's. He was put on Amiodarone due to a hx of Afib. We had to keep him on a Venti mask at all times and when he ate he had to be on the mask and nc 6-8 L, so that when he removed the mask he wouldn't desat so horribly. If we got him out of bed and moved to the chair, even with mask on he would desat to 70's quickly. He did not have any edema nor crackles in his lungs, just very diminished breath sounds, and skin was dusky. Hope that info helps. Your Father's kidney could be giving out. His K+ level isn't too bad, but Cr level is. What is his BUN level by the way? Also, it could be CHF, when you listen to his lungs do they sound full, how bad is his edema, does he have ascites? Have them check his BNP level, if elevated it's an idication of CHF. Amiodarone toxicity is lethal; the pt doesn't have to take too much for it to happen, such as with an overdose. This man was only on it for 6 months. It wouldn't hurt for you or your family to ask his cardiologist to check into this. And please if his cardiologist doesn't want to or just brushes it off get another opinion. Also, Diabetes is a horrible and insidious dz. My husband has it, was diagnosed when he was only 32 (runs in his family) and it's a struggle for us, so I know how hard it's been for your family. God Bless you and gl with your Dad. Keep me posted.

I was thinking about this not long ago because a friend of mine is pregnant. I told her don't read all the baby books or you will just drive yourself insane...lol. When I had my son, I read them all and man I had every safety device you could buy. Locks on doors, toilets, appliances, cabinets; corner bumpers, socket plugs, baby gates....it was crazy. My Mom hated coming to my house because she could never figure out how to open my cabinets...lol. I can remember riding on my father's lap in the car when we drove out to the lake as a kid. Remember many bicycle wrecks that I survived with no helmut. Even got bit by a couple of dogs, lived through that too. You would be amazed how resiliant children are....lol. Don't know what kind of dog you have that you want to seperate it from the baby, but the best thing I did was had hubby bring home blanket that baby was wrapped in at hospital and let my dog sleep with it (I was in hospital for 3 days due to C-Section). So when we brought my son home he just thought he was wonderful. My dog is one year older than my son. Son is now 9 and there the best of friends. If you feel you need a gate, and you know better than anyone, just make sure it is one that opens easily; it's a big pain stepping over them. Good luck and congrats!!!!!:balloons:

Don't let this situation get anymore out of hand, take a stand. If not for yourself then think about all the 'newbie' nurses that will come after you. I can promise you this nurse has been getting away with this behavior for years and it probably all comes down to 1) she's lazy as all get out and 2) no one has called her down for it or stood up to her. Listen, nursing is a 24 hr continuum of care, if it wasn't then hospitals would close at 5pm (Lord wouldn't that be nice). Check the policy in your facility and see if it says daily is from 7-3, because I have strong doubts that it does. Daily most everywhere stands for sometime in a 24 hr shift. I have worked night shift for 2 yrs and I have worked day shift and I can honestly say I had it made on nights except for the lack of CNA's our floor had on nights. Pt ratios to nurses were higher on nights, but for the most part they do sleep...except for your 'sundowners'. The hardest thing I found about being a new nurse is that you take everything to heart...whether it's that you feel like you aren't doing enough, or someone else is saying that you're not doing enough....ect. Biggest thing you need to learn is to take a deep breathe and say to yourself I am one person and am doing the best I can do at this moment and move on. Trust me when I say this nurse is probably very low on the 'good' nurse pole. It's also kind of a given in most facilities (and sometimes an actual policy) that if an admission comes within 30 min of the next oncoming shift it becomes the oncoming nurses admission, assess the pt, orient them to the unit, and then give report to the next nurse. You've done admissions and D/C's all day. You've been there 8-12+ hrs; you've done your job, now it's their turn. Next time she gives you a 'hard time' confront her with it, state you have done all you can do in your shift and it's time for you to go home and rest (say whatever you want to say, just get your point across). If she still gives you a 'hard time' I would then take this problem to your NM, this is what she is there for. I can guarantee you your NM knows this nurse is a problem child, but she's let it slide for whatever reason. Move up the chain of command if something is not done about it. There is too much of a nursing shortage for you facility to be running off new nurses with her kind of behavior. If they can't or won't do something about it I would move on to another facility or a different area from within. Life is hard enough; your job/career shouldn't make you feel miserable. Sorry this was so long but this is something I feel strongly about as you can tell, been there done that. Sorry someone is out there calling themselves a nurse and treating you this shabbily. It's not right EVER and don't tolerate it. It just takes one person to instigate change! Good luck and keep us posted.

I work in a cardiac unit on night shift, we also seem to get more than our fair share of med/surg overflow. Our main pt's consist of new MI's, dysrhythmias, active CP, CHF, CVA's, with the odd assortment of pnuemonia, dementia pt, etoh withdrawal, and of course everyone is diabetic. Most nights we have at least seven pt's, if you come in and find yourself with only five or six, sit back and enjoy the ride because you know your in for admissions and walking back and forth between wings (it is set up with three wings spreading out from the main desk/office). For example the other night I had 7 pt's, which consisted of two fresh MI's, one active CP pt, a pt with one failing kidney on numerous new bp meds going in and out of CHB (go figure), one new CVA pt (total care), and two pt's with COPD, one of which also has chronic anemia and is receiving two units of blood. Lo and behold I get a call for my eighth pt at 0200 and this is before I have had a chance to check MARS, do 24h chart checks, and oh yeah chart anything. So I get another pt who is having cp still rated a 5/10, but the ER is "so full that were going to bring them on up." Now here is my biggest dilema, they (meaning the powers that be) have decided to do away with our CNA's on night shift and our secretary. So that we can not only do all we do now, but primary care and if asking, typing ,and filling out tons of stuff isn't enough with a new admit on nights, put the charts together and complete all the orders yourself. There have been nights I have had nine pt's. Also our charge nurse has a team too. I want to know if you all feel this is safe staffing and I'm being whiney or if this is just expecting too much? I would really like to receive feedback on similar experiences or ratios in your units. This place is burning me out and I haven't been a nurse long enough for that yet...lol. Thanks to all for listening to me rant a little and offers of advice/opinions!!!!