Disablednurse

I too am someone who lives with chronic pain on a daily basis. I am on meds every 8 hrs for pain and on prn meds for break thru pain. There are many days I would rather hurt than take pain med for the break thru pain because of the way it makes me feel. The strength of the prn med is needed for relief, but I do not like the way it makes me feel. I did say at one time, I would love to know how I would feel if I did not take the routine every 8 hour med and was able to find out when I had a severe virus several months ago and could not keep anything p.o. down. All they could give me was demerol IV and I got that every 4 hours. So I got relief for one hour, hurt for 3 hours. The one time I tried it IM, I had nightmares and was so jittery, I could not stand it. When I was able to get the p.o. meds again, and some relief, I said I did not ever want to experience that again. I am so glad for this board. :)

Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do about it unless you belong to a union or have a contract signed by both you and the administration stating that you were hired to work only 12 hour shifts. I have been part of administration and sometimes decisions have to be made that are not liked by everyone, but are the best for the facility or that are mandated to be changed by the upper level management. I am sorry that this happened to you because I have had this happen to me also and it is not fun or pleasant when you have your entire life planned around this schedule.

I would have to say no, but not for reasons r/t job satisfaction, pay rate or things such as that. I have been thru so many things in the past year with my husband health wise that I have wished and wished that I was not a nurse so that I would not know what was going to happen next with his health situation. Being a nurse means you know too much sometimes and that often hurts too much when it involves family members and for that reason and that reason alone, I would not be a nurse.

If you can get in to see a neurologist, they can probably get you in to see a pain mgmt specialist associated with them. I have chronic back pain and am seeing a pain mgmt specialist associated with the neuro group who treated me for my back problems.

I have never heard it called it called nursing syndrome, but there are some nurses that get out of nursing school thinking that they will only have to sit at the desk for the remainder of their nursing career. Then it happens and they have to go and clean up a patient that has really messed themselves up. These nurses want someone else to do all the dirty work and them to do everything else, when that does not happen, out pops the attitude.

What is so sad is that the bad CNAs pull the good ones down with them. You try to ask them to do something that is within their job description, their reply is "You can't tell me what to do." Excuse me but that is my job. They don't want to be treated like children, but they don't act like adults. I give them the same respect that I receive from them. I will not ask them to do something that is not within their scope of practice. The nurse cannot do their job for them or always help them do their job, because if the nurse gets behind, they cannot help her. Nurses cannot stop in the middle of med pass to help someone to the bathroom, because the meds have to be given within a certain time frame. CNAs do not understand this as a rule. Nurses have to do their charting and keep up with the med pass, dr. orders and other things so that if something like an emergency arises they will not fall so far behind. I also think that if a nurse is sitting at the desk doing nothing and a cal light comes on, she should answer it. There are some nurses that do not show respect to the CNAs and this is wrong. You have to show respect to get respect. We could all learn a lesson about this.

No MaryG, you are not wrong to think that the nurse should answer the call lights. When I was working my job was MDS nurse. When ever I would be at the desk getting info for my job, the nurses would sit at the desk and ignore the call lights, I answered them, but got to where I would not take my work to the desk. Some nurses just do not want to answer the lights as they feel that this is not their job.

I don't think that James said anything out of line. He just stated facts and his opinion. What he said is the norm for LTC facilities. They are not allowed to hire people with assault of any kind in their past. This could lead to lawsuits, because if anything questionable came up regarding her and a resident, the facility would be liable for hiring her knowing her past. I worked in LTC for 23 years and I would not hire her because there is no company that would allow her to be hired. That is just the facts.

All LTC facilities are now required by law to check the background of all employees because of the high rate of elderly abuse. I know other places do this but not as strict as LTC. Maybe you could get your lawyer to talk to these people on your behalf. I don't know if this would help or not. Sorry about your problems, will keep you in my prayers.

The thing about it that makes me so mad is that they are told upon being hired what their job duties will be. If they do not want to do that, then don't take the job. I know they gave me a detailed job description and I have read theirs. If you don't like the job description go to McDonalds and sell hamburgers.

One of the problems is lack of support from management whenever they try to reprimand a nurse aide when the nurse aide will not follow orders. A lot of the nurse aides now have authority problems and think that if the nurse above them tries to tell them what to do then they are treating them like children. I have had nurses aides jump down my throat after being told to do something and then myself being reprimanded because I dared to tell them to do it. It is not worth the hassle and once the nurse aide sees you get reprimanded for telling them to do something, they lose respect for you and know that they do not hae to listen to what you say.

I agree with both of you. It is a very rewarding profession and it is a calling. There are those that become nurses thinking that there will be good money making potential, but that is not so. You have to look at nursing as what you can do for people and how you can help them. I have put 25 years in the profession and loved every moment of it. I worked in LTC and it was most rewarding.

My husband fusses at me all the time because I worry about whether I am taking too much pain med. He will ask me how I am hurting on scale of 1 to 10 and when I tell him 8, 9 or 10, he tells me that I really need something and not to worry about taking too much. He cannot stand to see me hurting and I am getting better about taking something when I am hurting worse as I don't take anything when the pain is in the range of 3-6.

Konni, good luck with your surgery. Be sure to let the doctor know if you are hurting and if the med does not work make them give you something that will. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

I do agree with a lot of what all of you are saying. Some doctors are bad about not giving people pain meds. I am seeing a pain management specialist for my back pain. Because pain meds are so strictly controlled, I had to sign an agreement saying where I buy my meds. I am fortunate that my doctors believe me when I describe my pain. I have worked with some nurses that refuse to give anything other than a tylenol, even with cancer patients. Because I deal with pain myself everyday, it is a very touchy subject with me and I try to avoid discussing it with others because of that. However all of you have brought up good points.