Rapheal

I agree with the previous poster. The policy is there for a reason. One patient goes bad and you will be out of a job and risk your license. The hospital will not back you up because you went against policy. Don't worry about the negative feedback you have been receiving from other nurses. It is your license you need to protect.

During nursing school I remember a very similiar situation with a young mother. She was not expecting the c-section and was very sick from the general anestheisa and was experiencing a lot of pain. She was bewildered by the fact that she was in so much pain. Her family (mom, dad, boyfriend) expected her to be up and about. We did some teaching about the surgery and the pain and healing of abdominal surgery. Her family was surprised that she was having pain because the originally thought that having a c-section was not painful. The poor girl broke down in tears because she felt so lousy and thought nobody understood. After all the crying was done and the family was more supportive the mom took more interest in the baby. I think the main problem in this case was the unexpected surgery and the knowledge deficit of what to expect after the surgery.

There are only about 2 nasty ICU nurses where I work. They have that holier than thou attitude. The rest are great. Some even will start IV meds off the transfer order for you, or make sure the patient is bathed before transfer. :)

Why would people want to make the nursing staff nervous, or on edge when taking care of their family members? Do they think they will get better care by intimidating the staff? :uhoh21: If my family member is in the hospital and receiving an NG tube or even an IV for that matter the last thing I would want to do is stress out the person putting it in. Makes that person more prone to error IMHO. Some family members are just power tripping with no concern for the person being treated.

What you did would be a really huge big deal where I work as well. Seems your damned if you do and damned if you don't. Good luck. You did the right thing of course. Too bad we don't have our own board to fight for nurses like the BON protects consumers. One with a 24 hour hotline staffed by lawyers who will start the lawsuit by phone. lol , giggles Sorry- I must be giddy this evening.

I don't think it would be a good idea for the RN to be the aide. You can never work under the level of your license so you could be held responsible for changes in vitals or conditions. For example if you do vitals on a patient and they have a really low BP or sugar then you must get the nurse and inform them. But what if she/he does not properly intervene? You go on to finish vitals and a patient who you reported to the nurse goes downhill or codes. Then what? Not a situation I would like to be in.

Sorry this happened to you. I would be livid if it happened to me and I got no support from my employer. Maybe time to find an employer who cares about your safety.

What inspires loyalty in me is a truly flexible schedule or agreed upon hours, not being nitpicked to death over whatever is the new charting policy of the week, and having enough NA's. Being expected to do almost all the NA work while being responsible for meds, labs, treatments, and documentation has burnt me out. We all hear about prioritizing in nursing, but no matter what is going on a patient who needs the bedpan or BSC will expect you immediately. I am also tired of being yelled at for not having grandma bathed by 3 pm or complaints about not getting fresh ice water. Seems nobody cares that I am busy with a patient with SOB. An employer who employs enough aides to help me accomplish my nursing tasks will find me a very loyal employee.

I think nursing teaches us to quickly assess not only a patients' physical needs, but also their mental and emotional needs. Nurses need to quickly make an assessment about how to handle a patient. I say handle for lack of a better word. But each patient is different. It is using this acquired people skill that will help build a trusting relationship. You don't have time to do 20 minute 1:1 interactions with patients to evaluate their emotional state. As a nurse you need to develop a quick sense of what is needed to help the client participate with their plan of care. That is the art of nursing to me.

It depends on what they are complaining about. It it is little nit-picky stuff I apologize and ask them what can I do for them now or what can I do to make them feel better. Usually that is all it takes to settle them down. If it is a serious issue, then I inform the nursing supervisor and let her talk to the family.

Some of the nurses use the f-word when describing their day or their assignment. I have never heard any use this language in front of a patient or family. I really don't care if they do- but I don't. Usually I think they are just blowing off some steam. I think the more people cuss the easier it is to let it slip out. So they should be careful.

I am very sorry about your loss. She sounds like she was a very special person.

If your patient has a complaint such as pain or a change in assesment then you will want to get the intern or resident. Usually they will communicate with the patient's primary physician or the doctor they were admitted under in determining what should be done or just to inform them of what they the intern had ordered. But when a doc writes an order and you want to change that order or it needs clarified then it is okay to page that doctor. I might have grabbed an intern to change that order. But you didn't do anything wrong. Just an FYI. A sarcastic doctor who needs to inform you of their high status is usually a pain in the butt. Don't take it personal.

JacelRN I am sorry this happened to you. Last time we had an abusive patient the supervisor lectured us on being compassionate because the abusive patient had unresolved grief issues. :angryfire The hospital I did clinicals at as a student had a really great policy. When an A&O patient became verbally or physically abusive they called EVERYONE in to the patients room. Security, extra nurses, doctors. They called it a show of force. The patient was politely informed the behavior was not acceptable and they would be discharged if it happened again. Very effective.

Not a crush- I just secretly want to be her. :rotfl:

She is every thing I am not. She is tall, super intelligent, witty. She can wrap every doctor around her little finger. She talks doctors into giving orders that she feels are more appropriate then what is currently ordered. And she is always right on target in her suggestions. She is also very helpful, nice, and so organized that she has free time to glance thru a magazine or sit down during her shift. She also commands respect and does not take any dirt from anybody. I am watching and hoping some of it will rub off on me.lol :chuckle Anybody else work with one of these immortals?

Good luck on your retest. Some people do not get to work as GN's. So if you look on the bright side you have had 45 days more training then some people who will retest. Can only help you for NCLEX.

I will try this next time- I have always stayed for the tirades and asked "What can I do to make you feel better about this?. Very exhausting mentally for me. This sounds like a better idea. Thanks. :)

Sorry to be the devil's advocate here, but if you have to question yourself if it is animal cruelty- then it probally is the type of thing that should be discouraged. There is a difference between play time with an animal, and "rough" play. There should be no rough play. There is a good chance that the dog may become aggressive if this type of play continues. Stop it immediately before your son or your dog gets hurt. It is ingrained in dogs to elevate the status in the pack. The dog probally keeps coming back for more because he sees himself as achieving dominance over your son. Why not take your dog to obedience school? Have your son work with him and they can develop a more satisfying, less risky relationship. Have your son take the dog on daily walks after the dog has learned the heel command. Both of them can expend some energy doing this. As someone who has worked with and trained dogs I can assure you that you are playing with fire if you don't set limits on your son's behavior with this dog. I hope you do not take this as someone being harsh or trying to tell you that you what to do. I just have had experience with this type of thing when I volunteered for a rescue group and the outcome can be very bad.

This is a legitimate issue to be discussed. I do not want to judge someone's pain but I too see patients admitted with intractable n/v who are ordered 50mg Demerol q4 with 25 Phenergan. Some of these patients are on the floor for 2 hours and start demanding their dosages be increased and also demand to be off NPO status because they are hungry. These patients many times have psych issues. The docs do not want to be bothered so they increase the dose even though the patient may have been admitted a half a dozen times in the last year with no diagnosis that supports their c/o pain. So what to do? I think that when they are medically cleared we need to look for other problems such as psych or addiction problems. Sometimes that is hard to treat as many psychiatrists will not treat medicaid patients or the patient is unwilling to admit addiction. We are not helping these people by feeding their addictions and not treating their psych issues. There will be some patients who are misdiagnosed and will have true unresolved pain issues. But truthfully- when they are discharged they will not be receiving IV demerol. So they need further treatment for pain mgmt. We need to stop just treating pain and look into curing or managing pain. One definition of insanity is to deal with a reoccuring problem the same way, again and again, while expecting a different outcome. This is what we seem to do for these patients.

I know that the bottom line is money. But since some of the posters in management are able to pitch in and help out- why can't other managers do the same? Seems to me that some people get into management to avoid patient care.

Our telemetry is always watched. We have very sick patients and I could not work on a floor where I was responsible to monitor telemetry and do patient care. I am constantly on the floor- in patient's rooms. It would be impossible for me to accurately respond to a change in heart rhythm when I am in the middle of something like putting in an NG tube. Not having a telemetry person watch the monitors is way past my comfort zone. But that is just me.

I have seen potentially good nurses get booted- and not all were justified. Sounds like you had a hellacious day on the floor. Somedays it is just like that. But if they booted you for one day's performance- then they were looking for a reason to dismiss you. It would probally be a good idea to search your mind and review your performance in school up to that day. If you think it was good, and the dismissal not merited- then by all means file a grievance or appeal. If they do not rule in your favor then you may have to decide whether to pursue it or not. If you are planning to attend another school then you may want to leave on very good terms. My friend was booted and followed the protocols to have her dismissal reviewed. She kept going up the chain of command. Unfortunately she could not get a letter of recommendation from the school. So she was not accepted in any other nursing program. Othe students who failed out but did not make big issue of it got their letters of recomendation. I wish you luck in the future.

I can understand the nurses frustration- and I am sure we have all come close to losing our cool at one time or another. But this comes across as a temper tantrum and the nurses concerns be them valid or not will probally come across as not credible. The means and tone of the communication will far overshadow the issues that were brought up. Such a shame.

About half will try and help if you ask- the other half will not ask for or give help.