sjaubert

Well if you take on sixty patients on one shift you must be some nurse and the patients all very satisfied that is to say if you're the only one. After all who else would give them the care? I do think that california is a stretch in that like who wants to live in that place. Perhaps if you grew up there you could appreciate it but have you ever visited? Have you seen where you can spend your hard earned bucks? You can go hollywood disneyland worship or drive around suburbs forever looking for million dollar bungalows where you can live and hobnob with the rest of the people doing the same thing. I wouldn't go there except on a travel assignment and i wouldn't go out much. Anyway, how long have you been a nurse? Have you discovered how screwed up it can be? Good luck! Steve

A pacer on a telemetry unit is as good as dead if they code because no one knows it. I've discovered this before and probably will again. In the future i will encourage such patients to request a dnr order as they may 'stick around' for a while after we code and keep their corpse functioning. I think it might be that their spirit is 'captured' here until they actually die. Of course they may be lucky and gone and all we may have is the remains but who can tell??? Steve

Hey, don't sweat it. The team showed up and the code was enacted that's the main thing. In fact the first priority in any code is to get a code called and going. If it takes a few seconds longer despite what everyone says i say stop and think for a second or two and if in doubt based on the assessment call it. I think a lot of young nurses are afraid of being laughed at if they make a bad call and that's too bad. Also i think most new nurses let their feelings take over and forget to remain as calm as possible. You have to be deliberate about it. Running around letting you emotions take over is not necessarily more productive and it takes some effort. It doesn't mean you don't care and you actually become more efficient. Try to remember your basics and go from there and remember a code is 'supposed' to be a team effort meaning there will be help hopefully with more experienced nurses who know the routine better. Don't let the egos intimidate you. That's not what its about. I always try to help someone along but you should keep that attitude also. Nothing worst than a second or third year hot dogger who tries to be top gun. I mean that crap is good in the movies but in reality its about good human interaction if everyone is to benefit. I know i sound very ideal about it all but anyway i hope i helped and i'll just say this i've seen very few codes go perfect. I put some of the blame on hospitals. For example i liked it when we did the code cart check of drawers though i hospital now doesn't allow the cart to be opened until a code. I also liked it when we mixed more of our drugs and now i understand its against regulations. That all seems to work against reinforcement of acls training. I can tell you it gets better with practice and more codes and also i refresh myself occasionally with those acls cards you look at occasionally at work. You need someone around like me to encourage you and i hope you can find them at your hospital. Unfortunately i see a lot of 'less than adequate' charges to give such help which i also see as a hospital problem when they can't retain and value such experience for a variety of reasons. I do not believe as some that letting the family in the room at this time is good. It tends to make me self conscious rather than acting naturally. Good luck. Steve

Maybe its basic but a lot of nurses i work with especially new have to ask more questions. If you think us oldsters will laugh maybe we won't and so what if a few do. Specifically some pointers on cleaning crap-if it smells too bad put on a mask and use the pad or something to cover it up quickly. I also can't tell you how irritating it is for betty joe new nurse to be so immaculate in trying to clean someone perfectly who has diarrhea while i'm holding the person. I know they do this to appear so concerned but have some mercy on the other caregiver and you also get more respect when you deal with it. Crapping is a fact of life and a lot of new nurses have a tough time dealing with it. Steve

This is so typical of nursing in general from what i've seen. I always see this lack of respect in these pseudo peer relationships in a transient world where too little professionalism and dog eat dog are the rule. I hardly try to have any relationships at work and i certainly don't want to be the next one putting in ten years somewhere to go through your pains. If agency didn't exist i'd probably be working in the outback in alaska to get away from all this persistent drama i see everyday. The human condition multiplied to subtle increased degree maintained by the forces of stupid system that be and don't ask me to smile. Steve

I go to work and i do my job as a nurse the best i can with all the limitations that nurses face. My answer to families from hell is that we're all dying. If you treat me right you'll probably get treated right. I say screw traditionalist arguments. I'm not a therapist for codependents, dysfuctionals, psychotics, and the simple. If you take crap you are not setting limits for appropriate behavior and communication degenerates. "Oh go ahead and curse me mrs. johnson. I understand your husband is dying." "While you're at it mr harris, tell me how lousy a care giver i am. I can take it if it makes you feel better." Those days are long gone as far as i'm concerned. I go to work and i become a trouble shooter in a unit where vital equipment breaks, where paperwork continues to grow and is ever redundant, where administration dogs you over trivialities, where i'm a logistics adjuntant for ancillary, where i'm blamed for situations i can't control, and on and on. I'll be damned if i'm going to be sucked dry to suffer psychological fatigue care of emotional dynamics. What ever happened to love thy neighbor as thyself? I repeat, 'as thyself"? I'm not going to cry with you about dear aunt abby's not being able to walk again to go vote next year. That may sound cruel but while i would be crying i would not be able to get her medicine on time that i'll be blamed for if its late. Most of these people would not give two cents concern for me if the shoe were on the other foot. This is just the tip of the iceberg too. And, after i get off my shift its back to the passive agressive, selfish, greedy, vice strewn world with traitorous leaders and back stabbing neighbors and others who remind me i just tend to care too much. I believe jesus had it right about not casting pearls before swine. Have a nice day all.

I believe women tend to conform more than men and have more trouble accepting men in nursing even at this advanced stage than men do of women in other professions. They are much more self conscious than men in general and thus have more trouble being someone who is trully themselves. I also think women focus some of their anger with spouses, boyfriends, etc. on male nurses. They are quick to get the male who is usually stronger to do a lot of their work. I know this is true because that's why they like me so much as the agency contract over the others. They know a good thing when they see it. But they don't really respect me. Look at society in general with its double standards and watch how women 'marry up' doctors but seldom is that seen with a male nurse marrying a female doctor. Some of it is ingrained in all of us but i don't see a lot of effort on change from the females i work with whom most talk about shallow b.s. all day including about the other nurses who are not around. While males do talk about other nurses it seems to me female nurses have it down to a particularly fine art form. I feel like when i'm around the unit i need to conform to simplistic conversation and bantering. If its deeper its usually the same old 'we need to change this and we need to change that' rerun. I hardly ever find a female who seems to have her head together where we can really talk about anything else other than nursing or their problems at home. Its sad but its what i find. Maybe they think i'm not a man for wanting to talk about music or writing a couple of my hobbies. I don't know but i usually don't talk much around work anymore except as necessary for care. Steve

I think it reflects society's attitude and treatment difference in general between men and women. Its the same even more so in nursing still a heavily female profession. Women usually get less severe treatment than men for similar offenses. There's a whole system of double standard related to this. For example women are the 'gentle sex', and 'women are more moody' affecting their behavior-the most extreme b.s. related to p.m.s. excuses ('they had a bad-hair day'). Anyway, males in nursing fact this double standard in numerous other ways. For example if i ever refuse to help another 'lazy' female nurse i'm 'being mean' but if she doesn't help me she is just 'being touchy'. Do you see what i mean? I think most boards are female and unconsciously or otherwise favor women. Men have a long way to go in nursing to overcome this discriminating behavior which by the way is also initiated by many doctors who look at us as somehow failures for being nurses and not doctors. As far as women again being perceived as less guilty than men just remember those female teachers who seduce young males and get off easier than men who do the same. The boards take the attitude that women in general never initiate overtures but are 'made' to do so and consequently less guilty than the evil men who seduce them. Just some thoughts of mine.... Good luck. Steve