RNJayhawk

Ok, so I am not an L/D nurse, I am a NICU nurse. Sorry for gate crashing! :wink2: I just love hearing stories. Some people have the funniest ideas about birthing and care of infants. Tell me some of the funniest/craziest/dumbest patients you've ever dealt with. I'll go first. A baby needed to have a certain surgery, I won't go into details, but this kid had to have this surgery or was going to die. She was already seriously infected because of her condition and didn't have much longer to live. Parents had been to a couple of hospitals who all agreed with the same diagnosis and treatment that we wanted to do. Hospital hopping. Mind you, this kid was SERIOUSLY sick. But parents didn't want it because she "looked OK" and the Dad had done research on the internet into the condition and just knew she didn't need surgery. Like all other people who look something up on the internet and think they are experts... After the neonatologists made the executive decision (along with social services, the legal team, and a judge) to have the kid get the surgery, the parents didn't want any blood transfusions even though kiddo was bleeding out. No they were not Jehovah's witnesses. They were just concerned about what (actual quote) "goulies and demons are hanging out in the genetical cells of the donor". This kiddo was dying, and because they had done 'research' on WebMD and the like, they thought that they were MD's!!! Needless to say the kid got blood, and looked and felt much better for it. Oh, and post-operatively, the kid wasn't allowed to have pain killers because at one point Dad was addicted to narcotics (which certainly explained a lot). Umm, that isn't the kid's fault!!! She was hurting!!! Not that I don't have respect for people who refuse certain treatments because of religious objections (and at my institution we will bend over backwards to accomodate them), but these people were INSANE!!! BTW, the kid is doing great now. Tell me your stories about people's funny ideas!!!

No, no, no, no!!! Unbelievable - my jaw hit the floor! Realistically, I don't think that I have anything constructive to say... It just never ceases to amaze me how absolutely unreasonable patients families can be! I hope that you all can manage to get this lady away from this poor fellow. On a related note, my husband works with somebody whose mother-in-law wanted to take his infant twins out of the NICU (and off the vent!!) because she thought they had spent enough time in the hospital and she wanted them to go home. She really thought it would be OK to take two babies (that had been born at 26 weeks) home - because she knew how to do CPR!!! Crazy people! Please, please keep us updated about what is going on!

I would say that the first year in nursing is so hard because there is SO MUCH TO KNOW. And not just about diseases, surgeries, etc, which believe me, you and I (as a new grad) haven't scratched the surface of... It sounds really stupid, but part of the reason it is so hard for me is because of transfering/admitting patients. I am an ICU nurse and only have two patients, but when I have to transfer one out, I go out of my mind. Getting orders, doing paperwork, calling physicians to clarify the orders that they wrote wrong, getting pharmacy to get up the last meds that they need before they leave ICU, doing last minute tasks (like d/c lines, call family to let them know of transfer, calling report, sending last minute labs, etc) can completely swamp me. And I can't even imagine having to do this several times a shift like a med/surg nurses, God bless 'em. Truly, it is all of the policy/procedures/paperwork that I have to know that is really the killer. I am three months in, and I wish I would have had some experience with this in nursing school. Sure, I charted on my patients, but I never had to do any busy work because the nurse always did it for me, and I didn't even realize it. I wish I did because I would have felt like I had a better hold on what nursing really is. :pumpiron: Every one told me that I had no idea what the "real world" of nursing was like, and it would make me so mad because they never really explained what it was like and how it was different. And now I am the one who can't really explain it. It really is hard. Learn as much as you can in school when you still have an excuse for asking a thousand questions without looking stupid. But, eventually you will figure it out. Have fun!

Oh, how I feel your pain!!!! I have been watching my debt go down, but it makes me so sad that I have so much more to go. I can't believe how long this is seriously going to take me to get paid off. I can say to you is that I hear you, and know what you are going through. As far as tips go to help you get out of debt - try to go as long as you can without buying anything, and apply all of the money that you can to your loans. Make it a contest or personal record with yourself. Try to go seven days without buying anything. Don't go to the grocery store (I know you must have a couple of cans of soup that you can eat). Don't go to Walmart or Target (I am sure that you have enough belts/underwear/socks/greeting cards/paper towels/shaving cream/etc.) Do this as often as you can and eventually you will see balances go down. Eventually. It also helps me when I make a graph on Microsoft Excel showing how much I have already paid of vs. how much I have to pay. It is always nice seeing that I have at least made a dent in my debt, and that my suffering wasn't for nothing. Best of luck from a fellow commrade in suffering. :cheers:

OK, so my work will pay a LOT of money to work overtime. A lot. I really need this money. Really, really need it. I am sure that most of you can sympathize with needing to pay off loans. The only problem is that I really love my time off, and my work schedule is such that I don't get much of it. I have to work an average of 40 hrs a week over 6 weeks (which means two 48 hr weeks) in addition to putting in overtime availability (another two 48 hr weeks). So essentially, I work 48 hrs a week (or have to be available) two thirds of the time. I want to work overtime so I can get my loans paid off and start traveling (I LOVE to travel), but I don't want to work overtime. So, as a new grad who is still insecure and scared to go to work, how to you get the courage to work extra, when it is hard enough to go to work as it is? Anyone else with the problem of wanting to work, but not wanting to work? Thanks, all!

I am a new grad (three months in), and absolutely dread going to work. I have a good job (pays a lot, GREAT benefits, love the patient population, long orientation, good staffing ratios), but I am absolutely, completely fed up with all of my gossipy coworkers. Despite all of the great things I listed above, this unit has an astronomically high turnover rate and a reputation throughout the hospital for being the most viscious, toughest units to work in (I didn't know this until after I started). The other nurses won't even wait until you are out of earshot before they start talking bad about you. It is almost like they delight in making people depressed. Quitting absolutely isn't a financial option for me, so I am going to have to stick it out for another year, but I really don't know how I am going to make it. Soooo.... I have read enough posts to know that a lot of other people dread going to work for some reason (coworkers, feeling overwhelmed, bad staffing, horrible management, etc). So what do you all do when you feel this way? How do you motivate yourself to go to work, or at least make yourself feel better about having to go to work? Thanks for the advice!