tigerfan

I'm sorry if I was unclear: I meant that the other members of the ID team talk about their areas of expertise in relation to the patient. No, nursing does not sit and twiddle their thumbs after initally presenting the patient in rounds. They are as much a part of the discussion as anyone else. I was merely saying that it is nursing's responsibilty to present vitals and I/Os to start the discussion. The OP said that nurses in her unit are often unprepared to professionally present their patients in rounds. All the nurses that work in BMT know that they are responsible for presenting this information, and therefore make it a part of preparing for their day to have it available for rounds. After nursing intially presents the patient, the Drs do guide the discussion, but they are most definitely not the only people doing the discussing!

In my hem/onc and BMT unit, we have interdisciplinary rounds every week day; BMT first, followed by hem/onc. Nurses come in as time allows...either come in and wait for their turn, or pop in when they can, getting someone else to cover their patients while they are in rounds. BMT rounds: The team discusses the patients of whichever nurse happened to be in rounds at the time. The nurse starts the discussion with name, vitals, and I/Os. The Drs take over from there, with other disciplines chiming in as the discussion moves to their areas of expertise. Hem/onc rounds: The nurse just says their patient's name, and the Drs take over from there. If they have any questions for nursing, (not usually - they get all the current info in the morning before rounds) they ask. We typically have computers in the conference room, so we can look up any information we don't know off the top of our head. Other disciplines in the room usually have laptops, and they are often quicker at finding this information than nursing is! Nursing also asks the team any questions they may have. Bottom line: make sure everyone leaves on the same page. If there is set information that nursing is expected to present, it might be helpful to make a "fill-in-the-blank" type sheet for people to use until they get in the routine of always finding out that information before rounds.

I'm in a very similar situation to yours...graduated with my BSN about 6 months ago, started right away in peds oncology at a major children's hospital and work 36 hrs night/day rotation; with the majority being nights. I have great benefits and love my coworkers. Seniority doesn't seem to rule quite as much at my hospital as at yours...we just have to request vacation time at least 3 months in advance and the schedule people try their best to accomodate everyone. I love having several days off as opposed to just Saturdays and Sundays! But, I'm very strongly considering going to something outpatient with more "typical" hours...M-F, 8-5. I enjoy my current job, but the the rotating shifts are getting to me, as are the long days/nights and difficulty finding time to spend with friends since I tend to be at work when they're off. I think I would thrive having every evening free, and weekends and holidays off. I know that the pay would most likely be less, but I think it would be a worthwhile trade off to have both a job and a life that I enjoy! Oh, I'm considering going to a peds office...any thoughts on that? I feel bad for being the first of my friends to think about leaving a hospital, but at the same time I think it would be worth it...