destova

I very much like that response lol... to the point and not rude. Thank you I find it to be very strange... I'd personally be mortified if I had to let someone else do that. I think that's part of my trouble in figuring out what to say to some patients, I'm so confused as to their desire to have these things done. Especially after leaving a room where a lol apologized profusely for legitimately needing help. Why not be self sufficient if you can be? The non peri-care requests kind of irritate me at times. I'm running around like crazy trying to get everything done, and you want me to do what? I know there are times and cases where the patients have legit reasons for asking, don't understand that we are more than maids, etc. But the patients that act so entitled and demand so much are getting to me lately. I'm not sure why.... but ugh!

I've been coming across more and more patients that are perfectly capable of taking care of their personal needs, but simply don't want to. Example: ringing the call light to ask for the box of tissues that is a whopping 4 feet away and they have no physical reason to inhibit their ability to reach or get up and get them. Or the female pt that wants us to clean her after voiding yet she walked into the bathroom herself and did her makeup/ curled her hair that morning... How do you get the message across that we are not the maids/ wait staff/ personal assistant without making pt feel bad or making them angry? It's so frustrating.

I'm a glorious mix of conservative (money), liberal (social policy), and federalist (states rights)... and can't stand Rand's "essays", but that book in particular is a winner! Put a lot of things in perspective for me when I was in my early twenties trying to figure out why no one was there to help me get a start on life lol.

As you mention that psych isn't your strong point, and even if it was, I'd recommend enlisting the help of an actual psychologist. Playing one on Google isn't going to help you or your friend. Having said that, I once had a friend that almost perfectly fit that description. I dropped her out of my life quickly once it started to escalate and became a drain on my emotions. Dx? Terrible friend with obvious issues and no desire to seek help. Tx? Sudden withdraw of all contact. Result? My mental health is greatly improved! :) (Not sure about her or her remaining minions health, but in the end they are not my responsibility)

One last suggestion, since you seem to be unemployed and therefore have time on your hands, grab a copy of Atlas Shrugged from your local library. It's a monster of a book, but can change your entitlement attitude. I've read it about 5 times over the last 10 years and learn something new each time!

I just don't understand why the seasoned nurse is automatically open to judgment of her spending habits. OP, let's play a little make believe for a moment. You get a call from the hospital, they finally convinced one of those terrible old nurses to retire and her old job is yours. (Hooray!) You work through orientation and that first paycheck comes. You decide to finally go to dinner with a friend at that swanky new restaurant now that your bank account is in the black. A woman about your age walks up to you and starts throwing a hysterical fit. "You're that nurse that took the job at Some Hospital!! And here you sit eating a meal that costs the same as a weeks worth of groceries for my kid!! I have children half starving because you took that job!! How horrible you are to take that job just so you can eat at expensive restaurants!!!! Sob, cry, whine!" Sound ridiculous? That's pretty much what you're doing with your complaints about the nurse with a home and condo or whatever. They worked to get where they are (as did those nasty terrible CEO's) and deserve to enjoy all the benefits of it, regardless of you needing a job in a market that you obviously didn't research before jumping into.

Also, I've been hearing about a credit union that is for the navy. Apparently anyone can join. My friend got his car loan through them at 1.7% which is crazy cheap. Not sure if they do consolidation, but it would be worth google time to find out!

You need to be very careful about consolidation if you plan to go back to school and use the educational deferment at any point in your future. Many consolidation programs remove any and all deferment options. Having said that, take time to call your various lenders to see what they can offer you. Tell them the total amount of loans you have, the companies that have them, and ask their terms (rates, payment options, etc) Do not let them "run numbers" with your social or do a credit check at this time. If you know your credit score you can tell them and they can give you potential rates that will depend on them verifying your score. I say this because you don't want a bunch of lenders checking your credit at once, it will damage your credit even more. Check with your bank too, many do consolidation loans even if your credit is shaky. They know you can't declare bankruptcy on it and its easy for them to get garnishment if you default. So its a "safe" loan for them to give. Once you find a lender with decent rates and terms, they will walk you through the process. Be aware: if you include the loans that are in rehab, it will stop the garnishment but will also leave those defaults on your record. I'd deal with rehab first then do consolidation.

Health doesn't have to be that impaired for a prescription. My Dr told me if it were legal in our state she'd rx it for me due to my stress induced anorexia as well as dull but constant back pain.... there are many other cases where it could be helpful that are not a contraindication to working. OP, I will agree with the rest of meriwhen's post regarding contacting the board. Also the fact that your employer may not agree even if the board says yes. Good luck, hoping you feel well again soon!

Having your wages garnished is going to be a financial difficulty as well as a huge hit on your credit record. Go to the website posted earlier in this thread (the student loan database one) and click on the loans with the triangle warning symbol next to them. Then look to see who the guaranteeing agency is and call them. They will be able to direct you to a number to call to start a loan rehab program. It will stop garnishment as well as clear your credit record of all this after ten months of steady payments. Good luck!! Eta: after the ten months of steady payment, they will resell your loan to another company, who will then resume normal payments as well as offer forbearance if you are financially in need of it.

Ah, doesn't the transformer look great?! I have ice cream sandwich on a um, modified, Android phone. Love it! However, I've heard so many rumors that jelly bean is going to have the Google version of siri. Project Mavis? Can't ever remember that name... I'm really hoping they do. The Eva ap is great, she wakes me up and reminds me to get errands done when I'm in town, among other things. I expect project M to be even better considering it's being made by a team rather than just one developer. I wasn't aware that OneNote could be free! I've become a bit of a Linux/open source gal so I'm finding myself allergic to anything from Microsoft, though I will admit that friends with OneNote swear by it. I actually haven't got a tablet for myself yet. It's on the wish list. But then so is a raspberry pi computer to play with lol

Great review AntiChick! Quick note, google is supposedly launching a tablet in q4 this year that runs on Jelly Bean. For those not starting school till next year it may be worth the wait as the tablet should be affordable, plus its bound to have built in support for nearly all Google services like hangout and docs. Also, I believe OneNote is paid software, no? An open source free alternative is EverNote. It is fantastic!!!! I have it on my main Linux pc, on the family windows pc, and on my phone. Synch is seamless, the functionality is out of this world, it's so useful. Lastly, I'd highly recommend having a Google account to type notes into. This way you aren't using up limited storage space on the tablet and you can access the notes on a home pc without transferring files. Yes, there are issues with that if you don't have wireless access, in which case I'd recommend a tiny usb drive, plug "HP v165 16 GB USB Flash Drive P-FD16GHP165-AZ" into Amazon or newegg and you'll find it. I'd link but it keeps forcing the mobile url on me.

A lot of text books come with a code for accessing online content which includes the book in digital format. Check into the texts you have as you could just use a notebook or chromebook to access the digital book while in class rather than dragging the books to school and back. If you bought your book used and don't have the code you can look for a stand alone code card online (Amazon). The ones I've seen are around $30 for stand alone codes. For those of you that will consider just buying the code and not the book, remember that you can only access it while online so be sure you have online access anywhere you'd need to study at.

Firstly, what state are you in and where did you get that data? Remember that average salary reports are an *average* of all reports. So cities with higher cost of living and therefore higher paychecks pull the average up, but those nurses still don't have tons of play money due to the cost of living in their city. Secondly, I hate to break your bubble, but there are few jobs that require minimal effort and pay amazing right out of the box. Well, legal ones that is. Third(ly?), most people eventually figure out that even the most well intentioned loved ones give advice that isn't the best. Sometimes it's that they are projecting onto you, other times they don't know you as well as they think, or any other number of reasons. You need to make choices for you and no one else. Best of luck.

Aha! Cul2, I just looked at the threads you've started. I'm going to guess a Sociology grad student of some kind working on or having recently finished a thesis about the micro-society of Nursing? I'll take my winners prize in the form of student loan payments! Ps, though old, those three threads are rather interesting and have given me something to think about. Great topic :)

There is a lot to be said for learned behavior. And I can't help but think of my Dad's comments when we recently talked about relationships "You teach people how to treat you" So very true, and in its own way, applicable to this situation on both topics (husbands that can't answer and patients that can't take care of their adl's). Based on my experience and the couples I know that behave that way, the wives secondary gain is feeling important/needed, the husbands? Idk. On the patient side of things, it is more of a cycle I think. Nurses with demanding patients that let them walk all over them become accustomed to having to do too much and then continue the habit with other patients who then expect it and perhaps return as demanding patients next visit. There seem to be a Lot of nurses and aides that are afraid to tell pts NO, when its actually doing the pt a disservice to enable and encourage needy behavior. To the devils advocate: Some of the hospital based books sound interesting now that I've looked them up. Maybe I'll grab them with the b&n gift card that is burning a hole in my pocket :) If I do, I'll return with reviews. (If I do that, maybe you'll tell what your profession is. Curiosity is killing me)

Right, the gauze "solution" looked rather disturbing. Imagine being ill and tired and your nurse comes in looking like she's suicidal. Scary!!!! It was poor decision making on the instructors part. The tattoos weren't that big, and while I can't recall what they were of, I'm sure it wasn't anything crazy or I'd probably remember! The long sleeve tees looked better than gauze, but in the end all her patients had a chance to see them anyway, as she had to pull up the sleeves for almost all pt care duties. But those sleeves went back down the minute an instructor was nearby

My grandmother (referenced on my intro post) was Bohemian Czech. Destova is Czech for "rainfall" and was my nickname from her.

Worked at a Catholic nursing home as an aide in high school. They didn't have a dedicated Alzheimer's unit, but first floor may as well have been one. Pt 1, would alternate between gleefully singing "toot, toot, rush rush, always in a rush" or screaming "you ****** **** I know you're the one that murdered my husband" whenever anyone walked past her. Pt 2, retired priest, liked to grab at breasts and, uh, girly bits. If we told him it was inappropriate he'd say "Young lady, I gave my best years to God himself. I can do what I want now." He said it all righteous and mighty, too lol Pt 3, used to be a seamstress, any paper or fabric that was within her reach would be folded to perfection. She got her hands on a patient chart one day, had the whole thing out of the binder, stacked nicely, with about a third folded into tiny squares before anyone saw what she was folding. That lady was so kind, I missed working with her when I left. She never spoke a word, but when she was in a lucid state she would pat your hand and just had this look of caring in her eyes that didn't need words....

Yep, you'd be a nurse with nearly the same amount of student loans making a third of the salary! Yay! Just was talking to my brother about this yesterday and his wife jumped into the convo to say her friend just finished the MA program at a local CC, 3 semesters and an expected $11/hour pay... and sure enough, she's going around saying she's a nurse *with extra training*!

Had a pt in the hospital for ortho, total pita all day: maybe 30yrs old, obese, on sodium and calorie restrictions, crabby as all get out and unwilling to do anything for herself. She put her call light on, I went in to answer as she outright refused to answer the intercom. She wanted me to call the kitchen and order her two lobsters *immediately*. Informed her we don't have lobster in the hospital and she is on a restricted diet anyway. She insists that I should go to a restaurant and get it for her or she'd report me for "noncompliance" and "harassment due to weight bias". Okay then dear, using fancy words isn't going to work with me. I gave her the number for patient rep department and told her they'd be happy to file her complaint.

If you live in a large enough city to have access to an acupuncture specialist, they may be willing to teach you a few Acupressure points. I had an amazing nurse with my youngest three kids, during transition she would squeeze between my thumb and pointer finger during contractions. At first it hurt, but I couldn't say anything because of the silent mode transition put me in. Then I realized it helped. Not sure how, but when I was in labor with my next child a few years later I instinctively pushed my hand into hers once I hit the intense contractions! I'd forgotten she'd done that until I was in it again, then it was like a drug itself somehow. For pts with back labor, put the head of the bed up and have them kneel backwards on the bed with their arms over the top. Then rub their lower back until you can't feel your arms anymore! The main reason I was able to get through the labors without meds was the ability to move around.... from walking to swaying with my labor nurse to rocking on my hands and knees. Perhaps you could do some research and present a case to your director to change policies on continuous monitoring?

Last note, I had put the word out through local colleges as well as a church. No replies. Went to care.com and had 12 applicants within a week, including a few from one of the colleges I'd contacted! Its a great site.

Re your worry about picking up night shifts, I think if your kids are responsible and feel comfortable being home, then it works for you. Every family is unique in their dynamics and what works/doesn't. If your kids are ok, then of course you aren't bad for working extra hours when you can to support them.

Many years ago, my little brother is in our front yard wrestling with the neighbor kid. I'm in the kitchen getting a snack, my mom is doing dishes and watching them through the window above the sink. I hear her say "those boys are going to break their necks". I look over at her in time to see her start knocking on the window rather hard, and then like magic her hand goes Through the window!! Blood everywhere, mom screaming for me to run and get our neighbor (a nurse whom we likely owed our lives to many times over). She had deep lacerations from pinky to wrist and a huge chunk of skin missing from one knuckle. Mom and nurse head to ER while I call Dad to say we are home alone. Dad comes home and just shakes his head when I tell him what happened. Mom still knocks on windows to this day when grandkids are outside playing and she wants them to stop doing something... She'll never learn!