Scotty

I'm an ICU nurse in Central Scotland. I'm considering leaving my job and doing agency nursing. I have a lot of critical care experience, including experience abroad. I have a lot of courses. I drive and I'm prepared to travel for shifts. Money IS ver...

Clear the air. It's obviously bothering you so you can't forget it yet, even if you try. Let your co-worker know you feel bad about it, but explain why at the time you didn't sort the IV for him/her. And tell them what you told us about them being a ...

Thankfully I no longer work in places where this crazy writing up occurs. We do have adverse occurrence reports, but they are supposed to be blame-free and to highlight problems and improve future practice. I do wonder how long they are held and whet...

10 hours ago my usually stoical husband complained of very sudden onset of the most severe headache he has ever had in his life. He does not usually get headaches, and has had none recently. He took paracetamol/ acetaminophen. After half an hour ther...

He's out of hospital now. :)

He's still doing well. Thanks so much for your support. He thinks the staff in the hospital are wonderful and he's tickled pink that nurses from all over the world are wishing him well.

He's had a Grade I subarachnoid haemorrhage. The CT showed a little blood, but the local hospital didn't see that, so he had a LP which showed a lot of blood. He's now been transferred to a specialist neuro centre that can do 3D radiology. I know it...

Thanks so much to all of you, Hubby saw three more docs, then the consultant said he should have a CT scan and a lumbar puncture in case it is a warning bleed - what I'm fearing (He smokes, he's 42, the pain came on suddenly after he moved his bowels...

Thanks for your replies guys. I am just trying to get him up because he is scared to move his head. I will let you know how I get on.

Todd, I thought the bedmaking class was patronising in the extreme...and I fully appreciate that I have to make beds. I make my patient's bed at least once a shift in the ICU.

I don't believe in ghosts but..... 10 years ago on nightshift in a surgical ward a bath tub tap gushed water just seconds after I had checked bathroom lights were off etc. No-one could have got in or out of that bathroom without going past me and I a...

Keeping someone alive on a ventilator indefinately does not happen very often in the UK. There are some patients in the community on home ventilation, but they are not in a persistent vegetative state and do have some quality of life (some of them pr...

The book is wrong. But that's a heck of a big dose of capoten. Textbooks should use believable examples.

If it were compulsory to show my midriff at work I might have an incentive to lose 4 stone. :chuckle :chuckle :chuckle

I wonder if you will get paid more than E Grade for that? It does sound like a great career option though.

My friend is a nurse tutor and she says this is not a sixth sense, but "pattern recognition" because of your wealth of experience. You may not be able to say why something is going to happen, but you recognise the pattern.

I have worked mostly 12 hour shifts for 8 years. For one year, 3 years ago, I had to work 8 hour shifts and found this much harder. I was too tired after a shift to do any exercise or anything pleasant. I just crashed out. My two measly days off a w...

Thanks Karen

Thanks Sue, I am thinking about it VERY carefully.

Thanks guys. You're making me feel better

Future RN Mandi and Dee Dee do not feel guilty and put the blame on yourselves. Bullies feed on other people's insecurity and high standards (i.e. you know you are not perfect). Even if you have done something wrong you do not deserve to be bullied. ...

Night Owl that was a rough one. I thought the whole point about incident reporting was that it should be about a blame free culture and reduction of clinical risk. I made a shocking error last night. I work in ICU and when I was changing my patient's...

I was a journalist before I went into nursing. I was called an idiot by lots of nurses, for leaving journalism. I left journalism because it was so unethical and there were some middle aged bitter unpleasant women reporters that I didn't want to turn...

Not being listened to when I was SERIOUSLY concerned about a patient. I tried every avenue but got no support and my manager even ridiculed me to the other nurses, as the patient continued to deteriorate. The saddest part was when the patient arreste...

It depends on where I'm working and what the "incident" is. In some institutions I was certain that senior staff would use incident reports to threaten and bully the nurses. Once, against my better judgement, I filled one in over several med errors d...