Lavslady

I WISH St. Joseph Hospital in Denver had video cameras. When I was visiting my ex-husband on the cardiology unit, both my wallet and his were stolen out of his room while we were out in the hallway for his 5 minute walk. It HAD to have been an employee, but no way to prove anything and our wallets were never recovered.

The link to the heroic stories didn't work.

A long time ago, I was on a flight where they called for "Any Doctors or Nurses on board"... I hesitantly raised my hand, and was the only one who did. I performed compressions while a flight attendant did mouth-to-mouth. We saved the patient, and United Airlines sent me an UMBRELLA as a Thank-you. lol

Awesome news 58flyer! Congratulation!

Sounds like something off a chinese menu:D

Some call them "ghosts"... I prefer to think of them as "angels".

You live in hospital la-la land. What applies there, does not apply to long term care. Try working a Nursing Home to see what the "real world" of long term care is.

This is an old thread, which I wrote my opinion in 3 years ago. I will repeat it now to the folks who have just found it. CMAs in LTC are indispensible. Nurses in LTC cannot do it all for 100+ patients.

Wow...my business has been supporting me for 5 years now! I guess I can consider it a success. I'm still working as much as I want, but as I'm aging...one or 2 shifts a week is all I want, and it still pays my bills :nuke:

I am old nurse...started my training in 1967...one of my instructors was an old Navy Nurse...she began her Nursing career serving in WWII. She instructed us, with a big wink, that thumping was the "cure" for unsolicited erections. I never in my almost 41 years of Nursing have ever used this technique or heard of any other nurses, cnas or care-givers doing this sort of abuse. But it was "taught" at my school in 1967. I'm sorry this happened to you.

I started my career senior year of HS in 1966, on the work-release program. I worked Dietary in the hospital and every floor (4 floors) had a full dietary kitchen and dietary personel made the food and all patients got the same thing food each meal...no choices. Dietary pushed out the trays on open wheeled aluminum carts and delivered to each individual patient, and picked them up from each room afterwards. Nurses or Nurse's Assistants were NEVER allowed in the Dietary Kitchen. Over the summer and for the year that I was in LPN School, I worked as a Nurses Assistant in the same hospital. We weren't "certified"...we were taught at the hospital in a 2 week course, how to give baths, make beds, empty bed pans, give back rubs, take vital signs, empty bedside drainage bottles and what our jobs were during a Code Blue. (notify nurse of problem and stay out of the way.) Back-rubs and bedtime snack of beverage and cookies/grahams/fruit for all patients, were part of every evening shift Nurse's Assistant. That's when I learned to hate hairy backs on men...first rub with lotion and hair would all tangle up as I made the swirly movements..then powder and rub in again..yuck. We wore starched gray pinefores over white starched blouses and gray and white caps like a small nurse's cap. We also wore white stockings and white tied leather shoes. Hair was never allowed to touch our collars and no jewerly with exception of wedding or engagement ring. LPN in 1968, all white dresses uniforms, white nylon stockings, white cap with blue velvet ribbon around the top. Caps were all different, depending on school. Again, white, tie shoes. While testing urine for sugar, Clinitest tab in urine in test-tube boils and makes glass hot enough to burn fingers if held improperly. And the first on-the-floor blood testing we did, we had to poke their fingers using a syringe needle, and draw the blood up in a tiny little glass tube that was SUPPOSED to aspirate the blood, but usually nurse had to use mouth and suck it up into the tube then hold finger over top to keep blood from dripping back out until you got it back to the utility room where the machine was located to test it. Whatever happened to Clinitron Beds and Striker Frames? Side-rails? Poseys? Tieing people to their beds or to their wheelchairs tied to the hand-rail. 4-Point posey restraints in bed...Leather straps with sheep-skin lining with locks needing keys to release for the truly unruly... RN in 1990...white pants and top uniforms and socks with any white shoes...no caps...was disappointed finally a "REAL" Nurse...and no more caps. So many changes over the years, computers, fax machines, much less all the new Medical Technology. Gloves...yep, I was glad to get them. Finger cots for removing fecal impactions just never did the trick...

You are still working 4 days you shouldn't be...3 of them being holidays! You should only be working 22-23 and 29-30. ANYthing more than that should be YOUR choice...if you want to pick up some EXTRA shifts, the holidays are a good time to do that, for the 1 1/2 pay...but to MAKE you do it is still wrong.

I'm one of the "old" nurses (40 years)...sure "et" is "and"...because it is latin. We learned it as proper to use...like "p.o." means "per os" (mouth) also latin. Lots of our abbreviations come from latin, and us old nurses still use them. I can't imagine why anyone would object to "et". Now, one of my pet peeves is when CNAs say "I got your stats for you"...instead of "sats" for O2 SATuration. I explain to them I didn't need them STAT...lol

commuter: I didn't realize it was old either...but many people will continue to read it and add to it, so it's all good . :-)

Sounds like one of "those" days in LTC...2 admits, a discharge, a room transfer and a fall...on the skilled unit...and at least one new cna... Question: How many residents on skilled unit? Question: How many cna's scheduled? Question: How many cma's scheduled? Question: How many nurses scheduled? Question: How many call-in? Were they covered...or were you working short-staffed? The day started out bad for the Nurses anyway...Report with off-going shift...2 new admits coming, a discharge, a transfer...(do you know what all the paperwork that the nurses have to do for these kinds of activities?...TONS...and checking in coming and discharge Doctor orders, ordering from Pharmacy (assuming )(sic) MDs writing is legible and orders can be deciphered and Drugs ordered are appropriate or do they need to be clarified?), making out the daily schedule for the cnas...letting them know who all needs VS, Wts, I&0s, Special Treatments, etc...going through her treatment books to see who all the diabetics who needed Blood Sugars done and Insulin given before breakfast... Cnas not on floor, but in a meeting for 45 minutes... Not trying to make excuses for the nurses not passing trays that were delivered at 7:20...but they were a little busy themselves at the time... And for the Nurses...the day just got busier...a fall...do you know how much paperwork the Nurse has to do for a fall??? besides the initial assessment of the patient...is there an injury? is it bleeding? how much? can it be steri-striped? how much pain is the pt. in? can they move everything in their normal range of motion? do they need to go to the hospital? Then actually do the necessary treatments or transfer arrangements, phone calls to notify family and MD... And remember...for every set of VS you have to take...your Nurse has to chart on that person, not only the VS that you take...but a whole shift of care. (Lots more paperwork...) And you know...I bet...your Nurse didn't even have time to take more than a 15 minute break all day...and even tho you left at your scheduled time...your nurse probably sat at the desk for another 45 minutes minimum finishing up her charting. Yep...a typical day from hell in the nursing home... So why do we do it? How can we put up with the short-staffing and over-loads for our poor cnas, that cause such burn-out that we lose the good ones and have to put up with the lazy ones? CNAs have the hardest physical job in Nursing and receive the lowest amount of wage...they are the ears and eyes of their Nurses. They are the first person the residents see each morning, and put them to bed each night, keeping watch over them all through the night on noc rounds...they give them their personal care and help them dress, eat, bathe, toilet, take them to activities...and the good ones do it with love and care...those are the ones that talk to their patients and treat them with dignity and become like family to them. Those are the ones we Nurses know we can trust to let us know of any concerns you might have about our patients...we have so much paperwork and "Nurse stuff" we have to do, we don't have the time to give each resident the personal time and assessments we should...so you are our eyes and ears. I have been a Nurse for 40 years...most of that spent in LTC...and why do I do it? I love these old folks...they have wonderful stories and l wish I had more time to spend with them and listen to them...but I have sooooooooo much paperwork now-a-days...so I have to trust my aides to be my mouth as well. And always speak gently and friendly TO them, ask your questions...most are more than happy to talk to you...don't ignore them, enjoy them, and learn from them...they have all had amazing lives, they have lived through history! Sorry to ramble...just wanted to welcome you to the "real" world of LTC...and if I was your Nurse, I'd be glad to have you! I always give my aides praise for the "little things" I see them do for my old folks... And I always try to remember to tell them "thank you for all your hard work" as they leave for the day.