LTC Lady

I hate to bust your bubble, but I work in an Inpatient Mental health facility with 52 pts on my floor. Our patients, are extremely unstable, violent, aggitated, and some should be restrained but it is against facility policy. It is not uncommon to be so short staffed that I am left with the entire floor with the help of 3 aides who can only wash and watch. Our budget doesnt allow for sitters, or extra staff. It is ridiculous, but healthcare is stretched to the max it seems. I would Love

I love having students, because they need to learn how to be good nurses and if no one teaches them then how will they know. As i stated above, not everyone can handle it. Hang in there newbies!

While I don't agree with the way new grads are often treated, i can say as others have said its not always willfull. As Nurses, we carry a huge responsibility, lives to preserve, and a license to protect. The stress of a the job, staffing cuts and then you through in someone who isnt well versed in the floor, or her new skills we can feel like we are doing the work of both people. You have to stay strong, and confident. Showing them you are willing to learn, and want to know how things are done there is a huge help! And then... kill em with kindnesss!!!

We are also having that issue, and like you i am concerned with it. It seems very precarious to me. Another thing that is happening is care is beigprovided as a "help" to the next shift but not being documented in the flowchart. Thus the following shift is filling out the chart and signing it. I am very disturbed by this, and will not do it, but it is the norm, its expected and not usually questioned. What is the general thought on this?

I currently Nurse in Halifax and love it. Halifax is a good mix of city living with alot of natural beauty. With parks, and trails for walking, and beaches for swiming and surfing. Theres a famers market q saturday, theres a good availability of organics if that is your lifestyle. We are an earth friendly city as well so thats nice. I do enjoy living here for sure! Hope this helps even a little.

Sad to say it does happen where I work! Staff have been found in stairwells, tub rooms, and GASP in a comatose patients room. In the case of the latter the nurse no longer works with us.

You are so right! You have captured the very essence of why i love LTC!

Scrubs by nature of thier design are made for ease of movement, easily washed, and most are wrinkle resistent, so no need to iron. On casual day at work we are allowed to wear jeans, and to be honest i find my ROM is decreased and its just not fun to get urine, poop, etc on your jeans. FOr that reason i have a designated work jean if i even bother to wear them.

Alcohol pads are all i use day to day. I had a littmann rep tell me to use Armor all dash cleaner once in a while to keep the tubing supple. I do this at home with routine cleaning. But yes at work alcohol pads work fine for me!

First off I love this article and have been using it with students/new grads when they are looking at investing in a scope. The Omron rappaport is not a good choice for longivity. I had a friend use one during school and had it break during clinical infront of a pt, doc and nurse... not good. The acoustics arent too bad but not great. A stethoscope is meant to be used, I had a classic II in school and i was worried to take it at first but then an EMT friend of mine said "no take it, wear it, use it, the marks and dings in the metal are battle scars, you want them to show you use it." Why buy a cheap scope that you can't hear well out of just to have a great scope sit unused at home???

As a Charge Nurse at a SNF i can attest to the horrible food. We had a resident who had a stroke and thus got switched to purreed food whiich is ten times worse. SHe stoped eating and was loosing weight big time. I took it upon myself to make really great pureed food at home and bring it in to her and place it in her minifridge. I didn't broadcast it, but i wouldnt hide it either. I think as nurses thats all part of the job, looking out for needs of our clients.

GO to allheart.com, i would suggest investing in a decent stethoscope as it will be with you for a while. As for a BP cuff, econo is ok. The baseline Allheart one will do for all you would need it for. put your name on EVERYTHING. And be ware of lending, i loaned my Littmann to a classmate to asses her son's lung sounds @ home and i never got it back. Some Docs are bad about borrowing too and forgetting to return.

Well i use the littmann cardiology III and i love it. In a study done in NJ rated it over all best stethoscope saying "The Littmann Cardiology III is an easy winner for the best stethoscope. It had high ratings in each of our test systems. It is efficient, making it easy to hear heart sounds even in patients with COPD. It readily discerned all heart sounds, including clicks and splitting of the S2. It had good ergonomics. It is pocketable, so it will appeal to surgeons as well as internists. It uses a small diaphragm in place of a bell, which in practice was no drawback. The small diaphragm was just as useful as a bell in achieving acoustic coupling on irregular surfaces, such as a bony patient. It does have a "tunable diaphragm" but the soft pressure required to accentuate low frequency sounds greatly decreases the sound volume, making the "bell mode" of the diaphragm of minimal usefulness. Overall it is an excellent choice and is well suited for internists, family physicians, pediatricians, surgeons, and nurses. It's relative freedom from external noise interference also makes it a great choice for an EMT worker." Hope this helps!

I'm a night shift nurse all the way! I feel better on nights, i'm more alert, more energenic, and yes the shift differential is a nice perk!! Downside, depending where you may be confined to the vending machine for food, and no access to coffee.

Whatever became if all of this? Did they get what they wanted?