Chixie

We dont have one that the patient completes,but we complete one as part of the basic admission pack and is supposed to be updated weekly/if anything changes with the patient. We also use MORSE falls risk score, the only problem is that all 99% of our patients score over 75 on it making them very high risk of falls.

Whats worse is that on our ward our breaks are divided into set time slots ie 11am,1130am, 3pm, 330pm but if the nurse in the earlier slot is faffing about not taking her break until say 1115 it then means that i, in the 1130 slot, cannot take all of my break as we must be back on the floor for 1200 for meal times/drug rounds so because she has crap time management i lose part of my break. Drives me batty!

We have a 30 bed ward, staffing can vary. We work on long days 0700-1930 A good day looks like the following 1xCharge nurse=takes no patients 3xstaff nurse=10 patients each 3xsupport workers=10 patients each A bad day looks like the following 1x charge nurse/ward sister=no patients and spends all day in office doing "paperwork" 2xstaff nurses (1x 3 years ortho experience, 1x6 months experience) 1xagency nurse(never worked here before, not many return either, no registered on the electronic medication system, has no idea what they are doing) 1x clinical support workers Nights run 1900-0730 2x staff nurses (dedicated night team of nurses) 1xagency nurse 2xsupport workers

It is believed to be good luck in some cultures

*holds hands up* I have mental health issues, and i have had two major breakdowns in the past two years. At the moment its been classified as 'depression' and 'anxiety' but im wondering if there is something else in there.I feel ashamed and the people who are supposed to understand and care, do not. At least 75% of the patients we care for on our ward have some form of dementia so you would think that the nurses on the ward would have a little compassion for one of their own with mental health problems.After the nurse who committed suicide due to the information leak about the royal family it was horrendous on the ward as it was constantly being discussed using derogative terms and i felt dirty. If this is what they were saying about that nurse then what must they think about me who was admitted to her own hospital and appeared on the admission system with exactly what she was admitted with. No support from my manager and when i mentioned about coming back from maternity leave was met with the comment 'we cant be dealing with you having another break down, things are busy enough as it is'. Im sitting here half way though my maternity leave and im feeling guilty for leaving the ward short staffed, wondering if me going back early would help them and then im met with the above comment. I do my job to the best of my ability, i give 100% and i mentally beat myself up when i miss or forget things just like other nurses. But i could do with some support when things arent going well for me, please dont belittle me or make comments about me, a little support, a kind word, hell even just speaking to me helps. Mental illness isnt contagious, so dont avoid me when im down. Im still me.

Ive been in my job for 21 months and i still get the butterflies at times. I feel slightly more comfortable ie the sweats and the shakes have stopped but i still go over and over and over things in my head and sometimes end up making mountains outta molehills but i guess this too will pass eventually.

For crying out loud will you do some bleeping work and stop walking up and down with a drug chart in your hand 'looking busy' Im tired of busting my rear doing multiple peoples jobs because you are too blinking lazy.

Nothing, not even a christmas meal, there was only the vending machines as they closed the canteen.

We have big yellow 'sight impared' signs that go on the wall behind the patients bed (we have open wards so its instantly visable)

Hi, im an ortho nurse and im currently 18 weeks pregnant Other than the infectious diseases that ive been advised to avoid by my manager im doing my normal job. A lot of my patients are dementia patients so i have to be slightly wary when dealing with the ones who can/do lash out. The only thing that i have stopped doing is pushing beds with patients in.

I worked in a warehouse for 2 years and then after my maternity leave i changed jobs and started working at Ann Summers store

I have to set the alarms on my phone (vibrate of course)

Thats a really good idea

Who on earth puts empty boxes back in the med cart/cupboard? and for crying out loud when you see that there is only a few more meds left how about ordering some more? Nothing like coming on shift on a weekend when pharmacy is closed to find no meds, empty boxes and having to hunt for replacement meds.

Oh thank heavens im not the only one red for 'to-dos' ie hourly cath or Blood sugars,green for doctors rounds, blue for important info and black for things that i must remember to handover to another nurse ie appointment times. I also have to have my highlighters with me, at least two of them. One is my main one, today it was pink, to highlight names, essential conditions ie diabetes. The second one, blue today, is to highlight other info such as IV antibiotics or IV fluids or timed meds such as parkinsons.

Nope it seems that this has crossed the gender barrier

Admitted for bedrest... My charge nurse challenged this but was beaten down and one from a G.P, patient admitted to us (an ortho/trauma ward)as paracetamol was not controlling her back pain (scans showed nothing) so he wanted us to admit her, change her pain meds to a stronger one, just in case she had a reaction. She lived with her husband and had a large family living near by.

We had this issue at our hospital. The patients relatives complained that the staff were 'chatting' at the desk. Once this was investigated it was found that the nurses were actually liasing with the physiotherapist about patients or getting feed back from the doctor in regards to the patients plan or having a catch up handover and not idly shooting the breeze. Appearances can be deceptive.

We do bedside hand over on my ward. To answer the question about patients interupting the handover we have a checklist which the aides go through before meals and handovers to ensure that patients are sitting up,comfortable, clean and dry and offer them the toilet. We try to maintain confidentiality but our wards have 4-6 patients per bay so anything that is confidential is written on the hand over sheets and the offgoing nurse will highlight to the on coming nurse to the info (or we go to the end of the bay, out of the earshot of patients and discuss it then) We are able to check the dressings/op site, flick through the charts and look at the observations, fluid balance charts and bowel charts. Bedside cuts down on the chitchat that was happening when we had handover in the office.

Thank you

Ive been in my job for 6 months and im in the same situation. If i help the techs do the washes,toileting and the observations etc (we have two techs and one nurse for 12 patients) then i get told that i need to learn to manage my time better but if i dont help with the washes and focus on the med rounds,doctors rounds and the billion and one other things then im called lazy. I simply cannot win.

This is more to the families than the patient. of course you are 'looking' for a placement for your mother but lets be realistic, she will still be here come new year wont she. I mean we worked so hard getting her mobile only for the moment we get her into a placement you tell the staff not to bother making her do anything for herself and that they must do it all for her so when she comes back to us she is right back at the beginning and no one will take her as she wont do anything for her self, despite being perfectly able to. she cannot stay here, we are not a care home. We are an ortho ward. We fixed her hip and rehabbed and discharged her. That was 15 weeks ago. On this admission she was fit for discharge 6 weeks ago, funding was in place 6 weeks ago, but we still have to play this game. We have so many patients like this at the moment, its driving me nuts. Ive come back from 3 weeks away from the ward to be met by familiar faces. These people should have been discharged weeks ago. Patients and their families have actively turned down beds in rehab facilities that we,the staff, have worked ourselves to the bone to get. I mean why do we bother

So long,fare well, etc

Well she is leaving for a new job very soon. I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

What on earth is Vocera?