oldiegoldie

I have been a nurse forever and ever and I never stuck myself using the old (non-safety) needles. They are much, much better for the patients....why should we force the patients to endure being tortured while we "get good at" putting these "safety" iv's in? I just started at a new hospital and they use the JOhnson and Johnson IV caths....they are telling us to go in at a 45 degree angle (when was the last time I did THAT?) and just about every patient I have worked with in my brief time at this new facility has gotten phlebitis. I'm trying to gather data on this. I think the isertions are so traumatic that they set patients up for problems.

I just called them and told them that they need to take the "free health insurance from day one" off their website. They came up with some song and dance about how they changed companies at the beginning of the year and now it's very expensive. They told me the only way they would give me free health insurance was to pay me a lot less than I was quoted. I sent them an email telling them that it is unethical to advertise a benefit they have no intention of providing and that they should bite the bullet and give me the insurance because that's what they claim to do. Also, it's Monday, I am due to move in Friday, and they still can't tell me where I'm going to live. I am not impressed. I plan to use this next 13 weeks to hook up with another agency. Being my first travel assignment, I am really upset that I am starting out this way; I wonder what else they didn't tell me. I just pray that I get my money right when I am supposed to get it.

They LIED to me about the health insurance being so expensive it wasn't worth it...I believed them and signed a contract with them....I had talked to so many people and I really needed a job so I was willing to deal with this. I was FURIOUS when I went back to the website and saw that they provide FREE health insurance from day one.....they don't know where I am going to live but made me sign that I would have to pay extra for a washer/dryer and microwave..I am going to try to get out of my contract, but I probably can't. I surely know I won't re-up with them. I only hope that if I have to take this contract the pay is right. Pray for me.

I agree with Snapple. I am really disgusted with Access and I haven't even started. They lied to me about not providing health insurance or certain housing amenities. I am going to try to get out of my contract. They told me they don't have health insurance and put in my contract that I didn't want it. Even if I do this assignment I'll never go with them again.

I just signed on with them and got screwed to the wall (first time traveler). They told me they don't have insurance (web site says they do) and they wrote in my contract that I won't get a microwave or washer and dryer. Their feature housing listings all have both. They are going to make me pay $100. towards my new license. Help! Can I get out of this contract?

Help! I have accepted a travel nursing job and they asked me to sign a release of my medical records for "job related purposes." I don't want to sign this. This job is in Maryland. Feedback, please!

All of the information about travel nursing that I have seen on the web is from 2006. Is that because travel nurses have been utilized less due to the economy? American Mobile insulted me by insinuating that I was greedy to want top pay. Fastaff wouldn't even let me talk to a recruiter until I sent in every single bit of paperwork they required and they wanted the ORIGINAL I-9, not a copy. I don't think they have many jobs and this was a way to buy time. The only two agencies (of about 8) that seemed interested in working with me were Access and Aureus. Aureus doesn't pay well, but I need a job so will take this one while I search my options. I have been working in the same place for 20 years and want to see what else is out there. Feedback anybody? I'd appreciate any and all.

As a private contractor couldn't you slightly undercut the agencies and still make a huge profit? If taking care of an elderly person, can I bill medicare and the family? Where can I find a complete list of medicare laws regarding something like this? Thanks.

I hear the money is good, but what is a typical wage/salary for an American nurse working in Saudi? I know the money is tax free, but what is the base? Thanks.

I am not a NP, but I cannot imagine becoming one without having worked as a nurse at least for a little while. I am fortunate enough to have worked in numerous specialty areas, and almost all of what I know I learned by working. A person cannot possibly learn everything he or she needs to know to function in this capacity in school. I currently work on a rehab unit; we have a nurse practitioner who had only done nurse management before she went to NP school and she runs and hides when any of our patients becomes acutely ill. Recently she instructed me to feed a patient who had a surgical abdomen. I staved off her request hour by hour with one excuse and another; by the time I went home Mr. L was in surgery. She had no idea. Nursing school is hard and stressful, but that's ok because this difficulty mirrors the profession. No aspect of nursing, be it being a CNA or a NP, is easy physically or emotionally. That's okay, though. I couldn't deal with a boring job.

I have fought with myself for thirty years now about getting a BSN. I have and Associate's degree in nursing ; before I got that I spent three years in college as an English major. Take this as a protest against the notion of higher education. I don't know a BSN who doesn't use double negatives. "Whadda I gotta do" is not an unusual utterance from my colleages. I work with someone who has a PhD; she can't utter a sentence without saying "he don't" or "I ain't." I am a really good, smart nurse. Why should I spend my time and money joining the ranks of people who can't even speak proper English? Understand that the foreign nurses I work with speak better English than the natives. I am disgusted with the whole profession. How could these people obtain college degrees? Why doesn't management intervene? How often have you heard a PT or dietician using this sort of grammar? Oldie Goldie

I am an old nurse. I have been nursing for 32 years and I have done it all....critical care, telemetry, ER, pain management, psych......so I got fed up with the telemetry unit I was working on (telemetry is it's own little hell) and wanted something totally different. I went to rehab nursing. I love rehab nursing. It's phenomenal how much better patients get from one day to the next. It's inspiring and gratifying. My problem? The PT's and OT's are wonderful, dedicated, caring and involved. They support each other and work together. The nurses, on the other hand, look like pit vipers. They talk about how they want this one or that one to get fired for being "no good" and they tell me, while I am in orientation, that I would get fired for doing this or that. They tell me this in front of the patient. I have my ACLS, I know my cardiology, I know my ER stuff, I know about psych issues.....why on earth did this woman tell me that I could get fired for doing whatever in front of a patient? And this was the best the unit had to orient me? At the end of the day this woman told me that I just needed to develop a thick skin. No, I don't. She just needs to think before she opens her mouth. What is it about nurses that the most negative, unprofessional people seem to be drawn to it? I am so over it all....I'm a really laid back person who knows how to function in a code, who knows how to deal with agitated psych patients, who knows about meds....maybe I really don't fit into this scenario after all. I am going to have a talk with the director tomorrow. I love nursing, buy I hate the ********.

I have severe arthritis in my left foot and ankle. I found a wonderful ortho MD who helped me out by injecting me with steroids/marcaine for a while; I did get to the point that I couldn't function with the arthritis however. The pain was sickening. I would have flares with fever and vomiting. I have a high suffering tolerance, so when I went to my ortho and told him I was at the end of the road, he told me he would have to do a triple arthrodesis. At this point I didn't care if he had told me that he needed to do a lobotomy...I was desperate. As a night nurse I used to pay people to give my 6 am meds because I hurt too badly to do this myself.... The recovery from the triple arthodesis was rough. Four months of non weight bearing and then significant pain after the cast was off. What nobody told me, though, was that ambulation gets easier with practice. My current ortho tells me I need an ankle replacement, but I am not nearly uncomfortable enough after my triple arthodesis to entertain the idea of this. Go for it!

These surveys are set up to measure a variety of issues, some of the issues measured do not actually reflect the care the patient received but how well their needs were met. I am very much for keeping patients and families apprised of what is going on, of trying to keep them comfortable as possible, and of being empathetic, but there are always those insatiable patients for whom even Jesus could not do enough. It doesn't take many of these to drag down a score. This sums it up in a nutshell: asking "is there anything else I can do for you? I have the time." is akin to asking a teenager who is going to the mall if he or she wants 100 bucks. What do you think the answer would be? It's too bad that there have been enough uncaring nurses throughout the years that we had to come to this. In a sense I blame the profession for not having done what they should have been doing all along. They have really messed it up for those of us who do care and who work hard.

Sorry, I don't see the connection. At my hospital we have DO's doing everything from surgery to cardiology. My point was that the end point you can reach with a BSN (MSN, DScN) pays less than a bedside job....who in their right mind in the business world would want to get an MBA or a PhD if they knew they would make less money than they would with the first degree? In every other profession the more education you have the greater your income. It's sad that nursing hasn't followed suit.