GallopinGal48

Supervision keeps trying to re-invent the wheel. If it works o.k. today, they'll do their best to screw it up for tomorrow. Yes, patients have left our ER with heplocks. Yes, they've left after Xrays. Yes, they've left after their children got meds for fever. Instead of getting enough nurses to watch all these patients, they want to jump start the treatment and hope the patient hangs around long enough to see the doc...

Hang in there. Switch around a little, different floors/units. Try the doctor's offices, school nurse, home health.

I don't look down on nurses who smoke. I do have concern that they will spend their last years wheezing around their houses, at the end of a long, long, oxygen tube. You can't tell nurses who smoke anything they don't already know. It's a coping strategy for them, not a good choice, but THEIR choice.

I used to have a patient who came to ER all the time, took a blast on her mom's insulin (this patient wasn't diabetic). Not saying this happened to you, but this girl loved the ambulance ride, the drama, and all the attention. She did this three, four times a year. Sometimes, she was in BIG trouble, near coma, near death.

I really enjoyed home health. I loved my patients, mostly oldies, but I got a lot of wound care experience, feeding tubes, foleys, etc. I met a lot of fine people, worked for some great folks, I enjoyed the quiet time charting, the hours with only ME in my car, and no one ragging on me. If you do work home health, I hope it will be a good experience for you. Oh, yes, there were some post surgical patients as well.

You know the patient is going bad when there's more blood in your shoes than in the patient...

Tell you what they did to me... I got three days suspension. A patient in the ER lodged a complaint. Stated I violated a HIPPA regulation. I tried to explain that the young lady (and I use that term loosely here), used to date my son, hated me, was a frequent flyer in the ER, and STILL management went with her story... It ain't fair, but management is not on the nurses' side... I'm sorry for what happened to you. I'm sorry for all us who try so hard, and get so little...

The nurses on a floor I worked spoke a Philippino dialect. They spoke to each other quietly, but used English when English speaking nurses/staff were in close proximity. It's wonderful to know other languages, but not so nice to use them to exclude others. Don't worry, what goes around, comes around... patience is a virtue!

Did they give you specific incidents that you could respond to or analyze on a case by case basis? It's hard to generalize that you're not "as compassionate" as you used to be. I would politely ask for specifics so I could respond, rebut, or improve my service.

If you do something right, do YOU get a gift card??? Aw, I already know the answer to that one...

You sound like I did. I worked a little of everything, killed myself trying, butted heads with management for better treatment for the patients, like, more time to do a GOOD JOB??? The nurse patient ratio just burned me out. I've semi quit nursing, two years now, and haven't found motivation to return. I'm a wonderful nurse, but I don't thing wonderful nurses are appreciated anymore... are they?

I wanted to help people. I'm a caregiver by nature. I graduated at age 48, however, and quickly burned out. Management was toxic, I had some bad experiences. I'm coasting right now, still would like to be a nurse, but so disillusioned...