GARYLPN

Wow! That was very helpful Buttons! Thank you very much! Gary

I am finishing up my RN degree, have an active LPN license with 5+ years experience in nursing. Any advice from anyone on becoming a NP? Any good on line RSN-MSN programs with a NP option? Also I'm 52 anyone think I'm too old to try to get to the NP level? Thanks, if anyone can help! Gary

MJ, Enjoying travel combined with patient care is ok! I would like to also comment about your previous post about that fact that you're black and how that would affect patient care. I doubt it. I know of a number of people who are black, hispanic, korean, etc who work in the world of nursing and only once in a while do I witness or hear of cases where nursing care was refused because of race. And if it happens don't take it personally. Be assured that for the most part you will be very much appreciated. I always go in the room with a smile and a cheery hello. Sometimes I've been cussed out and told to leave the room. Nothing personal. In fact if the patient is that active to do that it's a good sign (most times) of returning health! Are you in nursing school now or pre-reqs?

Hey Doug, nursing school is both horrible and great. The exams are like no other you'll have in college, you study until you almost wanna vomit, but on the good side if you like helping people less fortunate than yourself then it's all worth it. You'll make some good friends in nursing school and perhaps students you took classes like Micro with will be with you until you graduate. The thing about nursing school is study study study study study and when you get sick of studying study some more. I am 52 years old, started back to college in my middle 40's, got my LPN license then worked for a few years collecting work memories of things that would make most people throw up and now I have 3 weeks left to get my RN license. I love the stress, the action, and the excitement that is constant in nursing. It's never the same and it's never boring. So I hope this helps in your education.

I've never seen Mg unless it's related to Chemistry perhaps. It's either mg for milligram or mcg for microgram.

MY most disgusting incident: I was bent over a guy on a vent. He pulled the tube out and all of his mucus and fluid sprayed out into my face. I was momentarily a walking snot ball. One other nurse in the room who witnessed my misfortune went into the pt's bathroom and threw up. Fortunately I did not but I did scrub about 5 layers of skin off.

Hi Blackcat, Actually in a lot of ways it's absurd to think of giving an inmate a backrub although I would certainly give an elderly dying inmate confined to the bed a backrub. The younger healthy ones could forget it. They can get their cell buddy to give them a backrub. I actually like your sense of humor. It's like backrubs??? What's next happy hour at 5:00 with 50 cent draft beer??? I sometimes get disgusted at some of the liberties given to inmates knowing that they get free medical care when there are millions of elderly people in this country who can barely afford health care but I always keep in mind that it's not my job to worry about that. And I can't totally blame the inmates. This country developed a prison system that puts people in prison over the slightest infraction and since we do that it is then up to the taxpayers to support the prison system which includes free food, shelter, and health care. But then again inmates actually pay my salary. It's funny though because I pay taxes to support prisons and prisons turn around and pay my salary. Please take no offense at anything I write although I do have high standards about nursing care no matter who it is. Gary

Hi Blackcat, I've been working in corrections for a number of years and have yet to give another man a massage, however, if I were an LPN in a nursing home and a sickly geriatric male patient asked for a back massage should I refuse? Assuming you are a female nurse would you refuse to give a geriatric female patient a massage because of your same sex gender? If I recall my nursing school of which I have been in before and still am nowhere do I recall any instructor dictating that we as nurses have a right to choose who to give quality care to and who not to. Now if I translate all that into working in corrections and I have an elderly inmate patient who is confined to the bed should I refuse to give that elderly patient a backrub only because he is an inmate? So, now I guess I have to wonder, what's next? I won't give a back massage to an elderly patient in a nursing home because he's old, or because he smells or because his family wasn't very nice to me that day? Would I simply give out backrubs to every inmate who moans wanting a backrub? I highly doubt it. Would I give an elderly sick inmate who is confined to the bed and who perhaps has only days or weeks to live a backrub if he requested it?? You bet I would because my nursing license and the pride I take in being a nurse dictates that I won't play judge and jury against an inmate and I will always give the best nursing care I can give no matter who it is. I refuse to give "selective" nursing care to any patient and if I start doing that I might as well throw my nursing license in the trash and go be a truck driver. One thing I do have to wonder about though is if I were on the street and someone needed my help as a nurse should I first question that person regarding his or her background? Were they ever in prison or jail, is that person getting ready to go to jail? Has that person ever broken the law? Gee whiz I guess if any of the answers are yes should I make a determination of which kind of nursing care I'm going to give at that point? I highly doubt it.

Thanks to all for the info on Tampa! I am looking forward to the move. I'm sick of cold dreary weather!!

Where I work if the inmate c/o of chest pain they might question him a little more and if he admits that it isn't really chest pain the RN may decide to omit the ekg. If he insists it's chest pain the ekg is done. I would think if the RN examined the patient and made a decision that the inmate did not need an ekg then that's one thing but I still would not change documentation on forms unless the RN is willing to sign off and take responsibility. One time the whiner that we may think is just whining could be going into cardiac arrest.

First of all I would not put my license in harms way over another nurse. I'm an LPN but no RN anywhere would ever tell me to do something that I feel will put my license on the line. A nurse should not even carry out doctors instructions that seem questionable. So, if the protocol is to do an ekg for chest pain then it should be done if the patient c/o chest pain. If he c/o heartburn that may be something different. I would simply tell the RN that if you want to change documentation then you sign off and take the responsibility. And if they didn't want to do that guess what? The RN and I would be taking a walk to the DON's office. Insofar as cleanliness, where I work inmate workers mop, clean, and scrub everything that doesn't move.

Are there any nurses on this discussion board in working in correctional facilities near Tampa, FL? I applied for my license in FL and want to relocate in or around Tampa. Anyone from that area??? Thanks!......Gary

Sorry Aurora, I apparantly misunderstood your remark. I apologize for that. I agree with your comment totally. And insofar as bad nurses I've seen a few in my day and you're right they are the ones who are disrespected by the inmates. And the inmates? Ha, some of them are the biggest whiners in the business. They seem to forget that they get medical treatments that I can't afford unless I have health insurance. But then again a fair number of the inmates seem to be okay people who got a bad break in life. But all in all I would not want to be a resident at any prison in this country. Thank you for the clarification...Gary You said you work in Maryland, I assume at a correctional facility. I work at the one in Western Md. The only other ones I know about are Hagerstown, ECI in southern maryland, and Jessup in baltimore. Shortly I am heading for Florida to work because I am too old for this frigid northern weather! And I will more than likely seek out a correctional facility to work at.

I do quality nursing care whether it be on "inmates" or patients in a nursing home or hospital. If I can't give quality care to "inmates" I'm going to get out of nursing and drive a truck. 76% of people in prisons in this country are non-violent offenders which means they are NOT murderers, rapists, child molesters and the like. These days you can get 10 years in prison because you're poor and get caught stealing bread 3 times or more to keep from starving.

I live in Western Maryland, small town, rain and snow and a local prison with 2200 inmate population. Lots of work there if you want it.