Vito Andolini

A bleeding pregnant woman who had stopped to explain her problem, who was not behaving in a violent or threatening manner toward police or anyone else (assuming she wasn't, don't know for sure), did not deserve to be tackled by 2 grown men in uniform. I know cops have a tough job and am generally pro cop. This case is really scary, though. For God's sake - she had explained her problem and, reasonably, driven on to the ER. They could so easily just have followed her there and let her get care and then dealt with whatever legal matters needed to be dealth with. So simple, so reasonable. What in the world were they thinking?

I guess you need to ask a lawyer and/or the state BON. Was any harm done?

Just a reaction to having to go to Gram's funeral - while I certainly understand the sentiment, it was not totally essential to go. I have had relatives, close ones, pass while I was working out of state and it would have been way too costly to go to their funerals. I could not spend the money or risk losing my job. I had a family to support. If someone disagreed with my decision, they could have offered to pay my airfare. I hated that I had to choose between being there to mourn and to support my family in their mourning and keeping a job/staying within budget. Being absent made me very sad, very angry, very everything negative. A hardness, a bitterness came into my personality for a while, until I realized how many other people have also had to miss many events - weddings, funerals, graduations, christenings, baptisms, bar mitzvahs, award ceremonies, their childrens' concerts and sports gamrs, on and on - because they had to work. It was somewhat easier to bear knowing that I was not the only one who ever missed an event. It made me really stop and think about life and why some seem to always be in 1st class and others in tourist. It made me hate being poor and it made me hate those rich, evil, conscienceless rip-off artists and con men/women who make so much more than I do - financiers, insurance people, college presidents, and many, many others who can say, "I won't be in. I'll be at my grandma's funeral today." But, even they have to perform and have good relationships at work or else. Life is hard sometimes, very lonely and painful. But attending the funeral was not totally unavoidable and if your job was on the line, well, you probably should have skipped it. I know my view here will be totally unpopular.

Get a lawyer and sue them for whatever you can. They sound like they don't appreciate you at all. They sound like evil, idiotic jerks. Of course, I have only heard your side of this - have there been other problems? Not trying to stir a hornet's nest, just wondering why they are picking on you? I doubt they fire everyone who has absences. Let them know you are not a doormat and don't appreciate being thrown away like garbage for such ridiculous reasons.

In a non-punitive environment, yes. When punitive conditions prevail, staff are forced to survive and protect themselves. Also, does timeline matter? A vit can be taken any time. It's not critical. And lots of meds fall into that territory. Also, how about when you have too many pts to pass meds for and there's no way you can give all your meds within the 2 hour framework most of us are familiar with? You'd be writing incident reports all day long. And please note: I said HARMLESS errors. If the pt is harmed, it's another story. Salvaging the patient absolutely comes first. And Skittlebear's post above sums it up so well - some get punished, some don't. Selective enforcement of the rules. It stinks and should stop but will always be with us. It's just human nature. Another reason to get Doc to cover you for harmless errors.

Unless there is a risk of passing HIV on to the patient, such as via surgery, why does a patient need to know that the doctor is +?

Punitive is wrong. A good way to handle an error is to ask the doc to give you an order to cover what you gave or didn't give. "Hold multivit today" "Give multivit at 2100 with food" (some people get nausea if taking meds on upset stomach) See? That will cover a lot of errors and is often used when the error caused no harm.

Nurses deserve to be safe and we are responsible for patients' safety, too. Any restraint of patients must be done humanely, respecting the patients' dignity and safety. It should be the least restrictive yet effective restraint, for the briefest necessary time. It may not be used punitively. If a nurse is getting carried away, he or she needs to get help, re-assess, maybe remove him or herself from this patient's presence, and start reciting the Serenity Prayer - while ducking projectiles. Tough call sometimes but we can't take out our anger on patients, under the guise of protecting ourselves and them. I know, it's easy to say, hard to do. God bless those on the front lines.

Maybe he needs higher doses. Maybe a full psych eval, med changes. Maybe he will go into tub or shower with his clothes on and get into dry clothes afterwards. not ideal, better than nothing? Maybe you can tell the family he will have to leave if the man won't get to smelling better. How about a tub? Bed bath? Two big dudes to hold him/carry him/whatever you can get Doc to order. If your facility is so big on no restraint, ask them (DON, Admin, Risk Manager, Owner) what to do. Try singing or playing Sinatra songs - or whoever he likes to listen to - maybe Loretta Lynn or The Gloved One. Good luck.

I must beg to differ, with all respect to your statements. Any religion, Catholic, the many Protestant denominations, the various Jewish denominations, and any other religion you choose must have some basic, fundamental beliefs or it's not really a religion. What individuals do with the religion as a whole certainly varies but I do not comprehend how one can say "I am a ________" if one does not accept the basic views and tenets of that religion.

Today, yes. What about tomorrow, as more and more jobs are lost, and more and more new nurses enter the market here?

boarding pass?

There are some things we learn in school that are not done the same way in the real world, right? We learn as we gain experience that some shortcuts are safe, even though different than what we were taught. We even design new procedures that are better in terms of patient comfort, cost, speed, etc. than what we were originally taught. One thing most nurses I know never deviate on, though, is giving meds we did not pour. Well, the other day, a nurse did just that. She was at work unexpectedly. Another nurse had agreed to pour and pass meds and had set up about half the meds already, when in came the unexpected nurse. The new arrival said she didn't mind giving the meds the other nurse had prepared! Well, it's a compliment to the one who poured, but I think it is really risky to trust someone to that extent. The pills were opened, the liquids were poured, the new arrival wasn't verifying the pills, she just gave all the stuff. Nothing happened amiss that I am aware of. All the patients are fine. Probably no pouring errors were made. But this just seemed so wrong to me. I just keep thinking what if the pourer put the wrong meds in the cup? Or the cup in the wrong patient's name slot? Or whatever other error you can think of. Would you ever do that? Under what circumstances? Am I too uptight and old fashioned? :vlin::smiley_ab

Not using the MAR is a good way to miss new orders. If the DON and Admin won't take action, your next step is the owner, assuming he or she is not also the Admin, DON, or ADON. Right? Please take to heart what I said about getting in trouble for giving OTC meds to anyone other than patients with whom you have a nurse-patient relationship. You must stop giving anything to coworkers, for your own protection.

Is an RPN in Canada the equivalent of an RN in the USA? Dang, it would have saved me a lot of time if I had known she was not in America!! My bad, I should have asked. Is there a Canadian equivalent of an LPN?