meta4

Was wondering what others do if, at the end of your shift, it becomes evident that the nurse who is supposed to relieve you is a no show. I have had this happen before but have always had the issue resolved quickly either by my staying or by some other means. It happened to me the other night though and I could not stay (I was working a 4h eve shift as a casual rn to help out and could not do a 12h night). I stayed and extra hour whilst they dilly dallied (the charge nurse had no patients) and finally I went and got my coat and bag and again asked the charge nurse what the plan was and was told again that she was working on it. I said that was not acceptable and that either she could take report on my patients or I would be calling the super to take report on them but that either way I was going home. She finally took report. Now if there were a severe weather alert or something I would of course expect to stay but not under these circumstances. I feel it is the hospital's responsibility to staff appropriately and not to make nurses feel that they must stay for hours longer because if they don't they are abandoning their patients.

I think that choosing a section for the sake of fear or vanity is silly. I suppose this goes hand-in-hand with a culture that perceives childbirth as a "medical procedure" rather than a natural process. lady partsl tissue is made to stretch and as a mother who gave birth to an eleven pound boy lady partslly I can tell you that things do go back to normal afterwards.

I have never heard of this syndrome. Which medications cause this? thanks:)

In regards to having a family member of friend present to act as your advocate and helper during your hospital stay, I think this is a necessity as sad as that may seem. I base this opinion on my extensive and international travel nursing experience as well as personal experience. An advocate can assist with bathing, linen changing, turning, oral care, ambulation, going to the bathroom, passing the kleenex etc etc. Of course there are times when this is not appropriate however I think that if the family member communicates with the RN and checks to see if these activities are ok for them to help with then this can only be a win win situation. Also in some places the care is so substandard that the only way a pt is bathed etc is if a family member does it. For example my husband had a big abd surgery for cancer a few months ago and I had to stay around the clock because the nursing care was sooooo poor. Although I didn't plan to , I ended up doing everything for him. Despite being pleasant and helpful and checking with each shift to see if it was ok with them if I ambulated him etc.( so that the nurses wouldn't feel that I was treading into their territory) the care was still horrid. The one time I left him for 5 hours to go home and see our babies I checked in with the charge nurse to let her know that I was leaving for a few hours (the floor nurse was busy) and politely drew her attention to the fact that his output far exceeded his input (numbers provided) and that he had not made any urine for past 3.5 hours and had no iv fluids running(I was also doing all the I's and o's because if i didn't things would overflow) and sugested that perhaps she could call the intern and perhaps consider some IVF's. Five hours later I call my husband to and find out that he is so dehydrated that he almost passed out reaching for the telephone on the bedside table while lying in bed! No one had been in to see him the entire time I was gone and no one had acted upon my earlier communication with the charge nurse. This is just one example of the truly shoddy nursing care at this particular teaching hospital. I shudder to think what would have happened during this stay had I not been there.

While on the nail subject, I have often wondered about what is harbored around old chipped nail polish on either artificial or real nails.

Sorry you are having difficulties with coworkers. Based upon what I have read it sounds like the underlying problem may be your "permission threshold".If you choose to ignore this behaviour(being spoken to rudely) what may happen especially on a unit that lacks support and cohesiveness ,not to mention poor leadership is that others witness this rudeness and in turn may choose to treat you in an aggressive manner because you are permitting them to do so(like the unit clerk you described). What to do? I agree that the use of perfume, body sprays etc in our profession is not appriopriate due to allergies, preferences etc of patients and colleagues. Similarly behaviors such as whistling or gum-chewing are not conducive to presenting a professional demeanor. That being said, the bully acted unprofessionally. She will continue to do this as long as you continue to be silent. Bullying behaviors such as these are examples of horizontal violence. Unfortunately you can not "run" from this. If you quit this job because of a bully, you will only find another waiting for you down the road. You need to take a stand and learn how to set a boundary in a professional and caring way.