alcrab01

When I was a CNA, my supervisor scolded me saying, "When you come to work you immediately get started on completing your daily tasks and you're always the first person to start giving your baths." I said, "Oh, thanks!" She said, "No! This is not a compliment. You are too task oriented and need to look at the big picture." Ummmm okay...

I wouldn't call in due to lack of sleep because at my hospital, if someone calls in they just triple up the other nurses instead of calling in someone else. So, it really affects the staff. So, no, I don't call in unless I'm puking or have a fever.

I have been reading this thread for the past couple of days. Tonight, a patient died on my ICU unit rather unexpectedly. About 1 minute after she was pronounced by myself and another RN, the "service alarm" on her bed started going off. I unplugged the bed and plugged it back in (usually fixes the problem), but the bed kept alarming. I tried silencing it, but it started up again. The other RN and I were kind of freaking out, so I said, "Have you opened the window yet?" The other RN opened the window and I silenced the bed one last time. The alarm never came back on again. My mom is an RN at a Shriner's hospital where they have a well-known resident ghost named Charlie. They think he must have been a Shriner, because he is such a prankster. One day my mom had to go to the attic of the hospital, which doubles as a storage room, to get a couple of wheelchair for routine maintenance. She knew that it would probably take an hour to get them together because the nurses at her hospital are always mixing and matching pieces from different wheelchairs, but for maintenance all the numbered pieces have to match. When she was getting off the elevator to the attic she could hear the door leading to the main storage area opening and closing by itself, which scared her a little. She yelled out, "Charlie, you're not helping!!" When she got to the attic, both of the wheelchairs she was looking for were side by side, put together correctly. She yelled out, "Thank you!" and got the heck outta there!

"To avoid a replay of this, just say, "Here's your medicine" and let the patient take it from there." Oh, that's not a good idea. Well, maybe if I added, "Do you have any questions about it?" or "Do you know what it is and why you are taking it?" My patients needs to know what they are taking and why. The "why" part is explained daily by our resident psychiatrist. The "what" part is explained every time any medication is given to them. It is very important, especially for psychiatric patients, to be educated about their medications. All too often, as a psych patient establishes a regular medication regimen and starts to feel better they say, "Oh, I'm fine now. I don't need these pills anymore." That's when they come to my facility. After they take themselves off their medications, lose their jobs, get kicked out of housing, and start self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. I'm not trying to over-generalize here, I'm just speaking from my perspective based on the patient population in my facility. So, this kind of turned into my rant of the day, haha

You know what? That was really crappy of her (pun intended). Don't worry, karma will catch up to her. Coming from an ICU where our brilliant management team recently got rid of all our CNAs due to "budget problems" I can tell you that you guys do mean a lot to us. I would give my first born child to get our nursing assistants back.

TiredMD- Hahaha this is very true. Afterall, this is a woman who washes out her Doritos bags with soap and water before she throws them away! And in case anyone complains about my lack of sensitivity- shame on both of us!

TFFTB- Too F-ing Fat To Breathe TSTL- Too Stupid to Live TYTB- Too Young to Breed PRATFO- Patient Reassured and Told To F- Off

This is really a HIPAA question, but I knew if I put that in the title no one would read it, haha! I work on a small psychiatric unit and when I pass out medications in the evening I go up to each patient and quietly say, (for example) "This is the Celexa 20mg that Dr. Smith ordered." I do this for safety reasons. Tonight, one of my patients freaked out on me and started screaming that I was breaking confidentiality laws and that she was going to sue me, etc. etc. etc. I offered to take her to a private area to discuss her medications, but she was already on the rampage and refused. Anyway, I'm wondering... is she right? Are the names of medications protected under HIPAA?

I went to nursing school with a girl who is exactly the same way (maybe it's the same person!). We had a very similar conversation once in which she told me that if she was ever diagnosed with a terminal but treatable disease, she would refuse treatment because the disease was given to her by God. My question to her was, "If you had children, how do you think that would affect them? Do you think they would want to see you pass up life out of your own stubborn belief that you should refuse treatment?" Reminds me of a blonde joke. (P.S. I'm blonde too!) A blonde prayed every night for God to let her win the lottery. One night, desperate, she prayed, "Lord, every night I've asked you to let me win the lottery. I need the money so badly. Why do you keep denying me? Give me a sign that you're hearing my prayers!" Just then, a voice boomed, "BUY A TICKET."

I worked with one RN who was caught digging through the sharps container to get bottles of Fentanyl that people had not thoroughly wasted. Another RN I worked with followed a friend of mine into the med room and distracted her so that my friend forgot to log out on the Pyxis. This RN then divereted 10 syringes of dilaudid out. My friend was initially blamed for the diversion and it really made her life hell until the diverting RN was caught stealing a bag of PCA dilaudid. I don't judge people with addiction problems, but this particular RN never apologized to my friend for all the trouble she went through which I think is unforgiveable. Now I worked with her at another facility and I always makes sure to watch my back around her.

This reminds me of the way our radiology techs practice... I now go in the room and babysit when they are anywhere near my patient. All too many times, I have followed them to find the patient's HOB completely flat while they have tube feeds going, or the height incorrectly adjusted while they have a CSF drain (very dangerous!). I hate my hospital because x-ray comes at 0600, and they always mess up the sheets, or take a wedge out the I JUST put in and leave it laying on top of the patient. I'm really, really picky and anal about my nursing care and they always make me look sloppy.

Oh my gosh, don't do it! I have never been so disrespected in my LIFE as I was working as a pharmacy tech at Walgreen's. I actually had a customer tell me that he was going to go home, get his gun, and come back through our drive-thru lane and shoot me because I couldn't give him an early refill on a Schedule-II drug. Pleeeeease think twice about this career change. Often, you are the first person to tell someone that (a) their co-pay has increased or (b) their insurance company no longer covers their medication. You get the full blame for this, every time. Don't do it, it's beyond awful.

This isn't really a Press Ganey issue.. but the managers on my Critical Care Unit have fired all our our secretaries and nursing assistants because "our budget no longer allows for ancillary positions." Now, they have the NERVE to get angry that there have been complaints about the telephone not being answered. Hello? What do you want me to do? Stop everything I'm doing with a critically ill patient so that I can take my isolation gown off, wash my hands, and answer the phone? Idiots.

O.A.R. - Night Shift "Its 3 a.m., I wanna go to bed I got a lady running through my head Ran outta money, i'm lookin for a night shift It's 3 a.m. and i wanna go to bed" The Verve- Bittersweet Symphony "Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life Trying to make ends meet Trying to find some money then you die" Live- Lightning Crashes "The angel opens her eyes The confusion sets in Before the doctor can even close the door" And finally, I worked as a CNA in a home for handicapped kids, and there was one child who would only smile if his Veggie Tales cd was playing on repeat. The most EVIL song on there (because it was always stuck in my head for days) went like this: "I am a C I am a C-H I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N And I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T And I will L-I-V-E E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y" (Repeat faster and faster until the staff is jamming sharp objects into their ears)

I love alcohol withdrawal patients. They never fail to keep me laughing. One night, I had an old man who was a pill! I ended up having to put him in 4-point restraints. Despite my efforts, he still tried to escape. Sitting at the nurse's station, I could see him doing sit-ups, trying to get the restraints loose. I yelled, "Hey, I can see you!" He said, "I see you too! Quit being so nosy!" Later on, I almost peed in my pants.. He had been quiet for awhile and I was hoping that he had fallen asleep. All of a sudden I heard him call out, "Can anyone hear me?!?! Help! I'm tied up! Follow the sound of my voice!" Hahaha that still cracks me up!