miss_c

Thanks everyone for the replys and kind words. I needed them!

i'm a relatively new grad; i just finished my first year on a telemetry floor. last night i had my first patient code. now i've assisted with other code blues, but have never had it happen to my patient. i had only been her nurse for 2 hours, and had spent most of the hour prior to her condition changed in her room. i just had that "gut feeling" something was wrong, and had told my co-workers that. i was at her bedside when her r/r suddenly increased to 48 per/min. i quickly assessed pt, vitals, 02 sat, heart and lung sounds. everything was at her baseline, excluding the r/r. had charge nurse stay with patient while i called the doctor. i had to get a little forceful with the doctor to get him to take the situation as serious as i felt it was, but i got the orders i wanted. i was finishing writing the orders, while the charge nurse was getting patient ready for transfer to icu. when all of the sudden i hear a rapid response called to my patient's room! the patient had quickly become unresponsive and cyanotic, sats in the 70's. i paged doc stat, informed him that he needed to see her now! while on the phone with doc, i hear the code blue called! er doc comes up; primary doc comes in shortly after. patient was quickly intubated, but passed a short time later. everything had happened within minutes (change in condition, rapid response, code blue); she just went downhill so quickly! i just feel so guilty, like i could have done more! i keep replaying the entire night, over and over. i feel sick to my stomach. do you ever get over it? do you ever quite blaming yourself?

Thanks for the replys! Good luck with the job search violet_violet!

i graduated in dec with my adn, i am currently working the evening shift on a tele unit, i like my job, love my coworkers, but the hours are a problem. my children are in school during my off time and home while i am at work (my husband's job keeps him away from home up to 5 days a week). i have wonderful family who live nearby and watch the kids while i am at work (they get to sleep in their own beds)! but with the new school year starting, i am already having some problems with homework, assignments and other things. my plan was to spend at least a year in my current position (if not longer, i.e. "wait my turn for days"), however, the problems that my children are having, i decided that i can't wait. i will always be a mom first and a nurse second. when my children are grown i will be in my early 40's and have plenty of time to focus on my career. that being said, i have to have some sort of income, any ideas of what a relatively new graduate nurse could do during the day? just a little info, my hours can not be cut at work (i already managed to drop from 40 hours to 32), and night shift is not an option (no openings anyway). advice?

I've been at my position on a telemetry floor for about 6 months and I hate it! On my way to work I feel on the verge of a panic attack (I haven't actually had one, but I feel like it could progress), I work second shift and never get to see my kids, and I never feel like I know what I am doing! I keep thinking that if I just get to the year point I will magically love my job! However, lately I've been thinking that maybe the hospital is not for me! Anyone else feel this way?

Wow! Thanks for all the replys! I think the supervisor was threatening me with mandation because it was the easy thing to do. When I agreed to stay the previous supervisor had stated that unless the other unit got slammed they could float a nurse for the rest of the shift, plus ratios stated the remaining nurses on my unit could handle the load (was the very high end of allowable ratios, but still doable according to our policy), and all assessments, meds, treatments were done on my stable patient's, and there were only 2 more hours left in the shift!

Thanks for the responses! At the time, I was not concerned with facility policy (I would accept my punishment), but, I was concerned with the threat of patient abandoment. However, my husband had to leave for work at a certain time and I had to be home to be with the children. I would rather have gotten in trouble at work, then to put my children in an unsafe situation!

i know this has been discussed before, but i had an issue last night and wanted some input! the oncoming shift was short staffed d/t a call off; i agreed to stay over 4 hours. during that extra 4 hours we got multiple admits, when it was getting close to my time to leave, the supervisor was talking about mandating me for the rest of shift. i informed the supervisor that i would be able to stay until a specific time (later than i originally agreed), but i would be leaving at that time, mandated or not. since i informed the supervisor well in advance of my departure time, i do not believe this would have been patient abandonment, however, my co-workers were telling me it would. everything worked out in the end and a nurse was floated from another unit.

That's funny! I'm in Ohio and I "call in", never "call off".

Thanks everyone for your advise! dthomasa I will try to "NURSE UP" (I may even quote you on that).

I am a new Grad on a Tele floor, last night I overheard a Nursing Assistant telling my patient not to eat the broccoli in his salad since he is on Coumadin. She went on and on about how she "thought" it would interact with his Coumadin, but she wasn't sure and he should "look it up when he got home". I was a little angry about her conversation with this patient, since I felt she was way out of her scope of practice, but I did not say anything to her. I worked at this facility as a Nursing Assistant while in school and even a preceptor to this particular Assistant when she started. Since this is only my second week on the shift I will be working, I did not say anything, but now I feel that I should have spoken to her. I did speak to my Preceptor about the incident; she asked "How do you want to handle it". My feelings last night were to not to rock the boat in my first weeks, but I think now that I was wrong and should have spoken to the Assistant. I am hoping for any and all advice on how to handle this type of situation the next time? Thanks for your advise! :redbeathe p.s. This patient was just put on Coumadin and later that evening I did do patient education with regards to food and drug interactions with Coumadin.

i feel that being a cna prior to being a nurse was very helpful. in the least i was more comfortable in a hospital room and was comfortable talking with ill patients and their families. while being a cna i was able to help with or watch procedures that others only got to read about. it may have just been holding a leg during foley insertion or perhaps holding open a very large wound that needed packing and once i got to help with a thorocentsis (sp), i passed things to the doc! since i worked in a small rural hospital a lot of the nursing would bring me with them to show things that we didn't get often (like trach care). i was never asked to do anything outside of my scope and i think the experience was invaluable!

Thanks everyone for the advise. I just returned from HR at the LTC, I was honest with them (I did not apply for the tele position they called out of the blue), I appologized for waisting their time and resources. I told them had I known this opportunity was comming I would not have accepted the LTC position. I thanked them for the opportunity that they had given me. I was told it was ok, they understand, and that I am eligible for rehire! I appreciate everyones input!

Thanks everyone for the responses! I made my decision and accepted the telemetry position! I was excited to learn that they are going to allow me to work 4 evenings instead of 5! Now, all I have to do is quit my other position! Does anyone have advise on resigning! Miss_c

i am a new graduate rn, through school i worked as an aide on a telemetry floor. i had my practicum internship on this floor it and it is where i thought i would start my career. however, by the time i got my license there were no positions for me, so i began applying elsewhere and was offered a position in a ltc facility. i am still on orientation at this facility; yesterday i got a phone call from the don at the hospital and was offered a position on the telemetry floor. both of the positions are second shift (not great since i am the mother of a school age child), the ltc is 4 days a week, while the telemetry positions is 5 days a week (i would rather work 4). the pay is about the same, a little more on telemetry. i think the experience would be better on the telemetry floor; can i have some other opinions? thanks :heartbeat