cherex74369

hello, i am still looking for anyone who have had an experience of this type with their employers. the test is called an ocp test, and those who were off for some type of surgery or illness for a specified time and taken it have come back to work telling of it's horrors!! one staff person had knee replacment and has a 20+ year work record, no injuries. stated if it wasn't for the upper body strength he/she had, would have flunked the test and would have been let go!!!! and this person was a supervisore of a unit!!! another one said when they took it, they almost undid the work they had surgically done 8 weeks earlier!!!!!! thanks for any input.

Hello: I work at a facility where if you are absent 3 or more days for illness/surgery/injury, etc., they require you to take an "Endurance Test" administered by HR staff. This test is on "specialized" machines that are ...supposedly.... to make sure that injuries are at a minimum for the facility. However, many feel it is a "weeding" tool, to thin out un-needed employees during this recession. Those who have taken it say it is sheer H###, and they have muscle aches and pains for days afterwards. My ? is this.... Can they LEAGALLY do this? I suppose that anything's legal with the right attorney on your staff, but what the H### does push-ups and knee squats have to do with Nursing care?!?!? I need to have some carpal tunnel issues taken care of, but with this in place, I'll work until my hands literally drop off before I do anything about them. I HAVE to have a job as sole money-maker in the home. (As one doc said to me "I bet you can start an IV w/your teeth if you had to!!" Probably could, but that Infection Control nurse would be on my A$$ BIG TIME!!! LOL). Anyone have any experience with anything like this? Oh, they also use this test for the new employees as part of their screening. Thanks!!

Preceptoring is a BIG job, in my books!! I have this "unreal" idea that I need to turn out the greatest nurse for my unit, but yet I have some second thoughts about my own abilities and personal goals. By unreal I mean that there is NO WAY anyone can turn out the Perfect Nurse. I have to keep reminding my self that I can only do so much, and the best I can hope and pray for is that my preceptoree -??sp.??- has a firm knowledge base of what is needed for the unit and the patients there and knows where to go for answers in case something comes up that is problematic for them. And that I have built a relationship with them that allows them the freedom to asks those questions and to stand up to others if they think that something else might work better for the patient or for the unit as a whole. Just some thoughts.............

Wow....We Still Can't See the Forest for the Trees, huh?? Whatever has happened to actually caring for the patient?!?! OK, you came in with chest pains. DUHHHHH. Chest pains=Possible MI, PE, etc. It's not for us nurses to judge or determine if it's for real or not (that's why we do EKG's, run lab tests, Xrays, etc. and let the Doc's diagnose that), but to treat you as if you were having a true cardiac event. Personally, even if I was "too busy with more critical patients", I still would have found SOMEONE -another "less busy" co-worker, tech, aide, heck..even our lab and radiology techs have lent a hand and completed basic patient care in time of need- who could have assisted you with keeping you dry and comfortable. Even if normally you are "perfectly able to wipe your own ass", you were in an emergent setting, probably scared and concerned for your health and life, and any extra stress may have precipitated something far worse for you. After all, we should consider EVERY patient in our facility our responsibilty. I hope and pray you are doing better and enjoying improved health and well-being. Best Wishes.

Reposted with Larger Fonts: Good Day........... Our facility has to have some record of yearly nursing proficiency/skills on all nursing personel to meet JCAHO compliance. The problem is, no one can decide just what should be covered/included in these yearly check-offs. I feel like a dope asking a 20+ yr. "vet" of hands-on patient care to demonstrate to me the proper techniques to place a foley or to do oral care!! That's Basic Nursing 101! I can't find anyone in my facility who has the answer or even part of an answer that helps me out. My thoughts are that yearly skills should cover anything NEW in regards to policies/procedures/standards, etc. and should not re-hash the everyday basics that most people can perform with their eyes closed. If anyone would like to share what their facilties do to meet these JCAHO guidelines, I'd appreciate some input here. Thank You!!! **************************************************** ****************************************************** Appreciate input from everyone so far!!:yeah: I am 1 person trying to do skills lab for 150+ nursing emloyees (CNA's, Nurse Techs, LPN's & RN's) at my facility, so this really helps. And from what I've read so far, I think I'm on the right track. I am using the '09 Patient Safety goals as a basis of what skills I am currently putting in my lab, but I can't help but feel some things are too remedial for the more expereienced staff. Another question....Should the Lab be for the licensed staff only, or should we continue to include the non-licensed staff (i.e. CNA's) as well? Keep On Postin', and I'll Keep Readin'!!! Thanks SO much!!

Well, try this on for size... I have had pt.'s ask for their pain meds, claiming rated 10/10 and hurts like h^&%. I go get the med and return to find them snoring like drunken fools!!!! Im' not one to wake slleping dogs or little babies, so I hold the med (in case it's needed later when they wakd again) and they go ALL NIGHT w/o requesting anything further. Then I overhear them tell docs in the morning that "That pain medicine last night was really GREAT stuff, I slept all night with it!!"

Good Day........... Our facility has to have some record of yearly nursing proficiency/skills on all nursing personel to meet JCAHO compliance. The problem is, no one can decide just what should be covered/included in these yearly check-offs. I feel like a dope asking a 20+ yr. "vet" of hands-on patient care to demonstrate to me the proper techniques to place a foley or to do oral care!! That's Basic Nursing 101! I can't find anyone in my facility who has the answer or even part of an answer that helps me out. My thoughts are that yearly skills should cover anything NEW in regards to policies/procedures/standards, etc. and should not re-hash the everyday basics that most people can perform with their eyes closed. If anyone would like to share what their facilties do to meet these JCAHO guidelines, I'd appreciate some input here. Thank You!!!

YUP...happens to all of us. We have an ED doc who will sit on them for hours, only to decide @ 6:25 to send dispatch them all to the various departments for admissions. WHAT A CROCK!!! our pharmacy has left for the day, shift change is starting in a few minutes, the families who have sit with these folks all afternoon are seething and wanting to get their family member admitted and get the hell home to try to salvage what's left of THEIR day. A big cluster muck!!

15 years ago, I was not prepared for the "REAL" life, either. And ther's NO WAY one could ever be prepared for this profession as it is truly a "HANDS ON, JUST DIVE IN THERE!" job. BUT...... I was taught by my ADN program instructors certain basic, common sense skills. These were things like, **"If you don't know something.....FOR PETE's SAKE.....ASK SOMEBODY!!!" **"NEVER assume anything(the old 'A-s-s out of u-and-me story')" **"CYA all the way with your charting, because if it wasn't charted... It wasn't done!!!" (This one has saved my ass more than anything, because, unfortunatley, some physicians have a penchance (sp?) for "witch hunts" and would like nothing better than to have someone else's paycheck end, particularly if their OWN is on the line!) **"REMEMBER....the patient doesn't want to be here any more than we do. Most folks don't want to be sickly and couped up in a hospital room" The new students that I am having come through on rotations are seriously lacking in the basic social skills such as "Respect your elders and senior staff!!!" The "I-know-it-all-already" attitude makes my brain go into a BLOODY RAGE!!! I came out of my little ADN program SCARED S*%TLESS!!!! I had so many (what I felt were stupid) questions of my mentors that I thought they would all just love to kick my butt!! But as I got into nursing further, I realized there were NO stupid questions, just stupid people who chose NOT to ask the questions and blunder about on their own, causing more grief for themselves and certainly for the patient. I realized the seasoned nurses who were there at my workplace were a never-ending fountain of information and wealth of skills just waiting to be tapped into. All one had to do was ask them. I sound like some old fogey "These young whippersanppers ain't got a clue, so damn disrespectful and smart-allecky", but that's the flow of the river I'm feeling nowadays, unfortunately. How to change it? Who knows. Maybe it should've started with their parenting (MY fav saying is "They're 15 years past a good ass-whoopin'!), maybe society created this, maybe the fast-paced, cattle-through-a-chute health care system created it. But, if anything I could give as a pearl of wisdom to the new ones it would be this....... Know yourself, your limitations, your knowledge base. Don't try to go beyond it on your own.SLOW DOWN!!! Patients will not die on you (well-l-l-... MOST of them!! Sorry...a little dark 'nursey' humor) if their 9o'clock meds are given right on the dot. Find someone with a little more experience the their name and ASK, ASK, ASK them to help you sort things out and problem-solve. We "old nurses" have that "Mothering/Teaching" instinct planted in us and would like nothing better than to share our love for what we do with all of you!:heartbeat:heartbeat:heartbeat

You're found doing your weekly shopping @ 2AM in the local "WallyWorld" 24 HR Supercenter!!!!!

Doc's are like ADHD children.......... You can "put them in their place", but they won't sit still in it for very long! Next thing you know, they up and running around, back to their old tricks, screaming and hollering and jumping on the staff's A$$es!! Short term memory retention loss?!?!?!

I work in a small rural generic ICU/CCU (& beds). Staffing is a duo RN team and 1 monitor tech/ward clerk. My partner in crime is a younger male RN, and he is an absolute asset to our unit, and a great complement for my "older" nursing skills. The closeness of our duo team staffing has allowed a oneness of the staff to the point that we don't even have to say anything to each other in a tough scenario, as the other one knows instinctively what the other one needs or is going to do, and things progress like a well-written script. Don't get me wrong. Sometimes there's some "ad-libbing" that has to take place, but even at that, we adjust and the whole situation continues on rather smoothly. When it's over..WOW... we've accomplished somthing to be proud of. And yes, I spend a great deal of time picking up after him, just as I do my own kids @ home, but I've asssumed that role and he allows me, just as they do.LOL Men bring a totally different school of thought to the predominately female nursing profession, and I have found it to be the greatest thing!! Really refreshing!! So, ladies...Encourage those dear hearts as they enter "Our World" and you will not regret it.

:angryfire Don't get mad...Get EVEN!!!! It's always a dirty little game of secretaries/clerks running flack for the floor nurses here. Another good forum query ,ya' think!? Who runs your hospital...administration, RN's or the ever-unpleasant ward clerks!?!?Hm-m-m. Here's some of the replies we get when attempting report: "Oh, that nurse is in the bathroom, I'll have her call you back". (Translation: She' standing right beside me giving me the "NoWay,NotToday" hand signals.) "Oh, that bed is still being cleaned, we'll let you know". (T: She's at the nurse's desk on the phone screaming at the top of her lungs to her soon-to-be-ex about his recent sexual transgressions.) "I can't locate that nurse now, (despite our wunnerful 'Big Brother' tracking devices we have to wear!!) I'll have to find them and call you back". (T: Don't go looking in the report room!!) Ever hear of "If the house is a-rockin' don't come a-knockin"!? That's probably where your Doc is that you've been feverishly paging for the last 45 minutes, also! Hours later....Nuthin'! No acknowledgement, no request for report. Well, two can play that game...I just get the name of that RN who I will be reporting to, and then a few moments later- using an outside line, of course- I call them back and ask for them by name (remembering to use poor phone etiquette and not ID myself). They think they're getting a personal call and JUMP right on that one!!!! Man, I slay 'em everytime. Problem is, they never remember. Fish in a bucket? Sounds WAY harsh, I know, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We all have a common goal...getting the heck out of there at the end of the day with some resemblance of our sanity intact.

Hm-m-m-m.....Let's see. First glance he may be a looker....... But then... He opens his mouth and the truth comes out..... Yes... He really IS an A$$ H@( Everyday as I punch out the old time clocker, I say a little mantra... Thank God I ain't married to THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Honey, your SugaMamma's comin' home!":icon_hug: