klcrn1987

Do/did your children "suffer" from you being in the medical profession??? I met Hubby in Paramedic school and I then went to nursing school... so we both have solid backgrounds in medicine. Our 3 sons could get away with nothing!! Our mantra was.... Unless you have bones at funny angles or missing a part, I can fry an egg on your forehead, you are puking or pooping your guts out or blood is shooting across the room (not oozing) then get dressed and go to school!!! My 3rd son had it the "hardest" because his older brothers had tried just about everything in the book so we were prepared. One morning he gets up for preschool, comes down stairs and he is holding his left side, moaning and looking soooo pitiful. I asked sympathetically (but very skeptically) what's wrong Honey... with an "I'm dying" voice he states.... OH the pain, I can't take it....my gallbladder is killing me!!! (now where did that come from!!) I told him, Well Son--you have 3 problems... #1--5 years old is too young to have gallbladder problems, 2--the gallbladder is on the RIGHT side and #3... get dressed, you're still going to school!! He suddenly was cured, stomped his foot and said "Damn, it sucks then you have medical parents!!!!" #3 again... he was out playing and did a full body "splat" on the sidewalk...scuffed nose, chin, both elbows and both knees!!! He comes into the house half crying and I (really concerned this time) asked Honey what happened??? He sniffed... Why do you ask...I don't have bones at funny angles and I'm not squirting blood... you won't care!!!" I immediately picked him up, sat him on the counter and gave him a big hug and a Mommy kiss and patched up all his scuffs. When I was done, he hugged me and said..."You really do care!!!!" Poor kid!!! How has your children "suffered" from your medical background???

Out of the mouths of "babes" ... I was working night turn as the Supervisor in a nursing home and we had a resident that had passed. I called the local hospital to get the order to release the body to the funeral home and I got the brand new resident on call. It was obviously that this was the first call of this kind he had dealt with so I explained that ... 1-No, he didn't have to come to the facility to pronounce, that I could do it. 2-All I needed was his official order "Yes, you may release the body to the funeral home"...he said, "Can you send it to the morgue?" I just couldn't resist and told him... "Well, I tried that once but the kitchen staff really freaked out the last time they walked into the cooler and found a body there!!" TOTAL silence!!!! I softly said... Doc, I'm kidding! OH!!! Oh!! Yes!!! You may release the body!!! Some days it's so fun to tease the puppies!! :)

Alrighty then........

My 1st clinical day we had a girl that put a woman on the bedpan and when the woman finished and she when to take her off, the smell of BM hit her. She let the woman go, said, and I quote, "This **** ain't for me!!!" and turned on her heels and walked away... never to be seen again! LOL

Just an FYI... (not saying you did but) if you push Morphine too fast it will react with the nausea receptors in the brain and cause almost instantaneous emesis. A doctor told me this and I found out first hand when I received Morphine during a gallbladder attack. The nurse pushed it in the IV and I promptly threw up... luckily I had a basin close!!! So chances are he really didn't do it on purpose... maybe!!!

One of my grossest moments happened 38 years ago when I was a very naive, very new 19 yr old EMT student doing a clinical rotation in the ER... had a gentleman come in with an evolving MI and he vomited lima beans and beer!!! I HATE the smell of beer and I HATE the smell of lima beans.... to this day even thinking about it makes my stomach churn... ANYTHING related to "respiratory secretions" makes me gag.... even my own kids with a snotty nose. I can do great trach care but I literally have a garbage can very close by!! The last hospital I worked had an awesome RT that would have mercy on me and take care of my trach patients' respiratory needs! Had a patient with a very bad bowel blockage (even his breath smelled like feces) code ... as they were doing CPR, the odor of the secretions just can not be described... it was like a combination of the foulest BM mixed with rotting flesh... even the most "seasoned" staff was coming out of the room gagging!!! It permeated the entire unit and into the main corridor of the hospital and even the next day when we came on shift we could smell it. They ended up totally stripping everything out of the room down to repainting the walls and changing out the ceiling tiles!!! Months later you could still faintly smell it and we tried not to admit anyone into that room unless we had no other choice.....

After 30 years of nursing I have earned one thing for sure....FOLLOW YOUR GUT!!! No matter what...if your "gut" is saying question it....then question it!!!! It is your subconscious telling you that somehow you know this isn't right. I have questioned doctors, supervisors, state surveyors and family members. Remember, there are "proper" ways to question... "I just want to clarify with you Dr.---you want XXX for Mr. Smith??" ... many times they will catch themselves and change the order or I will ask the supervisor about it and she/he will contact the Dr..... and I have stood nose to nose with a Dr and fought with him for one of my patients and altho it was VERY begrudgingly given... I did finally get a TY for not giving up until the proper treatment was done. Like others have said...we are all human, we make mistakes....there is nothing wrong with protecting your patient from ANYONE who might be making a error in treatment and no one should shame you for doing so....

I can relate... one of my Hubby's aunts was a RN that became the manager of an ICU unit.... she would always say to me...."You're only a floor nurse??? You could be so much better than that". Well, I happen to like floor nursing, I don't want the hassles and headaches of being in charge...I LIKE spending time with my patients, I don't mind giving bedpans (usually LOL), I LIKE giving bedbaths, I LIKE making my patients feel better. THAT is what I became a nurse for. I get frustrated that many RN positions are mostly paper work....if I wanted to push papers, I would have become a secretary!!! And as far as the "night turn thing"....I have worked nights for most of my career... Yeah, we don't have meals, admin, doctors, families etc but we do have our problems... less staffing, trouble getting a hold of doctors when we need them or getting yelled at when we do, some of our patients can "sundown" and be a handful, and when a patient crashes... we don't have other departments to help. I chuckle on the rare occasions that a "daywalker" walks the "night walk" and they say "Wow I thought they slept all night"...NOPE!!!

I'm not sure in this case but you also have to think of the condition of the body... sometimes it's not "wise" to have family members see the body in the morgue before they can be prepared by a funeral director..

I am not saying that it is acceptable but let's be honest.... EVERY nurse has made some kind of a med error even if it was a tiny one... we are busy, we are frazzled, we can be distracted, we misunderstand, we are human. Thankfully, 1 wrong dose rarely causes permanent harm. We learn from our mistakes and go on. Rather than "slam" an error, it should be made an opportunity to teach and learn. If all nurses who made a mistake stopped nursing, there would be very few left!!

I'm not worried about the nurses as much as the family!!! They are being used and taken advantage of. Not only professionally but morally wrong...

One thing I don't see mentioned is when a nurse "pulls rank" to get an easier assignment. I worked 2 12 hr night shifts with one charge nurse and my 3rd with a different charge nurse. The 1st 2 shifts, the CN tried to make the assignments "even" with everyone having a "heavy" and couple of "light" patients as census would allow...we were also very good at helping each other if need be. The 3rd night, the other CN would make the assignment to where she had most of the lighter patients, completely changing everyone's assignments from the last 2 shifts....not because she was in charge (with 3 RNs we all kinda did our own thing on nights) but because she didn't want to work that hard.... her words!!!

OMGosh!!! Cardboard urinals!!! I'd give them a jar or something first.... How GROSS!!!

I am an RN...and a gun owner and have a concealed carry permit. In fact my Hubby, son and I are working in getting our NRA basic pistol instructorship. I belong to a couple of women's shooting groups and love it. I will defend me and mine (and you if need be) without hesitation....and I figure if, God forbid, I may actually have to use my weapon, IF there is a need, I can treat the one I shoot.....

Many oil rigs use Paramedics as their medical folks.... Paramedics can work on protocols using a land based MD as "command".... they also work "cheaper"....

I applied/interviewed for a position that I was fully qualified for and was told by the head nurse that interviewed me "I would love to hire you, you are exactly what I'm looking for but I won't be able to because you have too many years experience. You will start at the upper end of the pay grade and with raises etc. you will "cost too much" for my budget. I can hire a "newer" nurse for much less......." Sad because I would have loved the job

I know PA sells the names etc.... My nursing license is the ONLY thing that has my name listed the way it is (first, maiden,last) and shortly after I got my license in 1987, I started getting all kinds of stuff in the mail with the same name... the only way they could have gotten it was from the licensing folks.....

I hope you documented, documented, and documented some more!! You absolutely did the right thing. You assessed your patient (the part about the previous shift thought she was stable-- have they ever heard of "rapid change in condition??) and you did what you felt was in her best interest. You notified your supervisor and she told you to call the team. Sounds to me like you are being used as a wheel chock for the bus you are being thrown under!! The doctor was WRONG in not coming to check his patient and dumped the blame... you being the "lowest" on the totem pole got the brunt of it. NEVER ignore your "gut" when you feel something is not right.... fight until you get someone that will listen/do something. I agree with the idea that you might be happier in a different environment that encourages nurses to act on their patient's behalf...

I had the same thing happen with a Percocet.... dropped it, 3 nurses searched the med room and couldn't find it... pulled an unGodly amount of stuff off the shelves, called supervisor, pharmacist and did incident report... I always emptied my pockets before leaving the floor.... found that darn thing buried in the bottom of my scrub pocket ... tracked down the super and showed her.... was always spastic about being accused of taking narcs!!!

Yes Ma'am, age/experience discrimination exists... Several years ago I was looking for a job and had a great interview where the Unit Manager doing the interview flat out said.... "I would love to hire you!! You are exactly the type of nurse I want on my team with your experience and personality but.... you have too many years in. My boss would not let me hire you because you would start at the top of the pay scale and with the raises etc, you would be making too much money. We can hire a new nurse for half of what we would be paying you.... sadly, with half of the experience also." I have also had other interviews where a "new" nurse was hired for less money.

I've had family members in the hospital but I did NOT mess with anything!!! The only time I even touched my son's IV is when he moved (it was VERY positional) and it beeped. But.... I also had worked on that unit and knew all the nurses and they knew me. I told them I would reset it when it beeped for movement but NOTHING else. Saved us both a lot of hassle and they appreciated not having to run back to our room every 10 mins (hard to keep an 9 yr old still!)

I have done exactly what Amber did.... I was asked to come in on my day off to man the "overflow" unit for the main Med-Surg unit. They were holding patients in the ER and needed to clear them ASAP so within 15 mins of me hitting the floor at 7PM, I had 4 admissions... by myself, not even a CNA to take vitals and help settle the patients... luckily, none of them were critical. Each admission from start to finish takes about 45 mins if you really push (mostly paperwork ) so that was 3 hrs right there, plus meds, IV's etc. It was getting to be about 9PM with the next nurse coming in at 11PM. I still had one more patient to admit and they called and wanted to send 3 more patients up ASAP (wanted to have them admitted by 12AM so they could charge the extra day!!) I flat out told them NO!!! I felt I could not properly admit and handle 7 patients without help and the safety and well being of my patients came first. The Supervisor and ER staff were not happy with me but they also knew that I wasn't a "slacker" and if I said I couldn't do it that I was truly doing the best I could. I finished my last admission and had them send 1 of the new patients up and was working on it when the next nurse came in.... I stayed to help and we had everything cleared up and settled by about 12:30am..... 7 full admissions in 5-1/2 hrs.... I thought we did pretty good!!

Saddly this is another example of the "nurses eating their young" sydrome. Once you gave report and the new nurse took over, she...not you... is responsible for that patient, especially if she was in the room at the time of the incident. You notified all persons--the charge nurse, the oncoming nurse etc... plus the patient was a non compliant A & O person. You can't be held responsible if the proper equipment was not available... I've been a nurse for 39 years... I have many through and through knife wounds in my back.... watch your back, my Dear, watch yours.......

Pretty simple....my initials...klc and I became a RN in 1987!

I never told the "real" reason... told the supervisor I got hung up in traffic but... truth be told.... my Hubby and I got a bit frisky after I got out of the shower before I got ready for work and I had to re-shower!!!