Studying24.7

I appreciate all of your input, especially the input that falls within the means of social acceptability. Unfortunately, this does not apply to all of the posts. Therefore, I will not be responding to this thread, but I will heed the constructive criticism. Lastly, Ruby, I thank you for all of the time and energy that you have spent on my post.

wow- i've just had the chance this morning to read the replies to my opening post. i had no idea my asking for an opinion would provoke such outrage, namely from ruby vee. first and foremost, i came to this board for advice- not for insults. secondly, my intention was not to judge, which is why i asked in my opening post whether i should just view this as an isolated incident. i also stated in my second post that i understood the follow up povs. a fellow student also had the pleasure of working with this same nurse in the same unit one week later. not surprisingly, he had the same experience as i did. said nurse was constantly text messaging- or should i put it in a different light so as not to be obnoxious or offend any of the veteran nurses on the board? perhaps this nurse has had a series of bad luck and had to text message again that day? or perhaps, dare i say it.... text messaging all day is simply what she does while she is on the job? yes, i said it. right out loud. blasphemy- i know. (@ ruby vee) most of the replies to my post have been to jump and defend this icu nurse- while at the same time insulting me. for some reason, to the majority of those that replied, being a student nurse automatically means that i am ignorant to what is fundamentally wrong and right. the newsflash is that i am not ignorant and i do have the ability to decipher what is wrong and what is right. text messaging 70-80% of the time that we (yes, the petty students) are there (from 6a-3p) is not right. something the nurse is well aware of, as evidenced by the fact that her phone went straight into her pocket when the charge nurse was in the vicinity. i am in my last semester of nursing and i have met and worked with wonderful and caring nurses. on the flip side, i've met nurses that should hang up their scrubs and do something that does not involve human interaction. i can tell every single one of you that if my family member were being taken care of by this specific nurse, i would definitely "rattle cages" and do everything i could do to keep this nurse away from my loved one. could that last sentence be viewed as judgmental on my part? absolutely. so be it. to those in the minority that were kind and offered respectful advice, i thank you (dscrn, daverika, dj973, srerrn2, harleyridingirl, guiltysins, soon2bnurse3). and to brilliant dreams- so sorry about your father. the premise of my post was to seek advice about something that i thought was possibly unethical. any employee text messaging while on the job is flat out wrong. a professional registered nurse charged with the duty of taking care of critical patients who is text messaging all day is insupportable- whether you’ve been out of nursing school for 33 years or not, ruby.

As a follow up, I did tell my CI and she said she felt it was unacceptable behavior on the part of the nurse. She did say the nurse quite possibly had some personal issues she was dealing with but should have dealt with it in a different manner. My CI said that she if she were a patient or a patient's family member she would more than likely lodge a complaint. However, she said in this case to leave it alone because she does not want to lose the clinical site for the school because they are difficult to secure. Politics.... And just to clarify, the RN was definitely text messaging (we have the same phone, so it's easy for me to recognize). And when the nurse would take a break or go to the restroom, she would ask another nurse to look out for her patients. Obviously, she didn't ask for coverage when she went to text message in the supply room...... I understand everyone's point of view. I guess more than anything it was disappointing behavior to see-especially in an ICU. A few texts here and there would probably be acceptable, but in my eyes, to stop in the middle of starting meds, or just as you are about to check a cath for leakage to answer text messages isn't acceptable. I am only a student and am not out there as a working nurse with a full patient load. But when that time comes, I really aspire to treat all of my pts the way I would want my mother and/or father to be treated. If there comes a point that I get burned out, I hope I can recognize it and move into a different area of nursing that is not bedside- in order to continue to do my best. A few semesters ago at another clinical site, one of the nurses would ask patients to rate their pain, but she would not document what they said, she would document what she perceived was their pain level. So disappointing. Brought that issue to my CI and I got the same response that this CI gave me. "That is completely unacceptable, but don't rock the boat because we need the clinical site." .... thanks for your replies.

I don't see it exactly as "going behind her back" and I would definitely not want her to be terminated. In naive-student-world, I expected a high caliber of patient care in the MICU. I was thinking more about the patient than about the nurse; But I understand what you're saying. She didn't place the patient in harm's way. My thought process was that she might be so distracted with her phone that in the future it may become an issue. (She was even sneaking into the supply room to text.) Thanks for the reply.

I was doing a clinical on the Medical ICU unit and the RN that I was working with was CONSTANTLY text messaging instead of caring for her pt. She didn't start doing anything for him until about 10:30 and she came on at 7:00. What (if anything) should I do? file a complaint with the hospital? Leave it alone as a possible isolated case? The pt was fine and she did what he needed, but it seemed as though she did the absolute bare minimum... I've been thinking about it since then and would hate to know that my loved one was in ICU and his/her nurse was texting.

Nursing school is definitely not fun- and it's not meant to be. Before you consider quitting, I would give it another semester. You said you worked so hard for to get through your pre-reqs so don't throw all that away just because it's tough right now. You will bet used to clinicals and skills check off. And I think it is safe to say that you will meet unhappy people in every profession....

You have come this far! I am in my last semester and have to remind myself to block out the negative.... Just tell yourself that you can do it and you can do it!

Congratulations and good luck with Boards!!!

Good luck!

I'm in the HCC ADN program now and my best is advice for anyone asking about HCCS is to go directly to the campus and talk to someone in person. They aren't the most organized and tend to forget to respond to emails....

I don't know that the pay difference is all that much, but it seems like it is easier for a BSN to find a job vs an ADN...at least that is what I am being told by nurses in the field.

This is so discouraging... I've started applying for jobs (I am scheduled to graduate in May 2010) and everyone has told me that nursing positions are "very tight'. A fellow nursing student told me that there were 800 applicants for only a few positions in the Texas Medical Center..

Great post!

I am in Texas and I am scheduled to graduate in May (as long as I pass exit HESI), I know there are deadlines for graduate nurse applicants at some facilities.

Also, I called HCC to see about registering and they told me to call back on Wednesday, 01/07/2009 to see if they have information and then that we would have to go in and sign the forms for the classes.....