onetiredmomma

What is the common feeling about using k-pad use after insertion of PICCs? I have gotten different opinions from different PICC nurses. One says it helps prevent vein spasms another says it isn't important.

When I find myself in that place I ask for help (if that is what is bringing my coping down), take deep breaths and while doing so say a prayer asking God for help and thanking Him for help He has already provided (usually this prayer is while punching the daylight out of the keys on the med pyxis!) I agree with getting away for a few minutes and that includes getting off the unit for my lunch break so I can recharge!

I can understand a student being nervous but I can't understand students not able to do vitals when they start clinicals. I would be looking for an instructor to help with this! When I have a student the first thing I ask after report is what they will be doing for their pt that day. I need to know if they are doing basic care and or meds. If they aren't doing meds they usually have looked up that pt meds so I take them with me when I give them. Having students is hard but I know they appreciate anything we can teach them.

Maybe allheart.com...

Make sure you have her full attention...stand next to her. When you are finished with your question/ statement and don't get a response, ask her if she heard you. (sometimes with all the chaos going on in our nurses' station I truly don't hear people when they say my name). I would guess you have tried these things but short of screaming her name its all I could come up with! Good luck!

"I know what I know, and I know what I don't know"... a very profound statement because there are many that won't admit what they don't know!. I too wish you well. I apologize on the behalf of nursing that you were treated this way. It makes me sick to hear this over and over and wish I could do something to stop the madness!Take with you both the good and the bad and vow to perpetuate only the good!

Most facilities won't let staff move to another unit until they have worked the unit they were hired on for at least 6 months to a year.

Since I do hope to retire ...someday. I'm not sure how long but I know people sue many years after an event and I got to wondering about keeping my liability insurance after I retire. I will ask my State Farm agent for sure but curious what opinions anyone here might have? Thanks

A hundred years ago...ok 1970 when I got my LPN and again in 1982 when I got my ADN this was a hot topic of discussion. I truly feel if SOMEONE would make a decision, set a date, provide some sort of "grandfather" clause nursing would be in a better place, nurses would make more $$ and would have better job opportunities all around. I blame this nondecision on that fact that nursing is female dominated and we as females used to be taught to accept and agree to whatever was told to us.

Of course! That makes you human. After 43 years I still love being a bedside nurse...most of the time. It's shifts like you describe or when admin makes inane policies that make me wish I could retire to a tropical island somewhere! Remember: there is no heaven on earth....

Doesn't just happen in LTC...we had 3 pt with NGs this week and needed to replace one of the stay-guard nose things ( not sure of the name). Anyway, our floor had none and neither did the next 2 units I visited. A call to supply got the response "they are a low use item and I think we are out of them"/ Someone did finally find 2 and brought them to me...I thought about hiding the extra one in my locker but don't want to start doing that.

You can expect me to remember that students need skills and offer to let you do dressing changes, foleys and anyother treatment I think you will not get a lot of chances to do. You can expect that I do appreciate your help and will tell you so. I love students that are interested in learning...esp learning the difference between school teaching and the "real world".

My dream has always been to work somewhere that has an IV team...alas, as I get closer to retirement it is bound to be a dream unmet! It has to be hard to go from a big facility that has "everything" but I learned in a sm town hospital on night shift that did team nursing wo CNAs and I learned a ton from those coworkers! Your new coworker will learn soon enough as long as everyone is patient with her/ Where I work now I keep forgetting that the PICC nurse comes and changes central line dressings...that's a treat in itself!

some Grade school, middle schools and high schools often "teach to the test" for funding so we should not be surprised that some nursing schools do the same. Hospitals are flooded with schools trying to find clinical shifts for students so the students end up in nursing homes, geri-psych facilities and other nonacute settings to learn. Students at my facility last week had to be firmly asked to leave the desk computers where they were doing homework so the Drs could do their orders. This group of students weren't interested in helping with anything that was not for their one pt. As for pts being sicker these days: "back in the day" when a pt had their GB removed they came to the floor with an NG, IV, Foley, T-tube and a huge incision. Laminectomy pts log rolled for a week ....and that meant they were basically total care because they had to be turned q2h, fed, etc. I know the expectations of nurses have changed over the years but basic nursing hasn't...

You shouldn't have to ask for help, your coworkers should realize you need it BUT you also need to stand up for yourself: " I know I have fewer pts and will be glad to take an admit if I can get some help getting caught up. Can you please....." and tell your charge/ coworkers what will help you. Sometimes its hard to tell if someone needs help, but I have alson offered only to be told " oh I don't know what you could do I am so far behind." I can see another nurse giving up a pt and taking the admit but that seems to just add to the confusion, esp for the pts.