sparkie

Thank you so much. I'm doing my "homework" as we speak :)

i've just finished a preop assessment for day surgery pts. they fill out a risk assesment form, and i review the health hx and systems, and explain to pts. what to expect. then computer input admissions. this is updated the day of surgery with vital signs. the trouble is many other nurses remind me that i too slow and need to do this within the 30 min time given for this. (we do get up to 1 hr for total joint cases.) the pre-op visits are somewhat new to me (2 day orientation), and now on my own. i still feel underpressure as to not make any mistakes because it could lead to major problems for all the dept and mostly the patients. could any body give some suggestions on how to build up speed? i would greatly appreciate all offers of encourgement as well. (edited to fix the font-krf)

hi queenb091, I can certainly understand your reaction to the new uniform policy. Since I just returned to nursing I have become so excited about the whole nurse thing, that I have been doing alot of sewing scrubs, and warm up jackets. I know if there was total change in policy, I'd be so bummed out.

Thank you Matts Mom, Like many responses I've received, yours gives food for thought. I just wonder how many times the ones who are in the expert league, struggle to stay one step ahead of others. Seems like a lot of extra work to me :)

Marty 1, Glad you reponded to my posting. I could relate so much of what your message reply indicated. I have also relocated across the nation to a whole new culture and have worked hard to build new friendships, work relations, and just generally tried to fit in. I have a feeling that this is part of what is making me feel less confident all the way around. I just wanted to thank you for your vote of confidence :balloons:

Gwenith!!! I am sending you a great big THANK YOU for such a wonderful response to my plea for help. It just about brought me to tears to know that there are great nurses around the world, who would extend a few words of kindness and provide a great resource of information. That same evening, I printed out a copy of of the message (along with other reponses), took it to work with me the next day and was able to really view things from a different prospective. I immediately tracked down Benner's book ordered a copy and actually found a copy in our hospitals' library. I believe it is important to be able to vent in a "safe" place, cause we all know anger turned inward can lead to depression. Once again many thanks!! PS Sorry my own reponse was delayed, been working long hours, felt you deserved a well thought out message of substance.

Just got off duty and wondered if any other nurses could possibly feel the way I do. I returned to nursing after taking a hiatus of quite some years. I've worked hard to build my skills and doing lots of extra studying in the evening no matter how tired I am. I ask lots of questions at work and am very eager to learn from the more seasoned nurses. I catch on fairly quickly( I've been told) so I don't think that Im wasting anybody's time, and show much appriciation to all staff. I am well liked and have had an excellent review/eval. Trouble is..I seem to get many more of the share of difficult/challenging situations and patients. You all know, like the MURPHY'S LAW type :stone. Now, we are extremly busy, and it is nearly impossible to depend on just one constant contact/resource person for me to "bounce" things off of and so many (nurses) have a very omnipitant(sp?) attitude and their way is BEST. I end up feeling like I don't want to even mention things anymore because this has created a situation of confusion for me . I start thinking that I may be getting the blame for many things that may not have been result of my actions or anything I have control over, just because I'm the NEW GIRL :angryfire Many times I end up getting interruped during a procedure/intervention when it's not called for. It is now past the point of them being helpful. It's now pissing me off. OOps there goes my ladylike manner. Any ideas out there how I can turn this around?? I'm really a very diplomatic person and would never jepardize workplace good relations. Thanx.

Hi Sharann, Yes, I do think that the reponsiblilty is with the surgeons, and many do have an attitude about what or and dsu staff duties entail. Gee, what do you think would happen if we all weren't so in to backing them up, just for the sake of being considerate for the patient, safety and all the other good stuff we do quietly and unassuming?? we do have a good or scheduler, but lately the problems may also be part of the MD's office not comunicating with pts. and us for changes in condition or surgery dates times,etc. So....we'll all keep trying to work on some good changes Thanx again to you and allnurses.

I really appriciate your reponse, to dsu blues. Boy was I really needing to vent about the whole senario (sp?). Just to update you our team did some brainstorming about how we could remedy admissions like the one I wrote about. It may not yield us the results we'd like to see, but at least we're trying. I'm so greatful for having all nurses just like you who can lend a sympathic ear Take care, nursie-poo

undefinedDSU sluesDSU bluesundefined :uhoh21: Any nurses out there have concerns about surgical patients not being fully prepared both physically/mentally for surgery??? I've recently had experience with pts. who because of not been given a pre op visit, prove to be a real challenge to do their assessment, stat labs, medication review, start IV's (keeping in mind the dehydration factor) and any other needed intervention,(resp updraft, special x-ray's). To top it all off, NO H&P!!! (because the surgeon would hand carry it or has NEVER seen the pt. before). It' just seems like a Murphy's law, and the pt is generally a poor historian, sooo... trying to draw info from them is like pulling teeth and all the time trying to maintain professionalism, and not wanting to miss any important facts 'cause the pt is having general anesethia. Of course, the pt had to have some "nutrition too, (they were not told they couldn't). Am I the only one out there with this type of frustration?? Sorry about the poor grammer/run on sentences, but I just needed to vent :uhoh21: