CareteamRN70

Well guys (and gal lurkers), its been a tough 2 years but I sat for my finals yesterday for my last quarter and have received my "unofficial" final grades. I passed all classes and completed all requirements for graduation. My actual graduation/pinni...

SMILE? Background: I am a fairly new RN who has been working LTC for about a year. We have been in need of a unit manager for close to the entire time I have been there. I figured being so new it was out of reach, and I wanted to cut my teeth on the ...

Damn Leslie, you must be a ball at funerals and wakes. After reading a few of the post that started to border and the "aggressive" with a distinct undercurrent of "Yes, you are a freak by the normal standards for not having teeth, life sucks, etc et...

More background to fill in the blanks: My DON found out I didnt have teeth because she was complaining about her dentures and I joined in the conversation stating I don't wear any and don't seem to have any problems. At this time she stated she would...

Facility where I work (LTC/Subacute/Rehab) has been on a big push to hire RN's. When LPN's quit they are not replaced with LPN's, but RN's instead. There has been a growing rumor that LPN's will be phased out here which I think is a terrible mistake ...

I have one patient I really have a good relationship with, but this worries me to no end because it kind of puts me in her sights. This pt is the one that has the DON, the Facility head, the ombudsman, and state on speed dial. She will call from her ...

I've used coke, but recently my facility has just started stocking these and I love them. http://www.nationalscrubs.com/feedingtubedeclogger-16-18french395cmqty10.aspx dont know if we will keep them in stock, but I really hope so as I normally have 2...

I hate to say it but these kind of post rarely educate. They may give us a sense of "there but for the grace of God go I" and put our own experiences in focus, but for the most part they are sensationalist. I have decided, since becomming an RN, that...

Language can be fun. Now I admit when I'm getting report and I can't understand my co-workers pronunciation of an antibiotic, that can add a little stress, but it's not that hard to figure out that A: the pt is on an antibiotic B: I can look up type ...

Lol I'd be scr*wed either way. I quit smoking cigarettes but now use e-cigarettes which still have a healthy (pun) dose of nicotine. No tar, no 400+ other chemicals, but still nicotine. My facility went non-smoking on the grounds which is par for the...

I'll up the ante on the OP's tale. I have a friend who just started at a LTC as an RN. She was a very friendly outgoing nurse who befriended her fellow nurses and all of her CNA's. She shared her facebook page with them as well as her email address. ...

When I started at my facility we had one nurse that would put the "new" nurses through the ringer. I was very new, a new grad RN in fact. This didn't help as my facility was touting how they were going to be hiring RN's in liu of LPN's. Talk about w...

1 year out from school and I can't even remember my previous life before nursing. My only regret is that I waited until my late 30's to do it. I went to a two year school, where only 2/3 of my class made it to graduation, put out over 70+ application...

I work in a subacute/rehab wing in my LTC and needy family members are par for the course. I have had them follow me and I refuse to answer questions at the nurse station, in the halls, or throught the bathroom door (yes I had a family member follow ...

Just had a pt do this a week ago in middle of the night....twice..pulled out his Foley with balloon intact and also managed to pull out his g-tube, bulb defalted (he did chew on syringe port of g-tube). Order I received was I/O cath Q4Hrs, then it we...

I was given 7 days of Orientation at the second job I took (my first job gave me 1 day following a medcart then that night I was by myself with 60 pts). There are not what I would call short cuts but prioritization skills you can develop (or learn fr...

Im kind of on the other end of the stick. My wife had always made more then me...about $50k-$60k a year while i earned $8/Hr as a CNA or patient support tech. I had a stroke and was out of work for a year and a half (partialy due to rehab needs and ...

So Far my LTC hasn't made any cuts that I as a floor nurse can see....but we have been understaffed since Ive worked there. The corp head has sent out emails to the staff about the cut in medicare with mention of belt tightening, "creative" cost sav...

I think I may see part of the problem. It isn't the problem with the pt's refusal of tx...It's the doubt the OP had with the whole situation...and then the mentioned co-worker likening of respecting pt's wishes as "assisted" suicide just added a ton ...

(I don't hug) I'm sorry you went through that. My first code I always thought would leave me sad, crying after shift, or just numb....instead I was just amazingly angry. My patient was a dear gentleman who I loved careing for who said more to me wit...

I work in LTC and most dressing changes are Q Daily on the day shift. Most orders I have seen stipulate time or shift but also include a PRN change if soiled (lotta sacrum/coccyx decub dressings), has seepage, or just is coming apart so even tho I wo...

Congrats on quiting smoking! I still smoke..I had a story very much like yours in that I had a TIA and was smoking up to the ER doors. As for what you were talking about..the water vapor gizmos, those are e-cigarettes. It isnt really water vapor, i...

You could talk to the MD overseeing your son at the facility and request a "crush" order for his regular meds, or "mix with food" order for coumadin (shouldn't be crushed). Unless it is a med that specificly can not be crushed, it can still be mixed ...

Indianapolis, Indiana: Quite a few nursing programs offered by "for profit" schools have popped up here (I am a graduate of one) that are churning out new grads as ASN's at an alarming rate. The only thing slowing them down is that wonderful brick w...

I give massages quite a bit, my unit has an unwriiten rule that we should try two nursing interventions for pain control before breaking out the narcs. I have seen pts who are mean and surly calm down if I sneak in a massage while doing tx's. I try ...