JantRN

Took me a while to get through that truern. Whats so frustrating to me is that the RN in my case didn't understand either:#1 how important a couple of cookies could be.. or #2 how important it is to tell the truth....

I work in the operating room. Recently I had a patient brought down to the OR who suffers from dementia & DM. The nursing documentation stated NPO since MN the night before. However during the pre-op interview, the patient stated that she had eaten breakfast. The anesthesiologist asked that I call the floor to verify the NPO status. Upon calling the RN, she stated that they caught the patient eating from her own private stash of cookies, but she only ate 1 or 2... and they were sugar free. This caused the anesthesiologist to have to use rapid sequence intubation to prevent aspiration. The surgeon performing the operation let the family know that the patient need dialysis ASAP and could not wait anylonger for the surgery. (It would have to be 8 hours for DM pt 6 hrs for a non-DM pt to safely perform regular sequence intubation.) I really think there needs to be more teaching on the importance of not only documenting correctly (ie not lying!!!!!) AND the rational behind keeping a patient NPO. Even sucking on a mint will cause an increase in gastric juices. You have to think about the paralytics used in anesthesia too. It doesn't have as much to do with the drugs making the patient nauseated as it does with the act of intubating a patient.

Question for you: I'm reading through all of the above and I feel really sick on my stomach because I have jumped blindly into something, that I pray I don't pay for. My question is: I don't even know what the housing benefit is for my current assignment. Its not specified in my contract, so I have no idea if its $3,000 or $13,000. All I know is that they're paying my rent and utilities. My recruiter told me that it is tax free. (But since he told me a lot of things now I wonder) How do I find out these things? With all I'm reading I'm beginning to wonder if I should just stay put with this company (now that I know the truth I wont expect the hype, right?) Once they get everything "straightened out" I should start to see a benefit in traveling... I pray....

I pray to God that they are not all the same..... I really, really, really want to be a travel RN. I'm looking for new company and praying that I wont go through this again!!