pink85

I say find a new place to work! I see a lawsuit in the making!

If you look on line for subscription offers you can find a cheaper rate!

Make a check off list! it really helps. It will cut down on the anxiety and before you know it you will have it memorized!

Oh my! Some of these facilities should be ashamed of theirselves! We had a blessing of the hands by our chaplain, a pizza for lunch day, polo style shirts with our facility name on them, and this was at the hospital where I work. At the elementary school where I work all the kids made me art work, teachers gave me cards and gifts and the principal bought me lunch and so did the PTA on another day. I could not imagine working at a place where I was not valued as a person or a nurse. I am sure that is hurtful. Well, I think you are all AWESOME! HAPPY NURSE'S WEEK!

All I have to sa is I am speechless at what the MA said in the OP. WOW! Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Most states prosecute for impersonating a nurse!

Nope. I dont see a problem. Your facility should have a written policy on this though. Ours does and it states that as long as one is not supervising or managing the other.

I write it off. Plus all my journals, scrubs, etc...

That is what I was thinkng... What is her normal b/p. If you didn't know or this was abnormal for her then the ER was certainly the right think to do. It is better to err on the side of caution. that is what I would want you to do for my family member!

We are a large trauma hospital and ICU beds can be hard to come by sometimes. You have to be half dead to be there! You must be assessed by an ICU doc to be admitted to the ICU. Pretty much how Planeflyer described his situations earlier.

There is a saying. He who calls the cops first wins. I would contact an attorney and make the first move. If you don't protect yourself noone else will.

I am not aware of any where I work.

How about a unit tht is just better organized...

Don't take it but certainly don't stay there. Move on and do your good somewhere elsr. You owe that to yourself.

I am not on any med at this time but some days my back will feel very exhausted. Like it can't hold my body up anymore. I only get that when I try and do distance walking though. I will tell you the injections are different than an epidural, different area. I was realy nervous about it. Not a fan of things being stuck in my back that is why I never had an epidural when in labor! However desperate people do desperate things! LOL! My only advice.... Don't go horseback riding! NOT good for the back with a back injury!!!!! I will say my days for that are over! LOL!

That is the first thing I think of also. Time management. What do you feel is taking a better portion of your day? What generaly causes you to run behind? The nurses that don't run behind, do you know what they are doing differently? Are there things that you can cluster together so you don't have to keep going back to the patients room. Say for instance give all of your 0800,0900, & 1000 meds at once? Just some suggestions.

My question also. What is hcp?

Does your hospital have a social worker that can help? What does the doc say that wrote the prescriptions? Are their generic alternatives? I work at a very large county hospital so our social worker can get a medication voucher to pay for patients 'important' meds.

Yes! That sciatic pain is a killer!!!!!!!!!! No way to sugar coat that one! That pain can not even be described. I had no idea how bad that pain was that people would be talking about! Glad you are doing better yang. The steroid injections is what really helped me!

PT did nothing for me, but that was me. Just check out all of your options. I was dead set that I was going to be out of work for months to have surgery, have to quit my other job, etccc...... very, very depressed, cried a lot. I am sure that one day I will have to have surgey but for now I am pretty good. That pain is horrible. I actually understood how people could od on pain meds. I am grateful to be the 90% pain free that I am. I actually started working out with my trainer again this week. It has been a year. I would get so mad b/c 2 docs I had been to kept trying to tell me that if I strengthened my core I would prevent injury. Well, I worked twice a week, every week with a personal trainer and we did work on my 'core'! I would get so frustrated! Especially when you know better. Keep your head up and remember it is a temporary situation. You will get beter and get back to doing what you love!

this post has been a funny, interesting read! Makes me think about people who say they like ketchup but don't like tomatoes!

No kidding.... If this has happened before why is she still working there and/or even allowed near narcs????

That is so so scarey. Watch ypur back carefully. I feel sorry for the both of you!

Hi Canadian Girl. I have a herniated disk in about the same spot and it WAS pushing on my sciatic nerve. I never knew pain could be that bad and i had 3 kids with no pain med! I ended up having steroid injections in my back and it really helped. I work on a very busy cardiac floor and i have minimal issues now. I had this injury in January of 08 and it took many months to get to the right doc with a treatment besides surgery, I think I spent 4 months doing nothing but sitting and sleeping in a recliner! Very depressing! Anyway, why do you think you have to give up your job? I know many nurses that have had back surgery and problems and have worked successfully afterwards. Is surgery your only option? I am like you, very active, hate to sit still! I would have died if I had to stop acute care! Granted some days are hard and I can be sore at the end of the day but usually after a good nights rest and some motrin I am good. I just try not to bend over to much if I don"t have to! I still help lifting and turning patients too. My co workers are very good and tell me not to, I and lucky and they are very supportive of me, but I am not one to sit by and watch. Plus, my damage is done! I had steroid injections in my back that helped me. It took three tries for it to work though. The third time he said he was going to inject the area above and below the herniation instead of just one and that did the trick. Eight months without major issues! Good luck to you and I hope it all works out. I hope you don't have to have surgery but I know I was at a point before that I was hurting so much that I wanted surgery so it could be over with. I hope everything works out foe the best.

Sounds like a mess. Since we don't really know the situation you should speak with upper mgmnt at your facility and go up from there. Go to jcaho or your state work force commission.

Our charge never takes patients. Thank goodness for this site. I always griped about our unit but I have learned that we have it pretty darned good on a lot of things from Christmas bonus to staffing!