NurseDirtyBird

I think local culture should be accounted for as well. I live and work in a liberal west coast town, where tattoos and piercings are pretty much de rigueur. I work in an exclusive facility with a very affluent clientele (read "Old School"), and I ha...

Is it possible for an LPN to work in hospice care? I know that LPNs are not legally permitted to "pronounce" death, and I'm wondering if that's a big fat roadblock. I desperately need to be in hospice care. That sounds weird, but it's where my he...

I don't think the issue is the nurse's gender. It's the fact that a mother would willingly give up a 9-10 YO child to a virtual stranger she met the other day. It would be freaky if the nurse in question was female as well.

There are people who post weird scenarios like this on boards in order to get a nasty thrill out of the inevitable discussion about terrible things. I volunteered for a suicide hotline at one point, and every so often we'd get a call from someone wh...

I'm an introvert, kinda awkward and have social anxiety (amongst other things). I am not a "people person;" I got a check-minus on the "plays well with others" part of all my school report cards. But I'm a good nurse. I've never been real friends w...

The community college in my area has an Associate in Pre-Nursing program. It's not nursing school, it's all the prerequisites needed for transferring to a University to enter a BSN program. Maybe your school or another nearby has something similar?

You're absolutely correct. You wouldn't just take someone's word for it when buying a car - you have to test drive it to see if it's really worth it. Same thing with nursing.

Amen! I too, am not a people person, and must put on my "Nursey Face" when I go to work. I never felt "called" to nursing. I felt a need for a career where I could make decent money while consistently learning and working with things that I found ...

I really wish employers had the consideration to let someone know they were rejected, much less the reasons why. I can understand if you have 100 people applying for the same position that it can be a bit daunting, but HR most likely has all of thos...

What in the world does this have to do with anything the OP was talking about? If you have such a bias against LTC nurses, perhaps it would do you some good to walk a mile in our shoes. Let me help: (This is for the majority of LTC facilities - I...

Hey, guess what? This is every SNF everywhere. And hospital. And clinics. Good luck. Deal with managing people's pain, demanding patients and doctors who throw pills at people who won't shut up, or find another profession.

There's a difference between constructive professional criticism and bullying. Constructive criticism details what you did wrong, how you can fix it, and how to avoid it in the future. You learn something. You learn absolutely nothing when nobody ...

This is horrible! Have you considered making judgements of people by their personality and character instead of their looks? I'm a freaking atheist and I still completely agree with Jesus on this: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

I've had a couple MS patients with authorizations. Family brought in food made with added cannabis, no smoking involved. We were able to D/C Ambien because they were able to sleep well as a result of cannabis use, and we saw less PRN muscle relaxan...

Suits and (sensible) pumps for me too. I've never been turned down for a position I interviewed for when I wear them. Conservative is always the way to go for interviews.

Some people consider their job their "calling," but many of us wouldn't do this job if we weren't being paid to do it. It's just like any other job - if the work environment is pleasant and you work with a good team, you can be happy working there. ...

My significant other is a police officer in WA state. They DO have a blood test that determines if someone is currently under the influence, or has smoked/ingested marijuana within the last few hours before the test. Certain metabolites are present...

It was an assisted living facility, so most of the residents had their own full size or larger beds in their rooms. This room belonged to a married couple, so they had a queen size in their room. She'd go in there, sit on the bed between the patien...

I don't work in a clinic, but every time I've been to the doctor and c/o pain (I ask to see my chart), the nurse charts that I have x/10 pain and leave it at that. That's just part of the intake. The provider is then responsible for resolving my pain...

Regarding expletives, when quoting a patient, I always use the exact words they said. I don't use asterisks or blanks because the patient did not state "B- asterisk- asterisk- asterisk- asterisk." I do it for factual accuracy, although putting a swea...

I caught an aide sleeping IN A PATIENT'S BED once. Who does that? Apparently, she'd been disappearing for hours at a time, and we finally found out where she was going. So many things wrong with it! Infection control, violating privacy, and it kin...

Eek! That sounds like a crappy facility all around. To management of a lot of LTC facilities, nurses are basically expendable licenses with a pulse. If you won't take their crap, someone else will, so they get away with it. Get your year of experi...

I worked in a dementia care unit for a while. I had a group of moderately functional residents who were convinced they were on vacation and asked to be shown their "hotel rooms" before they went sight seeing. I walked around the unit with them and ...

Throwing things? I'd call the cops and press charges for assault. That's just me though, I can understand why others wouldn't. But nobody's throwing things and threatening me without consequences.

I had a patient who screamed "Waitress! Waitress!" any time they needed something. To be fair, it was usually "My coffee is cold! I want it taken off my bill!"