Kiwidanni

How about "I am your Dad's nurse, and his wishes were bla bla bla, which I am legally and morally bound to abide by. I'm sorry that you are in this situation and understand you are grieving but I must do what your dad wanted".

How about simple and to the point for those who don't get subtle niceties. I find "please stay home if you are sick" works quite well.

I hope that for those whom hospital induced paralysis is an issue use some assertiveness in dealing with such patients. I'm sure the ones that complain, because you say to them "You are capable of wiping your own bottom, now I have to go and do XXXX. Let me know if you need anything that you can't do yourself" and treat them well accordingly without pandering, are few and far between. I've had elderly gentlemen ask me to wash their genital area for them when they can do it themselves, and my response is "I'll do your back and your feet, you can do all the inbetween bits" and they do understand you are just calling them on their BS. Don't stand for it, and you won't have to keep doing it.

Do your ER's not have private rooms? Or proper beds? Cos ours sure do. There are stretchers for resus and quick visits, and proper rooms with proper beds if they are needed. Why send a patient to an already crowded floor if the ER can handle it?

Don't know about the first poster, but I cover sick calls, or shifts where the unit is over loaded and they need more staff.

I do casual and could certainly turn it into a full time job if I wanted to, I'm offered that many shifts. And that's just in one small unit. I've just been taking weekened shifts at the moment though. WIll take more next year I guess.

All firefighters do is rescue cats from trees.

"I'm sorry, I'm busy right now, though I can show your wife where the kitchen is and she can make the tea for you, and for herself while she's at it".

If this project was so important, then you should have done it earlier. Thus, my response is: do your work the way you are supposed to in a timely fashion. Nurses need to learn good time management or they (and their patients) suffer the consequences. The consequence this time may be that you fail a paper and have to re-submit it. Better than not learning time management and prioritisation and having much more dire consequences/

Hmm most of the doctors where I work introduce themselves: "I'm Sam, one of the doctors with the renal service" (for example). Same in other hospitals in my city.

Even those who have practised for a long time know that this advice is rubbish. Check your drugs before you give them ... that's advice worth following. Not "meh, don't worry if you make a mistake, cos the dr will cover your butt".

Just because I do all the "right things" at the "right times" doesn't mean I want a camera on me while I'm doing it. How can you properly establish a rapport with a patient and their family if you are being filmed doing it? Additionally, what about a patients right to privacy, and the families right to be as normal as possible in an already stressful situation. If a family is struggling with a very sick child, they don't need to be filmed while they cry at the childs bedside. And a child of 10 years of age doesn't need to be filmed being sponge bathed either. Camera's should be utilised only when there IS a problem, not because there might be one somewhere, some time, for some people.

Surely you are morally obliged to report abuse regarless of what the law says?

Any incidence which leads to a mass of patients.

So I always wondered with the "K" stood for in EKG - considering it's an electroCardiogram (we call it - more accurately - an ECG here in NZ). Today I wiki'd it and discovered that the K is for the german version ... electroKardiogram. So congratulations America on randomly adopting a Germanism instead of sticking with the English version lol.

You can treat patients equally well without treating them 'the same'. No two people are the same, thus no two people will ever be treated the same. But that doesn't mean they are inequal, and I guess that's what the "treat patients all the same" idea is getting at.

Umm shouldn't patient teaching be interactive, rather than speechy?

A majority of teen mums (Kiwi version of mom) drop their kids on the grandparents? Really? A majority? So more than half of teen mums rely on their parents to raise their kids? Strange, because as a former teen mum and a friend of many other teen mums, I don't know of any (bar one cousin who is now pregnant at 18) has given their baby to their parents to raise. Help and support, yes, but not full time care. And most parents I know rely on help and support from other people including their parents, not just teens. As for the ignorance factor, it is my belief that a lot of ignorance stems more from the "it won't happen to me" syndrome that most teens suffer from. Most teens, unless completely sheltered, realise that you get pregnant from having sex. Most will know what sex is. Most will use protection whilst having sex. Of those who don't, most will be thinking "It won't happen to me". And if pregnant teens are ringing and saying that they are having tummy pains and are leaking fluid, then IMO, their medical caregivers have FAILED in providing adequate information about what is to come.

This, plus start looking at your other options so you don't feel "optionless" if you don't get the position you want.

ALL NICU/Paeds patients fluids when through a pump anyway so doesn't matter what size bag. Just depends on the hang time vs how much you are using as to what size bag you would use because of wastage.

Hehe can you imagine if a NURSE pulled this one when asked to start an IV? "No thanks Dr, I've already done 10 this week and don't feel like practicing any more".

yes, because sick people shouldn't be treated because they have no money. Only those with money deserve to recieve healthcare. Revolting attitude.

Bah I can't stand the idea of "user pays" when it comes ot health care. Why should kids suffer because their parents don't have a decent income? Health care should be free for all. The rich or even reasonable income earners shouldn't have better "choice" and greater likelihood of health care than those who can't afford decent insurance. The healthiest nations, those with the highest "livibility" that rank highest in all wellness factors are those that have free healthcare for all. The day that health became a "for profit" business, is the day that humanity took a back seat to money. It disgusts and angers me that hospitals are run as businesses expected to make a profit. It turns healthcare into hospitality and gives those with money greater options than those without. Equal opportunity healthcare is the way to go and while money has to be a factor, it shouldn't be at the individual level. Parents should not have to chose their home or debt for the rest of their lives to save the life of a child. Bah I could go on about this for hours and hours. GRRR GRRR GRRR.

I've spent time on a postnatal ward where a room was left with a used sanitary pad stuck to the wall. Teenaged boys sure don't do that. But just because other people can also be gross, doesn't mean teenaged boys aren't gross.

RN in New Zealand. All hospitals have the same rate that increases depending on experience that is graded into 'levels'. Starting rate: $40k per year. After about 6 years - roughly $60k per year.