wildboo

Stating as fact that Ebola is not transmitted by air is not true. It is the media hype. If you are to read outside of the mainstream media, you would see that there are GENUINE concerns for the rest of us. As an ER nurse, a flight nurse, and one who spends a considerable time doing commercial travel, I am concerned about a great many things coming into this country, and why I travel with a mask. Multiple N95 masks in my carry on bag now. As a medic I have been shot at, assaulted and on one occasion, held hostage by a patient. As an ER nurse I have been verbally assaulted thousands of times, had exposures to pertussis six times in ONE YEAR, and been exposed to active TB, all in the name of "helping people." Trust me when I say, I did not sign up for many of those things! Whatever you think my motives are, I have risked my life many times, for abysmal pay, in very dangerous situations, and I wasn't a combat medic. I don't want to die a horrible death because our government is careless or doesn't tell us the whole story. How wonderful that so many of you are willing to lay your life down for your patients. I'm betting you have never actually had those people try to kill you while you tried to care for them. I agree with other posters who do not apologize for not wanting to put their families and loved ones at risk either. You poo-poo AIDS now, but there was a time there was no treatment whatsoever except to put those patients in isolation and have them die. Ever get a needle stick? Those nurses are TERRIFIED for weeks and months, even while they get preventative treatment for AIDS, and that is in 2014. And those pills make them terribly, violently ill. So please, don't discount our legitimate fears about something that has no known treatment and no known cure, and is 80% fatal, even now. Here is an article about the CDC's concerns that they aren't sharing with the public: » CDC Concerned About Airborne Transmission of Ebola Virus Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

I agree with what most of the other posters are saying. It probably has little to nothing to do with past transgressions and everything to do with the job market. I've been out of work for more than a year, and, after finally getting interviews, people very enthusiastically tell me they will "DEFINITELY get back to me one way or the other" or "Within a few days" and I never hear a word from them, not even a rejection letter. Or, after weeks I finally get the "You have such wonderful experience and a great background but we couldn't be less interested in you" letter. And I have NO "criminal" background to speak of. Not that I think you're paranoid, but I think that any HR person worth their salt, if they saw convictions for misdemeanors from 25 years ago and nothing since on a background check, would consider you a good risk. Especially since you (presumably) hold an unrestricted nursing license in good standing. My personal feeling is that I keep my business my business, especially from an employer, since I don't like to buy trouble. I thing you could do (but I wouldn't recommend) is disclose to en employer your youthful discretion and they would know in advance. I think that is overkill, since, again, as many have stated, most employers are looking for felony and abuse convictions. It is a tight market, especially for nurses, even with lots of experience. Hang in there! Have you looked into traveling? That might be a good option. Get out of your small town and see the country. Please don't let some bad decisions a half a lifetime ago keep you from loving your job and growing in it!!

Yeah, that's all fine and dandy if you're only licensed in one state. But, if you're a traveler like I am, and am license in eight states (and counting) and have to do continuing education in about half of those, my costs are about $1000 a year just for licensing alone, not counting certifications, CEUs et al. I would KILL to pay $100 a year!

I don't think that care givers would fall under the Nurse Practices Act because of the fact that there is no remuneration, i.e. no duty to act. If you are working at a facility and a can gives a shot and they are not licensed to do so, there can be serious consequences, which may be why there is a problem with the school nurse teaching unlicensed personnel to give insulin injections. But, family members give meds at home all the time - insulin, allergy shots, rectal valium for seizures in peds patients etc. There are even patients being sent home on inotropic drugs, which we normally only see in the ICU. If patients can be sent home with a PICC and start their own antibiotic infusions after a consultation with a home infusion nurse, I'm not sure I see the problem. Is your problem the fact that the med is IM or that it is Haldol in addition to the myriad meds this patient is on?

I agree. The current BSN is useless unless you were an RN first, who then went and finished the degree. If you just started nursing school and got a four year BSN, they teach you virtually no practical skills. What good is an RN who can't start an IV, drop and NG or put in a foley? I just taught an IV class to a group of LTC nurses and one RN told me that she has NEVER put in an IV and NEVER was allowed to do any skills in nursing school, and she went to school in a large school in Minneapolis! I may be biased because I was a paramedic first, and for paramedic training, you had X number of skills you had to do in addition to the 800 hours of clinical time, and if those skills weren't done, it didn't matter if you had 1000 hours of time in, you continued to do clinical time until your skills were complete. We intubated pts in the OR, changed dressings in the burn unit, did hands-on in L&D, did hundreds of hours in the ER, and all before we were allowed to ride on the ambulance. My nursing school clinicals were beyond a waste of time. Nursing school didactic is fine for teaching NCLEX exam skills, but clinical time would be better served doing actual skills, not observations. One bed bath, one turning a pt. Check, on to the next thing, not wasting weeks on end handing out pills. You should follow the wound nurse, or the ostomy nurse, and do rotations where actual skills are performed, like IVs, IMs, drug pushes, CPR, NGs, foleys and the like. Otherwise, you set up the new grads to fail. One of my nursing instructors said this, "I don't know WHY nursing students think they should be able to start IVs and put in foleys when they graduate nursing school!" Um, because that's EXACTLY what they should be expected to know when they graduate! You expect your mechanic to be able to fix your car when HE graduates from school, right? Why is this different?

That isn't always true. It depends on what kind of system you're on. If your facility is still charting on paper (like ours) the pt gets charged as soon as a med gets pulled from pyxis, NOT when it is charted as given epic or another med charting system. So yes, the mere act of pulling a med would charge a pt. So, if this RN is puling the med under the pt, that pt is getting charged, and that is theft. If she is also charting that it is being given, not only I that fraud, but it is also tampering with a medical record, which is an entirely different matter. Either way, management should be notified, because diversion of medication any medication from a pt can cause you to lose your license. Not a risk I would want for mucinex!

I'm not sure that what the other poster said is strictly true. It may be true that hospitals are laying off IV teams etc, but with the changing climate in healthcare where hospitals are pushing people out sooner and LTC facilities are taking sicker pts, and more things are being done at home, I think your idea has traction. As to how to go about it, that I don't know. Fee schedules and things at hospitals are usually proprietary, so you may have to work up your own (unless you have an inside man in a hospital business office who might "slip" you some fee ideas). I work IV therapy for a company that does LTC facilities and we are now going to start doing midlines on site. So, don't give up!

I'm sorry, but that's just too funny to not say something!

What a bummer way to start your career! So, sit down and have a good cry. In fact, cry for a day or two (I'm a cryer). Then, take a deep breath and say, "This is just a JOB! J O B JOB!" Yes, you need one to pay bills, but no job is worth what that one put you through. You never want to be put in a position where you will a) wreck your health, b) almost kill somone or c) ACTUALLY kill someone! You WILL find a place that suits you. Also realize that even in a good job, you work with jerks, you will be understaffed sometimes, you will transport patients to Guam (isn't there another nurse in the unit with working legs??), you'll sometimes get your butt kicked up and down the unit and, what on Earth is a lunch break? I don't think I've had one since 1999! I still regularly work 14-18 hour days. Sometimes I have to cover a unit 100 miles from where I live and do the 15 hour day! But, I work with great people (a few jerks, but hey, God was pretty liberal with the sprinkling). It may take awhile, but you'll find a place much better suited for you. And, you'll learn to find your balance so you can actually spend time caring for your patients, and not just chasing paperwork and lab reports. Take heart my dear, we ALL get kicked! I just did a rapid response assignment a few months ago, and there were several dozen, well-seasoned nurses drinking down in the bar because we had all had the very same terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad day. Every. Last. One. And I got there late, so I missed the first wave. You are in fabulous, beautiful company :)

I think they want to know if you can trouble shoot your defibrillator. If you've never used one, this can be a difficult question to answer. Here is what I would say. Assuming your pt needs a shock, a) check and see if you are in defib mode. B) make sure your connectors aren't still in "test" mode. (This is how you test your batteries in the morning so the dump the charge. Sometimes people forget to reconnect them to the defib pads. D'oh! Happens all the time) and c) swap batteries. Those al the most likely culprits for a defib failure. Hope that helps !

It sounds like this is a moot point, but I will throw in my two cents worth anyway. I have had several occasions where I have been interviewed by risk management, the NSA and even the FBI because of my involvement with patients in my care, and I have never, repeat NEVER had anyone harangue or harass me or interview me over the phone. Period. If this person calls you again, I would insist on answering questions in person at your facility, where you have your chart available to consult. I don't know your situation, but don't let them bully you. I have never been the target of an investigation, but even being a witness or on the periphery can be very stressful (FBI anyone?) and you do have some say in how you are questioned. Being on the phone can allow you to be recorded without your consent, and that is bad, not to mention, illegal, and it's not like she would tell you she's doing it. In. Person. Only.

Hate to break it to you, but "free" clinics still get subsidized by the government, and that's how the staff in those clinics get paid. Very few clinicians can afford to work for free, even if they have altruistic intentions. You can be sure that those clinics won't absorb all of those extra patients either. The ERs will, making busy and crowded departments even worse.

Honestly, I don't know. Possibly in clinics. MDs in clinics have reams of paperwork that they do every day just to deal with insurance issues. One thing that has started changing in med schools is the addition of business classes. There used to be little need for those types of skills, as office managers dealt with the day-to-day running of things. Now doctors must deal with many aspects of insurance and billing. I work (and have always worked) in a hospital, so that's a good question. I would think that would be impractical. But, in dialysis clinics I have covered, RNs do coding and billing as part of their daily charting, so, who knows. As of yet, I haven't seen any shift, but then these big changes are just getting started, so who knows what extra "duties as assigned" will be given to us? Maybe billing and coding will be part of the RN pre-reqs!

Paying doctors the same amount doesn't help, it hurts. Doctors will leave practice, and people will become generalists instead of specialists, which hurts all of us. Tell me, when you have chest pain or are in labor, do you go to a podiatrist? Of course not. If you had to go to med school and then 10 years of surgical training to be a cardiothrocic surgeon amd earn $100,000, or go to medical school and 3 years of training to be a family practitioner and earn a $100,000 which would you choose? Assuming you're a nurse, would you work your butt off to go through nursing school, clinicals, boards and assuming the legal responsibility that you do if you and the CNA or the housekeeper made the same $7/hr? Absurd? Well, so is paying each doctor regardless of training, speciality or liability. OB and ER docs have some of the highest malpractice insurance (our ER doc pays over $100,000 year for his) and OB is even higher. Podiatry probably has some of the lowest. Why would I assume the same risk for so much less reward? What starts with docs will filter to nurses. Also, when docs leave, why do you need nurses? No clinic, no nurse. If nursing starts to pay that way, I'm out. Presumably you go into nursing not just to help people, but as a career move, better pay. I like my job, but I have to eat too.

THAT is what "assistance" is for - to assist you to get off of welfare. Most people who go to college receive some form of assistance. The difference is, we are required to pay it back. I also paid for nursing school - through my JOB. That was one of the benefits of working there. I too, come from a single parent home, and a mother who worked 3 jobs so we were never on welfare. I also spent most of my 20s without health insurance, even though I had a job. I just paid cash for my appointments and meds if needed. Don't think it didn't kill me to pay $100 for PenVK, because it did. I didn't buy groceries that month. What I resent is the fact that I have 3 degrees (for which I paid and am still paying) and still have to work 3 jobs (to pay for my education and just to live) and and able bodied 25 y/o gets to benefit with his medical, rent, food, cell phone (yes, they get them free now) and I (and everyone else who has a J O B pays for it. You, my friend, are in the minority I'm afraid. You have pride and drive, and many of these people don't. And when you work in the ER and see your medicaid pt with their bedazzled cell phone and their mani/pedis with the fake nails on their toes, and you're working your 5th 12 in a row, you'll get a little resentful too. I believe in society taking care of their elderly, infirm and those who truly cannot fend for themselves, and there are scores out there. I also believe what God said in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 "If a man does not work, neither shall he eat." Not true for those unable, SO true when I hear you talking about how you spend $300 on your Coach purse and you pull out a medicaid card!

I'm sorry, what are all of these "polls" you are referring to where American's "want" higher taxes?? You mean want higher taxes on RICH people, not on the rest of us. They already pay the most taxes, and are paying for most of this "free" healthcare you keep touting. Did you know that 55% of Americans don't even PAY taxes? I for one, don't want to pay any more money to the government, expecially for something I don't even want to buy, let alone am forced to or be penalized. And by the way, we don't have rationed healthcare in this country. They DO have it in places like Canada and England, which you are all free to go and visit and see how wonderfully that is working out for them. I am Canadian, and I am lucky I was even born. My mother was fortunate to get an OB, as she found out early in the year she was pregnant. Doctors did then (and do now) have only so many pts a year they take on. If they are full in Jan, you are pretty screwed. She labored for 48 hours in a HALLWAY because there were no rooms, and even though she needed a C-section, she couldn't, because there was no qualified doctor to do one. None. Not for 400 miles. Out. Of. Luck. Oh, and 10 years ago my father died of cancer at 55 because they said, "You've had your chemo and radiation. We're sorry, but that's all you get." What he had was treatable, and he would have gotten a second round (or third) here, but with his "free" healthcare, you get what you pay for. If Free Coverage For All is so great, who do all of the world leaders get their care here, instead of their OWN country? You think nursing pay sucks now and jobs are hard to get? Wait until more docs leave the profession and more hospitals shut down. Hospitals and doctor's offices don't employ people when they aren't open. Marks my words. This will be the downfall of our profession. And new grads whine now....

OK, have you ever LIVED in a place with socialized medicine or "healthcare for all"? I have, and folks, it aint pretty! I am 41 and was born in Canada. When I was born, there was no, "Will you breast feed or bottle feed"? It was "You WILL breast feed, wheather you (or your body) wants to!" My mother produced no milk, and for weeks, I barely ate. Nurses at this time made home visits to all new mothers. When my mother, sleep-deprived and worried sick about my not being able to eat, the nurse told her I looked "too healthy" to have not had any formula (which was only available by RX) and searched the house for contriband formula! This is not science fiction, or an isolated incident. I was hospitilzed a day later for failure to thrived due to my mother's inability to produce milk because she had been so sick during her pregnancy. Having formula without a RX was a jailable offence like buying oxy on the street corner! And death panels? How about being told how many cancer treatments you can have? My father, who lived in Toronto, was diagnosed with AML in 1998. He had chemo, radiation and a BMT. When, during a routine exam they found a cancerous tumor again, he was told, "You have had your allotted treatments." That's right. Allotted treatments. For the record, he was 55. He was then transferred to a hospital closer to his home, and died a month later. I too, am an ER nurse, and I too, struggle with my medical bills, but at least I'm allowed to go to the doctors I want. In Canada, there are waiting lists for YEARS just to get a GP or an OB. Think I'm making this up? Just do 5 minutes of research. Thank your lucky stars you even have the option to run up bills. My dad didn't even have a choice in the matter. In Scotland, the nurse in the ER decides if you are even sick enough to see the MD. Miscarriage? Well, as we know, before 20 wks we can't do anything anyway, so why see the MD? OR waste the money to see you in the ER, as we won't "fix" anything. If the bleeding won't stop after 2 days, come back and then you might get to see the MD. As Americans, we have it so good, we don't even know how good we have it! Even the poorest of our poor are still better off than 80% of the rest of the world, who live on about 50 cents a day. Perhaps we should count our blessings just a bit more??

I believe the President way over-stepped his bounds! That is why we have a checks-and-balances system, to avoid this kind of thing. Otherwise, it makes our "president" a dictator, which he seems intent on being. Forcing people to buy government-sponsored health insurance (which congress and government officials, of course, aren't made to buy) and then charging them a penalty if they don't buy it? My hospital offers me health insurance. I take it, because I need it. But, I have the option to decline it, even though it would leave me uninsured. Stupid? Yes, but still my choice as a free citizen of this country. My money, my choice. The government SHOULD pay more attention to how they spend OUR money, but has no business, right or authority telling a private company what it should do with theirs.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for that! I LOVE my country, but healthcare, (free or otherwise,) is NOT A right! Nor is education and many other things we in this country have gotten used to. There is a difference between a privilidge and a right, and people forget that. We are so fortunate in this country, people begin to think one is the same as the other. I'm a nurse, so of course, I support good healthcare. Health care insurance is a benefit not mandatory, like your pay. How long until we lose that, because the government forces companies, and they say, "too much hassel"?

Here's the thing: I work for a Catholic hospital and I am not Catholic. It frustrates me to no end that they don't pay for BCP unless it is for "health reasons", but they will pay for things like Viagra for men. BUT, do you REALLY want the government dictating what religious affiliations MUST do? I mean, as recently as 35 years ago, the government was STERILIZING people against their will (the last state was in NC in 1973) when they thought people "might be or were promiscuous women". I'm sorry. It frustrates me that I have to go an extra step and have the doctor write "for regulation of heavy period" on the rx. BUT, no one put a gun to my head and forced me to work at this hospital. I had a choice, and this was where I chose, knowing what the Catholic belief system is. And, it's apples and oranges comparing pregnancy to diabetes. Pregnancy is a choice, diabetes isn't. It isn't like someone with Type I woke up and said, "Hey, I think I'll try and get diabetes today!". There is also more than one choice for birth control than oral contraceptives (like condoms) as we all know. I'm the first one to stand in line and say I'm tired of paying for the irresponsibility of others! But, are THOSE the people who would be utilizing those services (i.e. who have a JOB with INSURANCE from these institutions?) Um, no, don't think so. These are the same morons who could be having sex on a CASE of condoms and still get pregnant, so that's not really a valid argument. Same for the abortion argument. Those of us who are responsible (and employed) are not the ones wasting the tax dollars and having all of the unwanted pregnancies. And, seriously, with so many generic BCP, they are between $4-$9/mo, so, again, not terribly relevant.

NurseMike. Please do not misunderstand my post. I am NOT in ANY WAY excusing the horrific behavior of that triage nurse. You are absolutely correct in that every kind of nursing has its own kind of stress. My only point is that triage is that a unique kind of stress that can be difficult to understand if you have never experienced the job. There have been times, as a triage nurse, that I have given exceptional care. There have also been times (and I am not proud of this) that I have not given it my all. Not because I don't care, but becase of the overwhelming demands on my time (not demanding patients, just the demands of the job in general). But, and I want to stress this, at no time, even under the worst of circumstances, have I failed to treat a person like a human being, which is what that nurse sounded like she did. Your poor treatment is not in despute. That nurse is in the wrong, and I still think you should complain to the hospital. Frankly, I'm not sure the media would care, but management will.

As an ER nurse (who sometimes works triage) let me say I am truly sorry for your experience. I am very pro-patient and pro-nurse, and I know I will take some heat for this, but I have a few comments. First, I'm glad you had such wonderful care and attention for your "ambulance attendants". This being said, perhaps you could show them the respect they have certainly earned by their education and licensure and call them paramedics (I am also a LICENSED paramedic as well). Ambulance Attendants are people who put patients in the back of a car and then go up front and drive. Paramedics are licensed personnel who make medical decisions about care. Attendants stopped being used 40 years ago. There is no excuse for your treatment in the ER. I have been on all sides: as a medic waiting in line with a patient with a AAA and an OR waiting, as a patient, as a family member and patient advocate and nurse. I've also been a triage nurse in an ER that sees more than 350 patients a day. Unless you have tried to weed out actual sick people from those just looking for 3 hots and a cot, or been the sole care taker of 15 sick patients in a room designed to hold only 3, and more keep coming through the door, you will never understand the stress involved. I agree with those who said you missed the opportunity to "out" yourself as a nurse and get better treatment. Unfortunately, sometimes we don't get the help we need unless we start bugging people. I think you should definitely send that letter. I would imagine that you wouldn't be the first person to have complained about that nurse, and the only way to get these people out of those jobs is to have enough patient complaints. In addition, I think that a letter of praise would be in order for the medics who took care of you. I would though, Use the term Paramedic or EMT (whichever they were) and NOT Ambulance Attendant :) Notes of praise are few and far between and this crew sounds like they deserve it. If you do indeed send the letter to the hospital, let us know the outcome, will you?

Attention all nurses, CNAs and Techs out there! I could really use your help for a project I'm doing about how we as staff can affect change, and how changes made by people (like managers, CEOs, VPs etc) affect the staff below them. In a perfect world (your NCLEX General, if you will) what things would you like to see? For example, does it make to crazy that every bedrail requires an engineering degree to use? Fracture pans only make changing the sheets inevtivatable? Is there a piece of equipment that you will use only as a last resort because it is such a nightmare? What would you change/add/subtract and why? Here are some examples of how employees affect change: When Boeing was designing their 777, they asked all kinds of crew members to help in the design. One thing that's differerent in that plane than the one's before it is the toilet seat. The flight attendants noted that on landing, the toilet seat always slammed down. So, on this new design, the seats are on hydraulics so when the plane pitches forward, the seat slowly goes down so as not to make noise. For those of you in peds: If you've ever used an IV house, you might know it was designed by a St. Louis nurse who originally made the little "houses" out of medicine cups she cut in half. That's how the idea started. From management: Fed Ex management designed forms for all of their curriers. Great form that tore on the left hand side. Only problem? All of the equipment was designed to make it so the form would be easiest to tear from the RIGHT hand side. No one bothered to actually ask the people who had to use it! So, what would YOU change in your department, big or small? I would love to hear your ideas!

Please don't change your mind! Her response was probably part bitterness and part a dose of reality. That said, things change all the time. When I graduated 5 years ago, they were offering $6000 sign-on bonuses and were so short they didn't know what to do. Two years later, with the economic downturn, those same hospitals cut out their loan repayment AND educational reimbursement programs. I live in an area where jobs are tight, but not every area is like that, and nurses will always be in demand. The demand never deminishes, but hiring does, at times, slow down. But, you haven't even STARTED school yet, and in two years when you're done (or 4) things may be dramatically different. The profession needs compassionate people who are passionate about their jobs, and nursing offers 100 ways to work with people (not just in a hospital setting). Be happy and secure in your decision and focus on your studies. Worry about getting a job when graduation is near. Every experienced nurse started with zero experience. Good luck!

Go for it sister! I started nursing school when I was 34, and was surprised to find I was amongst the youngest in my classes! With age comes experience, and you can't put a value on the confidence that age brings. There are many things that wisdom brings to the table. All of those things that you can only learn by doing, making mistakes and living life. In my classes, I had a banker, a CPA and several grandmothers. I was transitioning from paramedic to nurse, but I wasn't a 20 year old co-ed. Sure, 12 hour shifts may make your knees a bit more sore and take a bit longer to get used to, but that is a silly reason to not go. If this is truly your passion (and it sounds like it is) you would be cheating yourself (and your future patients) if you don't take the plunge. I say jump in with both feet and goo luck!