callacodebrown

I am a PHRN at Jeffstat- They may be starting another class soon for PHRNs. If one gets off the ground- I will most definitely post the details.

I am a second generation nurse. I grew up with a nurse as a mom. I liked the flexibility the nursing offered. My mom worked nights and it was like she never worked. I knew that someday I was probably going to be a mom and I wanted to give my kids the greatest thing I could give them---my presence! I think nursing is a great way to have a career and not have to work full-time. I liked science and people--and unlike many people I have no right to complain because I knew what I was getting into from the get-go.

It's obvious that this is a very sensitive issue. But, I guess the only thing I worry about from my limited nursing perspective-is that I value my right to refuse to care for a pt. Just the way I value the right of my african-american collegues to refuse to care for a drunk, physcotic pt making racial slurs. If a pt insults me, or threatens me, or hates me for whatever reason-I value the fact that I can say-I don't want to take care of that pt. My sister-in-laws father is non-prosecuted pedifile. I can't tell you how much I hate that man. If he came into my ER, I think I would ask another nurse to take care of him because I don't think I could without getting emotionally involved. The fact that my collegues would take over without too many questions is commendable. Because I would do it for them. I just don't want hospitals to install policies that takes that freedom away from us. But, it has to work both ways. If we have that right, than pts should have some sort of say as well> If just say that I had no problem taking care of my sister's father, but he a problem with me, I think that he should be able to voice that. I think that if a pt feels that his nurse's judgement may be compromised-for what ever ridiculous, idiotic or emotional reason, even if we as providers know it is not true, and have tried to explain that--as many people have posted that they have and have successfully turned the situation around-than they need to find another nurse if available. I don't like it. But I don't want my supervisor to say to my african-american collegues that they HAVE to take care of a blatently racist pt who they don't want to take care of.

I just want to thank everyone for their responses. It is something that just infuriates me. That I, as a health professional, was treated so poorly-not once but by 2 different ob/gyn groups. I think it is reasonable to expect some discomforts during pregnancy--but it should not be dibilitating. Sometimes I think that some physicians---if they don't have the evidence--the urine, the DOCUMENTED weight loss--they just don't believe the pt and just think they are crazy. Yes, I was extremely emotional when I was pregnant--but I wasn't lying! Or delusional! I see it as well when they think somebody is drug seeking. They mark off someone's pain as pretend because just because the prilimary tests come back negative--- like this person ALWAYS comes to our hospital--for their doctors, for their deliveries and for other minor ER visits such as stiches...now they are year--they haven't been to our ER in over 2 years and eveyother visit has been completely founded--yet, NOW they are pretending. It's easy to pick up a mental case--its when they have been to the ER in 17 times in the last year! I frequently find that sometimes when I am a pt--or when my husband is that Doctors don['t like me because I know we have options...And I don't think they like that. For example, my husband has depression. We went to see somebody because he was no longer getting out of bed to go to work in the morning. I knew he was having problems before that--but it was only after it got to that point that he sought help. The physciatrist said that he wasn't depressed and we were in need of marriage counciling because we had only been married for 6 months. WHAT?!?!?!? Even if we did need counciling-he still wasn't getting out of bed==that's not normal!

Hearing this breaks my heart--it seem en vogue to have your baby delievered either at home or a non-medical facility by midwives. I have never been able to understand why so many people do this when so much can go wrong. It just doesn't seem worth the risk to me.

I had severe hyperemesis/anorexia with both my pregnancies. I kept telling my OBs that I was sick (I am a nurse) and no one ever believed me--they told me to try crackers. When I finally got severe, they asked for a urine specimen----considering I hadn't pee'd in 2 days, I told them it just wasn't possible. I had to go to the ER to get any help. In my second pregnancy I couldn't get any help before I got to the point where I needed hospitalization again. My problem was I was hospitalized by my 8th week both times. I told them I had weight loss-they just waved me off saying my weight was fine---Yeah, its fine now-but I was fat before! After discharge, I even had to lie to them to get them to refill the most wonderful drug on the face of the planet---Reglan. It was horrible. I couldn't work..I layed on my grandmothers couch for 4 months. I once told my OB/GYN that I just felt "debiliated." She told me that pregnancy is not a disability. I am an ER nurse I see it all the time. Women come in ill, dehydrated and they just brush it off and say that they are just in need of a phych consult. The fact that I have given them 3 liters and they haven't pee'd yet doesn't even phase them. The fact that they have no urinalysis to confirm or deny doens't seem to matter either. And it isn't just one doctor--its a lot of them. I've seen them do the same to pregnant women that come in complianing of pain. RUQ pain---oh she just has heart burn. Well, have you done anything to check out her gallbladder---no. Can any of you OB nurses help me understand? What do they know that I don't?

I completely agree. I don't thinks the laws are harch towards nurses--I think the laws are not adequate towards physicians.

I do agree that age and gender discrimination does not affect a person the way race discrimination can. I just had a situation last week where there was a pt who was a little crazy and drunk. Another nurse who was african american walked in to take vital signs and the slurs he was making was up there with David Duke. She and I were both shocked and she said that she didn't want to go back in the room-I completely understood and took care of the man so she wouldn't have to. I guess I just don't understand why an african american would want to take care of such an abusive pt. I didn't even want to take care of him.

I do think we need to overhall our public persona. Have you ever noticed that when ever the media has a special report about something affecting people's health--they only ever show doctors interviewed. Have you ever noticed that when the media has a "medical reporter" it is either someone with NO medical background or a DR of medicine. As I recall from my nursing history class, public education and community awareness of wellness issues was first taken on by a nurse in the beginning of the last century in NY city by a NURSE, Lilian Bard I think her name was. I don't know what has happened to us since--but I think it is within our relm of practice and should be taken back.

I agree that top level management is usually a bunch of people that are far removed from the bedside---including nurses that have worked their way there. But I do believe that once a nurse--always a nurse. I would rather have a nurse there who has at least been in our shoes (even if it was decades ago) than some professional number crunching, golf-playing CEO.

I am a nurse at Abington Hospital (as well as mcp). Abington is a lovely hospital that really puts it patients first. It's like a hotel. Almost every room is priivate. They rely on their community for support--especially financially. They do tend to take the attitude that the "customer is always right." As an ER nurse in a hospital where everybody thinks they are somebody (for one reason or another), I am quite familiar with the way they want to keep their "customers" happy. I have been ordered out of patients room because I was too young. A guy who was having chest pain told me to go away and find him a nurse who wasn't just "some kid" I was quite happy to becauset the last thing I want to do is take care of a pt that instantly hates me for something I can't help. I also think it is a matter of safety. I can't say what happened was right. But it is interesting, my mother (who is also a nurse there) just showed me the new policy and it prevents bias in pt assignments,,,,but there is no mention of gender discrimination.

i wanted to thank hello nurse from texas for that link to that awesome article! i agree with the false pretense of the "nursing shortage." i have worked in icu for 5 years now. i have seen so many nurses come and go. where do they go? out of the hospital of course. they get their 1 year of critical care experience and head out for the comfy jobs of the insurance companies or drug companies. they take their experience and branch off into schools or go for thier msn --anything to advoid bedside nursing! not only is the lifestyle reportedly better, it pays better with better benefits--does that make sense? from my understanding, mcp had traditionally been a nice place to work. it was sold to allegheny (that where the spiral began as i am told by my fellow nurses who have worked their for years.) tenet was suppose to be the "big savior" ---but they soon showed their true colors. for hospitals to survive, (especially in the philadelphia area where there are countless nursing schools) they need to be competative. and not just with other hospitals. the staff nurses who work at mcp could easily find better jobs (in all aspects) at one of the many hospitals in the area. tenet seems to be missing this. if there are any of you out there who is more familiar with tenet, maybe you could answer me this: there has been lots of rumors here that they may be trying to close down the hospital and blame it on the nurses. i have recieved emails from my union that our trauma docs moved over to hanamen ( i can't spell) and others may be going as well. has tenet ever done this in the past?

I just want to clarify. MCP is willing to pay us for our mandated time--straight time. Unless it is over 40 hrs/wk. But I am part-time...or at least I was under the old contract if you see what I mean. They also had in the rejected contract that inorder to tap into our sick time we had to use 5 vacation days for sick time first. If you want to help with our cause, we have an email set up [email protected]. They would really appreciate hearing from you.

One more thing, I read a couple of negative reports about MCP. I worked at a "magnent" hospital for 4 years before going to MCP and I can honestly say that MCP is equal if not arguably better with the quality of their nurses. Many of the staff nurses I work with are MSNs. Can you say that for your hospital? But I will say that the magnent hospital's administration treated thier nurses much better.

I am a nurse at MCP, and yes, we are on strike. Tenet has flown scabs from all over the country to man the hospital. The other union of ancillaries will be walking out on the 24th of November. The contract was really sad. It was horrible. Nurses who have been there for years and years were in tears. They want to be able to mandate us without restriction up to 16 hrs every time we work--with out financial compensation. THAT IS JUST UNSAFE! I am a mother with small children and I work nights-I frequently don't get to sleep before I go to work. They want carte blanche meaning that everytime I go to work, I could possibly end up staying until 3pm. As I said before, THAT IS JUST UNSAFE.