Smarty Pants

I am not YET a nurse, but, I do work in a hospital as a Phlebotomist (graduate to be an RN in MAY!!!!) Anyways, our hospital has had sooo many cuts in the last year. First it started with the 'administration' big wigs, backstabbing each other to fight for each others positions, firing people that had been working for the hospital for prob 30+ years , some just a year shy of retiring..making them leave earlier (ps, our hospital used to be split in two cities and was a 'community hospital', THEN they signed with a large organization and are now One...small hospital in the middle of the two, closing the other ones and leaving just empty buildings...their 'attempt' to save money..whatever) So, then it went to charge nurses that had been there for years being replaced by newer nurses and it has just went down the 'foodchain' until even our housekeeping is understaffed. Everyone is short handed and stressed, the nurses have your situation on each floor and of course supplys have been replaced with the cheapest sh*t they could find, i swear. Id like to blame all this madness on the economy, yes i would. But something in me keeps getting angrier and angrier with the whole organization. this is already long winded, and believe me i could go on and on about all the stuff i have to put up with just in my department. It just makes me so mad that these people sit in their offices and make all these rules about hiring staff and how we can get by with what we have JUSt because the 'numbers' with their money situation is good for them. Clearly the hospital staff and patients are suffering from this. Nurses that havent been layed off are leaving, and they are NOT being replaced. And Im scared, becasue I graduate soon and have to work for them for 3 years (i was stupid and signed a contract...I thought it was going to be a good thing, now Im regretting it) Im scared that Im going to be thrown in right after school and not get proper training because the nurses are not going to have patience with me. And its not just that, unfortunatley people are writing to our local paper complaining A LOT about the service at our hospital. Its an embarrassment and It makes me feel bad becuase everyone really is busting their butts. Rn's dont have aides to help them out, in fact, our hospital is trying for an all RN staff...no lpns...no aides. Which might be fine IF their were more than 2... I guess Im venting...haha. I went into Nursing because I love the challenge and I love helping people, I want to imrpove their lives and I cant wait until I know how to do just that. But, I do not want to have to put up with all the politics of it. I hate Corporate. But it seems that in this field Im not going to get away from it. If I could live on a hippy farm and be a nurse and work for daisies and potatoes I would...but thats not feasable. I wish these people that sit at their desks with full mugs of coffee all day long (did i mention we arent aloud to have drinks at our stations?) that get breakfast breaks as well as LUnch breaks (what the HECK is a breakfast break?) would come work in EACH department for a week and see just what we do. These people dont even have patient contact, they dont even know how to handle situations. One lady was walking through our department (in a nice dress and clicky heels) and just so happened to stumble upon me telling an outpatient that their were just a couple of people ahead of her and it will only be a few minutes,and she came up to me as if I had done something majorly wrong and goes "Its whatever the patient wants"( I was the only one drawing blood because we are short staffed and when its busy, we deal) PLUS we have a system, if we just did what ever the 'patient' wanted I would have a mob coming at me! I just couldnt believe it, and had to stop what i was doing, take that patient right in front of the two that had been waiting longer. I just cant stand it, guess its a sore spot for me cuz I really did not expect to write this much ...i feel better now

As far as I know, the school I am attending let other students shawdow proir to entering Nursing school (to see what it was like and give them an idea as to what they are in for...) so mabey your school will offer?

I disagree, I am not an expierienced nurse, but I have 6 months to go until I graduate (scared as heck BTW) BUT i go to school with a lot of single moms, 90% of my class works full time. Yes we are all starved for free time and sleep, but we also go to school Parttime. I took summer classes to make it go a little faster. I think you can do anything you put your mind to. Do know that you may not have a lot of free time to spend with your child. But then again, if you are just going to school and mabey only working part time you can still have your evenings- or at least your weekends. Yes the scheduling in SCHOOL is not flexible, and yes its going to be a stressful couple of years, but i tell ya, you get used to the stress and you work it out. I did, and i freaked when i started. I dont know about nursing jobs in NY, Im from PA and there are always job postings (even though we are laying off like crazy) You may get the night shift to start out, but if your working 3 12 hour shifts- your getting 4 days a week to yourself doing whatever you please!!! and even if you want to only work parttime- you would still be getting a pretty darn good paycheck (and Im sure nurses in NY are getting paid way more than this little townn) You just need to focus on the schooling- and get through that...then worry about the job. Nursing is good money and IS flexible, thats what has been burned into my brain by every teacher i have had so far. One suggestion would be,(that is if you dont have any hospital experience) would be to shadow a nurse for a day...most schools will set this up BEFORE you agree to start school. SO do that and see if you might like it, if you do-go for it. I would do it while my child was young anyways, because the older they get the harder it would be for you PLus the longer you wait....get my point? I hope this helped

I thought this was funny cause I was JUST talking about this the other day! Im a messy person and always will be...BUT..I do the same thing when it comes to trying to 'diagnose' myself and people around me. My friend says shes always thirsty- I tell her she may be diabetic and then worry that she needs to get that checked out...my moms cholesterol/vit d deficiency/early stage osteoporosis...my dads heart...my boyfriends hairy mole may be skin cancer...I also can think of at least 3 different kinds of cancers that i could possibly have at this very moment. Its insane, and I know it- it's just that we are overloaded with knowledge of diseases and symptoms of so many different things- not to mention the disguisting pictures that our Nursing books are loaded with...really dont want any of that mess. I thing this too shall pass...hahaha:smokin:

So, I am on my second year??? (im not sure cause i went parttime and it has taken 4 years...and i will graduate may2010) Well, sometimes I worry that I dont know enough to be a nurse and I graduate very soon. Just last week I did my first straight cath.! I do fairly well in my studies, I am not a straight A student but I maintain B or high Cs. Which to me is fine. I just am afraid that I should have had aide background or something...I go to school with a lot of LPNs and aides, that change diapers, readust and lift people daily..some even do Ivs and know a lot about different diseases and stuff like that. I have a hard time with some of this stuff and have no medical background (besides Phlebotomy) and am wondering if anyone else has this anxiety?! I want to be a nurse (obviously) and really enjoy my clinical experiences, I just cant fathom doing it all on my own, being out there in a real nursing job. Is this normal? thanks in advance for the feedback:redbeathe:heartbeat

:banghead:I dont mind them so much, its just that they take so freakin long to do and of course...time is something i never have enough of! Ya, I have a different clinical instructor for every semester so far, and one would tell me how Im really good at writing them up...then this semester Im getting critiqued on little small things and sometimes the way i word stuff...blahblahblah. I appriciate the feedback, but, one will tell you how to do it one way and the other another way- its frustrating:smokin:

My patient came to the hospital for Acute Renal Failure,dehydration plus she refused to eat and drink. She is an 86 year old lady that is going to be taken care of per hospice as of now. She is barely responsive and has been taken off all meds per Doctor, no Iv's no blood draws- nothing. My quesion is, that I need to find a Nursing Diagnosis that would have to do with end oflife care, and my interventions of course would have to do with keeping her comfortable, ect.... I'm having a difficult time finding a fitting Diagnosis. Any suggestions would be SO VERY HELPFUL! Thanks!:heartbeat