SkiMama

My pharm teacher was a a career nurse and assured us that we will all make a med error. She said it's what we do about it that defines us. You sound like a good nurse. Chin up and carry on!!

Just skimmed all the responses and don't know if I am repeating someone but I didn't see it - pain interferes with healing. Keeping a pt well medicated and managing their pain ON schedule promotes healing and results in less med use over time. Letting meds lapse and the pain to build up makes it longer/harder for them to get the relief they need. EBP is for a reason...

I wouldn't worry about being liked. Would any of the other RNs on the floor be happy to take the fall for this friend of theirs if a pt suffers a major event after medicating based on the wrong VS? B/c you are the one whose license would suffer for that negligence. You did the right thing.

Exactly. I don't get what is "cumbersome" about the belts. They take seconds to put on/remove and provide a very important measure of protection. Where I work they are always used and pts don't ever complain, they know it's a given.

Ashley you are correct. If you aren't properly trained in gait belt use, it would be easy to do more harm than good. At our facility all new employees do at least 2 or 3 transfer training sessions and have to get signed off on every type of pt xfer. Where I work if you are injured or a pt is injured when you are working with them and they are not wearing a belt - that is bad news for the therapist, nurse, aide, whomever....

Gait belts are not outdated and they are for everyone's safety. I am a NS and don't know how widely they are used in acute care, but in subacute/rehab everyone wears a gait belt and uses them all of the time if the pt is any type of fall risk (in rehab they all are!). Grabbing a pt under the arms is bad practice bc you can cause injuries and skin tears. When you use a gait belt properly with proper body mechanics, it greatly aids transferring.

Aaaaand... if you have your ADN - before you go corpsman, talk to them about putting you through your BSN and then doing your commitment as a RN officer.

I am sorry you are having a hard time. That is so frustrating. Have you applied out of state (since it sounds like relocating is something you're ok with)? If you do decide to speak to the military and you have a BSN, please consider that you can entire as an RN officer - rather than a corpsman. A corpsman is more like a CNA/Tech. You can, instead, work as an RN and build that experience. I was in the Navy and it was a great experience.

Adele radio on pandora or the Harry potter soundtracks, this semester anyway :)

Depends on method (adult, child, 1 vs. 2 rescuers...)

Lol balance indeed! I tend to get distracted too, but a little break to rejuvenate is sometimes needed. I just need to get used to being in school again with so many short semesters. The good news is that for me, in 7 weeks, I will be 20% through my program!!

Thanks, and you're right. It's just the first week. I think the fact that next week (on my 3rd day of class) I already have exams is making me a little twitchy. Talk about fast paced!

I'm in my first week of NS and never have time to read the posts here... already! I guess the beauty of the A-BSN is that you never have time to quit studying, so the material is always fresh in one's mind... I hope

Roger that. I am learning a great deal just from reading about so many of your experiences. I am sure in the heat of the moment - being utterly frustrated at having to bust your butt for a long shift while feeling bad for a new nurse who OP felt was not being lead in the best possible way - it would be hard to remain objective and not let the precepting nurse know how she felt, even if only to a small degree.

I am a student - but a question. If OP should not have confronted the preceptor, what could she have done differently/better when the issue of the incident reports came up and the preceptor stated "I did check up on him". I assume that during report or other times - it's not uncommon for a nurse to come across another nurse's oversights. Is it not prudent to first go to that nurse before heading to the mgr?