RN_Amy

I too have trouble with this question.... however my educator came up with a great response. "I set myself extremely high standards and at times, find it difficult to work with people who don't work to this standards" Or something to that effect....

I work in PACU and I find that most of my patients can't utilize the 1-10 pain scale. I too prefer to get the patient to describe their pain as mild, moderate or severe and go by visual cues in addition to vital signs when assessing someones pain. I try to explain to my patients that my job is to get the comfortable enough that they can deep breath and cough effectively. In doing so I ask them if they want more analgesia/antiemetics/repositioning (as appropriate for their surgery) so as to make them more comfortable. In my experiences some nurses can't understand that some patients cannot "rate" their pain on a scale. Just my humble opinion and experiences....

It's like presenting to hospital justs makes people HUNGRY! It must be the aroma of body odour and human excrement that makes people salivate.... hahhahaha..... I also really dislike the attitude of patients when you advise the to remain fasting until medical and/or surgical review and they stay whining..."what are you saying? I can't have ANYTHING to eat or drink? God........... I'm soooooooooo hungry.... I haven't eaten for [insert any amount of time here over about 30 seconds]" .............. That abdo pain must be excruciating huh? :)

:rotfl: :uhoh21: Comments made by and general behaviour of patients that irk me include (but are by NO means limited to): - No. 1 pet hate is the the young dying swan/drama queen... doted on by their significant other/mother/father... PUHLEASE...! Vomiting once is not a medical emergency... nor is having diarrhoea... once.... I may be alone in the fact that if I have gastro I want to sh*t and vomit into my own toilet, shower in my own shower and crawl, almost dying into my own bed... -"How long am I going to be here? I have to [insert something obviously more important than their MEDICAL EMERGENCY here- may include work/ family but more often than not social commitments]" - we like to keep people here as LONG as possible... its great for general attitude of patients... they LOVE to wait... or so I am lead to believe. - After rating their pain as as 10/10.... refusing analgesia..... some people really don't appreciate sarcasm when I say... " so... on that scale of 1 - 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, say on par with getting both of your arm and legs ripped off at that moment before you lose consciousness due to the pain... you'd be right about there now :)? - "I hate needles... and I am not having one..." - Okay... have fun bleeding to DEATH... Recently we had a woman of K18/40 with heavy PV bleeding... refusing IV access/analgesia... for multiple hours... she just wanted an ultrasound... *sighs*... she ended up in theatre.. not before she had 2 IV's inserted... - "I've been here for (insert grossly overestimated amount of time)... this is ridiculous... get a doctor in here NOW!" - I'm sorry but all the doctors are at the pub having lunch at the moment... having a few quiet drinks... they LOVE to make angry people in a whole lotta pain wait as LLLLOOONNGGG as possible... it's good for their conflict management skills... - "When am I going up to the ward?"- when still on the ambulance trolley at triage... normally complete with suitcase, handbag and every other possession ... how about never? - "It's nothing like on TV" - that may be because you have come to the ER for a splinter in your finger as opposed to losing limbs in a MVA. Comments made by and general behaviour of patients families/relatives that irk me include (but are by NO means limited to):" - refer to first comment above... - "Mum/Dad doesn't like [this],[that] or [the other]... " before even introducing myself.... - "Mum/Dad hasn't eaten all day... s/he needs something to eat NOW" - It's 2:00am and s/he is here for investigation of abdo pain.. s/he isn't getting anything... this may take away from the fact that the patient is ASLEEP (!) -"Mum/Dad is diabetic and needs something to eat..." With a BGL that is OFF the scale... I think she is fine and dandy for a minute while I just prepare this insulin infusion...... - "I am not leaving" - Did you want to see your significant other/mother/father use a bed pan... or get an internal of some description? :uhoh21: ...... We had a patients partner get escorted out by security because he refused to stand OUTSIDE THE ROOM while his partner was having a lady partsl exam..... Dx PID secondary to chlamydia... Sorry for the long post... but I could go on and on and on and on... but I won't.... Keep them coming though! I love comments such as these that only other nurses understand... I have only been working in ED for 2 years... It doesn't take long to become a cynic.... (not that I wasn't before I started...!!!)

Apart for what everyone else has mentioned, maybe the three "befores" include: - checking allergies and/or sensitivites - check the time of adminstration of the last dose of medication ie. to ensure you are not "double dosing". - witholding the medication if contraindications suggest so (based on the patients current clinical condition) - patient has a pulse rate of 40 would NOT benefit from some digoxin!

Universal term for where...? The US? In Australia, electrocardiagraph is referred to as an ECG....

Just outta curiosity... do you know what program ranked number 1? and who ranked the courses?

I too had never heard of filtered needles until I read about them on this website. So no... I dont use them... and have never heard of or seen them in any hospitals I have worked at in both Victoria and Queensland in Australia... are they even AVAILABLE in Australia....???

Saturdays 50% extra per hour... and 75% extra per hour for Sundays... :)

I'll help if you like... just tell me exactly what you would like to know! I am a Registered Nurse from Australia... I work in Emergency and in terms of education... I completed a three-year Bachelor of Nursing degree.

I am in the opposite position... and want to travel to Canada in the near future! I don't know whether this will help much... but I completed my graduate year last year in Melbourne and started on $18 an hour base... (8 hr x 5 shifts a week) which included 6 weeks annual leave (what you call vacation) a year, an extra $2/hr for each afternoon shift and an extra $50 (total) for a night shift. Since I moved interstate nurses in Victoria have had a pay rise! Each state has a different award which dictates nursing salaries for public and private hospitals. Good luck..... :)

As a graduate nurse, I had the joy of looking after a delightful young man who was admitted for treatment of cellulitis of the left arm and an absess in the same area from intravenous heroin use.... He had a delighful array of drugs and paraphernalia in his bedside table... including a dirty bong and syringes... as well as some marijuana.... Not so much weird I guess... just shocking for me as a new nurse... I have however become "hardened" over the last few years... and nothing shocks me anymore... (well not much) :)

I agree... but what exactly makes you satisfied with your job? IN my opinion its the people you work with are the number one factor....

In my humble opinion I think that you should just try and start out in an an area which you know you will enjoy, if that is a step-down unit or ICU well go for it! If you are working where you really want to do, you will be an active learner and pick up things quickly.... You should enquire at a number of facilities as to the preceptorship etc on offer for new grads in critical care areas. When I was at school I remember being drilled about how you need a few solid years of med/surg nursing as a base for anything else etc etc etc.... but I have decided that life is too short to be unhappy working towards something! Nursing school was bad enough!

Sorry... my post was rather ambiguous... just need an xray after initial placement of the NGT...

I dont think the above poster is offering very much appropriate advice. Preaching about Gods way, encouraging the OP not to "kill her baby" and wishing the OP "good luck" isn't going to help her make a decision that is most importantly right for her. It's not only about the life and body of the OP, she is responsible for the baby, child and adult (ie. the other human life) that she may choose to bring into this world.

Hi all... just a few quick questions.... I have seen some questionable practice of late and was just curious as to what happens at your place of work.... At your facility do ALL staff in theatre wear masks? Also, with ortho cases... do staff have to wear a balaclava? Are staff other than the scout nurses allowed in and out of theatre throughout an ortho case? Does anyone have any links to articles that have studied the correlation between the wearing of masks by all staff in the OR versus post op infection and/or other complications? I have just started working casually at a number of facilities and the norm differs immensly.... Thanks everyone.... :)

I live in a pig sty at home... yet know where everything is... It's kind of bizarre actually... because everything in my house is either PERFECTLY in order.... or the total opposite... At work however... I like everything to be organised to the point of me being called anal by colleagues... and everything has to be done MY way... because my way is the best way... :rotfl: you should see the way I tape IV's... I hate straggly-ended bits of tape.... :angryfire It irritates me when people don't fill out charts appropriately..... and don't get me started on handwriting on medication charts and in progress notes....... UGGGH! And just a random piece of trivia.... I once heard that 66% of undergraduate medical students shoes typical signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)..... which is understandable.... ). Amy.

I have NEVER heard of filter needles until reading this thread..... Is there any one else in Australia who has these available at their place of employment?

I used to work in the PACU to a 10-theatre OR specialising in all major adult surgery (except obstetrics). In terms on discharge planning from the PACU... we had a set of criteria that every patient had to meet prior to discharge eg. had to be awake enough to lift there head of the pillow for 5 seconds (post GA), had to have a pain score of less than or equal to 2 out of 10, had to have an epidural block at T4 or below, had to have a body temp of greater than or equal to 36.0 celcius, etc etc. The anaesthetist accompanied the patient from the theatre to the PACU and handed over. If anything was an issue in terms of discharge from PACU it was mentioned at this time eg. to ensure adequate urinary output, for further review prior to discharge from PACU. If their were no issues, the patient could be discharged after they met the standard criteria, without further medical review. Also, nursing documentation was totally separate to that of the anaesthetist. Hope this helps.... Amy

Where I used to work we had a cordless phone system which worked really well when working on the ward... It was a whole lot easier in terms of paging doctors directly back to your phone thereby not having to walk the entire length of the floor for to take a call... We also had a computer program that allowed the nurse in charge of the shift to program certain rooms and beds to certain nurses' phones at the start of the shift.... so that patients' call buzzers could also come through to the phone as text message.... Also if an emergency button was pressed... all nurses on the floor would get a message... which meant a whole lot of people normally came a-running! Working in PACU, we could use this program to ascertain the nurses assigned to take each patient and call them directly... which made my day a whole lot easier! Sorry so long... just haven't seen this system anywhere else... :) Amy

Love every aspect of nursing? No way! I have to come to the conclusion that I hate ward nursing... period... ick.... give me ED/PACU/anything else but a stinky old medical ward! :chuckle It was however pretty much drummed into me as well, that you had to like ward nursing at least long enough to get a couple of years experience on the wards to be "a good nurse"... Funnily enough, I would love to get into nursing education.... and become an instructor... so I can tell all my students that you do not have to love ward nursing to be successful!

I am thinking that you shouldn't have entered nursing if you are adverse to working bizarre hours....... However, I am a recovery room nurse and normally work 8am -4:30 Mon to Fri... with the occassional PM (1pm to 9:30pm) or Saturday shift..... :rotfl:

Okay then Kabin, how would describe you not wanting to "rely" on an optometrist who isn't medically trained yet put all faith in the medical ability of a NP... who doesn't have a medical degree? I don't have a hidden agenda, I am just trying to make some sense of some of your previous comments.

NP can prescribe meds and orders tests... MOST things... ie. most things a MD would normally do... because a NP is quasi-physician... to use the term " wannabe doctor" may be a little to close to the bone for a few reading this thread.... And optometrists and chiropractors are no where near MD's and NP you say? I would like the opinions of the medical fraternity as to the rank of NP's... I'm sure they wouldn't be sitting up on the pedestal along side MD's where you have so inappropriately put them.... with 1 year of nursing experience and a non-medical masters degree.... I have said it before... if you want to be a physician go to medical school... if not stop trying to be something your not... PS. I would be curious to know who would be first to jump up and down and instigate a law suit if any misdiagnoses occurred by a *shock horror* NP?