Aoretta

Oh my friend, it happens. It happens. I saw a wound one time...it wasn't the sight that bothered me so much as the smell. It was only my second semester of nursing. He smelled like a moldy side of old meat. The wound nurse and my instructor were in there. I was there and when they pulled the dressings off, I started to feel woozy, and the room started to look and feel "woozy". I said, "Excuse me, I think I need to go out to the nrsg station." My instructor took one look at me and said, "Yeah, I think you do." I do not remember walking to the station. I had some ginger ale and some crackers. It was actually hilarious in hindsight. She said, "You did the right thing....you don't want to pass out in the room." A few months ago I was in the room with my patient who was a fresh pacer placement. The doctor wanted to change the dressing on his shoulder. There was a first year nursing student in there who wanted to watch the change. The doctor hadn't even taken off the first piece of tape when the nursing student said, "Can I ask you something?" the doctor said "what?" She said, "No, her..." she looked at me. She said, "I can't see you. Do I look ok?" I looked at her and then I noted her eyes..her pupils were really REALLY dilated! I said, "You'll be OK, just go sit down over here; I'll get you something to drink." So yes, it happens even to the best of us. :)

So what will it be in the '10's decade?

Forgive me - I did not mean to imply that ALL nurses who were not factory workers would say this, think this, or roll their eyes. I meant that those who worked in the factories would empathize with this much easier and would be more likely to understand. My apologies. I was so passionate about what I felt that I did not point this out.

As an addendum: I will always be a registered nurse, but the legacy of being a blue collar worker with ink and paper cuts all over my hands, that will be part of my soul forever. The day Brown Printing shuts down, it'll be the equivalent of bethelehem steel shutting down for several generations of families in the ABE area. And I will cry my eyes out. RWsCoverGirl4VR (Robert Weinsteiger's cover girl forever).

Charlie T., I loved your post. I totally identify with you. *HUGS*

I worked at Brown Printing in East Greenville, PA; making magazines such as Time, SI, Entertainment weekly, Family Circle. I worked there right out of high school. I loved my job there. To this day I am proud to say that I worked there and I miss my job there. As I always say, if there had been more than 24 hours in a day, I never would have left. I would have been content to stay there the rest of my life until I was called into nursing by a higher power than myself. From August 2000 until December 2008 I endured working full time while in part time school (which as we all know means full time work), completely supporting myself by myself, dying cars, constantly increasing rent, layoffs, job changes, apartment changes (I moved 8 times), paying for wisdom teeth removal, paying the electric bill in the winter...I endured the rising cost of college from 400 dollars per credit to 660 dollars per credit to 740 dollars per credit. I endured the onslaught of student loans. I endured the constant need for cash for books. I had only 1 credit card up until 2006 and rarely used it. In the end I lost my good credit and now owe the governemnt 56,000 + in student loans. I endured tragic failures in nursing school, all because I wasn't getting enough sleep. I was in 2 nursing schools. I endured the deaths of my legal guardian and her husband, my dearly beloved grandmother, my most honored mentor Captain Greg of the Staten Island Ferry. BUT I NEVER GAVE UP. Right down to the very end, when I owed the college 1600 dollars and was completley out of any type of fund - I was laid off and couldn't get a job. My boyfriend, who I was living with for 2 years, locked me out of the house with nothing but the clothes on my back. He stole my cat from me. For a month I was working at Highway Marine scrubbing scum off of boats for 8.50 an hour while my colleagues were all taking their boards and making 22 dollars an hour. I was living with my friends' parents. I never gave up. My uncle agreed to give me a loan. I paid the school. I practiced and prayed for my state boards. I took them on May 1, 2008. The next day I was a registered nurse, and 3 days later I was making 29 dollars an hour at the county nursing home. My point is - Right now, and forever, I will be a registered nurse. That is all I have in this world, all that I am. I have no family. I have no life, really. Right now I work 72 hours a week just to pay back these epic student loans I have. My life as a factory worker is honored in my heart. I still go back to visit. I still call the tape (go ahead- call it - 1 800-223-0099) to see who's working and how much overtime is being given out. I met my 2nd best firend there, the man who I really should have married. My point is, life in a factory is different from that in a hospital. The factory worker - turned - nurse (RN/LPN) needs to be cognizent of that. Your image needs to be that of a competent and professional person. Swearing every other word, which I did on a daily basis along with everyone else at Brown, is an example of one thing that is not acceptable in the nurse's work environment. The nurse must also be aware that he/she is now the team leader (in most cases) where at places like Brown you did what you were told and except if you became an operator or a lead, you were not in charge. But the nurse also brings with them to their practice the honored experiences of the factory worker. So when their patient says, "I can't afford these meds," and "I don't mind taking these meds but how am I going to work?" and "My boss might not let me take the extra break I need to breast pump" and "We're not allowed to have food and water at the machines, so how am I going to take my Depakote four times a day while I'm at work?" and (especially true at Brown).."With my asthma/allergies, how am I ever going to fill pockets with scent cards???" (Scent cards, those perfume advertisement pages in magazines, come in boxes of 500 per box with 4 boxes open at a time....imagine inhaling that 12 hours in a row!) .......that nurse can understand where that patient is coming from, and not scoff it off in their heads and roll their eyes and chart that the patient is noncompliant. When I find out my patients work in factories, I take extra time to talk to them about their experiences and how they can implement the appropriate changes - from the heart. So YES, a lineman/linewoman who becomes a nurse SHOULD remember that they are now PROFESSIONALS, who are LOOKED UP TO AND DOWN UPON for their appearance and behavior - not nameless invisible factory workers who have to keep up with the machine all day. Although I would say that time management skills start in the factory :). I love Brown Printing. I love Reading Hospital. I love my life.

According to the Nurse practice Act of the state of Pennsylvania: In the acute care setting, the nurse-patient relationship ends at discharge. In the psychiatric settting (any setting psychiatric, I imagine), the nurse-patient relationship ends 3 years following the last discharge or point of professional contact. This is very important. I wish I knew what the long-term care view is on that. But anyway, these laws are important to note when considering this. I don't know if CNA's fall under the nurse practice act, or if they have their own, but as a rule they should probably be held in the same respect. This problem faced me 7 years ago. I was a nursing student, and a nursing assistant at Lehigh Valley Hospital. I met a patient who gave me his email address to teach me how to make scrapple when he had fully recovered. I didn't know what to do - I figured time was the answer. I asked a supervisor what she would do and she said that if I waited a while, it wouldn't matter, it would be the same as if I met him on the street somewhere. He gave another assistant his emial address to take him fishing. I added him to AIM list and did not see him on there for 9 months. We talked here and there, and then eventually he asked me if I wanted to come to Mariners' Harbor Yacht club for the afternoon on day 3 months later. Over the course of the next 2 years he became the second mentor in my life that I ever had. He taught me a way of life that I never knew existed. He died in 2006, and to this day I wear his favorite old "Searaptor" fishing sweater to honor him. I guess I had a unique situation. But anyway, there are limitations.