jkaee

I'm sure they do, and the reason they probably have to is because most people lack common sense and will use their phones inappropriately and inconsiderately (exception: areas where cell phone use can interfere with electronic monitoring). That doesn't mean that we should lack common sense as well. If someone's phone beeps once during an appointment, you don't just up and walk out on them. However, if the phone keeps going off, or if the patient expects you to wait for them while they finish up their conversation, then by all means do what you have to do. I'm just saying, indicriminately walking out on pts because a cell phone goes off is not the answer.

Have to disagree with BlueDevil.... I am on call frequently for work. I have 6 children, half of whom go to school. I have a stay at home hubby who has 2 children under 3 yrs old at home. If my cell phone beeps during an appointment, I'm checking it. I'm certainly not going to interrupt your time for something trivial, but there are times that I MUST be reached. If you walked out on me during an appt because I checked a txt or to see who was trying to call.....truly, I'm speechless. I've had doctors tell me that it was ok to check my phone when it beeped (not rang obnoxiously) during appts before. Understand, I'm not saying that you or any other provider should be held up while someone finishes a non-essential conversation, nor am I advocating using your cell phone at work or during meetings/inservices. Cell phone use in patient care areas is an automatic write up where I work. But I'm definitely not going to say it's ok for a provider to walk out on a patient simply because their cell phone goes off during an appointment. JMHO.

Let me tell you a little story.... I had just delivered my 7th child, and that labor was by far the worst one. I was pre-eclamptic, delivering at 34 weeks. I was in labor for over 30 hours with mag and pitocin running the entire time. I finally had a c-section (my first and only). I was brought up to the PP unit, still had mag and pit running, and a morphine drip as well. I was sick. I have never felt that way in my life. During the night shift, I had a nurse that came in religiously every 2 hours. Keeping the lights dim, she warmed some water to clean me, change my chux, help me get repositioned and do her assessment. All I could do at that point was open my eyes to watch her. To this day, I could not tell you what she looked like. I wouldn't be able to pick her out of a line up. All I remember was how kind, gentle and competent she was when caring for me at a time that I couldn't do it myself.

I agree....scales are evil. So are numbers for that matter. I can relate...my primary MD's scale always, ALWAYS has me about 8 lbs heavier than any other scale I step on. I tell them their scale is off, but they don't believe me....

I had the procedure done with my last pregnancy (had to be induced at 33 weeks due to BP issues turning into pre-eclampsia) and, as Heather mentioned above, it got be to 4 cm and then I stopped progressing. Considering that I had Pit and Mag and PCN running for 30 hours before I asked for a section, I didn't see the Foley bulb as really doing much of anything.

My facility has just gone thru the process of phasing out alarms. We have a couple of residents with alarms on our Dementia unit, but the rest of the building is pretty much alarm free. The units are so much quieter, the residents are less agitated, and our falls have not increased due to the elimination of alarms. Other interventions, especially when you involve other disciplines, are much more effective. In fact, our dementia unit has seen a sharp decrease in the number of falls simply by offering a group activity at shift change. Of course, it's a culture change, and every culture change involves a lot of staff education and changing the way we ordinarily do things. Frequent checks, more activities and assessing even the smallest changes in resident's status will all help decrease your fall numbers. Believe me, we didn't think going alarm free would work either, but it has. It's been a wonderful change to our environment and for the resident's peace of mind.

I really don't mind doing any of those things. But I hate doing routine vitals. I don't know why, I just do. Mind you, I do them, and most often I do manual BP's because I don't trust our electric cuffs, but even in nursing school it was something that I just didn't like doing.

Short, sweet, succinct, and RIGHT ON! I'm sorry, I know you are in a difficult position, but why are you even concerned with your CNA license? What does that have to do with the fact that you've witnessed an elderly woman who cannot defend herself being abused? Family or not, it needs to be reported. Like another posted mentioned, if you saw a caretaker hit an infant over the head, would you question your responsibilities or ask about what the legal ramifications were? I would certainly hope not. The elderly are just as helpless as children. Even more so, because in some societies, they have no value. We will have to answer for that one day. Make sure you don't have to.

I agree...I lived in a Philly suburb growing up, and my husband went to Temple University. It is not in a safe neighborhood. I was offered a job at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and declined it, due to the fact that I did not want to be driving or taking public transportation at night. Septa (train) is absolutely horrid. Frequent delays, frequent breakdowns, not enough express routes, not clean. Not to mention expensive. You are looking at $200 plus per month to be spent on a train pass. Add to it the Philly wage tax that you pay, and you have to figure if your paycheck in the end will be worth it. My friend was a patient at Lehigh, and absolutely loved it. That's all I really know about that hospital, though. Think long and hard....it will definitely be a culture change. I will never work in that area again, and not only for the reasons I mentioned above. Good luck.

Does your facility offer an Employee Assistance Program? They offer counseling/therapy free of charge. Refer her to Human Resources. Or, if you feel that her personal problems are interfering with her ability to do her job, you might want to go to HR yourself with your concerns. Otherwise, I would just stay out of it. I disagree with letter writing or even talking to her about it...that's not your place.

Well, it's like this....how the heck are we supposed to know what's going on with you/other women? If someone is missing their periods, take a PG test and/or call your doctor. Just like if someone who is pregnant comes to my office and reports spotting, I would try to reassure and explain the possibilities but I am going to send them to f/u with their doctor. If your research couldn't give you conclusive information, then chances are we won't be able to, either. And giving out medical advice in a non-clinical setting is risky business...you might want to refrain from doing that. I think it might have also been the way you phrased the question. If you asked, "Could frequent UTI's cause hormonal imbalances?" you might have gotten different responses. The way you asked, it sounded like you were looking for medical advice. I'm not saying this to be snarky, but as a new poster, it easy to not realize how things come across. This is coming from an Employee Health nurse who has to tell this to people who expect me to manage their chronic conditions or chronic complaints all the time....

Thank you, Leslie, very well put. It does exist, and acting indignant towards the OP is only another form of "sweeping it under the rug." A few years back, I had this happen to me big time at work. It was horrible. And there is nothing more detrimental to staff morale and trust than a problem that gets turned into a race issue. Racism is a multi-faceted dynamic that affects all people in many different ways. As Leslie said..."read, listen and learn."

What I took away from this post is this (and correct me, OP, if I'm wrong)...I think we are conditioned to want "instant gratification". Meaning, immediately after graduation with our brand spanking new degree, we expect to reap the rewards of our hard work...new jobs, new opportunities, new growth, more money. I know I'm like that...I have not gone back for my BSN because it would make no difference in my pay, my immediate job prospects or what my immediate plans for my career are. I simply cannot justify getting myself (my family) in more debt for something that is not going to benefit me at this time. Does that mean that if I did get my BSN, it would be pointless? Of course not. But, like others, in order for me to pursue that route, I'd want concrete results at the end. And with so many nurses of all types struggling to find jobs after graduation, I think this disillusionment in normal and to be expected.

Coffee filters....put them in every fold the patient has to help control the yeast infection. I learned this at a Skin Care seminar and tried it at work. It works when nothing else does.

You do not legally have to give any reason to your employer as to why you are calling in. And they can't demand that you tell them. If you choose to tell them, that's one thing. But they can't ask. (Unless you are using FMLA, then you do have to tell them that.) Employers will do whatever you let them get away with. Just don't pick up the phone. What you permit, you promote. Cliche, I know, but very true.

I think it would do all of us, as nurses, some good to remember not to assume anything about our patients. If any one of you would just pull my medical records, look at my labs and vitals, you would think that I would require major "lifestyle" teaching. I have HTN, not too very well controlled despite meds. My cholesterol is borderine high and my ratio could be better. Guess what? I eat a vegan diet. I don't salt my food after cooking. I'm physically active. Yeah, I could lose 5-10 lbs, but that's nothing. I don't smoke. Health care professionals need to treat the PATIENT, not numbers on a scale or a lab sheet. And the patient is free to refuse to change. How to stay compassionate? I have no easy answer for that, because it's very hard. I've had my own struggles with patients like that. You do the best you can, and sometimes I had to fake compassion when I truly didn't feel any for the patient. You know..."First, do no harm." You don't have to like their choices or lifestyle, just do no harm, and try to help. Then go home.

I guess it just depends on where you work, because I've felt much more autonomous in this LTC facility than I ever did in the hospital. I've also never felt like a "b!tch", and I had the ultimate say on what was or was not done for my patients, NOT management. I regret that you were made to feel that way. Unfortunately, all it takes is one experience to ruin it for someone. But please don't lump all LTC's together...that is not how it is in every facility.

To try to keep this from turning into a LTC vs hospital nurse debate, in my area LTC nurses make a bit more than hospital nursing. It was a major reason why, when I moved to this area, I chose LTC. I just couldn't afford the pay cut. As others have said, you got your foot in the door, you'll be earning a paycheck AND experience (and any amount of experience in any setting is good) and you'll be able to support yourself and your family with careful planning. Nothing crazy about that. ALL nurses, in EVERY setting, have skills they develop. There is no "easy" nursing job.

Agree with the posters above...the doc should've been called re: Behavioral Depts concerns so that he could've given you further orders. Regarding Haldol....from my experience only a psych can order or dc Haldol. We ran into that situation here when a resident with a long standing Haldol order was admitted. Only our psych could change the order. Right now, it's just a live and learn situation for you. Unfortunately, that's how we learn sometimes. Don't beat yourself up over it...you had the best intentions for the resident. Work with your managers to figure out a way to prevent a situation like this from happening again. But I have to agree with the others who asked: Where was the supervisor when all this was going on? Good luck to you.

As a general rule, I would tell all your patients to check with their doctor first before starting any CAM techniques/herbal medicines, just to be on the safe side.

I apologize if I came across a little snarky in my previous post. Unfortunately, that was the 2nd time in the past week I came across those sentiments on this BB, and it got me a little fired up. :chair:

attitudes like this is the number one reason why nursing will never move forward as a profession.

Yes, LTC gets a bad rap, both out in the public, and even more surprisingly, on these boards. I have seen people state that only RN's that couldn't hack it in a hospital work LTC. Then again, I had an instructor in college that stated OR nurses were a waste, you could train a monkey to do what an OR nurse does. So, every specialty has their fair share of slamming. We don't have lab, x ray, CT/MRI and doctors available 24/7. We are the doctors eyes and ears, so our assessment skills better be damn good. Pediatrics is a specialty because the young ones organs and systems aren't fully mature, so they present illness/injury differently. Geriatrics is a specialty because the elderly's organs and systems are post-mature, so they too present illness and injury differently. As in any specialty, there are nurses that work hard to fully understand the population they work with and are always learning, and then you have some that just skate by with minimal effort. People who have that kind of mentality about LTC nurses aren't worth my time...because their overinflated sense of importance gets in the way. Ignore them, and move on.

I had to laugh when I read this, because the exact same words came out of my mouth this morning. My husband has worked in a financial setting for most of his career, usually in a large city. It is absolutely mind boggling how different his field is from nursing/health care. Despite all of our titles, degrees, certifications or responsibilities, nurses are NOT treated professionally, not by a long shot. It's seen in our relationship with some directors/admin, in the quality of staffing ratios, in the quality of the equipment/supplies, pay, breaks, h*ll, just in the way we are spoken to....the list goes on and on. And in this economy, it's even worse. A while back, our DON made the comment in a meeting, "I have a stack of nursing applications this thick, so if you're not happy....." We are completely replacable, so don't rock the boat. What drives me batty in my current position as an staff educator is that I can't use many websites because they're blocked. Everything is blocked....university sites, youtube, etc. etc. I guess I'm a child and can't be trusted not to abuse computer time. So, OP....I feel your pain as well. Admin. knows they can pretty much do/say whatever they want, especially now with so many nurses wanting jobs.

Agree with everyone above...I absolutely HATED Med Surg, I cannot express how much I hated it! But, I loved Acute Rehab/Ortho. (Just not real big into sick people...go figure). Now, I work as an Employee Health nurse/Educator for a large retirement campus. Don't have to deal with staff, patient or family issues. I just get to teach other people how to deal with them! Good luck...it sounds like you just need to find your niche.