yaddadoit

The facility I work in has a wonderful mix of ethnicity's and cultural backgrounds. I never make racial jokes including jokes such as "blond" jokes, so there has been nothing to over hear. I work with other CNA's (and nurses) of color, including African American and the atmosphere seems relaxed and comfortable to me. What I am perceiving is that I have a CNA who doesn't want to do her assigned tasks (which include providing incontinent care) for her residents and is willing to resort to name calling and something that will damage my career as a way of getting by with not doing her work. I have a patient who is intermittantly clear and lucid/ alternating with poor impulse control and confusion. He claims that he requested assistance putting some clothing on this morning (paralyzed on one side) and that this CNA told him he could "just do it himself"..... co incidentally he is caucasian........ I feel that I have a responsibility to protect my patients from this CNA, but also to keep myself (and my reputation intact!) safe. I feel that my reputation has been threatened and that there was a certain amount of intended intimidation by the CNA towards me. Thanks for listening all.... I will continue to be open for suggestions dealing with this tough situation.

I'm so upset.. just walked in the door from working a night shift at a skilled long term care facility. I had a CNA working under me who had left a patient in a bed with urine until the urine had a yellow ring a round it. I instructed her to change the bedding and let her know that tolerate patients being I consider this kind of care unacceptable. I am brand new to the night shift. The CNA immediately accused me of being racist and "you're treating me like a black woman!" I let my DNS know this morning... of the lack of care that the CNA provided, of things not done during the shift, etc. The DNS told me that she is very nervous about the possibilty of an EEO suit and that I should "cover yourself really well". HELP!! This is a terrifing situation to me. I've worked as a nurse for over 2 decades and never been accused of racism. I don't think that there was anything in this situation that could have been construed as racism... but... what do I need to do to protect myself. What a nasty situation! What makes it even more frustrating is that this CNA frequently does very poor quality work and I've been trying to keep everything up beat and cheerful in the workplace. Now I don't know what to do!

There are some great resources out there right now concerning this topic. has become big news in the European countries where there is less tolerance than in the US. Try doing a search for Bullyism in the workplace or workplace bullyism. You'll be surprised and horrified at all the nasty stuff that goes on out there. If you're in the situation.... remove yourself. It's not worth it to stay. Good luck,Darla

Hi folks, need information please. Was just told by my home health agency that I cannot assist my client with school work, ie note taking, etc. That is considered a non nursing function. Was told that the client would need to have a separate person, apart from the nursing staff to do the note taking and dictation. Client able to speak-vent dependant, not able to use hands. Per agency, there is a regulation that prohibits nurses from providing this assistance currently in legislature. Can anyone please provide me with additional information on this? Thanks, Darla

:balloons: I love it! Over the last couple of weeks have combined efforts with 2 other CPR instructors. We are finding that we are very diverse in our backgrounds and work historys (peds nursing, geriatric nursing, cardiac nursing, emt, search and rescue, disaster planning, etc) which will enable us the foundation we need to offer a wide variety of courses. We are also ...considering... establishing a community training center. Big thoughts, big plans, lots of things to think about!!! Again, I appreciate all of the helpful hints and nuggets of information I can get. Locating professional liability insurance at a reasonable cost is currently one of our stumbling blocks. Have got calls out to other instructors and training centers for references. Also, have contacted some insurance brokers. Please keep the suggestions coming!

Thank you for your suggestions! I appreciate all the help I can get. :)

I think I will withdraw from this discussion. There has been some excellent information presented and for anyone who cares there are great research articles out there... For those who don't care or aren't interested in listening to their patients complaints.... I sincerely hope that I will never have to place my trust in you as a caregiver or even a coworker.

I know from the information gathering I have done on FM that the majority of people who have it have difficulty sleeping. It would be really interesting to find out how many of these people have had sleep studies done and what the findings are.

:balloons: Come on folks--let's do some brainstorming. I have come across such great ideas here and am really hoping for some terrific input. Considering the number of health care providers who teach this kind of courses, I suspect that there may have been similar threads in the past. Have done some searchs but haven't come up with anything. Basically what I'm looking for is: suggestions on where to get clients (marketing) ; any input on similar businesses that have failed and the reason for their failure ; suggestions for additional types of classes, inservices that I can teach which may help to make ends meet and equally of importance to me...be of value to my clients :) ; Also, am open to information about business structures (licensing) ; and will eagerly consider all helpful hints and suggestions. This is just the planning stage and I want to get things off the ground right :balloons: WAAAHOOOO! here I go!

Teeituptom-- Please let your supervisors and coworkers know how you feel and request that you not be assigned patients with an FM diagnosis. It is truly unfortunate that a definative diagnostic test has not yet been developed or discovered for FM. However, in the meantime, please keep in mind that FM is truly a medical diagnosis and if you can't provide objective care to FM sufferers you need to be responsible enough to let your fellow staff members know. You are a great example of why people who have FM "time" their visits to make sure that either certain people are or aren't working when they come in seeking help. I also believe that the diagnosis of FM is overused. I'm not a doctor. If I have a patient with that diagnosis it is not within my scope to re-diagnose. One of the things I have observed, however is that once someone is diagnosed with FM a lot of health care providers tend to turn a deaf ear to any future complaints of pain, discomfort, etc. Recently while working on an orthopedic surgery unit I took care of a patient in her early 40's with an FM diagnosis. Because of her diagnosis all of her providers disregarded her increasing complaints of hip pain--until she could barely walk she had severe degenerative arthritis and had to have a hip replacement! Did her FM symptoms resolve? Absolutely not-- but the hip pain and decreased hip mobility did. On a personal note, I have a very good friend and coworker for more than 15 years who was dx'd with FM approximately 6 years ago. She was eventually labeled as a "frequent flyer" by the medical profession whom she was trying to gain help from. She finally found a neurologist (you got it, she doc shopped until she found someone who would listen to her and provided her with the respect she is entitled to as a human being and as a patient) who did additional work up for her. Her experience have been a total nightmare and I truly wish that she would put them in a book. Depressed, absolutely! In part caused by a feeling of helplessness and the condemnation she received by less than objective medical "professionals". Fibromyalgia is still one of her two primary diagnosis... the other is multiple sclerosis. This wonderful kind hearted woman / nurse / mother / former ballerina has multiple sclerosis. Because there are still so many health care people out there who "turn off" their objectivity when someone with FM diagnosis or FM symptoms comes along, no one bothered to listen to her symptoms of MS. My friend had several productive years that she could have spent enjoying life had someone listened to her. Instead, she spent those years and a lot of time and money trying to obtain medical help for her symptoms and getting the door slammed in her face over and over again because she knew that something was wrong with her and no one would believe. As nurses, we have a professional responsibility our patients. If we are unable to give those patients the care they need, if we are unable to support a diagnosis (you might not be able to prove it... but can you disprove it????) that a doctor has made, then we probably shouldn't be nurses. At the very least, we shouldn't be accepting the responsibility for care for patients who have a diagnosis that we are unwilling to provide proper care for. So, do your patients a favor, either educate yourself, trust and believe in what your patients are telling you (while using some good nursing judgement of course!) or remove yourself from caring from patients whom you are providing a disservice and possibly even harming by your care.

Hi Everyone, I'd like to set up a CPR and Firstaid instructing business. Would appreciate all suggestions. Will consider other health education and wellness educations topics also so that I can diversify. At this point, just brainstorming. Will be contacting SCORE. I'd love to hear suggestions, thoughts on this type of business from everyone. I'd love to have some sort of self employment type business. My understanding is that Independant contracting is out as I'm an LPN and LPN's have to work under the supervision of an RN (still checking with this with the state board of nursing). Tired of working at nursing homes, hospitals. My last job really battered me! Suggestions???

Wow! Just read this thread and I'm really surprised and disappointed by it. I was taught that certain responsibilities went hand in hand with having a nurses license. One of those responsibilities is to keep up with current medical issues and education. Another is to treat our patients (yes, even the drug seekers!) with respect. I encourage everyone who hasn't done it to study up on fibromyalgia. After reading some of the posts here and the amount of condemnation and lack of respect (these are my interpretations of some of these posts-- I apologize in advance if I misintrepreted!) I understand exactly why patients would Dr. shop or call in advance to find out who is working in the ER before they come in. Why waste their time to come in if they are just going to be met with disrespect and disbelief? There has been a lot of time and research spent on Fibromyalgia by very highly educated people. It amazes me that some nurses who seem so unfamiliar with fibromyalgia and have so many questions about it can just disregard all of the research that has been done and just decide that certain patients are drugseekers/lazy/depressed because an MD has diagnosed that patient with fibromyalgia. Have we now decided that doctors are not qualified to diagnose? Wow! As for the patients (and coworkers!) with fibromyalgia--my heart goes out to you for the suffering you have and will experience with this awful disease. May your paths always cross with respectful, educated medical professionals.

Two thumbs up for Flintstones for me also. I compared them to some of the adult vitamins out there and will stick with my Flintstones.... Yabba-dabba-doooooooo

I just resigned from a work situation that I found intolerable. I was so miserable that I couldn't stand to wait for the nurse recruiters to find me a different position and gave my 2 week notice. I'm not a new nurse, nor am I young. I understand what it's like to feel that rotten! I think it's horrible that some nurses treat their coworkers like this. I have also found it somewhat fascinating that such dysfunctional behavior is out there, so started doing a little research. Do some searches online for workplace bullys and bullyism in the workplace. There is some excellent information out there. I wish that nurses would become more aware of bullyism issues as there is a lot of it going on, but it is very subtle. Often times the person who is being victimized gets the blame for being a trouble causer, not fitting in, not doing their job and is made to feel miserable. Until someone takes a really close look, the victim looks like the source of the problem, just maladjusted. In reality, often times the victim is just that... a victim. Good luck to you!

Cindy, Sounds like you've had a very rough time of things. I recently resigned from a position... more like was forced out of a position by things being made so uncomfortable for me. I was very miserable and for the sake of happiness had to get out of there. I know that I'm not a failure or a mess up-- but I also know that the way I was treated wasn't right. I have worked in many work situations during my nursing career. I have been in 3 different situation that were awful. On the other hand, most of my other work situations have been above average and I would be glad to return to any one of the immediately if those situations still existed. I have confidence that I'm a good nurse, I have confidence in my nursing skills, regardless of that the emotional turmoil I went through and the fact that I still get upset indicates to me that counseling would have been (and is still...) an awesome idea. Check into workplace bullying.... It is a concept that is very familiar to some outside of the US, while people in the USA are just being introduced to it. As for myself, I truly believe, that having been involved in 3 of these situations for a total of 7 years of my nearly 20 years of nursing, that, just like abused women tend to seek out the partners with the same abusive inclinations over and over, that until I get some sort of help I will have a tendency to put myself in bad work situations. As I am currently without financial resources for counseling (that's what happens when you resign and no longer have benes :) ) I'm trying to educate myself as much as possible so that I recognize these situations sooner and not become involved in them. I have found some great information on line concerning work place bullyism. It was very relevant to what I had to go through. Good luck to you and please do consider counseling. It's not a bad thing and it sounds like you were in a traumatic situation. Best of luck to you and I hope you find your niche!