pednursedeb

ACLS made me more confident. Being the runner keeps you out of the room too much to learn. I do think you learn a lot as recorder,but you need ACLS and experience in codes first. If you are given the opportunity to observe a code, offer to relieve the person doing compressions. This will get you more comfortable as a participant in the code. You will become more confident as time goes on.

This sounds like me. I loved nursing. I retired due to health issues, first encephalitis then pancreatic cancer. It was the first time I had been on the other side of the bed so to speak. I do miss nursing. I would not feel comfortable going back though due to so many changes in the last couple of years and to some short term memory loss due to the encephalitis. In Feb. 2014, I will be cancer free for 2 years. I have had a blessed life. First with nursing, then the remarkable recovery I've had with my illness.

I am a retired nurse, due to health issues. Even as a nurse I felt uncomfortable with the personal care I recieved from male CNAs and male nurses. I had a Whipple procedure due to pancreatic cancer. I had a j tube for feeding. Because of that I had a couple of accidents. It was very uncomfortable for me to have a male clean me up. I didn't complain. They were professional and kind. I see male physicians so I never thought I'd feel that way. Most physicians don't get that personal except once a year for a pap smear. I don't want to offend anyone and would never refuse to have a male nurse care for me. I've worked with some great nurses, so I'm just commenting on how I felt.

You sound just like me. I retired in May due to health conditions. I'm getting chemo and waiting on a date when the surgeon tells me he thinks I'm healthy enough for a wipple procedure. I now have pancreatic cancer, after my other illness. I was a nurse for 26 years. I miss it for the same reasons you do. I hope after I get the cancer taken care of I can at least volunteer. There is a free clinic in town where I have volunteered before. Good luck to you. You are lucky to be alive. I haven't thought about teaching, because I don't think I have those skills, plus I just have a Adn. I want to do hands on care again, I'll just have to see how it goes with the with the surgery and recovery. I don't think unless you are a nurse you could understand how we feel. Please take care of yourself.

Dear Ihateibd, I'm sorry you were insulted. My husband tells me he doesn't smell the illeostomy odor. That's good for him, but I've had to teach him not to burp his bag in public, which he has done. Now he at least goes to a bathroom. I'm sorry for him, but I also don't want him to embarrass himself out in public or at church. Changing his bag doesn't really bother me, but it does have an odor and I have used lotion under my nose and things like that to help. He doesn't even know. I do think he needs to learn to change the bag himself. If something happened to me what would he do? He just doesn't want to learn. He'll empty the bag and look at the stoma, so I don't think that's part of it, I think it's just easier for him if I do it. I just worry that if one day I'm not there and it needs changing he'll be in a fix. Good luck to you and your child. An illeostomy is a tough thing to have to deal with as an adult, much less a child.

I'm not sure about the Rn/LVN thing. I was a LVN First then went back to school for my RN. I am proud of both. I do think I get a little more respect as a RN, but I have worked with excellent LVNS that have taught me many things. I don't think physicians listen to us sometimes when they need to.When they do listen, the results are usually better. I work on a pediatric, ob/gyn, overflow unit. I do think the specialists do listen moore. The pediatritions actually read my notes and ask me how I think the patient is doing. It makes a big difference as to how well they do or if they go home or stay a couple more days. I guess we trust eachother and that's nice. If I call them and say they need to get their now they do. Their is no hesitation. That's a reall good feeling. It is frustrating when no one listens. I hope things change for you.

re:lowly LVN: In the first place you are not a lowly LVN. I was a LVN for 9 years before goin back to school and getting my ADN. Keep in mind that a lot of managers haven't worked on a unit for years and have lost a lot of their nursing skills and organization. In reality, you could probably work circles around him/her. Ask your coworkers for help. I'm sure they would be moore than willing. I don't know what I would do without mine. We help eachother out all the time. Sometimes you just need help. Try that and see how it helps and don't be so hard on yourself. Good luck!

You are being very hard on yourself. I don't know what happened, but sometimes you just can't go to work. My husband had major surgery and I was off work with him at the hospiatl for 2 months being his bedside nurse. He almost died. Then I was at home with him for another month. I felt terrible for letting my coworkeres down, but I took FMLA. MY coworkers understood and were very kind. I did feel bad though, but I didn't feel like I could do anything else. If you are just talking about taking a day or two off, things will be fine. Otherwise sign up for FMLA. It' s really all you can do. If you have gotten really bad news, don't beat yourself up. You have to take care of yourself so you can take care of the bad news. TAke care of yourself and I'll add you to my prayers.

I think all nurses LVN and RN do physical exams on all their patients. How else would you care for them and know what's wrong?

As a lot of people have said, most of us are venting on this site. We of course vent about our bad days. I've been nursing for 25 yrs and I love it. I have really bad days and really good days. I also have some that are in between. I work on a really great unit and we work well together. There is no back stabbing or talking about one another. If we see someone is rally swamped we ask what can we do to help and we all do it for each other. I've done my share of complaining on this site too and if I have scared anyone off I'm sorry. Please do understand, that we do talk about our bad days more than our good to get it out of our systems and then go back to work with a good attitude. Good luck to you (the original poster). Get your floor nursing experience and then see how you feel. You may even vent a little too.

We also get $2 hr. It's no called on call though it's stand by. If we get called off for low census we are put on stand by. They can then call you in for any unit they want to. Until about a year ago we didn't get anything though.

Thanks for everyone's reply to my question about best jobs for nurses with seizures. So far I have kept my job. After 2 all clears from 2 physicians. I have changed meds and am hoping for the best. I can't teach because I only have a ADN and there just aren't many school nursing jobs. I am continuing to look for jobs that don't include bedside nursing if I have too. I love what I do and I do understand patient safety. Good luck to everyone else with this problem.

I've been a nurse for 25 years. I've had seizures since I was 32. (partial complex) I recently had a seizure in a pt room. I'm off work at present. I'm very concerned I'm going to lose my job. My neurologist has given me the ok to go back to work, but I have to meet with my nurse manager and DON this week. I can't be the only nurse with seizures. The sad thing is I love nursing. I don't think I would make a good teacher. I can't afford not to work and I really need the insurance, mainly for my seizure medications. They are expensive. I'm pretty down right now, but maybe I will get to keep my job or some paperwork job at the place I work. To answer your question about best jobs for nurses with seizures. I wish I knew the answer because I'm looking for it too. Good luck to you and I will place you in my prayers. I know being newly diagnosed is difficult. Seizures really do mess with your life, but for me it could be worse. I'm healthy otherwise.

My husband has had an ileostomy for a little over 2 years. He's only changed it himself a few times and that's when he has a blow out and has to when I'm at work. Ileostomy's do smell. He doesn't smell it though. I casually put a little nice smelling lotion under my nose. It helps. When changing the whole appliance, he lies on the bed and I place a trash bag under him, leaving some of it open. That way as I take things off I can throw them in the bag. I can then seal it as soon as possible and close in the smell. That way the room doesn't get a bad smell to it. Hope this helps.

I've been a nurse 25 years. Do you really hate nursing that much or do you just need a break? I sometimes think I want to do something different too, but am afraid to make the change. I've been a floor nurse for so long that I'm not sure I could do office nursing or something that involves mostly paperwork. The 12 hr shifts are getting harder as I get older and I'm not that old, but do I want to work 5 days a week for 8 hr. At least I do have choices. I'm going to stay put for now because I still enjoy patient care and I work with a great group of people on my unit. About every 6 months I take a vacation even if I don't go any where and that seems to help. I imagine everyone gets tired of their jobs from time to time, even accountants. Nursing is stressful, hard work, but overall, I still enjoy it.