DaisyB123

Great responses by all..thank you so much. It has really been helpful to see so many perspectives that it has in fact helped me to put all of this in the proper perspective. So much has been said about what is to expected "the norm" and what I need to address as being unacceptable> I truly seek your opinions and advice to help build a solid foundation to become the nurse I envision myself being. Yes, as a new nurse I still live in the "ivory tower" of nursing but do not expect it to be perfect and that my own personal deal with perfectionistic tendencies tend to complicate things. When I was a student my parameters were so well defined and I always knew where I stood that this may in fact be a new learning curve for me and one that I will have to learn to adapt to.

The Oscar is the highest achievement in cinema, the Grammy in music, the Heisman trophy in college football and the World Series in baseball. Thought it might be interesting to see where RN's and LPN's found their passion in nursing. What is your Oscar winner in nursing? Please feel free to add any other questions that might be helpful. What type of nurse are you? How long in nursing? How long until you found your niche? What type of nursing lead you to your Oscar winner? In other words, what was your path. What type of personality traits are associated with this type of nursing? What do you love most about your nursing position? (type of hospital, type of pts, co-workers, the challenge,etc) Peace, Daisy

I agree!!! Daisy

Sorry JoPACURN please excuse my newness/ingorance..but what is HCPs?

Its a crazy busy floor, we don't have psych unti per se so we get all of those admits. Its a med/surg/tele oncology floor. I have a year to get chemo certified, concerned about that too. Some nurses are transfering out d/t the chemo. And while I stay out the rumor mill and gossip, the nurses that are leaving have said that they are doing so because the nurse to pt ratio isn't going to change when you have a pt that your are administering chemo to.

Thanks for your input..means a lot coming from your ICU & ER standpoint.

"it is a case of everyone is doing the best they can, but we just can't get to everything just right. sometimes, you are dealing with nurses who, for whatever reason, are simply not careful or attentive enough. the trick is to know the difference. that you will only learn with a little experience under your belt. and of course, do the best you can yourself. be careful of sounding accusatory with your co-workers, because if you are being nit-picky with them, they will be nit-picky with you. and as a new nurse, you deserve some serious slack while you are getting the hang of things. the things you mentioned are not nit-picky and in this forum, they are most appropriate questions. while i am not saying that what you encountered is okay, i am saying that it is not unusual, so i don't think changing facilities will help. " Very good points..didn't think about it from that perspective. The last thing I want to do is be accusatory or be preceived to be, and your right that does come from experience. Getting to know your co-workers and such. And the point you make about everyone doing the best they can..I can relate even with my limited experience. Still making that transition with doing everything by the book with a stickler for a clinical instructor standing over my shoulder. Sometimes we can only do what we can with the resources available. I appreciate your frankness with the things that I will just have to get used to, just wondered if some of these things were the "norm". From where I sit right now, everything is a priority; but being able to differentiate will come with experience. Can't wait to look back on all of this a year or two from now. Thanks again mykidzmom.

Just landed my 1st position as an RN and there are a few things that are weighing heavily on my mind in regards to patient safety. All of the following have happened during my orientation and I am seriously questioning whether I should stay at this facility. How would you have handled the folowing? Night shift handed off two pts to me, one with a glucose of 388 and the other with a blood glucose of 279. Accucheck was done at 0600...neither pt was covered w/insulin Night shift reported of on a pt who looked terrible. Orders were to have pt on 02 to sat at 94%. I assessed pt immediately...no 02 on pt, HR >200, SOB, sats @ 88..did what I could do and called rapid response Received an admit without report or notice Charge nurse reassigned one of my pts. to another nurse who at the end of the day stated "thats not my pt" Asked preceptor multiple times for help and preceptor helped by siging off on my orders when I begged for help with pt care. Received report that a pt was heplocked, only to discover that pt should have been rec. NS @80 ...and yes the order was signed off on by the reporting RN. Given a pt with altered mental status, was known to be violent and had to call security. I felt like this was an inappropriate assignment for a new RN. Received report in the am on a pt who during the night had a troponin II of 2.8 (MD was called), checked labs 1st thing, troponin III was 4.05..pt was having an acute MI and somehow nobody on the night shift noticed that the pts atrial pacer wasn't pacing....I noticed! There's more but I think you get the idea. I have read that your orientation can make you or break you. Worried that I might not find another new nurse position, but more worried that I am not building a good foundation for my nursing career as well as being extremely concerened about my patients well being and safety. Peace, Daisy