KC,RN

That’s awful. As I got more experienced as a nurse I learned to say “I am a nurse and I am a professional, you are not allowed to touch me. I expect to be spoken to the same way I am speaking to you.” It doesn’t always work, but at least they get the drill when the see me if I keep repeating it.

I love this! Always my go to!

OMG that might be the only thing worse!

I love this! Perfect way to handle it! I’m going to use this, thanks!

I guess this could apply to any part of life, but just curious how everyone handles it when your patient wants to talk about politics. I typically try to redirect the subject back to the care I am providing, but sometimes you have to stay in a room for one reason or another and they just won’t stop. So does anyone have any good tactics since this is a topic that just won’t go away?

Where I live most of the prestigious hospitals and more of the local hospital want a BSN. I have my ADN and I am working on my BSN now. If you have the time I would go for your BSN because you will need it sooner or later.

I don't know if I expressed this clearly, but I truely do not think this son had any intention of causing trouble in the hospital. I think he felt helpless seeing his mother in that much pain and he was not able to do anything about it. I also think that when he saw me standing in the hallway talk to the other nurse in front of my computer he probably thought I was just hanging out ignoring his mothers pain. I think his gut instinct was to put on his tough guy act to get things done. I never doubted that his mom was in real pain. I was doing what I could in that particular moment to ease the pain, I had given the pain meds I had available and was calling for more. In hind site, I could have made a phone call sooner, next time I will. I feel for this family, it is not easy to see a loved one suffer. I have to ask and I don't mean for this to sound disrespectful, but how should the nurse "act" in front of the family when they are trying to get what they need done? Obviously sympathetic , but do they need to stop and explain every move they are making?

Thank you!!![emoji8]

Thank you everyone. Some really good advice here that I will use in my bag of tricks to prevent this from happening again. It's tough as a nurse when you understand that someone is in real pain and there are so many channels that you have to go through to fix it. As for the patient she was very reasonable after the pain was brought to a comfortable level. I don't think the family had any intention of causing problems for me, but like was stated earlier had a misconception of how hospital work.

I know I spelled that wrong. As I said in the other posts I typed that quickly in the middle of the night without check. Thanks for correcting me. I will double check next time.

Thanks I'll double check next time.

I need to use spell check when posting in the middle of the night![emoji51]

I know I was very vague in my post because I didn't want to give out to much information. The incident that happened last night was this. Pt came to the floor right at change of shift after a hellish ER experience with pancreatitis. Clearly in 10/10 pain admitting nurse gave here the 2mg of morphine that was ordered. The patients husband was upset because ER had been giving her 4mg of morphine and they were told that it would be increased. I assessed the pt pain 30 minutes after med was given per protocol and called the MD right away to let him know that pt pain was still 10/10 after morphine was given. MD give me a 1x dose of toradol, went in to room to give it and husband expressed that he was upset with the care that his wife was receiving and that they were not getting answers. Gave med called nursing sup to let her know about the husbands concerns. Called MD to let him know about the husbands concerns and asked if they he could come see the patient and her husband, MD was no longer in the hospital. MD gave me order for dilaudid X1 dose. Toradol reassessed and pain had decreased to 6/10. Dilaudid given and when reassessed pain was 2/10. I told pt husband that we would control the pain and when MD returned in the morning they could discuss the plan of care. Pt husband was satisfied and left to go home. My next plan was to see my other patients and give the morphine that was still ordered 4hours after first dose that was given on the floor as ordered. Pt called for pain med while I was at dinner brake and the nurse covering my assignment gave it a few minutes early (this was the 1st I would have done when I got back). I went back to reassess the pain 30 min after med was given, walked in the room and clearly this patients pain was still 10/10. When I went to see the patient her son and daughter were in for a visit. I told the patient and her family that I would call the MD for a different pain med. I paged the covering MD and waited for a call back. I was standing next to the phone with my computer talking to another nurse and I looked down the hall and the patients son was staring at me standing in the hallway outside the patients door with his arms crossed starring at me. I moved around to the nurse station and the patients son walked over and glared at me and stated "why are you not doing anything about this the doctor needs to see her now!" I explained that the doctor had been paged and that I will get he med changed when I get the call back the patients son said "this hospital is under staffed!" I told him this was common at most hospitals that the MD is not on the floor and they are pages as needed, I also said that I was addressing his mothers pain as best as I could. He just looked at me and said "you can not tell me that this hospital is not under staffed if there is not a doctor on this floor! They need to fix her pain now!" I asked him to give me the chance to speak with the doctor. Covering MD calls back and changed morphine to dilaudid q2 and med is given to patient asap. Pt family leaves without incident. Looking back I should have called for the dilaudid order sooner. I was just venting in my post because I do feel bad for these families because the feel helpless and the just think that hospital have meds at hand that can just be given when ever the slightest pain is detected. I also think the families feel helpless and that if they start yelling at the nurse at least they are getting something done. My prior shift I had a 31 y/o male that had been in for 4 days with shingles and denied pain my whole shift then I get a phone call from his dad who said that he called him and his pain was out of control. The patient had never used the call light! Pain control has just become a huge cause for concern on my unit suddenly and it's frustrating when MD don't address it when see them. Just part of nursing life I guess?

My last two shifts I have had issues with very hostel family members who felt that my hospital and me were not doing enough to prevent a patients pain. I had medicated both of these patients and update the MD when the pain medication was not effective. I understand that these families have their heart in the right place and are doing what they can to advocate for their family member, but how is trying to intimidate a nurse the way to get things done? I did notify the supervisor about the situation. Is there a good way to handle this or is it one of those things that comes with the job?

Ok point taken. My point was that you need to ask about your credits, and in my experience most schools will take credits already earned for an RN to bsn program.

I would talk to the school you would like to go to. They will usually take most of your credits.

I worked in a pediatric office that nurses and ma had the exact same job description. I left because it drove me crazy, I never used my assessment skills and I started to feel like I was an ma. I left to feel like a nurse again. I'm sure ma that work in an office like that would think that nurses and ma are the same, but I think it's very irresponsible to call yourself a nurse when you are not.

I work in a LTC/rehab on nights Monday through Friday. They have weekend staffing that dose not work during the week usually. So the nurse that relieved me I will not see until next week. The problem I just woke up this afternoon and realize I forgot to change the trash on my med cart. I feel really bad because I try to be courteous to the nurse that follows me and get as much done as I can for them. Would it be appropriate for me to call and apologize, or should I let it go and just say something next week?

I have felt like you have so many times. I'm just out of my first year of nursing and I still have days that I feel like that. Just learn to find the nurses you can trust and don't mind giving you a second opinion. Then find ways to improve what you can, read up on things and take classes if you can. And like the others have said go easy on yourself, celebrate the small accomplishments you've made. I got the best advice from and instructor in a class I took yesterday...Always remember we practice nursing, which means we're always learning.

So I am a fairly new nurse, I graduated with my ADN in 2010. I was very lucky to find a job at a long-term care/Rehab facility two weeks after passing my boards. My intention was to stay at this facility for a year and search for a new job, preferably in a hospital. Shortly after starting my job search I found out I was expecting. I put the search on hold, I thought it was best to stay put until after I had my baby. I'm about 13weeks out from giving birth and I'm thinking about starting my job search again. Is it appropriate to apply to other facility and explain to them I would not be able to start until a few weeks after my baby is born? Or should I wait until after I give birth and start applying?

i'm a new grad and since august i have been working in a ltc facility, this is my first nursing job. i have found the staff very friendly and supportive, and the education department is very approachable and always wants to get my feed back about the job and help me develop my skills. i feel that i am very lucky to be working and i’m happy i have not encountered “nurses eating their young”. the only draw back is that when i was hired i was told that i could only be hired for part-time, i could pick up hours, but i would not be eligible for benefits until i was scheduled for full-time hours, which they would try to get me as soon as possible. i need benefits, but at the time i need work more. i also suspect that they did not want to give me benefits right away because they have had many new grads in the past that take a job and leave as soon as a better offer comes along, i think they wanted to make sure i was not doing the same. when i had my interview they asked that i stay for one year of employment. i have every intention of staying for that year. the problem that i’m having now is that for the past month and a half they constantly ask me to pick up 2 to 3 8 hour shifts a week, which gives me more than full-time hours; but i’m not scheduled for it so i don’t get benefits. i help out when i can and i have asked if they see a full time schedule being available soon, they usually say they’re trying but they have nothing yet. the long and short of my question is should i keep picking up the hours if they say i can’t schedule me for full time, and if i don’t pick up the hours does it make me look like a bad employee?

i'm not an unemployed new grad, but an under-employed new grad. i graduated last may and pasted my boards in august. since september i've worked in ltc part-time with no benefits and pay rate that is well below what i was told to expect for a new grad. i've also been doing flu shot clinics as well. i never get down about it because i feel that the experience is much more valuable than the pay. i am returning to school for my bsn in january, and i plan on job hunting for a hospital job with benefits in the spring. hopeful this will all change soon and we’ll all be swatting of new job offers. in the mean time i’m very thankful to have an income to pay my bills.

During one of my clinicals I had a chance to shadow a nurse in the PACU. The nurse asked the patient if she had any drug allergies, she said that she was allergic to ACE-Is; the nursed asked what happened when she took them and the pt said “they make me cough.” The nurse said immediately that was a typical reaction to an ACE-I, the pt’s response was “Well I told my doctor and he said I shouldn’t take it anymore.” I don’t know if there was a different reason for the pt to stop taking the med, but it was very eye opening to me as a student to see the need to educate pts on the meds they are taking and teach them the difference between an allergic reaction and a side-effect. I agree, if every side effect is counted as an “allergy” then real allergies may be over looked.

i'm a new grad and i have to tell you flash cards are still invaluable. they work anywhere! waiting in line at the store, waiting in a doctor's office, downtime at work... i could go on and on; so much easer to always have on hand than a text book. i had a friend that would put them in a document on a label format and send them out to us, she said that just creating them helped her study. ps sorry if this posted twice, i got knocked off-line in my first attempt.

so while i do not think that tech/cna duties are below an rn/lpn, i do think that it is very odd that a nurse manager would assign a nurse as a "tech". i work in a state that does not allow you to be a “tech” once you are a nurse, but it does not mean you can’t do the work. if you were going to be paid at a “tech” rate you are absolutely right in refusing. like one other poster said, she should have asked you to help with tech duties and take new admissions as the came in, that would have been more helpful to the other nurses, and you would not have been working in the "tech" role. when i worked in ltc as a cna i will never forget one of my managers telling me that she always helped out her cnas when she could because a nurse can function as a cna, but a cna could not function as a nurse. we need each other to get through tough shifts.