Goldenhare

Once, to a new nurse. If you find your patient unresponsive, your first action should NOT be to come look for me. ???

Re: gswifty Can be? Used to be! I used to love it here! But over the years, I have seen this site go from being a helpful friendly place, where people used to freely share knowledge and help. But I've often seen posters get personally attacked like this poster. And yes I've seen it in other fourms, for instance, new nurses asking for guidance from us experienced nurses, and being knocked about, demeaned and then being told to 'Suck it up! Don't you know that we eat our young?'

The treatment of this poster is why I rarely come to this site anymore.

The staff at my son's doctor's office refers to their MA's as nurses. Drives me crazy. And I correct them every time. Having said that, the vet tech's at my Dog's vet, call themselves nurses also. I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

Not sure that this is an appropriate place to post this but I work on a very small med surg floor in a very small hospital. We have LPN students in twice a week. The instructor used to work here, I'm told, years ago. Recently, we were giving turnover at the nurses station. The patient rooms surround the nurses station. As report started, the instructor took it upon herself to close the doors on two rooms citing HIPPA. the nurse giving report stated that those rooms were both line of sight rooms, with one pt being a suicidal ideation pt and the other being a withdrawing ETOH/drug addict, and got up and reopened the door. Next time I came to work, we were told that report was now on to be conducted in the staff break room with doors closed and only one unlicensed personal at the nurses station. I feel that this is a risk to my license, though I can understand the HIPPA concerns. ( I mentioned this when I first started here and was told not to worry about it. !!!!) I would rather do walking rounds Thoughts and ideas please. Thanks!

Ok that's what I was thinking. I have been to see management twice. I am going to put things in writing to them. I am keeping notes. I have spoken to one of the preceptorship and she has told me to mind my own business. The other civilian nurses are on my side. Some have refused to work with him-that's how he ended up on my shift. And I will be calling my carrier on Monday. Thank you.

I am civilian, which adds to the problem because I am told over and over again that the military nurses cannot be sued, which I don't believe, but they do. Many times there are only 2 nurses on the floor. Many times I have had to correct things he has done or intervene,or feel that I should intervened or the safety of the patient. If something does go wrong, I may be the only recourse. Isn't my liability increased because he endangers patients?

II'll try to keep this concise. I work at a small military hospital-please don't move this thread! A new graduate nurse, smart, but cocky, has joined our ranks. He is not being precepted well. In fact, you could argue, not at all. He rarely goes into his patient's rooms, can't seem to prioritize, ("Hey! Would you go check on that patient of mine who's having chest pain?") Draws up meds incorrectly-25mg of phenergren into a 10ml saline syringe and gives half the volume for a 12.5 mg dose, and popped a pill into his hand to give in to the patient at the bedside-the patient complained to me. There is more- much, much more. I have been to management, but there is no plan to withdraw him from the floor. I feel my license is at risk. Advice? Feel free to message me

A Graduate Nurse puts patients back to bed without regard to personal safety. An experienced nurse calls the lift team. A lift team? Talk about a humorous thread! Lol!

If MY phone rings in MY house, I have a right to know WHO is calling. It's courtesy. Maybe I don't have caller ID and maybe YOU misdialed!

I had to go for a TB bleb test at the local 'Doctor's Clinic' branch. The MA that did the test was repeatedly referred to as 'Dr. Smith's nurse', by the office staff till I said "Oh! I thought she was a MA, not a nurse, to which the staff members twittered a bit then said, "oh, yeah she is, but she's HIS nurse". Now I get that the general public gets confused, but in a medical office? It annoys me to no end!

I'm at a new job at a small hospital. I previously have met some good docs, but some real drama queens too. A couple of weeks ago, I took a completed, ordered EKG down to the doc to look at and figured I would return later to pick it up and put it in the chart. After a few hours, I noticed that the EKG was back at the nurses station with a sticky note on it that said " THANKS!". Maybe it was just a small thing, but it made my day :)!

Some of the best nurses I ever worked with were LPN'S

I am alarmed at the nasty comments directed at the poster. She has not done anything wrong, is verbalizing her hurt and confusion, and asking for feedback. So many of you have jumped all over her (reminding me why I rarely get on this fourm anymore) and she has done NOTHING wrong, while giving her instructor a pass for bad behavior. Her instructor's role includes the position of mentor. It comes with the territory. Therefore: 1) The instructor should not have said that she was doing "very good" in clinicals if indeed she was not. This is called critical feedback. Feedback and a plan for improvement if needed is the instructor's job. Think of it as a careplan for students. I don't know if the poster's grades reflect a "very good" clinical component, but if they don't, then the term "good job" is being misused. 'Satisfactory' maybe is the term she should have used. 2) The instructor should not have told all the students that they could all expect a recommendation if it was NOT true. She should have said "If I am comfortable with your clinical performance, I will be glad to write you a letter." 3) If at the point that the poster sent the email, and the instructor was no longer willing to write a letter for her, the instructor should have contacted her and told her this. The poster deserves a timely response. To do otherwise, is to be rude. The instructor does not get a pass for being rude, just because she is the instructor. If as one response seemed to suggest, the instructor decided not to write the recommendation because of repeated emails from the poster, well that is rude on the part of the instructor as well. The student expects and deserves accurate and timely feedback, both negative and positive, from the instructor. It is unacceptable for an instructor to play 'hide and seek' with the student in this way. The student pays tuition and in return, can expect to receive the tools and information and feedback needed to master the course materials. It is the responsibility of the student to use this information to be successful. Now maybe the poster should speak in person to the instructor for clarification of the situation, and maybe she should chalk it up to a bad experience. Personally, I would love to work with this nurse some day because she cares about her performance on the job and wants to learn. She should not be criticized for trying to understand why her perception of the situation somehow differs from her instructor's.

I have done a few shifts so far just trying to pare down what exactly has to happen and what doesn't. It is difficult as I still think I should do more. I'm still struggling with a balance and I struggle with what others leave undone. For instance, we had a drug seeking patient, very animated, and one night, I took over care and she was very, very sleepy-though vitals WNL. There was a small bag on the table directly in front of the pt so I opened it and found PO dilaudid! I mean what was the admission nurse doing? (Pt had no visitors). I think this kind of stuff is pt safety, but often feel that I am in the minority on this.

Thanks guys! I think that you all have made some valid points. I hate going to work stressing about finishing on time. Hate it. so I think I will try to go tonight with a different outlook and see what happens. Thanks to all! :)

I appreciate all comments. I work in a hospital. Been doing this for 6 years now. Do night shift. I seem to be getting a bit better. I think its mostly the charting that gets me because I'm always finding mistakes. And like a previous poster mentioned, why chart it if its not accurate because I am responsible for the assessment. I also have never made a med error-knock wood. I guess I'm bothered that what passes as "time management' is actually' cutting corners' (ie falsifying charts and not giving good care). It's hard for me to leave a shift thinking I could have or should have done better. I've heard that nurse's who can't 'hack it' should not float, but maybe that's why they float me because I'm thorough?? Thanks for the input guys! :)

I've tried to post this in another area but have gotten no real feedback. Helpful feedback please. I've been a nurse for about 6 years. I've always had issues with time management, but have made progress. I am always, always fighting the clock. I keep a 'brain', and I try to prioritize, but it is always a struggle. Since this is a struggle for me, I am always looking for ways to speed up. I must be careful sometimes, in how fast I do tasks, because I will make a mistake, like charting on the wrong patient, or reviewing labs or orders because sometimes I will misread (possibly a learning disability?). I am very careful with meds and my record shows. Now I always read that the key to time management is prioritizing. However, this is what I am finding: 1) Pts who ask me "What are you doing?" when I check pedal pulses. ("No one has ever done that to me!") but they are charted-also amputees with pedal pulses charted. 2)Pts with home meds that have not been given in DAYS! 3) Full assessments charted on Psych patients, but I'm the only nurse who has a stethoscope (I float sometimes) 4) Meds charted that haven't been given. 5) Clear lung sounds charted on pts whose lungs are ANYTHING but clear. 6) Pts charted as 'non verbal' or 'comatose' who, though slow or quiet, can verbalize, and make their needs known. I must begin to clock out ON TIME, EVERY SHIFT. So what gets left out of my shift in order to finish on time? Do I sacrifice accuracy for speed? What am I missing? I worked hard to get where I am and I need this job, but this dilemma makes me want to leave nursing as it causes me a great deal of anxiety. Thank you for any help and opinion. Does anyone else find this? Am I too thorough??

I am used to 12's but where I am now, they do mostly 8's. But my last shift was on PCU and it was an 8 (they usually do 12's) and it was a nightmare with me hanging 2 liters of blood at 1am that were ordered at 9am the previous the morning, 2 antibiotics, including vanc, that should have been hung on evening shift, a messy nasty dressing change that hadn't been changed at all that day despite a BID order. an admission who had a knife, (ER called security for the drug paraphernalia, wrote down that the pt had a knife, but didn't give that to the security.) The guy was high as a kite. I am not fully familiar with the PCU unit, It had been at least 2 months since I had floated there. I had 3 heavy pts and the admission made 4, which wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't for all the unfinished stuff. I had support, but had to keep stopping and asking about who to call for what, in particular,concerning the admit, which I had never done on PCU. I am trained as a med surg nurse but they float me alot. I usually get out on time from Gyn, mom and baby, psych and USUALLY PCU. But when I am on med surg, its always a struggle. We have 6-7 pts, out CNA's are pretty good, though lately, they have been taking more patients than usual, just like the rest of us. It usually takes me 5-10 minutes to do an assessment, but I'm not sure that is completely accurate. I think I get caught up with pt requests, pain medication requests, bathroom requests. I try to be accurate, but as I said before, it is evident that I do a thorough assessment, (too through??). I try to take meds with me during assessments. I guess I'm just confused about how to speed up. I feel that I have to compromise my professionalism.. I'm really down about it. My patients seem to like me alot, often refusing the care of other nurses in preference to me. Its causing me alot of anxiety. If I can add, the med/surg manager likes to do a daily meeting that can go from 0700-0720, I often have to give report to 4 different nurses, we often get out I's and O's late from our CNA's-we have to chart them. Last time I was there, she said that people MUST take there breaks and get out on time, so I can't be the only one having trouble, but if others are having trouble, then I feel there is no hope for me.

I've been a nurse for about 6 years. I've always had issues with time management, but have made progress. I am always, always fighting the clock. I keep a 'brain', and I try to prioritize, but it is always a struggle. Since this is a struggle for me, I am always looking for ways to speed up. I must be careful sometimes, in how fast I do tasks, because I will make a mistake, like charting on the wrong patient, or reviewing labs or orders because sometimes I will misread (possibly a learning disability?). I am very careful with meds and my record shows. Now I always read that the key to time management is prioritizing. However, this is what I am finding: 1) Pts who ask me "What are you doing?" when I check pedal pulses. ("No one has ever done that to me!") but they are charted-also amputees with pedal pulses charted. 2)Pts with home meds that have not been given in DAYS! 3) Full assessments charted on Psych patients, but I'm the only nurse who has a stethoscope (I float sometimes) 4) Meds charted that haven't been given. 5) Clear lung sounds charted on pts whose lungs are ANYTHING but clear. 6) Pts charted as 'non verbal' or 'comatose' who, though slow or quiet, can verbalize, and make their needs known. I must begin to clock out ON TIME, EVERY SHIFT. So what gets left out of my shift in order to finish on time? Do I sacrifice accuracy for speed? What am I missing? I worked hard to get where I am and I need this job, but this dilemma makes me want to leave nursing as it causes me a great deal of anxiety. Thank you for any help and opinion. Does anyone else find this? Am I too thorough??

Q1-yes Q2-G2 P8 Q3-G1 P2 This can get confusing. Try to remember that Gravida means pregnant Para means live birth-generally over 20 weeks So anyone who has ever been pregnant is automatically a gravida If the pregnancy ended in an abortion or miscarriage, that does not erase the fact that she was a gravida. Gravida does not refer to the number of babies she is carrying. It only refers to the fact that she is, or was pregnant. If a woman is pregnant (gravida 1) and gave birth to a live baby (para 1) who later dies she is STILL G1 P1. If she is pregnant (gravida 1)and gives birth to 2 babies (para 2), one who later dies she is G1 P2. If she is pregnant (gravida 1) and gives birth to 2 babies (para) who live, she is G1 P2 Hope this helps!

I was just thinking on the doula point. I guess the key would be not to disclose that you are an RN. It's not that the doulas aren't trained for emergencies or that it would be about ethics. I think it is that RN's would be held to a different standard. But its just a theoretical discussion at this point and like I said, I was just thinking. I think I would try the agency as it couldn't hurt and you never know who you will meet. When I started out, the first assignment I interviewed for was to help a doctor with work physicals for firemen. Another was flu clinics. You could always try. All right. Thanks for sharing and good luck!

I guess this is an old thread, but I too am looking for someone to bounce things off of; things I don't dare ask at work-I've learned the hard way. Please email me if you think you might be willing to let me 'pick your brain'. Thanks!

Have you tried working for an agency? I started to work for an agency during the recession-never wanted to be an agency nurse, and it has worked out really well. I was a med surg nurse, not that I particularly like med surg nursing, but I was told that it would give me good experience. When I tried to get a job outside of med surg, I was told that I did not have specialty experience. The agency sent me to a hospital that has floated me around. Even if I had not floated, I got to meet alot of people who make hiring decisions, and they know my work so its a thought. I have a question for you! What are the implications of working as a doula when you are a RN? What prevents you from being sued if something goes wrong and it is said that you should have known because you are an RN? I have considered becoming a doula to increase my training in OB and Mom and Baby, but this concern has held me back.

I agree about the French Cuisine course. It was taken as an elective for a degree from Penn State in Institutional Management (including hospitals, hotels, and restaurants.) But it counts as an elective for nursing. So those days are not exactly 'gone'.