traveler85

I worked night shift for a year and a half. Here's what I can think of off the top of my head: 1. Light blocking curtains - these are a must for sleeping during the day. 2. There will be some nights that things are slow. For the most part, however, it is usually a very busy time, as you will have some patients that will be up all night/sleep all day, sundowners patients (dementia that sets in mostly at night), etc. 3. I found that there was a great deal of camaraderie between the staff at night. I worked in a small community hospital where we had only the ER doctors and the ICU resident in the hospital at night. If there was ever an emergency, it was you and your co-workers who were the main responders. Due to that, and the fact that there was a bit of time to talk while doing charting, we came to rely on each other a great deal. 4. Expect lower staffing numbers. 5. Be careful about what you eat. I gained a lot of weight working night shift because it was easier to go on a nightly McDonald's run or grab something from the vending machine, than pack my own lunch and eat healthy. Junk food once in a while is fine, junk all the time leads to buying larger scrubs. I learned the hard way. 6. The atmosphere is a bit more relaxed, and there is greater autonomy, as there are not mass numbers of people (doctors, social workers, management, etc) milling around. I hope this helps, at least a little. I will say, as a fellow night owl who asked for nights of my own volition, I really did enjoy the NOC shift.

So this is how we are exposed to all those nasty bugs and keep from getting sick - we're all too jacked up on coffee! Exciting news, I must say, as now I have an excuse to continue feeding my Starbucks habit

I'm so sorry for your loss. I will be keeping you, your co-workers, and her family in my prayers.

AprilFresh, It is not about the actual act itself. I have no problem whatsoever getting a patient a drink, or an extra blanket, or a snack. What I do have a problem with is when said patient is calling me into the room every 5 minutes (even though every time I leave the room I ask if they need anything else....), screaming at me when I do not get into the room immediately with what they asked for (I am sorry, my crashing patient trumps the extra pillow), screams at me when the doctor will not order any more pain medication (because the NPO patient won't stop eating the candy they had their family sneak in), and then goes on to tell their family/doctor/nurse manager that they have not seen the nurse all night/have had horrible care (even though I have spent the evening bending over backwards for their requests at the expense of spending time with my other 5 patients that truly need me there). To reiterate: I have no issue with helping those that need it, but I do have a problem when they begin to act entitled, demanding, and at times, verbally abusive when they do not get what they want, when they want it.

I NEVER give any type of insulin without first checking BG. I had a brittle diabetic once that bottomed out every morning, even after receiving only Lantus (her blood sugar at HS was somewhere around 140).

I graduated in May 2008, licensed in August. I had a job lined up upon graduation at the hospital/unit where I precepted. Worked there for a year and a half, left due to burn out and issues in my home life, and have not been able to find another nursing job since.

ALY529, I am so sorry to hear all this. To be honest, I do not have any experience with this, so I cannot give any advice. I do want to let you know that I will be keeping you in my prayers. I wish you the best.

I spent 18 months as a nurse and never found the right way to cope. The hospital I was at was in transition of being taken over by another, we lost our manager 3 months after I started, the director (who happened to have her little brown nose stuck way up the *** of upper management) had to take over all management duties, patient safety was nil.... In other words, the place was terrible! After less than 6 months, I was ready to quit, don't know why I didn't. After a year the director was fired and a new manager and director were hired, but by that point, I was beyond miserable. I went down to part time, but was still unhappy to the point where I was dreading work a week in advance. Eventually, I became depressed to the point where my PCP wanted to put me on medication. That was when I had enough and just left. I have been out of nursing for about a year now. I'm considering getting back into nursing (could really use the paycheck [not trying to be a 'just for the money' kind of nurse, but I have to pay the school loans somehow]) but I really don't know if I can do it. I don't want to go back to a job where I have to take medication to be happy and function

Praying for you both :heartbeat

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Initial dream: do nursing, then go on to be a doctor (starting to rethink that one...) Dream job: food critic, wine taster, artist, painter, writer, or maybe just an internet job that I could work from home. Acheived dream job: my friend and I are opening a coffee shop :)

Nuclear Med has gone home for the day and refuses to come in to run a scan - nurses fault

Is there any way the finger was still wet from the alcohol wipe? I've seen that make a difference in glucose readings

The veins. I'm always looking at people's veins. I have one friend that gets so weirded out by it. :) I also have a tendency to take note of what prescription medications my friends and family are on and speculate the reason why they are taking it

I'm not a grammar nazi per se, but I do ask that whatever is written at the very least be legible. I can't tell you how much it irks me to see multiple mispellings, multiple words missing, and so little punctuation that the entire paragraph looks to be one sentence!