KittyBinimi

If you're allowed to take your cell phone to the floor, one app I use every day I work is ColorNote for Android. With ColorNote, you can make checklists, which you can save and reuse. I use it to ensure that I complete every task that needs to be done every time I work. You know that moment when you're driving home and you suddenly realize "CRAP! I FORGOT TO X Y Z!" For me, this app keeps those moments to a minimum. :)

I work nights. NEVER thought I would, but I do. My boyfriend works day shift, so I sleep when he's at work, wake up when he gets home and spend the evening with him. That's what works for me. :)

I also work the overnight on a 29 bed unit. Five o' clock is the witching hour. The climbers do climb, and I also have a heavy 6am med pass with one aide. Since I have the luxury of working two units consistently, I can anticipate things. About residents wanting to wake up to go to the dining room, I usually bring snacks to the ones who usually wake up with "Boy, I sure am hungry!" And then I'm on to the next one. As for residents who want to go to the bathroom as soon as I wake them up, well, they must go to the bathroom! And while the aide is busy caring for those who are unfortunately incontinent, the one who must assist them is me. If I were them, "Sorry, I'm in the middle of my med pass" wouldn't cut it. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

Since we're going off anecdotes here, I must say that, being part of the "computer generation," I've encountered several not-so-computer-savvy nurses who seemed to have made up their minds already about being unable to function with electronic charting. IMHO, being resourceful and accommodating are huge parts of being a great nurse, so if you can't use a computer, you better be eager to learn how. I work with nurses who simply throw their hands up and refuse to learn certain parts of our electronic charting system. Instead, they push the work onto others. Not cool. That being said, it's not ok to be condescending when teaching anything, period. Very discouraging.

I sent out a slew of resumes when I graduated, but the job I landed was at the first place in which I had the gonads to walk in, hunt down the ADON and shake her hand. Got a call back the very next day. Best of luck to you. :3

I just trained an RN in my nursing home. I'm a charge nurse training her for the same position. She didn't seem to mind, and I don't see a problem with it. After all, it's not like I was training her to supervise.

So, if I wanna go home and disclose patient so-and-so's medical information to my friends and family, it's all good as long as I get them to sign a confidentiality agreement?

Meh. Can't see getting upset over such a little thing. Don't sweat the small stuff. After you graduate, you won't have the time for it.

Not wearing gloves because they don't feel like it? Waste of time? How about infection control? If they can't be bothered to wear gloves, they can't be bothered to wash their hands between rooms/changes. Disgusting.

What do you mean by "cold"? I can take that to mean uncaring in regard to patients/residents. I can take that to mean being no-nonsense with coworkers/students. I can take it to mean many things, good and bad. I'm having trouble understanding your observations based on how you described them.

Night shift nurse in LTC here. Only on the quietest of super quiet nights would I have time to look at every chart to make sure all new orders had been transcribed. Basically, I can usually only make time to look at physicians' orders for residents on which I know changes had occurred. The computer system makes it easy to see new orders that had been transcribed. But if they aren't transcribed, then we have a problem...

If you're told in report that a patient has an IV access, you need to assess it q shift and chart your own assessment. Here's a nice, brief thread regarding that. https://allnurses.com/infusion-nursing-intravenous/assessing-iv-site-342792.html No matter how much you trust your nurse you are receiving report from, you are responsible for your own assessment. Change of status occurs, and some nurses are mistaken in their own assessments. You can only rely on yourself.