SweetNothings

Well, I just talked to my manager again. She said my pt was fine and had her surgery. She said she aspirated on what appeared to be a small amount of fluid and not a stomach full of food like they told me. She will be back to the floor this evening. Thank God.

I am so distraught right now. I just got a phone call from a dayshift nurse stating that the patient I sent to surgery this morning aspirated during her procedure from what appeared to be a full stomach. My patient had been NPO since midnight. She was oriented and aware of this and all food/drinks were taken away from the bedside. She was not able to get out of bed and she had no vistors during the night, so there was no way (that I know of) that she could have snuck food. I immediately called my manager and notified her of this. She said that she would let the OR know, but I am sick with worry. How could this have happen? I am so worried about the patient and that I may lose my job. I just don't know what to do. Should I call my manager back again?

Thanks for the responses everyone. It really makes me feel better. I guess my biggest issue was the way she did it and the laughing part too. There's already so much animosity between so many workers on this floor, so I really don't know how to take her. I'm going to try not to worry about it. My preceptor says that I'm doing really well and she's listened some of my reports and says that I'm doing ok.

I've been working nights on a busy Ortho floor for about month now. With a little over a month to go on orientation, I'm still trying to learn all the ropes, names of equipment, names of doctors etc. On our floor we give taped reports. Last night, I had a terrible, stressful night and while taping my report this morning I accidently mispronounced one of the names of the equipment. After day shift finished listening to report, a day shift tech came up to me and very loudly (and rudely IMO) , in front of everyone said "It's pronounced so-so. And by the way last week you said Dr. So and so's name wrong during report. It's pronounced Dr.??? I'm telling you so people can stop laughing at you in report." I felt kind of embarassed 1. because she just randomly confronted me in front everyone and 2. the fact that people were laughing at me because I accidently mispronounced a word/name. I know I'm still very new and by all means if I'm doing something wrong I want someone to tell me, but I guess I'm upset with how it was handled. I would've been ok, if she had pulled me to the side and told me or better yet if one of the day shift nurses would have told me instead of laughing behind my back. Am I being too sensitive about this? Should I say something about it? BTW: Sorry for any typos....still haven't slept yet. lol

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm definitely going to go ahead and call the manager next week. The worst she can say is NO right? @mnono009 Unfortunately, I don't really have anyone who can vouch for me at this hospital. The nurses that I talked to were only chance encounters that I had while working at the clinic. There is one nurse who I work with that just took a PRN job at this hospital on another floor. She's only been there for a week, so I don't think she would be in a place to talk to her, but I will keep trying. :)

Hi everyone. Hoping to get a some advice. I've been an RN for a little over a year now. For about the past 8 months I have been working part time at a Public Health Clinic (due to this economy it's all I could find) while still actively looking for work at the hospital. I've also been caring for a child with specials needs off and on while looking for work. Like many new nurses out there, I have been unsuccessful in finding a hospital job due to "lack of experience", hiring freezes, etc. Recently 2 positions became available at one of the local hospitals In NICU, which is a floor I really want to work on. Even though it's a specialty floor, the job description stated that it required no experience so I applied for both positions. This particular hospital also has an RN internship(which I tried getting into last year) but I was told that I don't qualify for the program anymore because I now have more than 6 months worth of "experience" (sounds odd when all I hear is that I DON'T have enough side note: the majority of the jobs I apply for are med/surg). Anyway, I put in my application online for both positions. My question is, should I make the next step and contact the nurse manager of the floor just to kind of introduce myself and show that I'm really interested in this job? I just put in the application yesterday, so I definitely wouldn't be doing this until next week sometime. A few nurses that work/have worked at this hospital have told me it would be a good idea to contact the nurse manager because the HR department there is terrible and they don't always forward applications. I've always gotten mixed reviews on whether this is a good idea or not. I know competition is tough right now with so many people out of work, but I want to stand out from the crowd without over stepping my boundaries. Any advice on what I should do??

Hi everyone. Hoping to get a some advice. I've been an RN for a little over a year now. For about the past 8 months I have been working part time at a Public Health Clinic (due to this economy it's all I could find) while still actively looking for work at the hospital. I've also been caring for a child with specials needs off and on while looking for work. Like many new nurses out there, I have been unsuccessful in finding a hospital job due to "lack of experience", hiring freezes, etc. Recently 2 positions became available at one of the local hospitals In NICU, which is a floor I really want to work on. Even though it's a specialty floor, the job description stated that it required no experience so I applied for both positions. This particular hospital also has an RN internship(which I tried getting into last year) but I was told that I don't qualify for the program anymore because I now have more than 6 months worth of "experience" (sounds odd when all I hear is that I DON'T have enough ). Anyway, I put in my application online for both positions. My question is, should I make the next step and contact the nurse manager of the floor just to kind of introduce myself and show that I'm really interested in this job? I just put in the application yesterday, so I definitely wouldn't be doing this until next week sometime. A few nurses that work/have worked at this hospital have told me it would be a good idea to contact the nurse manager because the HR department there is terrible and they don't always forward applications. I've always gotten mixed reviews on whether this is a good idea or not. I know competition is tough right now with so many people out of work, but I want to stand out from the crowd without over stepping my boundaries. Any advice on what I should do??

Hi everyone. Hoping to get a some advice. I've been an RN for a little over a year now. For about the past 8 months I have been working part time at a Public Health Clinic (due to this economy it's all I could find) while still actively looking for work at the hospital. I've also been caring for a child with specials needs off and on while looking for work. Like many new nurses out there, I have been unsuccessful in finding a hospital job due to "lack of experience", hiring freezes, etc. Recently 2 positions became available at one of the local hospitals In NICU, which is a floor I really want to work on. Even though it's a specialty floor, the job description stated that it required no experience so I applied for both positions. This particular hospital also has an RN internship(which I tried getting into last year) but I was told that I don't qualify for the program anymore because I now have more than 6 months worth of "experience" (sounds odd when all I hear is that I DON'T have enough ). Anyway, I put in my application online for both positions. My question is, should I make the next step and contact the nurse manager of the floor just to kind of introduce myself and show that I'm really interested in this job? I just put in the application yesterday, so I definitely wouldn't be doing this until next week sometime. A few nurses that work/have worked at this hospital have told me it would be a good idea to contact the nurse manager because the HR department there is terrible and they don't always forward applications. I've always gotten mixed reviews on whether this is a good idea or not. I know competition is tough right now with so many people out of work, but I want to stand out from the crowd without over stepping my boundaries. Any advice on what I should do??