aem31

Yep! You a new nurse? I made up elaborate brain sheets and need one for each patient. I see other nurses just jotting it all down randomly on one piece of paper. Don't know how they keep it all straight. Even with my overkill system, I still get them jumbled up in my brain. I hate it.

I'm a fairly new nurse so I don't have much to go on but so far I LOVE the grumpy patients. There was one recently that nobody could stand. Had my first encounter with him and he acted like a total jerk. I figured I'd just be quick in providing his care and hurry out of room asap. However, I discovered he needed the opposite. He needed someone to just listen to him. We actually formed a nice relationship and he told me i was the only person who listened to him and thanked me as well as apologizing for taking his frustration out on me. He was with us for a few weeks and was to be discharged at the start of my last shift for the week. When I heard he was leaving I went in to wish him luck. As I held his hand and chatted with him for a minute he expressed that he was sad to leave (which was funny because he often grumbled that nobody knew what they were doing). It was rewarding to be able to break through his defenses and do some good for him.

I'm now kind of wanting to do BS report. Initially, I felt apprehensive about it but I think some great valid points in favor of Bs report have been made. I really like the idea of seeing the patient and doing a quick assessment right there. And being able to hold the off going nurse accountable or have them perhaps explain why xyz wasn't done, I think would be helpful. Not to mention having an extra set of hands to situate the patient or to catch something big, like a code. My group seems so leery of it. I mentioned to one nurse I was reporting to that maybe we should go do BS report because the DON has been cracking down on us about it and she had just walked by looking none to happy that people were still giving report at the nurses station. She was adamant that we were going to give report right there at the nurses station. '

My facility does it, or we are supposed to. Nobody on my unit gives bedside report. Everyone hates the idea of it. The problems I see with it: 1. Especially for nights going into day shift: Often we have friends or family members sleep in room with the patient. This in itself could bring up a few issues. To begin with, there is potential for HIPAA violation. Or as a coworker mentioned, you now have these other family/friend ears listening in, and the potential for drama that could bring with the twisting of what was said and misunderstandings. If the patient doesn't want the person rooming in to hear report (which would probably be quite unusual) then you would have to fully rouse said individual and escort them out of room so report could commence, further delaying report and probably leaving for some unhappy kicked-out-of room-folks. 2. I think most of us feel uncomfortable with what to say in report in front of the patient. Obviously we can all think of things that would be awkward to discuss. Does that then mean you have two reports given? One that is prettied up for patient and then "the real deal" outside the room? 3. Interruptions. I see lots of interruptions happening in this scenario. 4. Fear of accidentally slipping some diagnosis or result that the patient was not yet privy to. Benefits would include less gossip and judgmental tidbits mixed in with report. Probably a more streamline fashion of giving report. The patient is involved and can ask questions (which is also a con as I mentioned above-interruptions). Do you give bedside report? Do you like it? Hate it?

Why would this disturb you? Everyone has their personal space boundaries. It doesn't mean much of anything except it plain makes them uncomfortable. That should be respected. You don't have to have a traumatic event in your past feel awkward or uncomfortable with giving someone a massage. As far as hoping those with a traumatic history "get over it and give their folks a back rub"....don't even know what to say to that. It's really off putting though.

I'm 34. People usually say I look about 24 or so. Being a new grad didn't help as far as my coworkers were concerned. Many of them assumed I was in my early twenties because I look younger and am a new grad. It isn't a big problem for me. I don't feel a lack of respect or trust because of it. I just go in and try to let my actions speak louder than anything.

These students go to a different school than I did so I'm not sure what they know yet and what they can do. Whenever I've asked what they can do they act like a deer in headlights. I had a patient with some adventitious lung sounds and offered to let my student listen. he didn't have a stethoscope with him.

Thanks for the feedback. I really want to be involved with students. I love teaching, just feel not ready at this point. I guess my hospital expects us to take them no matter what. Probably the clinical instructor assigns the patient to the student the night before and since our patient assignments aren't made until about an hour before our shift there isn't a good way to make sure unexperienced nurses don't get a student. I suppose I'll just do the best I can.

How does your facility handle this? I was kind of shocked when I saw I had a student with me my first week off orientation. I feel so fresh and new myself and still have not even done a variety of skills myself (hang blood and insulin drip comes to mind). I love teaching others but really felt uneasy having a student with me so early on. I'm not in my groove yet at all and am still figuring out how to hold my own. Is this common to be assigned a student so early on as a new grad? I felt very tense and nervous thinking I might make a mistake. Does your facility take these things into consideration? Do they ask RNs if they want a student nurse, or just assign them? Just curious what the norm is here.

Hang in. I'm a newbie too. It sucks. It's hard. You feel stupid. It will not always be this way. Know that and keep on doing the best you can. It's all you can do. Learn and improve.

Yep. I figured it might happen a lot and that's why I chose to be careful how I handle it. I'm new. I don't know the in's and out's quite yet. I certainly don't want to start off on the wrong foot and ruffling feathers, but I also want to be safe for my patients and have my butt covered.

I considered it but was worried about backlash.

New nurse here. Had to call a doctor the other night after I followed hypoglycemia protocol and the patient wasn't responding to the treatment. He gave me his order and I began to read it back. He interrupted me saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." And hung up on me. As I wrote out the order I wondered if I should even write torb as he didn't allow me to do so. What should I have done? Called him back? Charted that he wouldn't allow me to read it back? What would you have done?

This sounds like a reasonable approach.

I have seen these sorts of posts from you often. Are you an RN? A student nurse?

I have a small purple streak on the underside of my hair toward the back. It just sort of peeks out. I haven't had a bit of trouble at clinicals yet which is odd because we aren't even allowed more than one set of earrings. However, I will not have it for much longer. I'll let it fade and dye over it with my natural color. It's not professional. Once you've worked on a unit for a while you'll have a better feel for if it is acceptable. Until then, imo, it is better to be more conservative rather than less.

Ah. Just saw someone else mention color coded badges.

I think it would help if all the badges for different departments were color coded. That way you know off the bat that all blue badges are RN and red are techs or respiratory therapists or whatever.

I rarely log in to respond to a post, and I really only read the first post in this thread so I'm sure I'll be repeating what multiple others have said. I'm closing in on my first half of nursing school. I've maintained a 4.0 throughout. And guess what? I was clumsy with the microscope in microbiology. I even accidentally got oil on the lens you are FORBIDDEN to get oil on...lol. I dropped countless instruments and was a general klutz in lab. I managed to pull off an A in that class but honestly, my weakness still is in doing. What I mean is, I preform clumsily in skills. I'm just a bit slower in that department than my peers. I have the knowledge in my head but my nervousness makes me slower when I have to put my hands on deck. It is still rather disconcerting to me to know that I can pull off a 100 on a nursing exam (and nobody in my program has done so in five years) but that I am like in the bottom bracket of my class for being able to gracefully manage application of skills in clinical and lab. However, I know myself. I know that given time my nerves will ease and I'll be just fine. You may be the same way. Shame on that old hag for trying to undermine your confidence and negatively impact your life. She probably hates her job and is a miserable unhappy person. Write it off and keep working on your goals. Don't give her words another thought.

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. On the night of my first day of nursing school my husband tried to commit suicide and was in ICU for four days. He did not die but the whole thing really shakes you to the core. The range of emotions I had startled me. Naturally, when he was in ICU I just wanted him to make it and be okay. Along with that came all of the emotions one would expect. Shock, fear, guilt. Once he was "okay" I found myself extremely angry. I didn't know how to deal with that feeling at all. Nor did I expect it. You're likely to go through all those feelings seemingly simultaneously and that is okay. For me, keeping busy with school helped to a large degree. If you get terribly overwhelmed I'd really suggest seeking a therapist. Two reasons for this suggestion versus just talking to a friend. 1. No matter how many times friends say it, they really don't want to hear you talk about such an uncomfortable topic anytime you need to. Which could be often. People always say they don't mind but my experience is that "too much" talking gets a label of needy individual. 2. People have all sorts of qualms about suicide. The make ridiculous assumptions and it can end up just making things more emotionally hard for you. My experience. Do what you feel is right, of course. Good luck to you in your (final?) semester. And again, my condolences on the loss of your brother.

I use one of these rolling crate things. Staples I felt like an idiot wheeling it around at first and I did get some good natured teasing from my classmates. However, by the end of the semester several people told me they were getting one for themselves for the following semester. Everything fits it it very easily and mine has a hard lid which makes a handy place to plop your butt on. Excellent make shift seat. I hate rolling backpacks and the like but my back started giving me trouble (even though I am in excellent shape, thank you p90x). This has been a life saver.

What are the pros of being able to access your data? Having never used any of these apps I'm clueless.

Holy cow. I must be really naive. When I read the OP I though....yeah, here we go, she must have done something. I was highly skeptical. Continuing to read on, I'm astounded. The same types of stories over and over. I can't believe it is really like that out there. Scary.

Maybe she can't help it. I know from time to time my deodorant stops working for me and I have to switch brands. Sometimes it helps and sometimes even the clinical strength stuff doesn't work as well as it should. I've asked close friends and they say they can't smell me, but I can. I'm not sure if it a hormonal issue or dietary or what because the problem only flares up every now and then, most of the time I have no trouble with it. Maybe you could say something along the lines of your deodorant not working and having to switch things up as a result. It's a lie but it may plant the idea in her head. Personally, I wouldn't say anything.

It's not about character or lack thereof. The OP has not witnessed the cheating. She has no way to prove it. If she speaks up, the cheater will likely deny, and the OP is going to come across as a liar or a spiteful person. Nursing school is hard enough without creating more troubles for oneself. In this instance, I think the OP would be better suited to put the energy she is using worrying about this issue into her own studies.