ASSEDO

The facility could not point me in the direction of scientific research to determine if air exposure non-briefs) vs urinating on a bed pads make a difference. My Mom wore briefs years before her stroke and never had an infection or skin breakdown, but she cleaned herself often. Maybe if the facility does peri-care ever two hours, she will not suffer from tissue breakdown. I have ordered her night time briefs, so maybe that will work. It's ashamed families can't have a "Grannie Cam" to monitor the elderly like some day care centers.

Good question. About 10 years back the hospitals in our area had a massive lay-off and laid off many nurses with seniority or the older well trained nurses. They gradually replaced them with new graduates, so therefore, the trial and error knowledge that can't be found in text books -learned by the older nurse on the job was not passed down. Our hospitals are still recovering from their error. Plus, there are so many options available to a nurse that he/she doesn't have to accept a job that calls for night shift and every other weekend. Life is not worth missing out on weekends with family and friends. The salaries paid to nurses is so low in comparison to being a lackey for a hospital.

My Mom was transferred from an inpatient rehab facility to a nursing home with skilled rehab. She has incontinence, but I was very shocked the nursing home facility has a non-diapering policy, so Mom urinates on a cotton pad on the bed. The nurse said it cut down on diaper rashes, fungus, and skin breakdown. I realize that some air exposure is good. They put on adult diapers only when the patient get up in a wheel chair. The nurse explained that policy was in place at another local nursing home. Is this a quality of care issue? Where is the research? I failed to find it. Thanks

I have no shame in saying that nursing is not a very good profession. The pay is too low for the responsibility we have and the daily chronic abuse is beyond belief. I have been in this profession for 40 years. It has gone downhill from day one. There is no voice in the profession. If please read, Nursing Against thel Odds, how healthcare cost cutting, media sterotypes, and medical hubris undermine nurses and patient care. It is the culture that nurses have been unable to change, and I blame this on lack of unity, unions, and lazy nursing association.

Sounds like a great job. I would go for it, $14.00 an hour, great money for a new LPN. Just educate yourself daily by going to all areas of the office and ask questions and learn how to run the entire office.

Detox by using foot pads is an interesting concept. However, I have seen physicians give too much meds and we had to detox the patient by "medication vacation, " and the Quacks goes on.

everytime i go into a room i state, " i am mrs. smith and i am a registered nurse." its pretty simple. i learned this from reading, "nursing against all odds."

Location, Location, Location. If you start out at $25.00 an hour at my facility, in Alabama, then you would be overpaid by about $6.00 an hour. I bet my hat, you work hard enough to earn every penny of the $25.00 per hour as a new graduate.... I bring years and years of experience to the table and make the same amount as you, and I am at the top of my pay scale. Once you reach the top, there is no where else to go, you just hang on to that salary for year after year. So my answer remains the same. No nurses do not make enough money, never have and never will...

Don't get me wrong, I have not been at the same facility for 35 years. I have been a traveler and made big buck. Now, I have responsibility for taking care of an elderly parent and had to take a job in the South where wages suck. I actually drive 50 minutes to get to work at one of the better hospitals in this area. Not all areas pay the same.

Yes the pay really is that bad. After working 35 years in nursing, I make $25.00 per hour. Why should nurses settle for less. We all want a confortable place to live and a reasonable car to drive. We should be paid for our education and experience just like any other profession. The only raise in pay we get is a "cost of living" or "across the board" raise. Nothing else. I have never had a $$ raise just because I was a good employee. I have two children that never went to college and make more money than I do with a BS. They have wonderful jobs, get bonus pay and never work weekends. I want to do more than "just get by", I want to live a confortable life, and get a retirement income. However, in my profession, its not going to happen.

Sign-on usually mean word is out about poor working conditions. Again research your location. However, sign-ons for a travel company can be a plus, they just need staff ASAP. But, again consider the location!

Nursing school does not prepare one for the reality of nursing. Nursing is no longer a science, but a freaking maze with time bombs at every turn. My advise is to try the OR. You do not have to spend much time with the patient because they go to sleep, and family cannot go beyond the double doors. You do have to put up with self-appointed God like surgeons, buy they usually run out of the OR as fast as possible.

Your employer (management) is attempting to do a professional lobotomy on you, and using you as a scape- goat to control other employees. Please follow up with an attorney so the attorney can send a letter in your behalf. If your employer realizes that you have the backbone to stand up to them, then they will not be as likely to give a poor reference. Don't feel alone; many nurses go through this type of retaliation. Its part of the sick culture that we have allowed ourselves to work in...over the past century. I had a friend in Tennessee that selected an attorney from the internet. He worked wonders for her, as her former employee gave a bad reference after terminating her, and she had difficulty getting another job. Good luck, and protect your license by getting legal advice. Think about signing on with a company and traveling. That would place you in another environment, give you benefits, give you time to heal, and enrich your résumé.

please write where others can read your progress notes and physician orders. patients die every day because of poor handwriting...i had a doctor this week write in the progress notes, none of the nurses (about 6 of us)could read his handwritting, another physician came in for a consult and could not read his note. i faxed the progress note to the primary physicians office after talking to the physicians office nurse, and she couldn't read it either. the physician that wrote the progress note had to come back to the floor to read his note to the consulting physician...that is in violation of the code of federal register that states: section 482.25 1) all entries must be legible and complete, and must be authenticated and dated promptly by the person (identified by name and discipline) who is responsible for ordering, providing, or evaluating the service furnished. (i) the author of each entry must be identifed and must authenticate his or her entry. (ii) authentication may include signatures, written initials or computer entry. also, listen to your nurse, they could save your a**. the spirit of nursing is changing. no longer do they openly accept the abuse from physicians, both verbally and physically that some of us older nurses have endured. the younger nurses are stronger and will not tolerate abuse. remember that everyone that call themself a nurse is not an registered nurse or lpn. others may claim to be an office "nurse" when in fact, they are not liscensed nor have every been to a professional nursing school . by the time you get out of med school, i will be retired. good luck.

i fear for the psychological effect this new nurse will have to deal with in the future.....it won't be easy. looks like she should be reimbursed for psychological damage, however, you should speak with an attorney to see what he/she will advise. i'm afraid of long term issues that will need to be addressed. maybe the hospital should be forced to pay for psychological treatment to ensure that is no long term damage to the new nurse.

i spoke to a terminally ill patient that heard music that was not auditable to others. he stated he heard “twelve days of christmas”, another song by johnny cash, and three other songs over and over in his head until he knew all the words to the song. a psychiatrist was called in to interview him. but he was adamant that he heard the music. have any of you every had a terminal patient do this, or something simular prior to death??

discharge planning will consist of many documentation opportunities. it is a catch all for what the nurses on the floor fail to do...so your job will always be added upon. but remember, you are to assist the nurses on the floor, not do their job when it comes to discharging a patient. discharge planning should be started the day a patient is admitted by the floor nurse. one of the most important things on a medical record is the medicare form im-cms, where the business office is generally responsible for getting this form signed and dated up-front. this form has to be signed and dated by the patient at the time of inpatient admit and within 2 calendar days of the day of admission,hospitals must issue the im and obtain the signature of the medicare beneficiary or his or her representative to indicate that he/she received and understood the notice. as soon as possible prior to discharge, but no more than 2 days before discharge, the im, or a follow-up copy of the signed im, must also be provided to each medicare beneficiary. the floor nurse should do this because they will have a better clue as to when the patient will be discharged. but you will probably be responsible to over see this form is complete and on the chart. if this is not done, and found upon cms audit, your hospital will not be paid for that admission..... your job will turn into outcomes management which is another term for case management, social work, utilization management and discharge planning, compliance for several private insurance companies (each with their own rules), plus medicare and medicaid that is unique to each state all rolled into one job. good luck! then staff members will wonder how you got such an easy job. if they only knew the responsibility you have.....

Missing an order is bad. However, that doesn't hold a candle to poor physician handwriting. The hospital is responsible for appropriate doucmentation as outlined in the the Code Of Federal Reg

Only 5 patients? I want to work there!!!

On the floor I work, the poop odor is so foul after breakfast (9:00) and after lunch (2:00), that we can hardly breath. No ventilation is strong enough to vent out this smell. Some of the nurses put on mask and disposbale plastic covers over their clothes to do clean up work. They also have message oil they place in their mask to cover the smell until they finish the clean up. Joke on our unit, if patient had good bowel movements before they came to the hospital, admissions would be cut in half. Most patients are full of poop and when this is evacuated, they tend to get well and go home.

what you experienced is a text-book tactic from nursing management/hospital management that has beaten nurses down to the ground for decades. management is doing a professional lobotomy, to keep you in control. this is an example of "control" by hospital management, much like the battered spouse syndrome. think union. form one if you can. that is one of the best ways to protect yourself and other nursing staff. no longer can nurses put up with management abuse. there is not enough of us left. they need to be taught a lesson. treat nurses with respect!

after 40 years of nursing, i fully and honestly believe visitors should be banned from hospitals. along with tv's and telephones in patients room. if patients are sick enough to be in the hospital then they need a quite place to rest and heal. nurses can't ever get to the patients bedside from visitors blocking the way, or a patient talking on the telephone and don't want to be interrupted to take their meds! today, society is trying to force nurses to the acceptance of abuse by visitors and patient. and what incompetent parent would bring their child into a hospital to visit a patient? they push the child around in a dirty stroller exposing both the child and patient to all types of germs, know and unknown?? parents that expose their children to this gern abuse should have their children removed from their care. hospitals are the dirtiest (germ ridden) place in the world.

read the book "nursing against the odds" by suzanne gordon. weigh your past medical history and energy level against the challenges in the book and make your decision. the book is about nurses that are exhausted by heavy work, mandatory overtime, sicker patients, high tech equipment, and a failing health care system. if you believe you will have the knowledge, energy, and skill level to care for 10 - 16 very ill patients a day, then multiply that by 4 or 5 doctors writing orders for different specialties on each patient, then you may just make it. good luck!

She may still be considered a GN until the state gets around to informing the hospital she failed boards. Sometimes this takes several weeks. What she need now is an experienced nurse, like you, to help her get up to speed. She will make mistakes, like anyone else. The DON should make the decision to terminate her. It may not be your place. I have worked with a nurse that failed boards, not one time but two. She came back strong as ever, and is one of the best ER nurses in the city... Just remember one day you may be reporting to her..

As you wait, is there a night class you can take take to mark off lone of your electives?? You may not believe how much that will help...Microbiology or English??