Flo.

I have a medical alert bracelet with the caduceus on it. People might think you have a medical condition if you wear it.

I used to be an ortho nurse. We had elderly patients s/p hip fx that would refuse to be cleaned often. Most times it was due to pain or anxiety. I would premedicate and we would go in as a team 3 or 4 of us and clean up the patient as fast as we could. One person held the patient's hand and talked the patient through the whole thing while the rest did the work. Our floor never involved power of attorneys when patients refused to be cleaned. We just medicated and did it. I have never met one person that would prefer thier loved one sit in thier own stool rather than have us clean them up. And usually once it is done and the patient realizes that it was not as horrible as they anticipated, they are grateful. The big key here though is medicating the patient properly.

Sometimes we have to hold the hope for our patients when they can't see it themselves. ECT works micracles and he can declare bankruptcy, move to another area and restart his life.

Generally, the state hospital handles more treatment-resistant conditions. In my state, only the state hospital is allowed to give medication against a person's will. So if someone is refusing meds and clearly needs it, they have to be transferred to the state hospital. As you can imagine, it has a long wait list.

A psych floor is a dangerous place for a patient that is not medically stable and far too often in my hospital, the physicans want to transfer patients to psych before it it clinically appropriate because they don't want to deal with the patient. There is such a stigma about mental illness and it really affects patient care.

I have been diagnosed with a chronic health condition. The doctors are recommending that I change my job to a low-stress position. I currently work inpatient psych and I am thinking of becoming a psych np. Would you consider outpatient PMHNP work less stressful than floor nursing? Thanks for any insights!

Holy cow! I wish my manager was like that. I never see her and I work day shift. She is always in meetings or off the floor. Never helps out, even when we are in a critical need.

Our unit used to have a coffee and tea machine. It broke and was never replaced. It would mean alot to me if management bought a new one and supplied the tea and coffee.

I work in psych, so I give very vague answers or try to change the topic. However, I will say that I have been in the ER as a patient. I was scared out of my mind and I made small talk with my nurses. I think I would have cried if one told me I was being inapporiate. I was desperatly seeking a human conncection in one of the scariest times of my life. Please have a little compassion as long as someone isn't being creepy.

On my unit we are critically short staffed. We are a 30 bed unit and have reduced census to 24 due to staffing. Even with that, we are still having trouble staffing shifts. We have a shift coming up this weekend with only 1 RN scheduled. All the RN's are into overtime now and management says there are no extra monetary incentives they can give us. They only offer incentive pay of $15 an hour when you are not in overtime. You can't have both. My question is, are they for real? Is this really an HCA thing or is my management team just trying to guilt us into working for less? It would seem like our unit would qualify for some extra money. I mean I am doing the work of at least 2 RN's, I should be paid accordingly. We are a psych unit so the float pool can't help us out.

I'm mentally and physically exhausted after 12 hours.

Crocs. Lightweight and oh so comfy

I went back to floor nursing after having a desk job. For me, I was bored and lonely in the office. Now I am very happy being surrounded by other nurses, staff, and interesting patients.

I just had to do a shift as a sitter. It was brutally boring as the patient was sound asleep the whole time. I started off doing required education and once I finished that, yup the cell phone came out. I think I would have lost my mind, siting for hours looking at a sleeping person if it were not for the distractions. Obviosuly, if the patient is awake and active you need to be attentive. But when they are sound asleep there is room for some leeway.

I really want to get into mental health advocacy. I struggled with mental health issues for years but I am now stable and in a great place mentally. I work in a smallish town on a psych floor. I want to get involved with the local NAMI and share my story but I am concerned about sharing my story and then seeing people as patients on my floor. There is just so much stigma around mental illness. There is so much wrong in the treatment of mental health and I really feel like I need to become an advocate but I'm concerned doing so will negatively impact my career. Does anybody have any experience with this?

Try a different specialty. I worked in developmental disabilities and I had my own office. It was snack time whenever I felt like it. It was an easy job too.

Inpatient. You will be able to see a variety of diagnoses at a level that necessitates inpatient care. Personally I find 3x12s a much nicer schedule. You will also get alot of teamwork with other RNs, social workers, and physicans. More so, than if you are doing outpatient.

It sounds like you need a break. I only just switched into inpatient psych and I can understand your sentiments about the addicts. It is hard to deal with them and it sounds like you are at the end of your rope. Can you afford to take a few weeks off?

I was a student and I had a patient that needed her medication crushed. The nurse told me to go ahead and mix it in her yogurt. So I did just that, mixed the 2 crushed pills into her 6oz yogurt. Yuck! The patient was so nice about, she ate the whole thing.

RegularNurse, I suggest you do some research regarding weight loss surgery. It is the only effective treatment for obesity that we currently have. Diet and exercise does not work. I am not talking about someone who has to lose 10lbs but rather the patient that needs to loose 100+. We need to stop looking at obesity as a moral failing and start treating it like the disease it is. You wouldn't tell a cancer patient that chemo is the easy way out, would you? So why do we treat obesity any different?

If you are significantly overweight, 99% of diets fail. If you are eligible, consider weight loss surgery. It is the only proven effective treatment for the disease of obesity.

If a patient has a witnessed and documented allergy to morphine and dilaudid, is it reasonable to admit them to the ICU following major surgery so they can get fent? Or is that unheard of?

When I graduated in 2009, I had to move half way across the country to land my first job. It's hard to get a new grad job here, let alone one with the stipulations you have. I wish you the best of luck.

I'm sorry, but CPR is an essential function of an RN. The ADA can't help that. If you can't do it, then you need to retire or get a different job. It is horrible to have physical limitations but it is for the safety of our patients. What would happen if you are a single responder? You have to be able to do CPR until EMS arrives.

I have worked at a hospital where I received treatment. I never told them, they never asked.