Silverla

I'm not a RN student yet, but I felt exactly the same way you do when I was in my first practicum for my HCW program. I was so afraid to do something wrong and I felt like the other students were doing so much better than I was, I was even worried that all of the other students had done peri-care and I hadn't. Seriously peri-care? If I'd known I'd end up doing thousands of times, I probably wouldn't have been so worried about it. When I have student shadow me now I tell them the same thing I told myself, "pretend their your family member and its OK to make a mistake. It all gets easier with time." I also practiced every thing from shaving, bed baths to transfering on my husband in addition to using the lab. I realise NS goes way faster than my program did so you don't have the luxury of time to learn one skill, become comfortable with it before you move on to the next, but having practiced a few times at home can make things a lot easier when you do it in the real world. Good luck with school, and remember these feelings for when you have students.:)

I work in long term care and I remember the fist time someone spit in my face, I was p***** and deeply hurt.Still, I wouldn't put a mask on a resident, I would wear one with a face shield, and a gown. That being said, please don't punish the CNAs, If it is decided that putting the mask on the resident is inappropriate. Make the policy clear to everyone, then have consequences for non-compliance.

I've had some self defence classes with school and work (I can't remember what the euphemism they used for self defence was...) anyway they have all recommended with bites, say they bit your arm, your suppose to place your palm on the back of their head and pull them in towards you, while pushing the arm they've bitten forward.Or if your with a co-worker have them hold the person there while you use your rub your knuckle hard on their upper lip under their nose. Try it, it really hurts. The theory behind it is that it takes the feeling of control away from them which makes them more willing to listen when you tell them to let go. Does it actually work? I don't know. Is it possible to remember to do when its happening? I don't know? I just mention it because their recommendation for when someone pulls your hair works really well when I've used it for my self and co-workers. Push their fist down on your head while pushing their knuckles down to break their fist. When I had to do it I lost some of my hair that was between their fingers, but it could have been a lot worse. Just ideas, maybe you should talk to your workplace about self defence training for staff. BTW I mentioned this to my husband and he recommends punching them.:) What ever works for you.

i work in ltc and i've worked with many residents diagnosed with korsakoffs. the residents have been male/female, different races/cultures, every income level, the only thing they seem to have in common is that they are universally challenging. all have had angry dispositions and most have been verbally and physical aggressive. in all of the reading i've done on korsakoffs i haven't seen any mention of challenging behavior. i realize my experience can all just be a coincidence. their behaviour could be related to the individuals prior temperament or there motivations for drinking in the first place, like suppressing anger, dealing with depression, or away of coping with an alcoholic spouse, i've seen a lot (can't beat'em join'em). i realize coming into care, losing there home and being away from their families could make even the nicest person unpleasant.it's just that modifying my approach, proper pain management, tests for utis and modifications to the environment to reduce potential triggers never seem to be affective. is the challenging behaviour related to korsakoffs or is it just a coincidence? i'm wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing or has advice of approaches they have found affective.

It sounds like you and I are in the same boat.:) I'm working on pre-reqs this year, but the program I'm hoping for is BCIT and they require 30 post secondary credits which I'll need another year to work on. So I'll be applying for 2012. I'm worrying about the same thing you are, my courses won't be finished until April, well after the application proccess starts. I think they even start sending out acceptences by then! I'm hoping I can apply with interm grades, if not, I guess I'll apply for the Jan intake. Does U of A have a Jan intake, or do you think you can apply w interm grades? How many classes will you still need for the summer term?

What do you mean by that? I do think they're great characters, Sam is one of the few characters on the show that has integrity and yeah, the other two are both gay, but so what? I have never assumed that all male nurses are gay. There are very few portrayals of nurses in film and TV period, what's so bad about a couple of characters that are shown as competent, professional and gay? Besides if your worried about people making assumptions about nursing based on "Nurse Jackie" you've got bigger things to worry about than that.

I've been hit, and kicked and scratched and spit on so many times working in LTC. I have only been scared once though. I went in to the room of a large man in his early 60's who had a previous brain injury and AD, he was such a sweet man but as his dementia progressed he had moments of explosive violence. He was lying on his bed with his eyes open toward the ceiling and I called his name several times with no response. So I lightly touched his knee, he got up faster than I would have ever imagined he was capable of with an enraged look on his face and ran at me with his fist up, I backed up yelling at him to stop when he finally did a Ft away from me. It took my heart rate so long to return to normal. I had another incident with the same man, I was doing care and when it came time to shave his face I showed him the electric razor and turned it on so the noise wouldn't startle him but I was only finished half his face when he became agitated and clinched his fist (behavior that he did before previous incidents of violence),so I stopped. Later my supervisor came by and said, "oh, I see you didn't shave _____," and I told her that I tried and why I stopped. Then she tells me, "it's funny how he's aggressive with some people and not with others." So I said, "I didn't think shaving him was worth getting punched in the face." It's so unfortunate when co-workers don't support each others safety.

What I wish I could say is: The reason I don't hit you back isn't that I'm afraid of you. The reason I don't spit back at you when you spit on me isn't that you control me. The reason I don't say resond to the ugly things you call me isn't because there is nothing I could say about you. It's because I'm professional and I'm not here for you, I'm here for the person in the room next to you, and the one after that, and the one after that. You are nothing but rain on an otherwise sunny day.

"Mo Mo", "Sam," and "Thor" are all male nurses on Nurse Jackie. I think they're all great characters.

One of my favorite residents is in his 90's and very underweight so I had been encouraging him to eat at dinner. After ward I had taken him to do evening care and I was putting moisterizer on his back when he asked me, "what are we doing now?" So I said, "first we fatten you up, now I'll grease you up and cook you," and he replied "all you'll get is gristel." He is the cutest guy ever.

I started at $23/hr but I live in northern Canada so we have a high cost of living.

Right on! Good luck :)

your post breaks my heart, i know as an earlier poster stated you don't want are pity, but you do have have my compassion and empathy. my mom is mentally ill so i know how horrible it can be to grieve for someone who is still here. i work in ltc in a locked dementia unit and in my experience this is the worst stage of ad. when they are so aware of their deficits and mourning the loss of independence. but it can pass and its true that the small joys have so much meaning. our facility has a family/care-giver support group, having people that you can honestly discuss your feelings with who don't judge you and get it can be so comforting and a release valve for the stress that care-givers carry. maybe you should see if there is a group in your area. the alzheimer society of canada has a web site with a forum and resources. (if you're american i'm sure there's an equivalent site.) i would also recommend "gentlecare" by moyra jones. it's such a comprehensive resource and discusses strategies like redirection. it also recommends meeting the person in their reality. like when a resident in my unit asks me where his wife is, (who passed away several years ago), because in his reality his wife is still alive, i tell him that she is out visiting their grandkids. i'm not a big believer in re-orientation, i think it causes unnecessary distress and grief. if i told that man his wife had passed away his grief would be new and fresh everyday. please be good to yourself, care-giving for your parents is one of the hardest jobs in the world.:redbeathe

thanks you guys, you are all so kind! davey_do i will definitely pick up co-dependent no more. thank you for the recommendation. i probably never would have read it if u hadn't mentioned it, because i really wouldn't like to describe my self as co-dependent, but honestly i am the classic enabler type. i'm sure i will learn a lot from the book. love my bugs i'm hoping i will have the opportunity to take a communication course like you did when i'm back in school. but #1 choice is an accelerated bsn program so i don't know if i'll have room. i hope the classes will address issues like these. kooky korky and leslie you guys are so right about counseling. i guess i knew i should go but i wasn't keen on it because my life is so good now i didn't want to dig up the past. one of my hopes is to be able to work emerg and i'm passionate about harm reduction but there is no way i will ever be able to do either if i don't address my issues. ktwlpn i work in a special care unit in northern canada, and we don't have security. most of the intoxicated people i deal with are family members of palliative residents, which i am understanding about. some of are residents have family that are alcoholics and it is unlikely that they could visit if they were sober. the one i find really challenging are the family that would take their family member out and return them intoxicated after what i suspect were trips to the bank. trust me i fought for social work to get involved with that one!

Wasn't that thing amazing? I thought it was genius.