mikeworksRN

How to read, yes, I'm looking at how to do. Run the test equipment, where to place the leads, etc.

Hear me out. I recall reading about someone who learned how to build a windmill from a Youtube video and with scraps and determination, brought electricity to his home in Africa (William Kamkwamba on TED talk). So why can't I learn 12 lead EKG from the same source? Does this exist or do I just find something nearby and dig into the piggy bank?

Boundaries may be exactly the thing. Without outing myself I'll say it was a difficult discharge of a very anxious patient that the CM gave a line of BS to so she could leave for the weekend, leaving the patient and her extreme anxiety in the hands of nursing. I handled it but it was much outside of my scope of practice. I don't know why I haven't made the connection before. And now I have my new answer. Thanks everyone.

Every time I'm interviewed for a new job they hit me with the tired cliched phrase "tell me how you've gone above and beyond." I do have an answer but it's so "above and beyond" that it may be too much for them as I always see the hiring managers staring at me with a "wat" look. When the Employee of the Month is posted at work it's always about going "above etc" but truthfully I read the entry and it's well, doing your job. So what is really, above and beyond? I care for my patients, listen to their concerns, pick up trash all over the hallways as well as the patient rooms, bathe and provide oral care to my patients because, well, I can't trust it to be done otherwise. But that's average nursing. So what's your answer to the cliche, how would you tell the hiring managers that you're above and beyond the rest?

Family choice, and as we all know, patients and families make ridiculous requests all the time. Your recourse is to accept these people are going to say silly, annoying, and outright insulting things throughout your nursing career. Rarely anymore do I meet actual nice people who are unfortunately ill and appreciative of their care. I'm a white male nurse. What I've come up against most often is the family who wants a female nurse or a Spanish nurse because mama would feel more at ease. They miss out on very good nursing care from yours truly though, as they come out of the room repeatedly asking me where their nurse is. Well she's either visiting her friends in the other unit or having the potluck. Not gloating, but obviously there will be ageism, sexism, racism, any other -ism. You gotta let go of society's pinpricks and accept patients and families are by and large very maladjusted people who only see themselves. If nursing is better than that then I haven't really seen it.

Agree with the other posters- don't waste any more energy on this- we've all been fired for nothing at some time, also, get a penlight for night shift work. I always used a little mag light from Walmart, maybe about 7 bucks, comes with a nifty holster too. You need to see but you don't need to blast those overhead lights unless there's an issue. Some nurses have a little light they clip to their lapels. I actually got pretty good at working using only the ambient light from the hallway, until I had to spread cream over my patient's back rash, it was due at midnight. Nice patient, always accepted the treatment. I only figured out I was spreading toothpaste over his back when it started to smell of mint in the room. I did seem like that cream was a little thicker this time. So too much light is bad, too little is mistakes.

Agree with the post by Kooky Korky. This is the era when Big Brother became a stark reality. Stupid shirt, yes. But this individual has a right to his own opinions no matter if the general populace or the members of this website agree with them. And as such, he was not there as a representative of nursing nor his employer, he was exercising his right to vote and should have been allowed to do so unencumbered. The legality of the photo is also in question, as the Washington Post notes: In Tennessee, taking photos or videos in a polling location is against the law. So it was the person who took the photo who broke the law. Also, it should be noted that Tennessee is an "at will" employment state but since this person was voting when the decision to fire him was made, it will be interesting to see how this progresses.

If I interviewed you and you told me you were going to work 2 FT jobs, I wouldn't hire you. Most of the people I have hired can't handle 2 part time jobs. They either can't keep the days straight and don't show up, or they get sick a lot, or they call all the time trying to get the shift off. Read the posters on this board, geez they can't take 3 days, half of them, it's too much stress, too much drama. checkout clerk, sure, you can do 72 hours a week. This is way different. So long story short, if they didn't ask if you were going to quit the other job, it isn't implied. They just expect that you're not going to kill yourself. Although you do have noble blood for wanting to exact this on yourself. I wish you well, whatever you decide.

PWT = Poor White Trash.

I'm not reading these long posts but I'll respond to the headline. My nursing instructor said nursing was not for me, as well. Then I became a nurse. A good one. One who patients liked. Now, years later, I know who was not right for what- the instructor wasn't right for teaching. Some of those nursing instructors are just bad at what they do, and they're poor people persons, and they like to put down anxious students who are really trying hard. You're studying to be a nurse. Not a nursing student. Forget the school photos, the pinning ceremonies, the junk that has nothing to do with your studies. Especially the teacher put-downs. Get through school and don't look back.

Hi all. I had to place a patient from the ER with a low blood sugar, hypothermic with a temperature of 91 to a medsurg tele floor. I gave the nurse a Bair Hugger, however, the nurse didn't want to take the patient, felt the temperature was too low, so he went to a different unit with the same nurse-patient ratio. Patient was alert, was it wrong to try to place that on a MS-Tele floor?

I came to say exactly what the OP already said. 3 days a week I lift weights, and 2-3 days I do 20 minutes of yoga, and I watch the body mechanics, and I'm old, and I have never had a back problem. However, I have given up trying to lift obese patients from the floor, when their arms go limp and they refuse to help themselves. It's all about getting more help in some situations.

MRSA of the wound, the leg was amputated, so is the patient still in isolation? The wound is not there anymore. I'm pondering over this.

I didn't want to quote the whole thing. But I do need to save this reply, print it, and post it on my bulletin board. I work the floor. This is exactly what it's like. Damn it I think I love you.

I've worked many years on both shifts and I'm noticed some simple things. -They only come out at night. Some of the weirdest ones stay up all night. And I mean creepy weird. -Day shift people are the high stress, red bull, ready to have a heart attack nurses. -Night shift people are paranoid. this I believe comes from sleep deprivation. They don't realize it's happening because it's over the course of weeks or months. -Each shift complains more than physically thought possible. However, I think nights complain about things that don't warrant complaining- because of the paranoia. After working both shifts, I prefer days. The differential is really not even noticeable. The "raccoon eyes" are gone. The long hours of inactivity and boredom are over. I can see a patient rehabilitate, with eating, physical therapy, etc. I understand more about nursing, more than getting a sleeping pill because he's awake. My humble opinion.

Okay, first thing: You are so many kinds of AWESOME I don't even know where to begin. You were calm, you knew what to do and you handled the situation. In the future when you become the awesome nurse you will be, you'll understand more of what it's like to let go. I've pumped a lot of chests on a lot of patients. Then I go home. Sometimes you find out what happened, sometimes not. The paramedics who rolled the injured girl out know what it's like, they answer the call and do the best they can, then they go on to the next call. That's just the nature of the business. You'll get it. It;s not cold or unfeeling, it's self preservation kind of; you cannot check up on every good thing you do as a nurse. At the point you are though, training, I can understand you want to know more. You'll just have to rest assured that you did the best you could and given the actions of the citizens around you, you were just the saint that was needed in that place at that time. Serendipity. Oh I'm sorry, I may have forgotten to tell you that you're freaking AWESOME.

Hey thanks to all who posted. I can now move past the rumor. I think it all stemmed from the newbies that were hired long ago when we all graduated together, and I never found out any different. I work with one of those now, who wants her schedule her way, and she hasn't been around long enough. Anyway, I thank you all, and now I can consider moving with a clear conscience.

And that, my friends, is why they are short staffed. Hospitals do it to themselves.

I have heard, that if you work for Kaiser for 5 years, you will get free insurance for life. true? Or rumor? Also, I have heard about their 8 and 12 hour shifts. And, if you are on 12 hour shifts, you many times will float for the last 4 hours to make up for a nurse who has gone home after her shift. And lastly, I have heard of the horrors of lateral violence, with the seniority of their nurses being of most importance when handling assignments, vacations, floating. And these senior nurses are very condescending. Really? All in all, makes me not want to work for Kaiser. Am I just being frightened for no reason?

Okay I'm on a tele unit and the MD orders ICU. I notify the House and the manager of the Unit. Right away I get the manager wanting me to have the nurse call the doctor to see if she can put the patient somewhere else. Or she asks what are the VS, is the patient symptomatic, etc; which I would assume the MD had already decided upon or he wouldn't have ordered a transfer. I'm just wondering, I'm not disrespecting. I want to know why ICU managers are reluctant to take a patient with an order to transfer to ICU.

i have been stood up. i have been offered the job, went home, waited to be notified about the next step, then when i finally call there they tell me they decided to go with someone else. i have been interviewed and noticed increasing hostility from the interviewer, as well as condescension. nobody said the interviewer was professional or good at her job; you just assume so, since she has the job and you don't. what's worse is that you're nervous and determined to make a good impression, so when you're disrespected by one of these oafs you end up staying longer than you should or not saying what needs to be said because you don't want to burn a bridge. many's the time i should have stood up and said, "thanks, but you're a bit too much of an a-hole to work for. i'll keep looking." or, "you could have at least called me to let me know i didn't actually get the job you offered me. jerk." so, yes. i've been stood up, and thank goodness. it saved me from meeting an idiot face to face.

Had a real problem with this at my ghetto hospital, patients loved to get a pain shot then go out to smoke. sometimes get high. There, we just put up with it. Here, at this hospital, we have a strict no-smoking policy, that is, workers have to go to the street to smoke. Visitors, well, you get tired of telling them not to smoke in their cars or in the parking lot, so you forget it. To answer your question about patients though, we can be strict there. You have been told there is no smoking. You go off the floor to smoke and that is considered AMA. While you're gone I will remove the linen and bag your belongings and place them in the hallway. I have done this, and people leave when they see what a jerk I am. It's very important though, for management and security to be in cahoots.

Running up to the room to check if I was telling the truth when I said it was dirty, is a good trick.

"Tell me about that tattoo?" "I got it after nursing school. That is all" "Wow." I did, however, have a patient with the names of 5 or 6 men tatted on the insides of her thighs. She said during WW2 if you bought her a drink, you got your name tatted there. Better story than graduating nursing school.