orange_dolphin

You could file bankruptcy.

It's a control thing, in my opinion when patients or anyone exhibits that kind of behavior. They've lost control of their bodies, health, income, and who knows what else. They make themselves feel better and in some semblance of control by exerting control over something or someone, and you were their target for a while. Now that they're are allowing you to be their caregiver, have they moved onto another target? I'd be shocked if they haven't or that they won't eventually. I wouldn't take it personally.

HouTx: Thanks for replying! They will train me, so I'm not worried about not being qualified. I like to stay busy, and I'm looking for something I think I would love doing. I'm glad to hear this isn't much sitting around. I'm up for it then. This is for a wound care clinic, not divers. I think I would love working in wound care. Thanks again. I hope they call me for a second interview. Diane

Hi. I'm currently an LPN in a neurology office. Used to be in family practice for two years. I applied for a transfer for a hyperbaric technician. I had my first phone interview today. He couldn't really answer any questions because the application hasn't gone to the unit yet. Has anyone here worked as a hyperbaric technician? If so, did you enjoy it? It sounds great and would be a promotion. I've read about the job duties online. I think I would love everything about it but am wondering if there's a lot of sitting around and monitoring of the patient, and if so, for how long? That part might get a little boring if I'm sitting there for a couple of hours or are there other things to do while monitoring? Thanks for any comments or advice.

I work in a doctor's office that is owned by a company that owns several hospitals and 100s of doctor offices in my area. We were told last week that from now on, we are not to submit a request for time off until we have already found coverage for ourselves. It used to be scheduled by the supervisor who would sometimes get help from one of the other neurology offices (there are 3). They don't utilize the float pool (the float nurses travel to all the different offices to fill in for vacations, etc.) We were told it was too much trouble to get someone from another office to come to our office. There are 5 practitioners (doctors and NPs) and 5 nurses in just our office. It's a neurology office. How am I supposed to find someone else if no one in my office can do it? Do I have time? -- No. I'm going to apply for a transfer to the float pool so I don't have to worry about getting my own coverage -- I'll be the coverage. This office has a lot of problems and is short staffed and overworks a couple of us to the point we worry about our license. So, I'm going to be outta there asap. It will take about 6 months or more to transfer. Just wanted to vent and get opinions. Anyone else have to find their own coverage for time off?

Thank you for the link. I will read that thoroughly. Good idea with throwing it out, if there's any doubt.

This is not a physician-owned practice. I have the okay from the administrator not to reconstitute/prepare botox injections for migraines. She hasn't said anything about the other injections I prepare, occipital nerve blocks, trigger point injections and supraorbital nerve blocks.

It's not a physician-owned practice. It's a practice owned by a hospital. The organization has several hospitals and hundreds of doctor offices. The physician is an employee. I've already told him "I'm not allowed to" reconstitute and prepare botox injections anymore. My administrator gave me the option of not doing that. He was disappointed but not angry with me. Yesterday, for an occipital nerve block, I just said it would be a while before I would have time to draw it up, he knew I was incredibly busy, so he did it without complaint. I'm more worried about botox injections (migraine patients) than occipital nerve blocks, trigger point injections, etc. because reactions from botox are much more serious.

Thank you both. I'll no longer be drawing it up now. The reason I asked about documentation is because when I did medical transcription, the pain doctors or orthopaedic surgeons always always documented "performed under sterile technique" so thought it might be appropriate if I'm preparing injections. However, like I said, I'm not going to prepare injections anymore so it's a mute point. Thanks again.

Hi, I've been working for a neurologist/pain specialist for about 9 months now. One of my duties has been to prepare injections with depo medrol and/or marcaine, depending on what type of injection it is. During training I was never advised to document anything. The nurse here before me didn't and the nurses at the family practice who worked for doctor who was family practice and an orthopedic specialist. Should I be documenting something in the pt's chart, like "what's in the syringe and that it was prepared under aseptic technique", "syringe labeled" etc? Any advice is appreciated.

I would just continually work at a steady pace, take the highest priority job and work my way down, and what gets done gets done. What doesn't get done, isn't my problem.... it's the supervisor's problem. If I see that any patients are in jeopardy, I would let the supervisor know. If that doesn't work and the patients aren't being cared for, is there a way to go above the supervisor's head confidentially.

Have you considered looking at doctor office jobs? I went back to school and got an LNP license at age 53 and had no problem getting a job in a doctor's office, even without experience.

Every patient I have who has poor muscle tone in their triceps and loose flapping skin folds complains of serious pain and some bruising. I'm guessing the skin folds cause a pinching-type pain. I always offer to take the BP in the wrist instead, and I document that the pt could not tolerate getting it taken on the arm. I had one patient refuse to let me pump above 140, which would give an incorrect reading if she has BP higher than that. I refuse to take it incorrectly and will offer it in the wrist.

I doubt you would not get your license over this. It will probably just be a big hassle getting all the paperwork done. They have to cover their butts and document what your ticket was for, etc. If you continually receive multiple tickets over the years, that would be a different story.

I work in an an Internal Medicine office.

You probably have forgotten many things, enough to possibly fail NCLEX. If they're offering this help to pass for free, you should jump on it! It's a win-win for you and the school. I thought the NCLEX exam was very tough, and I took it one month after graduating and I studied a lot for it. Also, you want to be able to say you graduated from a school with a good reputation too, and their fail-rate is part of that reputation. A good school reputation can help with job offers.

I work in Family Practice, and I can truthfully say there are very few kids! I go a month or so before seeing one. It's not that big of a deal.

I got my license in September and started a job in December in an Internal Medicine clinic. The pay isn't as good as in a nursing home but the work is much easier and less stressful, and they offer very good benefits. I might work LTC or home health prn when I need extra money. This clinic is part of a big company with several hospitals and 100s of doctor offices. They replaced their LPNs in the hospitals with RNs but are phasing out their medical assistants in the doctor offices and replacing them with LPNs. If that's a trend everywhere, I think LPNs will have no problem finding a job.

Latestnight, I'm happy to say my tinnitus subsided. I still have it, but it's not near as bad as it was. I'm working now as an LPN in a big Internal Medicine group. I was feeling pretty bad when I wrote that and was just reaching out for some hope. I hope I can give hope to others by updating. In reality, I think it depends on the degree of tinnitus because there are people who are disabled by it. I certainly believe it's possible because I was at that point in August 2012. The biggest help in calming it down was cutting out all caffeine (which was very hard to do but I had no choice), taking 3 steroid dosepaks and then trying to reduce stress and make sure I got enough sleep every night. this made it tolerable. After finishing the steroids it continued to slowly get better, even while learning a new job, which was stressful. I still have it but it's tolerable and often not noticable. I can work just fine. Thanks for asking.

Should I join the National LPN organization (NFLPN) or the State level LPN organization? Any advice is appreciated.

I'm a newbie LPN who will be looking for my first job soon and have always been very interested in hospice nursing but I need something with benefits, like sick time, vacation time, health insurance. I know home health agencies don't usually provide benefits. Does anyone know if hospice agencies usually do or not? Any advice is appreciated. Dolphina

I just finished practical nursing school and am studying for my boards. I developed tinnitus two weeks after I finished the program. I can drown out the noise most of the time but sometimes it's very hard to concentrate. I cried my eyes out Sunday morning, it got to me so badly. I'm worried I'll end up on disability instead of pursuring a nursing career. I've been to my PCP who said I had swimmer's ear and put me on antibiotic/steroid ear drops last evening. I also started taking an old Celebrex prescription to try to knock out any inflammation. It seems to be a softer high pitched eeeeee now but I'm scared to death it will come back full force once I stop the ear drops and Celebres. My hearing hasn't changed since this happened. I had some hearing loss in this ear before this happened. I hadn't taken any new meds right before it happened. Was dunked in the water when I fell off a jet ski and water went up my nose. I had a virus just before it happened. Also had a fall on my rump when a chair broke.... yes, I heard someone saying on another forum that theirs started after a fall. Who knows. I'm having what feels like the beginning of a panic attack this evening. Has anyone been able to live with this and work as a nurse?

I'm glad you have a contract. I'm a nursing student and have been wondering how that would go down if it ever happens to me. From research on the Virginia BON website, I believe the VBON states that once you are on your assigned shift you can be charged with patient abandonment if you leave. However, you can't be charged with that if you decline to work on a shift you weren't previously scheduled to work on and it's the responsiblity of the administration to staff the facility. I'd check with the state BON and with the State Labor Board possibly. I'm sure things vary from state to state.

I think it will increase jobs for all medical personnel because many people don't get the medical care they need because they don't have insurance. I think the pay rates may go down because more people will be on Medicare and Medicaid. In other words, less pay raises or none for current employees and lower starting pay for new-hires.

I'd hire a lawyer and fight it. You should get paid leave of absence while there's an investigation.