OttawaRPN

There are two sides to every story and obviously we haven't heard the nurse's side. What I find curious is why patients, who have some disagreement about the level of care they receive, don't say something to the nurse at the time of the concern. It always seems to be a complaint after the fact, which in my opinion, makes it less credible. Surely if the care was that bad, you would voice your distress immediately and not wait until after discharge?

I dislike bladder scanners b/c they have to be reprogrammed on occasion and like most electronics, cannot guarantee to give you an accurate reading. They only real way to check for residuals is to straight cath and see what you get.

Why would there be a prn for an Abx? I'm wondering if you mean like an emergency drug box. At any rate, you will never know if a dose was given until you ask your partner; just goes to show to check the MAR first before giving a med, even if it's still sitting in the strip pack. You didn't mention if it was the patient's first dose and sometimes a loading dose is given initially but not usually with a DS. At any rate, hopefully you reported it as a med error.

Chicken sexer.

They may not be able to discriminate based on religious beliefs but they most definitely can and will discriminate based on qualifications. Like most jobs, nursing is very competitive so if they find another nurse who is better suited for the job, then you will be poop out of luck. If you checked "yes", that means you've met that requirement are are prepared to give blood, but if you checked "no", they have every right to question your competencies and if you don't have any, they will choose someone who does. It's simple economics. Hopefully, you wouldn't lie about it and not fully disclose the truth because that would be unprofessional and unethical and, as you well know, we nurses are nothing if not professional and ethical. Not as troublesome? So you believe that in an emergency life or death situation religious preferences should trump attempting to save a human life? That's an absolute scary thought and sure as heck wouldn't hold up in a court of law. Your post was very biased which is not surprising, but luckily several others have chimed in on the other side of the equation, certainly the OP will benefit from hearing about all angles of this dilemma and not just the fluffy perfect world interpretation.

Alicia, I think you are looking for some hard and fast rules about what medical conditions should preclude someone from becoming a nurse. Well, there aren't any. A large proportion of the population suffer from some sort of mental illness, but mental illness is treatable and manageable so to expect that no one with ADD/bipolar/schizo be allowed to become a nurse is judgmental and discriminatory. Our society just doesn't function like that. As for making life-threatening errors, that can happen to any nurse with our without a medical condition, as we are all human and as the saying goes "to err is human". But what joins us all at the hip is that we, as nurses, are all fully accountable for our actions, both good and bad, no matter the circumstance and no matter what our health history may be.

But why don't those employers use monster.ca, workopolis.com, government affiliated job banks or any other dedicated job search site? Because those sites charge a nominal fee but any yahoo can post on craigslist for free. If the employer doesn't want to invest a few dollars to ensure quality personnel, then it's not a place I want to work for anyway.

A friend of mine is a cornea retrieval nurse - she travels wherever and whenever and harvests those corneas pretty much any location the body happens to be.

No reputable employer would use a smutty site like craigslist to advertise job openings. Anyone who is lame enough to peruse those sites looking for jobs deserve whatever crap they have coming.

You mean will they discriminate against someone who has ADHD? Of course not, that would be against the law. The only health requirements are the ones enforced by your school ie) up to date immunizations, etc. and this varies from school to school. The CNO also doesn't mandate health requirements but your place of employment might; again, it varies from employer to employer.

Wow, I'm appalled by some of these egotistical posts! The reason you aren't passing your repeated attempts at the exam is because YOU have not learned enough. It's that simple. You can dissect all the reasons this is so, but the fact remains: YOU have not gleaned enough knowledge to make you safe to practice nursing. Being given 3 attempts is more than generous and the problem isn't with the system. It's with YOU. Remember this is an entry to practice exam meaning, theoretically, base knowledge that you should have gained during your years of nursing school. If you haven't gained this knowledge then you are UNSAFE to be practicing as a nurse. Our mandates as nurses is to protect the public, stop thinking that it's all about YOU. Does the public care you have families to support and student loans to pay and English isn't your first language? How ridiculous and narcissistic! If you can't pass after 3 attempts (which is still WAY to generous) then you should not be a nurse. Point blank. Go back to school or pick another career. In case I haven't made it clear yet, is it definitely and unequivocally not about YOU.

All of the nursing programs in Ontario are very competitive right now so they are choosing the cream of the crop to fill their seats. I know many students who are re-doing their pre-reqs in hopes of raising their GPA. So yes.. your 77 may well hurt you. You can either apply and take your chances, or while you're waiting retake the courses.

I would call him just to say... you can shove that thing up your own butt.

If the patient is not A&O and the caller is not the POA, I provide no information other than "I'm sorry but you have to speak to regarding her condition." Unless you know the family, you never really know who you are talking to. I have dealt with families with some very strange dynamics. A son who we are to call police on if he tried to contact his mother, a daughter who is verbally abusive and even a husband who tried to "steal" his wife from the hospital so in the very rare case I give information to another, it's only because the patient is able to give consent. In person, it gets trickier because the patient may have many visitors; in the case of palliation strangers may ask "how is she doing?" and a simple "she's comfortable" is usually enough to appease the curious.

Is the daughter the POA??