twin1RN

pt daughter: can you hurry up and get this treatment done? My elderly mother is very agitated/restless. I look at the patient who is lying comfortably in bed, smiling at me. me: "As soon as I can." I'll just check in on my 3 post op pts first.....

Yes I did :):):)

I was being interviewed for a major private hospital and the panel asked me if I knew what the hospitals core values were. Directly behind the interviewer asking the questions, I had an unobstructed view of a poster with the 7 values written in bold, large print. I laughed, read them out and then pointed out the poster on the wall. I wasn't the first interview (it wasn't even the first day if interviews), but I was the first person to point it out.

In Vic, currently working in a private hospital and ratio is 1:5. But on the ward I am currently working on we team nurse, so 2 nurses will never have more than 10 patients between them. That is on AM and PM, night duty it's 1:7

I was on placement at the time, and my preceptor was doing an assessment of an elderly (89yr old) lady. And my preceptor was getting some weird answers so she asked this resident, "how old do you think you are?" And the resident looked at me, (in my late 20) and my preceptor (in her 50s). And states "oh, about the same age as you." I nearly died trying not to laugh! But on the same placement, a resident said to me, "love, you remind me of someone. Yeah, that girl off the TV. Oh, what's her name.... It'll come to me...... Oh you know who I mean.. Ugly Betty!" :)

congratulations on taking the leap! The great thing about nursing is it attracts people of all ages from all walks of life! I wouldn't worry about being the oldest, I attended nursing school when I was in my 30s. There were people both older (and of course younger) than me. The teachers always said they LOVED the mature age students (life experience and all that). Good luck to you

you need to get comfortable with letting others make decisions because you clearly do not know yet that there is A LOT you don't know. It's great that you are looking out for your patients, you noticed a deterioration in the patients condition and alerted the nurse. BUT as others have said on this thread you have acted outside your scope of practice by medicating/applying oxygen. You do not have the relevant knowledge base to be making those kind of decisions. You told one person, once. If that person doesn't listen and you are still worried about your patient- you tell someone else with the authority to make clinical decisions. You do realise that when you are a licensed practitioner there is a scope of practice that applies to you? And if you operate outside of your scope then you put your license in jeopardy! Not to mention the facilities own policy/guidelines... It worries me that you seem so sure you've done the right thing.

this is what helps me, 'cause I have the same problem! When I am doing something (say giving insulin) as I am doing my triple check (ok.. sometimes more than triple)! I say to myself, ok bsl was ... , units I'm giving are ... give the insulin and then sign off that it's given. Then I think or even say (softly to myself) "done" That is my cue to myself that I can move on, forget about it. I also had a hard time letting go/forgetting about work once I'm home. I actually now find that when I hand over to the next shift- that is where I really do consciously hand over the care responsibility to the next shift. My day is over! It took me a long time to get that! I hope that made sense

why she is resigning? Is it really just because of this bully? If it is, then encourage her to speak to the charge nurse/ director of nursing (and say you will support her bullying claims). Tell her you've seen her improve over time, and that it would be a shame for her to quit because of a bully, especially if this is what she really wants to do. Bullying erodes your confidence, and when it comes from someone you work with, it is like someone chipping away at you relentlessly. No one deserves that. My heart goes out to her, and to you. Doing the right thing isn't always easy :redbeathe

hi all, I am 4 months into my grad year and have found these points helpfull (please forgive me if they are repeated elsewhere)! No one expects you to know everything. The basics, yes. Everything, NO. So don't be so hard on yourself! It is okay to say No. Sometimes hard to do, but remember to look after yourself (and your license first). Do not hand over your clinical judgment to anyone else. If you think something is not right/doesn't make sense ask. And ask, and ask again until it is explained to your satisfaction. I had to ask 4 different people about a high dose of medication, the first 2 said yes order is correct, third said check with registrar. Registrar changed dose. Do not gossip. Just don't. Nursing was a career change for me, and I'd worked in hospitality and finance. I was shocked by the amount of backstabbing and general nasty attitudes of some nurses. I have noticed the busier it is on the ward, the worse the backstabbing/gossiping is. No-one deserves to be treated like s*** If you are not getting the support you need, tell the NUM, Grad co-ordinator or DON. If you are struggling, let someone know sooner rather than later! Remember, people want you to succeed! And if you find it's all getting to be too much, ask for some time off or go part time (if you can). Everyday you learn something new. Keep at it :) The above (and other comments on this site and others like it) is what got me through the first 3 months. I almost didn't make it. I was made to feel like an idiot, set up to fail by a particular nurse and generally felt unsupported. My confidence was at an all time low. I hadn't worked with my preceptor ONCE in that time. I went home crying almost every night. I finally spoke to the grad year co-ordinator and NUM. And the support I have had since then has been stellar. It is like a totally different workplace. It does get better, hang in there! :redbeathe