TheMoonisMyLantern ADN, LPN, RN

TheMoonisMyLantern has 14 years experience as a ADN, LPN, RN and specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.

TheMoonisMyLantern's Latest Activity

1. 

   Is it reasonable for Nurses to be fired who "ran away" from work during the pandemic?

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to DK123's topic in Disasters

   I don't judge those who decided not to work during the pandemic, it's their choice, most did so to protect themselves or their families and I don't blame them. It does however make it harder on those of us left behind. At my facility we're in our second outbreak and it's hell right now, we have employees refusing to work on the COVID unit and I admit, it's frustrating to have even less help taking care of people that are dying left and right, but what can you do? Taking out our frustrations on each other isn't going to be helpful right now because everyone is stressed.
2. 

   New Nurse Needing Advice: Should it be this bad?

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to kale_'s topic in Nursing

   I pretty much agree with everything JKL33 says in every thread they post in LOL. Until you are in a better place mentally, refrain from making a big decision such as employment change. There's a lot more evidence that you're hanging in there versus floundering. If they thought you sucked you likely wouldn't have made it out of orientation. Don't sweat the fact you haven't had overly acute patients yet, it's good that they are building you up to be able to take patients like that instead of just assigning you to them and hoping you fail. Many of the insecurities you're feeling about being a good nurse, fitting in, feeling competent are extremely normal for a new grad no matter where you start. That being said, having anxiety so intense that your body is erupting with hives, is not normal and it needs to be a high priority that you start addressing that. There are MANY telehealth options now for counseling/therapy that have no wait times and you can easily get a same day appointment. Don't feel you have to suffer in silence while waiting for a MD appointment. In the event that the stress is just too much to bear,(and there is no shame in that) I would actually recommend working on a PCU or stepdown unit, the acuity is less than ICU but higher than Med/surg, they are typically busy units that nurses learn and do a lot on. That might be a good alternative to ICU if you need to go that route. Be well and be good to yourself.
3. 

   New Grad RN On Nights: Violence Causing Anxiety?

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to NightingaleStar's topic in Nursing

   Welcome to the poop show that is bedside nursing. In all seriousness, even though I loved psych and substance abuse, I had to get out of it due to the constant stress from the rising acuity. I got to the point where I was gun shy, I was afraid I would freeze up while trying to deescalate someone and that either I or a co-worker would get hurt. Eventually that anxiety just wasn't worth staying where I was out. The potential for violence is in every specialty in nursing. Certain specialties attract it more than others, ER, ICU, Psych, memory care, all see their fair share of violence. It is NOT acceptable but it is a sad reality of nursing. You will have to decide what you can tolerate an what you can't when it comes to your job. Sometimes time and experience and being exposed to those type of situations can help you manage them when they occur. However, I would encourage you to stay put to get experience because no matter what job you have as a new grad, it's going to be hell for a while just because the first year always is, so as you gain experience a few months down the road your current environment may not seem so intimidating. Good luck!
4. 

   How can I be a better nursing professor?

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to GS ED RN's topic in General Students

   I agree with the above poster. In addition, please don't just read off of a powerpoint with nothing else added or said, it makes for an absolutely dreadful lecture. My OB instructor did this and was the longest semester of my entire nursing school experience! She was a great clinical instructor but boy did she need some improvement when it came to classroom. Also make sure you have studied up on the material you're teaching so that you sound like you know what you're talking about. I had a a med/surg instructor cover our psych instructor's class for a day, she had never worked psych, and it really showed as she stumbled over the material and was unable to answer questions meaningfully. Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll be great!
5. 

   I want to apologize to my instructor. Please help me.

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to porscheXN's topic in General Students

   I remember all the crap that got flung at my instructors from students during lectures, especially when reviewing a test! One of my instructors actually had a rule that any challenge to a test question would result in that student being asked to leave the class for the day. She said she had this policy after a student berated her over a question they felt they should have gotten right. A lot of students disliked that, but I honestly can understand why she had that policy. OP, you made your apology to the instructor. None of us are perfect and we all have moments we wish we could take back. As far as making a public apology, I can see it going both ways as far as it being a nice gesture, but I think I would just leave things be how they are at this point and try to move on. Oh, and please try to make sleep and rest a priority even though it is so hard to do as a student!
6. 

   Non Clinical Jobs

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to joyflnoyz's topic in LPN/LVN

   What type of home health do you currently do, homecare/private duty, or intermittent visit/skilled? Whichever you do, I would recommend trying the other type as there are advantages to both. The nice thing with homecare is that there is usually extended periods of time without strenuous activity which would allow you to recover from any care you have to provide, plus a lot of the cases are pediatrics versus adults which can also help with the aching body parts. Where as with intermittent visits, you have schedule flexibility, you're not typically lifting people as you are there to perform a skill versus to take total care of the patient, you have a drive in between patients so there is some recovery time. The bad thing with skilled home health is that sometimes for some of the wounds you'll be taking care of you do have bend over or get in an awkward position to do the wound care so that could be an issue. I have also seen jobs with Anthem that required an LPN versus RN so you could always look at their website and see if there's any openings. Humana a few years ago was hiring a lot of LPN's to do health screening visits, I had a friend who did that and said the work was really easy as the health screenings were on relatively healthy individuals. Good luck!
7. 

   Covid Vaccine

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to Cat1223's topic in Disasters

   Biden's decision makes me nervous as well. In the beginning of the vaccine rollout Pfizer and Moderna said it was critical that a second dose was received in 3-4 weeks of the first dose. Now they're saying Oh you can wait up to 12 weeks and it'll be just fine! If they studied the vaccine being administered at 3-4 weeks how can it be just fine to speculate that going up to 12 weeks will be just as effective? One article I read had an immunologist say that theoretically giving 12 weeks between injections could boost effectiveness, but I just don't think it's a good idea to deviate from how the vaccine was studied.
8. 

   Intubation Should Be A Nursing Skill, Especially Now

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to ErikWeeWoo's topic in Disasters

   OP, I agree with you, this could be a valuable skill for RN's to learn in certain settings. Having worked in rural hospitals where there can be a delay in intubation due to the only physician in house being an ER doc who may or may not WANT to come to the floor/unit to intubate, it would be helpful for a nurse to be able to do so. I have been in situations where the Respiratory Therapist had to intubate due to lack of physician presence. And while they are the experts when it comes to the lungs, I think nurses could swing it as well. I worked at one rural hospital that trained nurses to establish IO access on the floor in case of emergencies and that came in handy a couple of times while I was there.
9. 

   Quick! Blame the Nurse!

   TheMoonisMyLantern replied to vintagegal's topic in Nursing

   You can only do but so much. Don't run yourself in the ground trying to do everything because it will just show your team that they don't have to do their work because you'll always be there to bail them out. The 16 hour days will break you if you keep doing them, that has to stop because it isn't sustainable. The field of geriatrics unfortunately is somewhat of a bait and switch, you see how underserved these individuals are and want to do right by them, but we can't change the flawed system that causes to be underserved in the first place because simply put, your boss doesn't want it to change. They are fine with doing the bare minimum because it lines their pockets and it's the "industry standard".
10. 

    Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome: Knowledge Brush-Up

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to J.Adderton's topic in Nursing

    Excellent article. In my area it is a standard of care to give either IM or IV thiamine to alcoholics when they come through the ER, if they are admitted either medically or psychiatrically they're started on PO thiamine and folic acid for the duration of their admission. One psych unit I worked on gave IM thiamine to every alcohol detox admission even if they had received thiamine in the ER just to be on the safe side.
11. 

    Nurses are Pushed to the Brink

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to Nurse Beth's topic in Disasters

    My facility has an incentive for CNA's to work with our COVID unit and yet still we're having trouble getting them to actually work with the patients. I understand their fears over the virus and realize that CNA's aren't paid enough for what they do. However, it doesn't make it any easier on me having to assessments, meds, treatments, charting, updating physician, family, management on 30 covid patients and in addition to that having to do total ADL care, it's exhausting and I can't be everywhere at once.
12. 

    I Really Do Not Want the COVID Vaccine 😞

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to AspiringNurse94's topic in Disasters

    I saw this and feel very conflicted about it. I understand the desire to vaccinate as many people as possible, but to deviate from how the vaccine was studied seems like a big risk to me.
13. 

    Nurse led education groups

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to Erika Peterson's topic in Psychiatric

    Check out this site, I found it really helpful https://www.therapistaid.com/
14. 

    Exceptions to the Right to Refuse

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to Purple_Clover's topic in Geriatric

    So, the answer to this is complicated and is going to be primarily driven by what state you live in because each one has a different process, requirements, etc. but no matter where you are, overriding a person's rights to force care is a big deal. It typically requires the assessment of multiple physicians that are in agreement that the treatment is necessary, not to mention a psychiatrist or psychologist to evaluate the person's capacity to make decisions and understand information, the patient's next of kin would be involved and eventually it gets passed on to a judge and they can order what care the patient is to receive. These orders are typically time sensitive and are meant only to stabilize the patient and get them either medically stable or psychiatrically stable enough to make their own decisions. In the case of hygiene alone I've see social services get involved and get the patient involved in counseling in an attempt to improve hygiene. Unfortunately in my state hygiene is "lifestyle choice" and is not an infection control issue in the eyes of the law. Hope this helps.
15. 

    Does your hospital mandate nurses or other staff?

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to JBMmom's topic in Nursing

    I work for a state facility that mandates up to 16 hours, typically we have a mandate day three times per week. Tonight's my 7th night in a row. 😴
16. 

    I Really Do Not Want the COVID Vaccine 😞

    TheMoonisMyLantern replied to AspiringNurse94's topic in Disasters

    The issue is that the legitimacy of the point being made is often influenced by its source. So when your sources are a step up from the tabloids in the super market, people who don't believe every conspiracy theory they hear, might be skeptical.