ednursedee

First of all, I'm glad the patient is OK. Second, I'm so sorry this happened. Med errors - or any kind of mistake - make us feel foolish and doubt our skills. But - IT HAPPENS. We are human. We make mistakes. Try to remember that. I think that you did the best thing that any nurse can do in this situation: you thought of your patient first. Also, you owned up to it and did not try to pass blame. That shows integrity and maturity. Good for you! Now, this is what I've done whenever I've made a mistake or almost made a mistake. I looked at why it happened. I look at my frame of mind when it happened. I also evaluate the atmosphere of the unit when it happened. No, it's not to pass blame - you're right, it's YOUR mistake - but it's to see what could have helped contribute to the error. You sound like you're a very concientious nurse who takes her job and well-being of her patients very seriously. I doubt you did this because you were careless. And, no, I don't think that it means you're unsafe around patients. You made a mistake. Learn from it. I can almost guarantee you will not make the same mistake again, because from now on anytime you start a drip you will be quadruple checking it. Give yourself a break and go back into work for your next shift with your head held high!

i've been a nurse for 13 years and have aspirated blood only once. i still palpate my landmarks and aspirate.

i'm in the emergency department and what causes me the greatest stress is when people treat the ed as a clinic and then complain about the wait. and they don't complain quietly...they're in your face, at the desk. in fact, just the other night we had to call security to the ed because a patient with a toothache was tired of waiting, screamed in the hallway that "no one cared about her" and then proceeded to pound the walls with her fists. i mean, if you can carry on like that, how sick can you be? anyway, not the point of my post. we have to deal with stuff like that, then in our monthly staff meetings we get told that "patient satisfaction is down and we need you to do something about it." that's what causes me the greatest stress at my job. bring on the dead, the dying, the bloody and the mangled...i'm calm and composed. put a patient with a toothache in my room who starts beating on the walls...well, i start wanting to rip out vital organs. :angryfire

we get orders marked as "stat" or "now" started as well. we also always get the heparin drip started, usually get the foleys in, usually drop the ng tubes...and we're really working hard now to get the first dose of antibiotics given within four hours of presentation on patients diagnosed with community acquired pneumonia. when i have time and i'll be sitting on the patient for a couple hours i also try to get a mar written and give any meds that need to be given. i worked for 3 years on a med-surg floor when i first got out of nursing school, so i know how helpful this is. at that hospital, sometimes we'd get patients who didn't even have iv's. when i tried to say something about that i was told, "our job is to stabilize and then send elsewhere." i'm glad that i don't feel that way, because the last thing a nurse who already has a full load of patients needs is to have to start a line on someone.

i agree. i always want to be distinguished as a nurse, too. whenever they don't recognize me as a nure, i always wonder why they can't see the huge letters on my nametag that say rn. :chuckle heck, i'm just glad we don't have to wear those stupid caps anymore!

hang in there! you learn more just being a nurse than you ever did in nursing school. nobody knows everything, nor should you be expected to know everything. if you tough it out, you will take away invaluable skills from your med/surg experience. when i first became an rn over 12 years ago i worked on a med/surg floor with 33 patients - 2 rn's, 2 lpn's and one aide. back then we were gn's for a couple months until our license came in. the very first night my license came in the other rn called in, she wasn't replaced, so i was the "rn in charge" for that night. in mississippi back then (i haven't lived there in almost 10 years, so i don't know how things are now) lpn's were not allowed to do anything with iv's except dc them, so part of my responsibilities was iv therapy on all patients on the floor. if i remember that night correctly, i freaked out, hyperventilated, cried, and, i think, threw up - all in the first hour. but everyone was very helpful and the night was ok. by the time i finished my 3 years in med/surg, i felt like a pro at giving blood (usually 1-3 patients a night were getting a unit) - but that's not to say i didn't have to pull out the policy and procedure manuals the first 100 times i did it. :chuckle keep up the good work and keep asking questions - you'll eventually be great! good luck!

shelley, sure, it takes a special person to be a peds nurse...but doesn't it take a special person to be any kind of nurse? you're already a special person just by being you. if you loved your peds rotation, go for it. i think the biggest thing to remember is that children are not just "little adults"...everything we do for them is different. my biggest challenge when treating a peds patient in the er is the fact that i don't just have a little patient...i have a big patient...the parent. treating them is sometimes harder to do than treating the pediatric patient. though i have worked in a pediatric er, pediatric nursing is definitely not my specialty nor my favorite thing to do, so i'm always thrilled when i work with someone who definitely loves taking care of kids. :) try out peds if that's what you want to do, keeping in mind that if it turns out to not be what you want you can change specialties. that's the wonderful thing about nursing...there is usually a niche out there that anyone can fit into. good luck!

Personally, I think it's great when a hospital let's you express yourself with the scrubs you wear. I think as long as you're neat and clean it shouldn't matter what color your scrubs are. I've worked at hospitals where we had "dress codes"...nurses had to wear royal blue (which I hate) or white (how much sense does this make in an ER?)...nursing had their color, respiratory therapy had their color, pharmacy theirs, etc., because, supposedly, this would help the patients and family members tell us all apart from the color scrub we wore (because the RN on our name badge was not sufficient, I suppose). However, I was still addressed as an aid at times and told to "go find a nurse". I guess that happens when one is only about 5 feet tall, I don't know. At any rate, I now can wear "anything I want" as long as it's tasteful and professional. I get many compliments on my print jackets that are coordinated with my solid color scrubs...and, well, yes, once I lost my mind and bought a pair of plaid scrub bottoms with coordinating solid top, but I got a lot of positive compliments on those, too!

you are absolutely entitled to your breaks. i work a 7p-7a shift, and there are not enough nurses for someone to watch my patients while i leave the unit, but i usually do get to eat. if it's been a horrible night and i literally gulp a slim fast bar as i'm running down the hallway (yes, i've actually done this) then i make a note that i did not get my lunch so that i will not be docked 30 minutes for it. during the day at our er, the day shift has designated times for lunch, others on their team will watch their patients. same goes for evenings. we just don't have all the resources on nights to make sure that people are able to leave the units for lunch. our cafeteria closes at 7pm anyway, so it's not like we'd have somewhere to go, besides the breakroom. [color=#2f4f4f]i was an er nurse for a few years before i finally developed this mentality. i've also gotten to where i go outside for "fresh air breaks." i don't smoke, but i have friends who do. when one goes outside for a smoke break, i follow on out after her/him and stand outside, chat, and just get away from the phones ringing, the call bells going off, and the monitors alarming. i think it's really incredible that we work in a field where we tell everyone to take care of themselves, help those who can't take care of themselves, and we are looked down on for taking care of ourselves. are there any other professions where you are expected to hold your urine in a full bladder for 12 hours and not eat the entire 12 hours you are on the clock? right now, i can't think of any. why should we feel bad or guilty or be looked down on because we are human and we have to eat and pee? let's face it, there are always going to be iv's to start, meds to give, people to discharge/admit, and orders to take. all those things will still be there after you get back from your pee break. [color=#2f4f4f]where i work, on nights we tend to eat at the desk, yep, i know it's wrong, and we'll all get in trouble one day, but we do go back to the break room when we can. if you have a cafeteria that's open while you're there and you want to go to it to eat so that you can leave your unit, maybe you can develop a rapport w/ one of your co-workers. work out a system where you watch her/his patients and he/she can watch yours during lunch. we had to do that when i worked in memphis, because there was just no way for the charge nurse to relieve everyone for their breaks. [color=#2f4f4f]as far as your co-worker getting upset because you were leaving at 7, and your shift had ended at 6, well, she needs to get a life. good lord, as someone else put it in an earlier post, "that's why we work in shifts!" i tell this to my co-workers when i get report from them and they apologize for something they haven't done. you do what you can while you're there and the next shift can pick up where you left off. it took me many years to finally learn this. i would always stay late...at least 30 minutes after my shift left...because i felt like i "just had to get this one more thing done." well, there's always going to be "just one more thing" to do. [color=#2f4f4f]just continue to do your best and stand up for yourself. i hope they will soon stop rolling their eyes at you and making you feel bad. good luck!

what i like most about nursing is the fact that you can make such a difference in people's lives. i really enjoy the satisfaction of seeing someone come in to the er in incredible pain and leave thanking me because i've helped them. i also like being there for the families of those patients who we couldn't help. i think that is a big part of being a nurse. i also enjoy the flexibility of my hours. what other job could i be sitting at my computer in shorts and a t-shirt at 9am on a weekday?! :chuckle what i dislike about nursing is that some people don't understand the important part we play in their care. sometimes people don't want to listen to what we nurses have to say because "we're just a nurse." :angryfire i can't tell you how that infuriates me. i also hate people who come in fighting me when i'm trying to help them. most of the time these are the od's or drunk people...but still...that really tries my patience. all in all, however, i think it's a great profession that offers something for everyone. good luck!

not sure about pensacola, but when i worked in sebastian, fl, (southeastern side) rn pay was $21.50/hr base...and i had 11 years of experience. even as a traveler, in that particular area it was only $25/hr. good luck. i loved living in fl, but the pay was kinda sad.