jasonn

i would not have gotten the bosses etc involved. ... Now everyone scrammbles to cover their butts and you end getting a hard time./// Should have to the guy if he does it again you will beat his ass. End of situation

Hi received a phone call today from a girl who is a friend of my younger sister. She is 20 years old and has been experimenting with cocaine for approx 2 months. Today, she found out that she has become pregant... She asked me if she didnt use anymore, will her baby be alright? I urged her not to use cocaine anymore.. She agreed.... But is concerned that the damage may already be done.... This is not my area of experise... I would like to draw from the OB nurses experience on this one. Thank you.

Thanks for the reply, and you soon learn that administration does not care about your license or patients. Sorry to sound so negative, but you'll see what i mean soon enough...

I am so sick of being dangerously understaffed every night. I have been saying that it is only a matter of time until something bad happens because of it. Administation will not bring in temps, or alow us to close the ER. Squads are lined up in the hallway. Two weeks ago, one nurse was expected to cover 10 rooms. Things got so bad that a 30 year nurse began to vomit from the stress. Administration called in to see the results of the "no diversion" policy. Their response to this nurse was not take a few minutes and we will figure something out. It was if you leave we will go after you for abandonment. One month ago a pt left her room and attempted to hang herself in the bathroom. Still administation does nothing. last night i have a older woman admitted for pneumonia but she turned into a 17 hour ED hold. I stop in to see her. No changes. 5 min later her heart stops. We start cpr. She comes back in about 30 seconds. Eyes open and alert. Bradycardic. Begin to pace. Call admitting MD and get the run around. Finally get a order for isoproturnol (SP).. After 3 attempts to get drug from pixis, I fax pharmacy the order and call them to tell him that i need this stat. pharmacy tells me that he is busy right now and will call me when i can get to it. Asked charge nurse what to do, she doesnt know. 40 min later we get drug...... No futher orders from attendings.... House officer will not come to ER to see pt. Pt remains being paced for 3 hours:angryfire . MD shows up at 0700 and takes patinet for internal pace maker. I was gonna put my 2 weeks in but i think i will just quit. They put my licesnce on the line everyday.

I jsut want to say that I really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond to my post. I respect everyones opinion here, and once again thanks... I think sleeping for 2 days and the majority of the 3rd day helped me out. When i woke up monday morning I felt like my self again. One poster noted something to the fact that if I did not like my response perhaps I should talk to a pshycologist. Its not that I didnt (like) my response but I noticed such a strange surreal feeling that i have not experienced and started to question if my feeling this way was normal. I guess I am in a continuous learning process of self actualization. Not everyone will react to the same situation the same. That being said, perhaps I would like to find another avenue to express my self during these trying times other than sleeping for 3 days. However, I made a "deal" with God a long time ago for him to put me where I best serve him. I believe he has done just that. NOt tooting my own horn, but during my time as a paramedic and now an ED nurse, I know that I have helped lots of people when they needed help the most. The instant gradification that sometimes comes to ED nurse when we can relieve pain or stop an acute MI in its tracts is indeed fullfilling, but there is also a flip side to that instant gradification coin. That is sometimes things dont always go the way Jason thinks they have ought to have went. But my faith reminds me that things will go the way God has intended for them to go even if my human-ness would have wanted the outcome to be different. All I can try to be is an open channel through which he does his work. SOmetimes all one can do is to reflect on the actions that the team took. We all did the best we could and we put up the good fight. That is all that I can expect from my self. I worked last night and was fortunate enough to be able to talk over the situation with many of the team members, and it was definately theraputic for all us to do that. The truth is, I love my job. I will continue to strive to improve everyday. Actually it is so fullfilling, on a daily basis I am blessed to be able to aid people in there time of need. I couldnt have asked for a better opprotunity or situation to which I can serve. Thank you all, Jason

I am a new graduate working in a busy ED. I have some years working as a paramedic before becoming a nurse. I have seen death before both professionally and in my private life. I always was secretly concerned that perhaps i lacked a certain degree of compassion that I have seen some of the other nurses had. NOt to say that I am cold, but I see many people that put themselves in the ED because of their own stupid actions. I have even rationalized that perhaps this is a good thing because I am able to remain calm and think critically through a situation which benifits my patient. On thanksgiving night, the place was jammed. You know, abd pain, gall bladder attacks, acute MI's ... normal fare..... However around 0230, a call came in that an attempted suicide was coming in. I overheard someone jokingly say, well the holiday season has offically begun... We get the trauma bay ready. IN rolls the squad, CPR is being done on the patient. As we are lifting the pt to the bed, we learn that this is an 11 year old that hung himself in his family's bathroom. HE became asystolic enroute. I took over compressions while an IO was placed. After working this young kid for what seemed liked forever, His mother came into the rooom. Crying and pleading with him to breath. OF course I know its not going to happen. We perform another round of ACLS for show basically, and I overheard the MD explaining to mom that even if we regain perfusion there will be no neurological function. Mom makes the decision to stop. Nurses crying everywhere, family crying everywhere, clergy is called for the mother. I felt terrible for Mom. But yet, I questioned to myself why I didnt feel worse. Ice was applied to the pts eyes while the HOB was elevated. Later I returned to help bag the patient because no one else really wanted to go back in there. Needless to say, I finished my shift at 0700. Then I slept for 20 of the next 24 hours. And 20 more hours saturday. I dont think i am that far behind on my sleep. IS this my coping mechanism? OThers seem to be able to express emotion outward. I didnt express any because yes i felt bad, but i didnt feel like i needed to cry. Strange thing is,, I wish I had to go to work today. I am off until 1900 Monday. I dont know what to do with myself. I need to take a shower and shave but dont really feel like it. I should go to the gym and exercise, but I dont feel like doing that either. I dont know if anything that i am writing makes any sense to anyone that happens to be reading this. I am not sure that it is helping me either. I jsut feel like I am in some strange sur-real state of mind. even while I am awake it all seems like a dream. I love my job, but I wish I was able to express in words the strange feeling that I have. I guess there is no answer. Thanks

scheduled breaks :rotfl: ... that;s a good one!:chuckle

My resume was so basic it was funny. It took me about 10 minutes to compose. Applying for RN jobs became to easy. One interview I attended (I had already accepted a job elsewhere, but I just didnt want to cancel). I wore a "wife-beater" and jeans, put some drywall dust on my shirt and told them I was helping a friend and lost track of time. They ended up calling me and made an offer:rotfl:

How to handle cussing nurses? Just tell them to F.... off :rotfl: J/k

Emergency Dept.

i have actually signed up to work thankgiving and christmas because for one, I dont have any kids, and second because I dont like having to go over my girlfriends parents house:rotfl: ... So this year I have to excuse that I am the new nurse and dont have any choice:chuckle

I posted a thread last week some time wondering why I wasnt getting a job in the ED after a few interviews. Well, I was hired and I start orientation on Monday. Great right. Well... yesterday the very first place i interview with (which is my very first choice) called me wanted to meet with me again on Thursday. I have a very good feeling that they will hire me. The problem is that I do not want to begin orientation----- and quit in 3-4 days to work in my first choice hospital. The place that hired me has been very good to me, and I do not want to screw them over. I feel guilty enough as it is....Plus they are a big chain of hospitals (cleveland clinic) and would not want to be black balled by them. you never know what the future will hold. Pros to taking my first choice job : 1. day shift 2. walking distance from my house. 3. 4k bonus 4. have connection to the community ( i grew up here and attended paramedic school at this hospital years ago) 5. 3 12's a week. 6. Save myself an hour per day of driving back and forth to work... 7. Save money on city taxes by not having to pay two different citys taxes. (the one i work in .. and the one i live in) So do i gamble and tell cleveland clinic that i am going to take another job before I show up for day one of oreintation? This way they have not spent any money on me, so no harm no foul..... Or should I stick with the place that did hire me because it is a sure thing? WHat would u do?

I have been looking into getting my BSN online at the UOP. Does anyone know if in the real world these degrees are accepted like a traditional BSN would? Anyone out there that has one would comment I would appriciate it very much. Thank you

.....

thanks for the reply... actually eating it as i described sounds like a smart idea for someone who has sickle cell and who may not be apply to afford conventional treatment IMO. As far as the "unethical" statement , the more i think about it, what would be more unethical---- not giving someone advise that would benefit them just because george bush and crew say its illegal, or giving them information that they can choose to use.