momdebo

I just withdrew from Chamberlain/DeVry. I took a wonderful sociology class but the nursing class left a lot to be desired. The instructor was very unprofessional including making some pretty negative remarks about BSN students that the class then followed with a BSN bashing party (which really cracked me up as this is a BSN course the instructor is teaching and the students are pursuing, um, duh?). I also had a terrible time getting constructive feedback and would get condescending e-mails that were pretty belittling as a response. I tried to complain and got the standard "she is an excellent instructor and we've not had this problem before" response despite the fact that I sent copies of all the posts and e-mails. I decided that the frustration and lack of results were not worth it and am taking my energy and money elsewhere. Good luck to you all, hope it goes better for you.

The wound vac is an excellent example. The hospital has stated that no wound vac is to be attached to wall suction. The doctor is trying to order the nurse to put the wound vac to wall suction. He can order whatever he wants but the nurse must tell him she cannot do it. She should then advise her charge nurse and I would also tell him to discuss the issue with the charge nurse. If the nurse should follow the order which is clearly in violation of established policy then if that patient has a bad outcome as a result (wound injury, etc) then that nurse is the first one responsible, the hospital would have no fault in the matter because the nurse did something that the hospital clearly says not to do. Hope that helps.

That's great to hear! I have received thank you's when I rotated to tele and IMCU, lots when I worked hospice/home health, but never when I was in ER or ICU/cath lab. I'm sure that's a great feeling for your wife. Kudos to her!

In regard to the first story, I know working ICU, our patients were at death's door many times and never would have made it without the care from doctors/nurses given from ER all the way to the unit and then who do you suppose gets the Fannie May and fruit baskets? The step down units. I know this is because that is usually the only part of thier stay they remember, usually to gorked to know what going on initially. But still, how about some munchies for the folks who made sure you made it to the step down?!

Bless all you who work long term care. I did it as a CNA, went back after being an RN. I tell ya, I worked just as hard in the long term as I ever did in cardiac ICU. I remember well, the cascade of unforeseen, unplanned emergencies, the low sats, crazy blood sugars, skin tears etc, etc, etc. I never found a way to "prioritize", was always working after. Finally went back to ICU where I had more control! Sounds crazy but for me it was true. Hang in there and God bless ya for the work you do. You sound like a fabulous conscientious nurse, don't change a thing.

As far as I know if you follow an order that opposes established policy then you are as liable as the ordering doctor, the hospital will not back you up. If a lawsuit arises they can name you both, together or in individual actions. As far as the policy being up for review, follow what is on the books at the time. Policies are dated just for this reason. They will check the date of the order against the dates of policies. To remain protected by the facility ALWAYS follow your current policy. Then if there is any action, it's all on the facility. Hope this helps.

we do this for our hemodialysis patients who live alone and no call/no show for tx.

I've noticed that most posts indicate that a tele unit has more "eyes" on the patients, which technically is true, however, when I started in this business we had an R.N. dedicated to watching the monitors, then we had a trained tech, who also was dedicated to doing nothing else but watching all the monitors. Let me tell ya, the last unit I was at didn't have ANYONE dedicated to watching monitors, I was told "we all keep a watch", scaaarrry!!! In fact we came in for our shift and noted one screen that had been silenced, and there was nothing but pacer spikes. We started the code hoopla but it was already too late, patient had expired. anyway, if you folks have good units with lots of support and a cohesive crew, God bless ya. Just food for thought for our freind in need here, sorry I don't have much positive to offer, but everyone here is right, the experience you'll get is fantastic, but again, make sure of your patient/nurse ratio, etc, get it in writing if you can.

BE CAREFUL!!! First thing, what happened that they lost 4 nurses? Like most tele units they probably have huge turnover. I worked ICU/tele for a long time and I will tell you from my experience, half of your patients in tele should probably already be in ICU, the nurse/patient ratios are the worst (and DON'T believe them when they tell you it's 1:4 or 5!!),the work load and stress level are incredibly high, truly, I was less stressed in ICU than I was in tele. That's just my perception, maybe others have had a more positive experience. Good luck in your search.

Amen!!!

I've never heard of such a thing! Code J, really? That's pretty crazy. We still use the old fashioned word of mouth, which I find pretty entertaining, you get to see all the managers and suits out running around, eyes bulging, sweat pouring.....

I don't know about the rest of the country and what people think about nurses and how much or how little we do but I have a family who knows and they never hesitate to tell everyone and anyone how hard we work, how little we get in return, etc. etc. !!

Happened to me! Although it was quite a while ago and it was an LPN course, we were told all the credits would be honored only to find out that they weren't. I guess your best bet would be to investigate the school of nursing you plan on going to. Find out from them who they accept credits from and who they don't.

I have moved into a cardiology office where we perform stress testing so I must keep up my ACLS but since I'm no longer on staff at the hospital I am looking around for ACLS classes and found some stuff on line. Anyone ever try this? Any feedback is appreciated!

have to agree with Tazzi here, too bad that she had to learn the hard way but when your WHOLE job is to WATCH someone, think about it, do we watch people who are ok/alert/oreinted etc? Probably not. And why did she have to point out that she was crying? Was it not visibly noticeable? Sounds like a cry for attention to me.