bathrobemom

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I failed my third semester clinical but passed everything else without a problem. I didn't want to wait, I wanted to be a nurse now, so instead of taking a break I repeated the semester right away. I wish I had waited, I failed again and the whole class knew I was taking it a second time, too. It was humiliating for me. I was so disappointed. Before that I'd always had minimum wage jobs, I really wanted to finally have a job I could be proud of. People fail along the way for various reasons. Take a break and look back, see where you can improve. I've been working as an LPN for about 3 years now and I see pretty clearly why I failed. I have a big lack of confidence when I'm new, I'm not good at hiding it. I have to work on hiding my anxiety. I'm also hesitant about performing skills so if/when I go back I know I have to practice skills for hours until I can do them in my sleep. I've learned a ton working as an LPN, it might not be what I wanted at the start, but it's led me to a great job. If you can take the LPN exam, I encourage you to do that. You'll learn a lot and gain valuable experience.

I couldn't agree more. Whether minimum wage increases to $15 an hour or not, CNAs already are not making enough money for the work they do. In some areas they're only making $9 an hour! I've seen fast food places offering $12- $13 an hour. Some factories start at $13-$17 an hour. So why the heck would anyone pay to take a CNA class and then care for grumpy people that pee, poop, bleed, snot, hit, bite, scream, and complain and/or threaten to call State on them for every little thing? Staffing is short in many places, probably everywhere. Why the heck aren't we paying CNAs more money? It makes no sense to me. I agree -if we increase their pay, then we'd have to increase what nurses make. Say a CNA makes $15/hour then who would want to be an LPN at $17/hour? Why are aides and nurses paid so little anyway? Yes, we don't go to school for a long time, but we are educated and licensed to take care of people. One mistake can kill someone. We have a lot of responsibility. We need to stop telling women that if they want to make more money they need to seek jobs that are typically a "man's job". Why can't "women's jobs" be well paying? Who's going to work all the "women's jobs" if we all go to "men's jobs"? It's also time for women to stop being martyrs and accept payment for what they're worth. Maybe this job is a calling, but we still have to take care of ourselves, our families, and pay our bills. My mortgage company doesn't care that I'm a nurse. We should all be fighting for better pay. Maybe then we wouldn't be short staffed every single day. (Just 6 out of 7 instead of 7 out of 7)

For my last job, they had me take a drug test at the end of the interview. This was for a nursing home, they were probably desperate to hire and did the drug test right away to speed things up.

We know everything about the people we take care of, we see them naked, we ask them when they had their last BM and what it looked like, but it's a violation of their privacy to know why they're wearing an ankle bracelet? This is a safety issue, just because they got caught for "lewd and lascivious with a minor under the age of 14" doesn't mean that they haven't committed a crime with someone older. That information would not influence my care, I don't need to have blinders on to make sure I'm at my best for the people I care for. I would want to make sure that I'm safe and that other people on the floor are safe, though. I don't want to freak out and make a big deal, but I do want to keep an eye out for inappropriate behaviors. It doesn't have to be a big issue to keep an eye out for yourself and others.

I've met CNAs like that, they do exist unfortunately. They either leave or get fired. You talked to your instructor about it already, which was the right thing to do. What you described is verbal and emotional abuse. I don't know what else you can do right now. If I was the instructor I would investigate and that would take a little time. I wouldn't instantly fire someone because another CNA told me what you described. She will probably try to discreetly observe the CNA and talk to the residents. Your instructor might already be aware and might be in the process of trying to hire someone to replace her. This could take some time, not a lot of people apply to be CNAs. You can encourage residents to talk to the instructor if they have complaints. You might have to reassure them that what they say will be confidential and they won't face retaliation. I would wait a week and see what happens. Only if you continue to notice further inappropriate behaviors then I would ask to speak with the instructor to follow up on your concern. I doubt it, but that CNA could've just been having a bad day. Think carefully about what you want to say first so you sound like you're advocating for your residents and not tattling on a coworker.

I'm an LPN that's worked in a nursing home. Yeah, it was hard to find equipment. I bought my own pulse oximeter and thermometer and let CNAs borrow them until both disappeared. Now my new ones don't get lent out, I'm not made of money either. We can tell when vitals are faked. Yes I'd rather have someone tell me they can't take vitals instead of making them up. Some of the vitals are doctor orders, they need particular residents monitored for a specific reason. The nurse is the one that has to update the MD with results and we get ripped a new one when doctor's orders don't get followed. But fake vitals do not help the residents and it's a waste of your time in my opinion. Let your nurse, DON, and administrator know there is no equipment. Our scheduler ordered supplies and if I needed someone to put pressure on her I let everyone know if I wasn't getting something I needed. Leave notes if you have to with your name and the date, make copies for everyone so they all know. We had more than one wing so sometimes CNAs would make trips to track down equipment. It's hard to find time to do that, but it might be worth it in the meantime. Good luck!

I breastfed my kids and also supplemented with formula. My first two had issues latching on and breastfeeding was difficult initially with both. A little formula helped them until my milk came in and they got the hang of breastfeeding. Plus I had no interest in getting up in the middle of night to pump milk. Sleep is precious. With my second child for whatever reason I had one breast that didn't seem to make much milk. It was painful to pump from that side. I called a lactation consultant and nothing she suggested worked. I saw a doctor and she had no answers. If there's going to be an emphasis on breastfeeding, then there needs to be solutions to problems that occur with it. I think breastmilk is pretty cool, but I don't understand why some women make it out to be the end all and be all of nutrition. Blood is very important, we absolutely must have it, it has unique properties and does amazing things when you think about it, but at the end of the day it's still just blood. The mania that surrounds breastfeeding is a real turn off. Breastmilk is best, but it's not like formula is the equivalent of a bag of chips and a Coke. There isn't a stigma associated with TPN, is there really a difference? People accept that so much easier for some reason. My dad's generation (born in the 50s) questioned breast milk, no one knew what was in it, there wasn't a way to measure it, so formula was deemed better than breastmilk. I don't see any difference in that generation as far as health issues, longevity, or intelligence. I don't have studies to back up my opinion, but if the difference is that slight that a study needs to be conducted then I'm not going to get excited about it. What really bugs me is that I don't understand the concern about a child's first year, but the rest of childhood seems to be forgotten. Child obesity is a real problem as well as adult obesity. It doesn't make any sense to me why anyone would be so concerned about breastmilk and then basically not care about nutrition after the first year. Diabetes is a real problem in the United States, there should be a lot more concern about that. If we want women to breastfeed then we need to allow them space to do it. Once again I don't understand what people are thinking, they want visitors to wash their hands before touching their baby, but if it's a breastfed baby, it's ok to take it into a public restroom and let it eat on a toilet. There are people that don't want their toothbrushes near the toilet, but it's ok to feed a baby on the toilet? Huh? Women need help with breastfeeding- not guilt trips. Breastfeeding should be encouraged, not thrust on women and there should be real support for it. We need to acknowledge that not all women are able to breastfeed and we shouldn't shame moms that don't want to.

I'm not happy that I log on and this thread is on the first page while my 8 year old is standing next to me. Luckily he was easily distracted.

No, I don't have any medical conditions. Oh, yeah, I do randomly turn into a turkey once in awhile. You can fix that, right?

I don't think what you experienced was normal. Patients are hurting and/or sick when they come to us. They're vulnerable and still allow us to examine them from head to toe, ask detailed and personal questions, and perform intimate, invasive procedures on them. The comments that you heard shows a complete lack of respect for the trust we are given. Besides, if the workplace is hectic it's not like we can blame the patients, it's not their fault if our area is short- staffed. Nursing is stressful, we're allowed to vent, but there's a time, place, and a way to do it. I know I've made irreverent jokes and comments, but never about my residents and never out in the open where just anybody walking by could hear me or my coworkers.

The nurse should've stuck to the medication orders. There's a reason why they were written that way. If there was a question, she should've asked when she received the orders, not during a reaction. I disagree with several comments that I've read. What I learned in nursing school and through personal experience is that you use Epi first. I don't even need Benadryl anymore. I used to take Benadryl for allergic reactions caused by a food allergy, I was too scared to use my Epi pen and didn't realize how dangerous it was to not use it. Then my allergies got worse; I became allergic to more foods and my reactions became more severe. I joined an online group that is really geared more towards moms that have kids with food allergies, but they let me join and I learned a lot-it's really helped me. There's this idea out there that Benadryl "masks" symptoms of anaphylaxis. I don't know if that's true. All I knew was it costs $2 for a generic bottle of Benadryl and $80 or more for 2 Epis. I was skeptical at first, but I had a very severe reaction that scared the heck out of me. My beloved Benadryl didn't work fast enough and two Epi pens barely helped. I never wanted to go through that again, so I started listening to the "Epi first" crowd. I thought "Epi with known ingestion" was stupid, it's a waste of an expensive medication when I didn't know if I was going to have a reaction. Well, you can either use an Epi and totally avoid a reaction or you can sit around wondering if you're going to end up in the ER later, struggling for your life. You could be that person that waits too long to use an Epi and dies. Then it happened, I ate some cookies I'd never eaten before, thought I'd checked them over. Double checked. Well, I'm sitting there at the table looking at the ingredient list (again) and it states that there's freakin' hazelnuts in the cookies! Oops. I had an Epi that was about to expire so I used it. No reaction, nothing. Sure beats getting comatose from Benadryl and wondering if and when I'll react later. Another thing I've noticed about using an Epi pen is that I won't react a second time if I use my Epi pen asap. In the old days when I used Benadryl I used to have biphasic reactions (a second reaction). Not only does this cause a lot of anxiety, but it interferes with my life. Anaphylaxis doesn't care if you're awake or not, what time it is. Hard to go to work when you're wondering if you're going to have an anaphylactic reaction because you almost always have biphasic reactions. If a child (or adult) asks for an Epi pen, you should give it. You don't know what's going on inside someone that is having a reaction. Many kids with food allergies have been taught from a very early age that they need to use an Epi pen when they are having a reaction. They know it will hurt, so for a kid to request an Epi pen says a lot, kids are usually scared of injections. You can't go by how people look or act. I have multiple food allergies, I'm allergic to cats, dust, mold, leaves, grass, flowers, weeds, and latex, yet I've never had hives in my life. One of my first symptoms is severe anxiety, you can't see that. All I have to share is the tiny bit of knowledge from nursing school, personal experience, information that I've learned from others dealing with allergies, and information from news stories. If that's not enough to change someone's mind, I hope it's enough to get people thinking and doing their own investigations.

An anaphylactic reaction is NOT the time to draw up a med in my opinion. Some people pass out without any warning. Hopefully there is someone nearby that can help. That could be a stranger. So you now have a stranger who could have no experience whatsoever drawing up epinephrine. Some reactions are worse than others. My worst one was so bad I feel lucky to be alive. During that reaction I could barely breathe and was filled with anxiety about dying, that "impending sense of doom" that is mentioned in the long list of possible symptoms. That's panic level anxiety for me. When you need epinephrine (mine are for food allergies) you could be having diarrhea and/or vomiting, hives, wheezing, anxiety/sense of impending doom. I also had blurry vision- probably because my lungs, throat, and nose were swelling shut. In the ambulance there were moments were I couldn't breathe at all even while I was on oxygen. When we arrived, there was some problem with getting me oxygen from the parking area to the ER room, so I had nothing from the ambulance to the room. When I got to my room, the nurse seemed kind of annoyed that I didn't start ripping my clothes off right away. I don't know if she said anything or what, but because of the blurry vision I didn't even know she was there at first. I couldn't breathe at all and was certain I was dying so I didn't hear her talking right away either. I was on oxygen at the hospital for over two hours. I was on a nebulizer for over an hour. When the EMTs were ready to leave, I had to sign papers. I was handed a clipboard with paper on it and a pen. I knew I was supposed to do something with it, but I couldn't remember exactly what. I waved him off, he talked to my husband and for some reason came back to me. I couldn't remember my own name. I had to think about it. Then I couldn't remember how to sign my name so I just scrawled across the paper with the pen. I couldn't breathe, couldn't see, didn't know my own name...so...no, I don't think this is the time to be drawing up epinephrine to save my life. If that's the only choice I have, fine, I'll give it a whirl. But I think you're going to see a lot more deaths if that's what people have to rely on. By the way, people that use insulin- use it every day, multiple times. They get a lot of practice and it's not during an emergency. I think that's an important point.

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I find it tiring and annoying when I have to deal with people that are moody or easily irritated. Maybe the best idea is to just ignore it and let them rant. I guess what I usually do is try to help them feel happier and I don't know why I would think I would need to do that. Currently I have a co-worker of mine that is usually wound up at the end of her shift. There was a stretch of weeks where I dreaded coming into work because of her. There's one resident that is super loud and does not seem to respond to any intervention known to mankind except meds. For a while she blamed me basically because this person is pretty much out of control whenever he is awake. I was new and didn't know what meds to ask for and which doctors I had to ask. Not fair of her of course. There's been a couple times where what she said made me feel like I was weird or wrong for not being a basket case like her. It was hard to not let that get to me even though I thought that was dumb. One thing I've found that helps me deal with her is distraction and a sense of humor. While we're in report I'll change the conversation to something positive, or add a detail about how I tried an intervention, or move on to the next person on the list. This person has a pretty good sense of humor so sometimes I can get her talking about funny stories involving the residents or something on facebook, etc. Once she's left for the day I feel like things are much calmer and I can get a start on my day. I hope something works for you, I feel your pain!