jennyanydot

Is it legal for a hospital to tell RNs after they have completed their shift that they cannot go home but must stay at the hospital but NOT get paid. Sounds like a hostage situation. How can this be legal.

Looking to see if anyone can tell me the name of the paralytic drug that begins with the letter 'V'. Thanks!:typing

to bradley rn i'm a little confused. did you think i wrote this post? i didn't; it was written by gomer42 i spent all day yesterday in the icu and i do have one med question for anyone who can answer it. what is the name of the paralytic drug that starts with 'v'. thanks to anyone who comes back with an answer. bradleyrnre: certified medication technician originally posted by gomer42 i think cma's would be useful if they had more extensive schooling. a lot of medical professionals are intimidated by their existence. it births a lot of bashing and credential throwing. we are not "intimidated" by the existence of a medication aide. we are outraged! it is a greed driven practice! according to the institute of medicine of the national academies, medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year. studies indicate that 800,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in long-term care settings. every month, one out of ten ltc residents suffers a medication related injury. when doctors and nurses are putting up these kinds of numbers with years of training, it is a slap in the faces to all elderly people to pass off the use of medication aides as a safe practice. what is next, firing squads? administering medications is a serious task. it isnt bashing medication aides to demand that elderly people get the same quality care as the rest. it is bashing the greedy imbeciles who conceived and approved such a dumb idea. if they had "more extensive schooling", then they should go on and become an lpn so they will be an actual nurse. that would solve everything. if you are not a medication aide, and you defend their presence, then you are misinformed.

GOMER42Re: Certified Medication Technician It takes a lot to remember all the information about meds. I think CMA's would be useful if they had more extensive schooling. A lot of medical professionals are intimidated by their existence. It births a lot of bashing and credential throwing. Excellent post. It is always good when someone comes up with possible solutions and stays away from bashing and putting other down. The medical field is growing everyday and we need educated, dedicated people involved in caring for the sick.

There are a few bad apples in every bunch. If we measured the whole bunch by them, then we would be throwing out a lot of good produce.:) Thanks Bradley RN!! You are so right and I have had such absolutely dedicated, smart, compassionate nurses. For me now what scares me is not knowing what your going to get. I don't care if I do get one who is not so nice as long as I am not coming out of surgery and need help. I usually get along with everyone no matter what. My daughter-in-law just received her R.N. and she is working in a PICU. She is a wonderful, compassionate, caring, intelligent person and I know who ever gets her for their nurse is very, very lucky. And I do know there are many, many more out there like her. I see when reading these post. Keep up your good work because you are very important to us.

I very much appreciate your understanding. I would do anything not to feel this way. I always had such positive experiences with great people and it makes me so angry to think one person has destroyed the wonderful trust I always had.

Post Script to my recent post. I was in severe pain and left that way in the PACU for over an hour That was 'severe' pain, Level 10 and recorded as Level 10. I think what bothers me the most is me begging her to help me please. Asking 'why' aren't you helping me..., etc. And getting no answer as I watched the two nurses stand behind their counter in the PACU. It would have been comforting if she at least came over and spoke to me about the pain!! Three hours later after my daughter in law insisted on seeing me she did make sure she gave me medication and waited 20 minutes for it to take effect and then let my daughter in law in to see me. She even told my DIL that I had been in severe surgical pain from the time I entered the PACU. My question is who wants to be at the mercy of that kind of person? Previous operation (maybe 2 weeks prior) great PACU nurse - no problem!!! Subsequent operation 4 months later (regional block)- great staff, fantastic anesthesiologist, etc.

Next time you find yourself in an emergent situation, you're in severe pain or trauma... I was in severe pain and left that way in the PACU for over an hour; then another 3 hours at Level 5/6. Many a day I worry that something will happen to me and I will be at the wrong person's mercy. Never had a problem before and I have had major surgery. I have since had surgery via regional block and that will always be the way I will want to go; I will not have to rely on someone helping me with the pain. My post was not to say that a CMA is better or worse than an RN. It was simply that anyone can make an error in judgement. I have been blessed with excellent doctors and extraordinary good nurses for many years this one was just not good and she happened to be an RN. She had options...

To Skyseeker: Just finished reading your post. My hat is off to you!!!! You laid it out the way it is!!!! I actually copied your post into a Word document. After many hospital stays and operations throughout my life I never had a problem or issue therefore I was always confident and trusting going into surgery. However, not too long ago because of one R.N.'s 'assessment' regarding meds I will do everything in my power to NEVER go under general anesthesia again. I would NEVER trust myself to the mercy of an R.N. unless I personally knew him or her and what kind of person they were. (Asked for my records and they were checked by an anesthesiologist who concerred it should never have happened). It's like a box of chocolates...

cmatobe Commenting only about you as a CMA, I think you will do an excellent job. You sound like you have a great attitude along with your sincere desire to be of assistance to the nurses. I hope you are able to work with some good one. I am very sorry your circumstances didn't permit you to actually become an R.N.

Medication is a hugh responsibility. I need to know a lot more about this issue before I can comment on it again. However, I did come across the word 'assessing' which I have a LOT of questions about. Anyone interested in this as a thread please respond. (I will not be around for the next couple of days but will check here early next week). As always thanks for all the info I get from this site. It's great for patients/clients. :typing

definitely, you did the correct thing (in my opinion). hard to believe someone would go to such lengths to justify their actions for such an obvious mis-step. six to nine months is not a lot of experience no matter how much schooling you've had. i'm sure you all agree that many things come up on the job that you were not exactly schooled for. she should have been grateful for the correction and knowledge for the future. the only thing i disagree with is the martyer bit. as a patient, no one wants to be labeled a 'pest' so we (patients) refrain from ringing the buzzer (but not quite 4 hours!). i have been in rooms with patients who ring it constantly for what i call 'maid' service and therefore i am myself always reluctant to ring for anything (only recently when one arm was tied up and the other hoisted up high on an iv pole and i could not reach it to release the velcro so i could go to the bathroom - i pushed the botton and in came the male nurse with more attitude than i felt well enough to deal with). so sometimes it is just reluctance to hit that button because you don't want to be stuck in a place where people are annoyed that you did push the button). sorry, just my recent experience and again, i totally agree you handled the situation correctly - she/he just didn't like being corrected.

Someone like you would be great but I think it is the 'others' you mentioned that would make it dangerous. They need to come up with a very through test that would 'weed' the unqualified out. Good luck to you and my compliments for hanging in there all these years.

Humanity is pretty revolting. I will still be a great nurse. I am intelligent, and one of the top students in my class. That is the scariest statement I have read thus far and I have read them all. My daughter-in-law left a very well paying job to go into nursing. She started as a CNA. One day she was telling me about a very angry, uncooperative patient on the floor she was working. I told her that more than likely under all that anger was a tremendous amount of fear. She then took care for this uncooperative patient keeping in mind that fear may be the reason. By the end of her next shift, she was the only one who had this patient smiling, more relaxed and completely cooperating with her. A nurse who cares enough to see a patient beyond their outward behaviour has the winning combination of intelligence and understanding and be a GREAT nurse!

Listen to Clementina's last bit of advise!!! I was totally vulnerability for a total of 8 hours in surgery and PACU and wound up feeling betrayed and abandoned. Never had a bad experience before and I had over a dozen surgeries. It's all up to your doctor and nurse. So please heed his advise! And thanks!