markbeast

This has been going on for awhile for me and I am wondering if others have had a shared experience. It may very well be all in my head as i can not find any studies related or any other RN's with similar experiences. I seem to have GI disturbances after taking care of patients with loose stools, not every time, just the rough ones. I can say it seems to happen more often with diagnosed/suspected patients with c-diff, but I really can't be sure. Onset of symptoms seems to be the night of, and a couple days follow taking care of patients in this circumstance. Abdominal cramping, loss of appetite, stools of varying consistency (softer than normal to loose). I began to notice this last year or so, feel like it has been going on for a while before that. RN for 9 years in various capacities. Any insight appreciated. -beast

Also, while I am thinking of it, does anyone know where I can find data that might support such an endeavor? I have been searching around with no luck. -Mark B RN-

I work as an ED in a metropolitan hospital. The nature of my job and shift have me transporting a great deal of patients, usually on gurneys. No matter how slow or fast I go, I all too often have people walking in front of my gurney. My back grows tired of this. I also notice it happening to environmental service workers when they are pushing/pulling heavy objects as well as radiology techs with portable x-ray machines. I have been talking to my managers for months about this problem and have decided to take a proactive approach to try to effect the culture in our hospital to one that respects employees who are transporting equipment or patients. I have come up with a slogan- "Yield to Wheels". I have decided to pitch this directly to my management team as well as whichever quality committee will listen. Am wondering if has a program like this already in place at their work? Would you be willing to share the copy on different signs that may be around? I figure I would try to have 2-3 posters featuring people yielding with a blurb at the bottom, 1-2 flyers and a quick 1 or 2 sentences all hospital teams could use in start of shift huddle. Any ideas welcome, thanks in advance, -Mark B RN

Have you actually read this thread? You may want to chill out and relax...

I think you need a time out.

Hmmm... I sometimes do worry about that. That is something else I considered: just doing nothing and having faith in the process that we will all be trained appropriately. This is why I posted here as I am not sure what to do, if anything. I may be a little too concerned with what my peers are doing. However, the question remains, at what point, if any, do you take action if you feel a co-student is doing something that is incorrect? If it puts a patient at risk for complication? If it puts the student at risk for infection? If it is unsafe? There are tons of examples I am sure you all have seen or could think up. There have been times where fellow students have let me know a more efficient or safer way to do something and told me their rationale and because of that I feel like I am going to be a better nurse. Thank you everyone for your input -markb-

Thank you, I will talk with her directly. I did consider that it may have been a bad day for her. I personally did not witness the IV thing and am leaving it up to the student who saw it to do as she sees fit. We are not allowed to do heparin independantly but we are allowed to do saline flushes and IVPB after we have been approved by our intructor. We are not ever allowed to do IV pushes without another RN in the room. We have nine students scattered across four wards on two different floors, I can see how the instructor is not able to see us do all interventions... anyways, thanks again -markb-

We are in our last semester of nursing school and it has become aparent, in our first week of our new rotation that one of our classmates does/did not know how to do perform some clinical skills. I saw her starting to draw up heparin into an insulin syringe and another one of our classmates saw her connecting an unprimed IV piggy back to the hub closer to the hand than the IV pump. Both of us caught these things and corrected her in the clinical area. I am troubled however as far what to do next. At first I thought nothing of it, but then I started thinking about the possibility of her being my nurse, or a nurse to a member of my family... yikes. I see my options as: Telling my teacher what I saw. or Talking with my classmate directly and offering to help her with anything she was unsure how to do and the importance of getting help from an RN if we do not know how to perform a procedure. Do I have responsibilty to do either, both or should I just let it alone? thank you! -markb-