mofomeat

As someone who has worked in IT for some time, this seems a bit fishy to me as well. I'm not a nurse yet, so I don't know what sort of system you are using. In general practice a charting system (which is essentially a database) should have a permissions structure so that others can go in and change things on a record... BUT only certain things, and when they do so not only is it recorded under their userid, but any previous entries are still retained and everything is timestamped so that you have a historical record. So, 1) If this is how your system works and the manager did stuff under other people's name when it was supposed to show hers, then I would be highly suspicious and yes I would raise the biggest stink with as many people as possible. It wouldn't hurt to collect all the other co-workers whose passwords and/or charts got altered and do this as a group effort. At the very least, IT shouldn't allow this and they should have their own management chain that someone would have to fight to get it to happen. 2) If the system you have doesn't work like that, or doesn't differentiate between user logins and real people, or allows anyone to just go in and reset passwords, then it's either set up wrong by IT or the system itself is incredibly flawed. My $0.02

You could just become an old/experienced nurse like they are. Then you'd have the same perspective and you'd see it from their end

Hard work and sacrifice. Heavy emphasis on the sacrifice.

(Interrupting the teacher during a discussion about parasites in Microbiology class) "You don't have to worry about triganosis [sic] anymore. It has been completely bred out of modern pigs"

Just curious, and I know this has no bearing on anything here... Are the men explicitly forbidden from wearing them? Because I would probably wear one just to be funny and cute. But that's the kind of silly guy I am. However, what if some find that insulting that a man would want to wear it? Oh such a can of worms this could turn into for but an hour of one's life!

This is either: 1) a funny coincidence because I too have a hot 22-year old girlfriend, or 2) proof that the ignoramus is actually right, because my girlfriend is 22 and I am shall we say some amount of years older and wiser. I guess that makes me look like some sort of pervert. However, said person did a pretty good job of alienating everyone in the room by time the semester was done. She was very opinionated, strong-headed, self-absorbed, self-convinced of her right to exist and would often spout out stuff like this (or worse). She routinely offended people and didn't ever seem to notice or care. She'll have a lovely time in patient care, I'm sure. I wanted to say something to her at that time, but when several other people in the room turned to look at me (the only guy in the place) I just gave a goofy smile, a wink and two thumbs up.

The school recruiter seemed as if he (yes, he) was trying to talk me out of going into Nursing when I went in for some advice. He kept saying "I don't know that you'd enjoy it" or "Are you sure you're really cut out for a non-traditional career?" and then would ramble on about firefighting, auto mechanics, welding, or other "manly" stuff. I don't think he works there anymore. I'm not in Nursing School yet, but in the prereqs. I'm so close to being finished with the prereqs that by now almost 100% of my classmates are also nurses-to-be. Surprisingly, there are plenty of young women who have the "Men don't belong in Nursing" attitude as well. One even made the comment that "Only perverts become male nurses". I have run into a few older women (some nurses, some not) that have indirectly expressed disdain about my choice or men in general going into nursing. Some of them will make comments like "well, you'll be good for lifting and cleaning, and fetching carts or blankets" and such. I don't think they mean to do it, but it really comes off as "You'll be good for doing all the support tasks and grunt work so the real nurses can do the real nursing work". Bless their hearts. That said, I've heard a majority of folks say "we could use more men in nursing", and I feel that it is sincere and not for the above reasons. Aside from the handful mentioned above, most of my classmates are unfazed when I say I'm going into nursing, and it's not a big deal at all to them.

I hope that this is a myth, because aside from being incredibly painful, I suspect there is a potential for some real soft-tissue injury. Anything from a nasty purple-black bruise to a damaged blood vessel that could become permanently discolored and painful. Meanwhile, a friend of mine in Nursing School just had to report a gaggle of her classmates, as during clinicals they were peeking under the gown of unconscious male patients and giggling about memberes. In a school that has nearly a 2-year waiting list, I would hope that these girls would be ejected from the program to set an example of what unprofessional behavior can earn you.

After next semester, I can test for a CNA license. I was planning on working or volunteering as a CNA (as a second job) during the time I'm on the waitlist (it averages 2 years at my school).

I was going to ask, "with all the booksmarts and amazing intelligence, why did you choose Nursing and not something like Neuroscience?" If you really want to do health-care related things but not so much hands-on stuff, there's plenty of academia-level career paths as well. You don't mention your age, but if I were to make a guess from your posts, you're probably still pretty young and have plenty of time left for all the schooling involved.

Thanks Susie2310. Your response makes me feel a bit better. Ever other occupation I've ever worked has been something where I'm basically thrown into the fire and it's up to me to figure out how to survive. I don't know how much of this happens to new grads in this field, but I've never previously been in an occupation where other people can die. At least not directly. Destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment? Sure. Incur multi-billion dollar lawsuits? Sure. Death as a direct result? No.

I know this is a pre-nursing rant, but I'm posting it here as I was hoping to get more experienced replies. If this is wrong, I won't be upset if it gets moved. I apologize that it is a bit long. I'm not a Nurse, nor am I in a Nursing Program just yet. I'm at the tail end of my pre-reqs before I can petition to go on the wait-list for the program. I'm not one of those who feel that Nursing is a 'calling', but it is one of many things I was interested in when deciding a new career direction. I will admit that I was drinking the marketing kool-aid when I first started this journey. Through allnurses (and other follow-up research) I seem to have thankfully gotten a dose of reality in regards to what the career is really like, and what's in store for me. That said, I'm still interested and excited about becoming a nurse. :) Most of the time I am pretty confident about myself into the career. I'm generally hard-working, reasonably intelligent and at times personable. However, I do have some concerns. I doubt I'm alone in this, but sometimes I have some serious self-doubt about whether or not I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing well in school and my grades are great, and all that, but... 1) I'm afraid I've been forgetting everything. I grasp the concepts of everything just fine, but even in the several months since I've finished A&P 1 and 2, I know I've lost some knowledge. I doubt anyone is going to ever pull me into a broom closet and force me to recite the steps of cellular respiration, nor will I have to fear getting swirlies if I can't describe the entire blood clotting process forwards and backwards. (I hope). Some of this knowledge has got to be more than just 'background knowledge'. When I read over it all again it comes back, sure. But it never feels like it's a full-time resident of my knowledge, like many other non-essential, non-day to day things are. I don't know how much of this I will need to have with me at any given time. 2) I'm afraid I'll be incompetent. That a patient will crash right in front of me, and I won't know what to do. Or worse, I'll do the wrong thing- take it from a "a critical situation" to "welp, they're dead now". Or I'll make some other grave mistake, or just 'blow it' in the worst way possible. Locally we repeatedly hear about the Nurse that mixed up orders of magnitude when calculating an IV drip and killed the patient. Orders of magnitude is actually something I catch myself making mistakes on sometimes in electronics. Therefore I always double and triple check them and have always caught it. But what if? I'll admit that I can be a little absent-minded at times. Usually I'm good at focusing and being precise when it matters, and allowing my mind to wander a little when doing non-critical monotonous tasks. My current job requires 100% accuracy 100% of the time. So far so good in almost seven years. It sounds like Nursing allows *NO* time to let the mind wander. So what if? What if? 3) My self-esteem isn't stellar. I'm aware of it, I'm working on it and making progress. However, I've heard so many rantings here on allnurses where the patients yell at you all day, the patient's families yell at you all day, the doctors yell at you, fellow nurses yell at you and the management and administration yell at you. I know this is a site of ranting and the negativity is concentrated, but sometimes it sounds like everyone has it out for you. This is either going to make me or break me. I try to maintain that it only matters if it matters. That is, if the patient is yelling at me, but I know I've done nothing wrong, and all my co-workers also know I've done nothing wrong, it won't affect me at all. Otherwise, hopefully I can develop some quick and effective coping skills, as well as the ability to confidently back my actions and myself up if necessary. I don't at all intend to screw off all day or half-orifice anything. However, mistakes and conflict over mistakes do happen. See #2. 4) What if I hate it? What if I can't find a job, 12 to 18 months goes by and I'm no longer hireable? Well, I guess that's the danger with anything. Don't know till you try. If I were to be honest with myself, I guess that reassurance is what I'm looking for by posting this. However, the thing that allnurses really, really excels at is giving you honesty. Maybe another honest dose of reality is what I really need. So tell me. Have you all been here before? Have you seen this before in other students or new grads? Are these fears normal? Founded or unfounded? Thanks for any and all replies. The good, the bad and the ugly. Lay it on me.

If you want to see someone get rude and judgmental, I could give it a whirl. Consider me being 'polite' by stopping here.

Ok, three things that I have to share for now. Two are school related, one is not. 1) There is a girl in my Micro class right now. From context clues I gather that she spent one or more summers in Greece, which is admirable and enviable, yes. However... whenever we discuss any topic in lecture, she (without raising her hand) interjects "In Greece they do that like X" or "When I was in Greece, I saw that X was the usual practice". 80% of the time it is related to what we are talking about (but the relevance is questionable). The other 20% of the time it's off topic and clearly just serves her need to remind everyone that she has been to Greece. Non-related, she tends to also sway lecture conversation into often interesting, but completely tangental side-discussions about bacteria or chemistry. She asks lots of questions but I suspect that she doesn't actually understand the answers she gets, based upon the questions she asks to follow up. Fortunately, she is not in any of my labs. 2) There was a middle-aged woman in my A&P I class some time ago that worked in a hospital to some capacity (in a receptionist role, AFAIK). She had a ginormous man-hating chip on her shoulder, and often talked during lecture about how men don't belong in a medical setting because they are all autistic and impersonal. Interestingly, she was also probably the rudest, bitchiest, whiniest person I've ever encountered in school. She drove everyone away from her and then complained to the teacher(s) that we all had it out for her. She then dropped the class, and a month or so after I saw her in the hallway, I said "hi", and she responded with "f**k you". 3) My girlfriend's roommate had recently gotten married. Shortly after, she was poised to go back to school to finally get her degree in "art therapy". Nonetheless, she has had a very... shall we say "theological and non-scientific" upbringing, and has probably never dug deep into the whole "birds and bees" thing. One day she was talking about going to school, but didn't want it to be interrupted by eh... "starting a family". Her close friend told her, and I quote "It takes a long long time to make a baby. You probably have two or three years before you even have to think about that. Besides, it's not like you're some [racial comment] Welfare Mom... if you are going to school to better yourself, Jesus will guide your future and make everything happen just like it should." My girlfriend has since found a different place to live. And of course the two bonus ones that everyone's hear before- I brought up how many students are "I want to be a nurse but I'm not going to put up with poo" and "I'm just getting into Nursing so that I can marry a doctor".

Well, there's always the flavored yogurts too. I hear strawberry and chocolate are popular. Maybe tzatziki sauce would work in a pinch?

Ugh... Maybe I'm just a crotchety old man, but if I had any authority over that class I would have ejected her from the program. It's one thing to get that far and be so misinformed, but it's another to be so self-assured that she won't be corrected on things. People like that often become dangerous in settings that require anything more than a pulse.

I've discussed before that seeing someone vomit, viewing a vomit lake or otherwise knowing of a vomit event illicits entirely the wrong reaction from me- it gives me the giggles. This is much worse than being grossed out by it. I'm sure that the last thing someone needs as they're doing the Blearggh Shout is for someone to start laughing. I've also got a nearly juvenile propensity to laugh at, or make jokes about farts and poo. The thing that *does* bother me for some odd reason is CSF. I'm not sure whether it is because it is clear as water but slightly thicker, or if the whole thought of spinal taps is so unappealing. Similarly, the only two things that grossed me out in A&P were the smell of warm brains and the smell of fat that had started to dissolve into a snot-like liquid. In lab we dissected different parts of a cat (as I'm sure all of you did) and continued on this for most of the semester. Sure the cats were soaked in alcohol to slow down the decomposition, but near the end they were starting to get pretty ripe. Not so much a bacterial composition as much as amino acids and other proteins breaking down, methinks. For over a year afterwards, everything I ate had a faint taste of the alcohol preservative, and it still pops up once in awhile (Iced Tea, really?). To this day, I still peel the fat off of chicken or other meats that I'm eating because it always reminds me of all the gooey fat liquid that accumulated in the abdomen of poor ol' Sprinkles.

The difference is that "female circumcision" as it is called is complete removal of the privy parts, with the goal of greatly reducing or eliminating any ability of the woman to obtain sexual pleasure. It is often done in unsanitary conditions (with high rate of infection/complication) and cultures that practice it seem to believe it will keep an otherwise promiscuous future wife from cheating on the husband. That sort of thing. It is also known as "Female Genital Mutilation", which is probably more descriptive.

Whimsically: If I were financially independent, I would become a career student. Realistically: Electrical Engineer, programmer, mechanical engineer. Or put it all together and call it robotics. I still fiddle with this stuff on the side, but I haven't had even 30 seconds to touch it at all since I've been in school. I look up from my books at all my parts on the shelves and sigh. If I were to do it all over again, I would have gone for this right out of high school. Rock star. I've been a professional musician. Not nationally famous, but I've had a couple of regionally famous bands back in the 1990s, and made my income from the club circuit. Tendonitis/RSI killed this dream, and that nearly killed me. Boutique guitar amplifier and effects producer. I've done a little bit of this, was going to turn it into a business about 10 years ago, and the time was right. I researched supply chains, fab houses, construction materials and equipment, went through the numbers countless times. It would have worked. However, musicians are a weird bunch, especially guitarists. While I was innovating all these neat new sounds, it seems that people only want the same 5 things that have been available ad nauseum from everyone since the 1960s. I wanted to do something different, stomp a huge mudhole in the buttocks of the current music equipment industry. In retrospect, I should have just shut up, cranked out the cookie cutter circuits and taken everyone's money. We all would have won. Small business owner. About 5 years ago I was getting disillusioned with my day job (Data Security) and particularly the management chain I was under. I figured I would take a stab at a Deli or similar soup/sandwich shop. Not a bar, not a burger joint (too dirty), and most certainly not a chain (see above). I couldn't be a "mom and pop", but I could be a "some guy and his dog" business. I didn't want to answer to anyone else's bs, rational or not. Once again, researched supply chains, locations, equipment, ran all the numbers. On paper it would have worked, assuming I got a steady stream of customers. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to go back to school and become an RN.

Oh another rant! I hear so often the "OH EM GEE, WE GONNA MAKE SO MUCH MUNNYYYYY!!!!!!!111oneoneoneoen. MY SISTER SAYS THAT IN MINNEAPOLIS NEW GRADS ARE GETTING HIRED FOR $75,000 + SIGN ON BONUS AND YOU MAKE SIX FIGURES WITHIN TWO YEARS!!! LOLOLOLOL I'M GOING TO GET A DIFFERENT COLORED MINI COOPER FOR EACH DAY!!!!" Granted, I too was drinking the recruiter/internet "nursing shortage/instant hire/high wages/bonuses" Kool-Aid when I first started this journey. However, thanks to both Allnurses and some hard data from other research, I've discovered it's not quite so rosy. Given the physical nature of the job (and that I'm not getting younger) and the risks involved (needlesticks and other real dangers) I sometimes ask myself if I really want to be an RN. Maybe I could stick out some more schooling and get into Optometry or Pharmacy, etc. I'm trying to explain to these young girls (19-20 tops, still at home, never had a job before, etc) that they need to really research things for themselves and not listen to the 'hype' about nursing as a career. The golden era was 7-10 years ago, this is a different time. I'm trying to help, but it's not what they want to hear. Rant rant!

This is actually a weird class, regarding classmates. Not in this lab, but in Lecture there are 4 girls at one table that often admit that they're becoming a nurse so they can find a doctor to marry. I thought that this was just a joke on Allnurses, but it's real! Not even a secret ulterior motive, but an openly admitted career goal! While I'm ranting, I'm going to say that only two of them are probably cute enough to actually pull that off! My friend and study partner (we're the older folks in the class, and we also had A&P 1&2 together) says that during the Nursing Assistant (CNA) clinicals, she had to give a stern talking to to a gaggle of her classmates for peeking at and giggling about an unconscious patient's erection. And yes, there is tons of "I'm not going to deal with poo or pee or anything, but I want to work in L&D because babies are sooooo cute!!!" Rant! Rant! I should have named this the Rant Thread! Hopefully the uptick in female doctors means I might get to marry one.

I wouldn't go that far. But I agree with the rest of your comment- The actual program might shake these folks out.

I'm a pre-nursing student, currently in a Microbiology class. I like it, and it's great! In one of the labs, we were doing tests on vials of urine to determine if they have or don't have a possible STI or UTI. During this session, a fellow student of mine dropped her vial of "possibly gonorrheaic" urine onto the floor. It shattered into a billion pieces and left a puddle. Everyone ran away All 11 students in the lab (I'm #12) freaked out and wouldn't go near it. So I took it upon myself to put on some gloves and clean it up. I guess I've got the advantage of not being squeamish about stuff, but I was really surprised at how afraid all the other students were of... urine. I'm venting a little because I thought that fellow nursing students were built a little tougher, but I guess everyone else has their breaking points. We'll see how we all do on fungating tumors/necrotizing wounds, eh? *whew* Sorry. Been a long week.

Wow you guys. Thanks for the tsunami of replies. I didn't expect this. I should enunciate that I wasn't feeling depressed nor trying to do a 'woe is me' type post (at least not this time ) I see how it can look that way, though. I appreciate the positivity and helpful information. I don't have self-confidence problems per se- I have no trouble walking up to anyone and doing the usual "Hi, My name is Jurd, nice to meet you" etc. People's reactions tend to be a little standoffish, though. Classmates often arrange themselves into little cliques- something I expect from those fresh out of High School, but plenty of mature adults do the same. Either way I'm frequently the outsider. Not that I mind so much while in school (this is all competitive) but I sincerely hope that it fades away once we work in a team-based environment like a hospital. I know that raw talent and attitude should overcome any outward appearance. However, in my long and illustrious past I've been not hired for jobs because my "appearance is not up to waitstaff standards" or similar crap, and there wasn't a darn thing wrong with the way I was dressed for the interview(s), etc. All of them crappy dead-end jobs anyways, but consider the implications. I like to think I'm fairly smart, capable and will be competent as well as empathetic as a nurse. We'll see. I'm in the last leg of the pre-reqs and hope to apply to Nursing school for the Fall 2013 semester. Other than a bunch of reading and a few times of being a patient, I don't have much real-world experience of what a hospital environment is like. Hopefully it's very different than working in a large office. I considered trying to volunteer at a local facility over the summer just to take it all in, but A&P 1&2 fried my brain. I needed a vacation. And beer. Thanks again everyone.

I first thought this was about using dog training tools on students.