LowPaidNurse21

Its all nice and altruistic that you want to help people, I intended to do that but when you actually see whats going on around you it all comes down to the same thing.......its all about the benjamins. If facilities actually wanted to help and improve the standard of care they would have a nurse to patient ratio. But in this economy everywhere is trying to do more with less and if it means having less staff to pay and rising cost for healthcare then someone is getting that extra millions of dollars. And im damn well sure it doesnt trickle down to nurses. Its the pharmaceuticals and the MD's. Not to mention that the very same people you are helping....will turn around to file a lawsuit against you in the blink of an eye. I use to encourage nurses aids to pursue a career in nursing as well as other people but they look at me as if Im insulting them, with disdain. The whole world know there is a shortage of nurses but what can be done...nothing. Its a thankless job. I did a college paper on the global shortage of nursing and nurses quit within the first 3 yrs of becomming a nurse. Some places are trying to focus on retention and encouraging those that left the profession, while others are trying to encourage people to pursue the profession. Whatever the case is you will be burn out fast in this field. Right now we live in a world where there are more people needing help than there are people to provide help....more dogs than bones.

1:20 wow you are lucky, I worked where its 1:30 on the evening shift and 1:60 on the night shift, including at the moment 1 g-tube, 2 bolus feeding, everyone is on a narcotic pain med ( they all seem to want at the same time every 4 hrs) , a couple residents that literally HUNT YOU DOWN for narcs, 20 fingersticks at least, a shift report to write thats 3-4 pages with at least 5-6 residents to document on per page on overnight since you are the only nurse on the unit for 55 resident. Hopefully you dont get a demented client that is always attempting to walk not knowing they cant bear weight. Not to mention its a sub acute rehab/ long term care mixed in with residents that have been sent there from other LTC facilities for diagnosis such as poly substance abuse. I have in fact seen nurses quit after 1-2 months but Im still there after 3 yrs. Its not easy I tell you , after working I have no use for myself. I often find myself sleeping and driving or if im taking public transportation sleeping past my destination. So what you have is essentially a walk in the park.

I would like your opinion in this matter that happened to a friend of mine recently who is a LPN. Disciplinary action was metered out to her and her employment terminated because she was acused of diverting narcotics, but not for personal use. All the web searching about narcotic diversion related to diverting for personal use. According to my friend she was working on a very heavy sub acute unit and the normal procedure for ordering stat medication for new admissions who havent yet received their medication from the pharmacy was to generate a one time order so that one can be taken from the Emergency box in the nursing office and that order is used to fax to the pharmacy so they can replenish that pill taken from the e-box. Whilst on the unit she was in the process of processing the admission orders for 3 new admissions on her shift and 1 new admission that came in 30 min prior her shift begining at 3pm. While imputing the orders for the admissions she saw 3 residents in a verbal dispute 2 of them are mentally alert and were confronting the third who is not mentally alert to time, person or place. The third who is in a wheelchair because she was not able to bear her weight and prone to falls attempted to stand from the wheelchair while attatched to a lap belt, she also attempted to push the wheelchair backwards when the brake was initiated and her chair doesnt have anti-tippers attatched and may fall head first backwards in the wheelchair. The nurse upon seeing what was going on and what can happen, stopped what she was doing to quell the situation and prevent a potential incident. The nurse whilest in the process of removing the third resident was confronted by the nursing supervisor on duty and was told that mr. X was ringing the call bell for the past 30 min asking for a pain medication. The nurse not being able to immediately go to the nursing office to get a pill from the e-box gave mr. X a narcotic pain med which is ordered for him btw same dose same everything (hes one of the new admission) from another resident blister pack , mr. Y ,who was due in 30 min. The nurse generated a one time stat order for mr. X to replace that pill taken from mr. Y to give to mr. Y in 30 min. since hes is on a standing order every 8 hrs. The nurse while in the process of now getting that pill to replace the one given told the nurse supervisor what she did and the nurse supervisor said that she diverted narcotics and disciplinary action had to be taken against her. This ultimately lead to her being terminated....aka asked to resign in lieu of termination for narcotic diversion-not to self but to another resident for which the same medication is ordered. Not to mention that the resident who was given the pill initially refused it asking for an injectable. My friend said that she had to do some 'patient teaching' that his purpose in a sub acure rehab is to gradually be weaned off the heavy formulation that is used in hospitals and acute care settings. This eventually led to him accepting the medication and then told that its every 4 hr so he is entitled to another in 4 hrs for breakthrough pain and in 2 hrs tylenol could be given as per doctors orders. My friend now feels that nursing is a thankless job and that its like saving somone from burning building only to save them and you yourself die. All parties in the scenario live to see another day and be pain free and the nurse is the one left to bite the bullet. Not to mention that on that day she completed the admission orders for 3 new admissions and did 16 hrs while doing her job for 55 residents on a sub acute / long term care unit. Nursing is more paper than people, you spend more time writing to cover your ass than take care of people. Not to mention that everyone wants to sue your ass and the very people you are taking care off think of you as their personal butler. And each of them want you to be there at their beck and call as soon as the call bell goes off.