Vinniesguy

Are you sure you didn't misunderstand? They might mean that great grades doesn't necessarily mean a great nurse - and they would be right. getting great grades doesn't mean you'll make a bad nurse either! Theory is one thing - being able to apply it is another. The ones likely to give you a hard time are the old hospital trained dinosaurs anyway who feel threatened by nurses with knowledge!

I moved to Australia from England (via germany) in 2003 and have never regretted it. 12 hour shifts are not usual - in my hospital only ICU do them and even then it's not mandatory. Living in Aus you won't want to be locked away for that long anyway! I'm in Sydney - shift times are the same as the poster above suggested. We do have AC but it doesn't always work in our favour - some of the rooms end up bitterly cold regardless of what the time of year is! And you will need a year of experience if you want to work anywhere other than aged care facilities. Even agencies are reluctant to hire nurses with no experience as the hospitals who ring for nurses usually ask for at least a second year - I used to work on the bookings desk of an agency so I know! Good luck with it all though - it's a great country and a great place to be a nurse

I have to say that most of the time, certainly on our ward, most nurses get a meal break most of the time. Sure - sometimes they might have to take a short one but they get a break all the same I always bring my own food in so I can make sure I eat healthily - though if someone else brings in snacks to share I rarely say no!

As a dude with a hairy chest I'm glad our hospital doesnt impose such ridculous dress codes on us - especially in our climate! I'm not going to wear an extra shirt just because I'm hairy! Not my fault I was blessed lol Having said that - where I work also doesn't mind piercings or make me cover up visible parts of my tattoos!

I've posted in this thread before but I just remembered another story This is way back when I was a student nurse in London - this was in the days of hospital based training and I was working at the Royal London Hospital in the east end of London. A very old hospital - its changed a lot since. Anyway - I used to live in one of the nurses homes like a lot of us did. We all said they were haunted - they had been there forever! One year I had gone to stay with a friend for a few days after Christmas. When I got back I put my bag on my bed and knocked on the door opposite where my friend lived and she came to my room for coffee while I unpacked. After I had emptied my bag I noticed I didn't have my de-odorant - not really a big deal but I totally remembered packing it (because I'd had to move it in my bag to make it fit properly) and besides - it was so cold outside I didn't want to have to go out and buy another one! ******* and moaned to my friend about it then forgot all about it. later that night while i was in bed I heard a noise in my room - like something moving on my dresser so I flicked my light on. There on my dresser - right at the front, was my de-odorant! I was totally freaked out -but nothing else ever happened in that room

Quite like having students but some of them seem to forget that just because they aced their anatomy exam, or have memorized the renal system, that basic nursing care is no longer their concern. We have nursing assistants on our ward but the RN's still do some of the showers and the students turn their nose up at it as if theyre too good to do that!

It's a great idea. I've worked at places where people are dragged out of bed at 6.30 am and back in bed by 1.30 pm so the evening shift wouldn't get mad. I can see it becoming a problem if someone does shift their pattern, sleeps all day and is awake all night. It happened with a Jewish holocaust survivor we had on my unit - he slept through the day because he felt safe and his wife was usually around but at night he got scared and continually cried out for someone to be with him.

Wouldn't send them out immediately unless there was a clear head injury, a change in GCS, were on anti-coags or the family insisted. I think nurses are quite capable of clinical judgement without passing the buck unless its the policy of the facility. Or if the resident is alert and oriented enough to tell you they banged their head - but even then regular neuro obs will alert you to any potential problems. We've had aged folk come in from LTC's for an unwitnessed fall and are really cranky because all they did was slide off the edge of the bed!

You may understand inches but some of us only understand centimetres. If you told me a wound was 40 inches I would look at you blankly then have to find a converter on the Internet!

I've just been interviewed for a management post and was told settling staff disputes is part of my job. I would say you need to talk to the complainants one at a time and get specifics before talking to the nurse in question. Then say it is something that has been brought to your attention and behavior that has been seen - that way the nurse won't know if it's a staff member or a visitor. Keep calm and not get on your high horse - there maybe issues in their life you're not aware of and need some form of counseling other than a stern talking to. If it is a clear case of abuse then you have grounds for disciplinary action but in that case you MUST get it in writing!

We call them 'specials'in Australia and at our hospital we have nursing assistants on the casual pool who only special. It's for patients who are likely to climb over the bed-rails, are intrusive wanderers, exit seekers or very high falls risk. They do all the usual patient care - adl's, bed-making, checking vitals but are generally there to keep them safe and provide some form of distraction other than wandering. Although some specials we've had recently might as well have not bothered coming at all!!

I've enjoyed most jobs I've had and learned something from all of them but have yet to be in a job where I have thought 'This is it - this what I've been waiting for'!

I was horrified at an LTC I worked at to see Monkey Gland Steak on the menu! Turned out to be just regular beef steak with some kind of onion gravy. Not a monkey in sight - nor any of the glands. The kitchen staff had no idea of the origins of the name - just that was what it was called!

Ive just applied for an assistant manager post in an LTC (in Australia) - the pay equates to USD44

As far as I'm aware you can perform nasopharyngeal suction on a pt with an ngt tube as long as afterwards you check the ng tube is still where it supposed to be and hasnt moved during suctioning.