grammyr

What is this comment supposed to mean???

I was fortunate to volunteer at the PMAC in Baton Rouge after Katrina. The evacuees there were truly grateful for everything that was being done. We treated about 5000 people while I was there. There was only one violent incident as far as I know. Fast forward to 2008. I live and work in NW Louisiana and while I didn't volunteer at the shelter being written about, my little town did have some evacuees. The only news we received about the shelters was the bad stuff that the evacuees were mad about. There wasn't anything about the behavior of these people. Maybe this nurse was attempting to tell the story from the other side of the fence and how some people can not be made content. Yes, there was a problem with showers, but in the face of disaster, is a shower tops your priority list of things to need? I would think that most people would be happy with a roof over their head and food on the table. They weren't happy because the kids didn't have something to keep them occupied. I wasn't aware that the job of the volunteers to keep your kids occupied. Lots of people I know have volunteered at shelters and the consensus among them is that there are a lot of good people at these places who are grateful for what is being done. But as with anything, there are those who make a lot of noise cause things aren't like "home". A shelter isn't meant to be like home, its meant to be a temporary place to stay until you can get back home. So, I guess what I am saying is that unless you have walked a mile in these volunteers shoes, you have no right to open your mouth and judge them. If you weren't there, you don't know.

Why did your manager wait months to write you up and why were you written up? If the next nurse had checked her orders, she would have found the change and not made the med error. Yes, you made a mistake, but you weren't the only one. Don't beat yourself up over this, just take it as a learning experience.

this type of behavior is not acceptable nor should it be tolerated and sets me on fire. by asking this question, deep down inside you know the answer. how long have you been there? run now while your license and sanity are still intact. you deserve better!!!!!!!!!

Since your manager was kind enough to hand write 50, maybe she will volunteer to continue writing, handing them out, and collecting them.

This is a battle no matter where you work. The difference is in admin's attitude. We have a new CEO and is 100% behind the docs when they determine that the patient is non urgent. If found to be non urgent, the patient is then asked for insurance copay or $75. up front. We do have people who pay $75 for that script for Lortab or Percocet. This is a new way of thinking for us because we have never had an admin who has the stuff to stick with the rules. One way to stop that buzz from the drugs is to give IM injuctions. We have done that if the patient has no need for an IV.

Just about everything

What's a holiday gift???

Northwest LA here, just wind and expecting rain. The weather says 6-10 inches but as fast as it's moving, maybe just a good soaking. Keeping my fingers crossed because not only will my house flood, but our entire neighborhood will flood. Just pray for slow rain. UPDATE: Tornado watch area is one parish over (according to the weather channel). Just wait and see

tell your mom DO NOT TRY TO HEAD TOWARD MISSISSIPPI. Tell her to head north. The contraflow has started and she may not be able to get anywhere except stuck in traffic.

I have worked in both and work in a rural facility now. I wouldn't trade the experiences I have in the rural place for anything. There are definite disadvantages to working in small places such as not seeing the more unusual and critical patients. If they come to us, we ship them to the bigger tertiary care facilities. The smaller hospitals offer the opportunity to experience more autonomy at times. You really learn to rely on the skills and experience of your coworkers. I agree that the basic nursing skills are the same, but in a rural hospital there aren't separate units for everything. You may be taking care of a COPD'er in one room and a 1 year old with febrile seizures in the next. On a more personal level, the emotional support from peers in unbelievable in a rural facility. When one hurts, we all hurt. We cry together and we laugh together as a family. I have had the opportunity to work in large facilities but never got comfortable with it.

Go to www.npuap.org There is lots of helpful information on staging wounds on this site. We used it to revamp our wound care policy and protocols..

If he was there because of an auto accident, the police should have been aware or made aware of the accident. We have to call on all accidents,dog bites, crimes,etc unless the patient is accompanied by police or EMS. If I report an accident, I only tell them that there are accident victims in the ED and where the accident occurred. It's left up to law enforcement to followup. I just document that I called and what time they get here.

Why not try getting a job as a CNA and then work on going back to school? If you really did love it when you did it before,try it again. Then you can start taking classes one at a time and work toward your degree that way. Good Luck on whatever you decide to do.

In our state, it doesn't have to be posted and even if it is a relative of a board member will always win.

I don't know about your hospital, but at ours there are two ambulance services in town and they rotate. We have contracts with both to carry self pays or whatever needs to be hauled if going to the hospitals within a 60 mile radius from us. If it is a patient initiated transfer, I am not sure what the rules are. If there is a problem in the future, you ask to speak to the dispatcher's supervisor and see what you get. If they realize you are not playing, then you won't have any problems.

I am probably going to get in trouble for saying this, but you probably may want to try a less intense environment for a while. Try Med surg or step down until you get your skills and confidence up enough to tackle all those critical patients. As one poster said, in ER you know that you are going to have a disposition before the end of your shift (hopefully) and you can usually fight just about anyting for a few hours. I know me well enough to know that if I had tried ICU right out of school, I would have done one of two things: Either screwed up really bad and been reported to the board or curled up in a fetal position sucking my thumb. Don't give up yet, just try something else for 6 months to a year and I'll bet you will feel better.

My first question after making sure the patient is stable is "How did he/she become toxic?" Talk to the patient and/or family about his ability to take the medication properly and the importance of doing this. Is it someone who may forget to take one for a couple of days and then take enough to "catch up"? Wasn't there a recall on the digitek for being too potent in some of the pills? If so, then maybe this patient didn't know or didn't want to take the meds back to the pharmacy and happened to get the double dose. If this patient qualifies for home health, maybe he needs help setting up his meds and education on taking them correctly. Home health can prefill his meds and monitor for compliance.

So, when Joint Commission comes through, what do you tell them when they ask if you are acuity based or numbers based?

Just make sure you have a witness, like HR or somebody.

I do agree that care plans in nursing school are a huge pain in the you know what. But, when you get out of school they will still be lurking around We have computer generated ones that can be personalized according to the pt. If you ever get drug into court or get drilled by JCAHO you will be glad you know something about care plans and why they are here to stay.

That is the kind of statement that will make the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There haven't been very many times that a patient has said that to me that he/she didn't do their darndest to die.

Good for you!!!!! That took a lot of guts to go through with. There is no way that 2 licensed people can care for 28 patients in an acute care setting. The what if's are horrendous.

I worked at the VA and it took about 2 weeks for my clearance to come back. I was also working there on 9/11 and boy did things change that day. The one day I forgot my name tag was, you guessed it, 9/11. Just about didn't get to work. Nurse manager had to come down and ID me.

One of the first questions on my NCLEX was dosage calculation. You also never know where you are going to be working so you may need to be able to calculate your own dosage. Bottom line: TAKE THE CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!