AlexCNA

This will be my final comment. You've proven to me that no group of nurses can get together and provide advice to someone in need. Thank you. You've shown me how easy it is for a persons claims to be dismissed and for that person to be judged so harshly by a group of people that have no first hand knowledge of the situation. I've responded to every comment with as much factual and detailed information as I can and for my effort I've been called stupid, egotistical and a liar. You've all been so busy questioning why I wasn't doing my job (which I was) and what business I have questioning a nurse (Because you know that being a nurse is one step above God) when she committed an error that you've failed to even respond to the fact that a NURSE committed an error. These things weren't important to you though because I'm 'just a CNA' that took a '4-6 week course' so I couldn't possibly have the intelligence to count to two and read an order that said one. This is how bad nurses keep their jobs and liscences. You've proven to me that every time someone says that nurses don't respect CNAs that they are, for the most part, correct. Only one of you bothered to answer my original question. So thank you miabia for reminding me that the ombudsman might be the best person to talk to. I certainly haven't found anyone helpful here other than you.

I know she made the error because the pt came to the nurses station for the medication. I was there doing my paperwork. I witnessed him ask for the med and her administer it. She killed a pt at the hospital she worked at just before coming to the nursing home. Nobody will talk about what exactly happened, but a friend worked there and she told me she made some kind of "Grievous med error" which directly resulted in the death of a pt. I'm aware that I've stepped outside the bounds of my job and training. I checked the MAR and the pts chart. We had had no contact with the DR that night. I answer the phones. Also, I should mention that we work the 10p to 6A shift at a small LTC facility with only 30 pts. Doctors don't call us at night. Unless we call them we have no contact with them. Usually she is down in a pts room watching TV when she isn't charting or something. Also, just for clarity this is an LPN not an RN. I've been babysitting her for 6 years due to her incompetence. She comes to me when she has questions on procedure and what to do in an emergency situation (sudden death, falls, etc.). I've been forced to learn quite a bit of nursing practices as they relate to LTC care as well as a hefty dose of information on medications so that I will be aware of contraindications, allergies, side effects, etc. so that I can cope with all but the most extreme problems. She's even been known to call me at home to ask me questions when I'm not working if it's routine stuff. When I work with any other nurse I don't babysit them. This is a special case. I am so excited to get a new nurse because it means I'll be able to pay less attention to her and more attention to the new NA that I'm supposed to be training. Tonight I'm supposed to re-orientate the new charge nurse (She's been a nurse for 30 years and I would trust her with the life of anyone I know. She just hasn't worked nights in LTC for a long time.) and then I can distance myself from the LVNs job and focus on mine.

Fortunately last night was her last night (I'm so happy!) so I won't have to babysit her anymore. It's just frustrating to see things and nobody care. I just find myself disturbed by the lack of interest on the administrations part and their disregard for what I tell them as well as the disrespect they show me. I know that my knowledge of nursing practices is more limited than theirs, but I do know you don't double a persons medicines without a little thing called a doctors order. I'm really starting to think that the only way for things to improve is a really good look by a federal agency, but they cover their tracks really well. I can guarantee that there will be no record of what happened anywhere and it will be just my word. If our administrator, DON, and ADON spent half the effort they put into hiding things that they did into improving them we might not be the place that nobody wants to work. It has everything going for it except for them and a couple bad nurses and aides. I could fill this site with horror stories if I wasn't worried we'd all get publicly executed for it.

Okay, so I just need to ***** for a second. Last night my charge nurse gave a double dose of Ketamine and a benadril to a pt. I'm not saying she gave him 2 when he gets one to 2. She gave him twice the dose he was supposed to get. I witnessed all of this because it took place at the nurses station. So, because I don't like calls in the morning asking me what the hell happened and why the pt was over sedated, I reported what happened to the oncoming charge nurse. (And yes, when stuff happens at night and they want to know what is going on they call me; not the charge nurse.) She also had me write down what was given and when so that she could give it to the ADON. Then at 2 I get told that the ADONs response was "Tell him to mind his own business." Now we don't get along real well anyway because of past issues, but I would think that when something like that happens the people in charge would want to know. Ketamine isn't a tylenol or antacid. This is heavy duty stuff. I just don't know what to do anymore. The nurse that I work with has already killed one person and it's been close calls on a few others and every time I tell them the stupid crap she does I get in trouble because of it. She doesn't even get told not to do it again it's just completely ignored. I just don't know what to do anymore. And just to add to my fun I just found out the ADON will be my charge nurse on Tuesday. ***. Is it to late for my mother to abort me? cause I'm thinking I could convince her.

From my experience the highest paying jobs are at agencies. You have to travel more, but they pay significantly more. Also (at least in my area) hospices pay almost twice what we get paid in the nursing home. It would be easier to schedule the agency work around other things though so I would look there first. Also if you can find someplace with a good shift differential or a bailer (SP?) plan you could do better than in other situations. I think the best thing to do would be to find someone in your area that has worked at several places and can tell you the differences in them.

Oh, rite. Today is Monday. I'll get the banana bag. You get the restraints.

I spoke to a lab tech I know about this and she said she immediately pops the tournequet unless she has more than 3 vials. In that case she waits until she is almost done with the last vial to pop it in order to maintain pressure.

I've never been a lab tech or LPN, but I follow our lab techs when they are doing their draws because we have a lot of people that fight them and have noticed that they always pop the tourniquet after they get a flash. These particular people only draw from LTC facilities so I would tend to think they were doing it correctly.

I live in Texas and I've been a CNA for 5 years. I was guaranteed a job when I signed up for the class. How much I worked and when were not guaranteed, however I ended up working 16 hour shifts on weekends (which is what I wanted) before the class even ended. I make $8.00/hr (the same as all other CNAs where I work). I now work 10pm-6am Mon-Thurs at LTC. I didn't pay anything for the classes I just paid the testing fee to the state which was about $70 at the time. I haven't decided if I will apply to a LVN program or another program when I reenter school. We don't have a whole lot of funny things on our shift, but the funniest I guess would be when we got a new resident who was in a coma and expected to die within a day or 2. He had been in the coma for 3 days already. At 5:30 the next morning the mans first routine blood sugar check came around. The nurse checked it and found that it was in the low 40s. She came out of his room yelling for me to tell her what to do. (She's not the sharpest tool in the shed.) I told her to get the IM glycogen out of the ER kit and call the doctor for an order (He didn't have an order for it and we don't have standing orders there.) She did, and I read off to her and the doctor the suggested dosage and how to get it. He ordered it and she gave it. 15 minutes later the man was up and walking. Scared the crap out of us. We still don't know how he was able to stay in the hospital for 3 days without having his blood sugar checked. He ended up living for several months in fair condition. As for how I deal with death it's pretty easy for me. I prefer to do post mortum care whenever I am there and there is a death. Most of the people I work with don't like to be alone with them so it works out well. It gives you time to say goodbye and prepare them for their family to see them. We never leave a person alone after they have died so we spend a good 20 minutes in there with them most of the time.

At least in Texas that would fall under emotional/psychological abuse. The staff member is using their position to coerce a resident into giving them a positive review. Specifically, this violates the residents rite to complain about their treatment at the LTC facility. Even if the complaints are not valid they still have the right to complain about anything they don't like. I would go to the abuse coordinator about it. It's their job to handle the situation. It's your job to report it.