SaoirseRN

I work with a GP who did the same as you when he came to Canada. He was honest about his prior work and similarly, he didn't lose his MD, he just wasn't able to practice and the diploma RN program was a quicker way to get work in healthcare and get some income while he plugged away at meeting the requirements for practicing as an MD here. Which he is now doing. Anyway, I think being honest is the best way to go.

I wouldn't call. I would explain that while I realize he would like his eye vitamins, that due to the late hour, we do not call physicians unless it is an emergency, which eye vitamins are not, and that we have no after-hours pharmacy and so could not obtain them anyway. (We have access to a pharmacy night cupboard but it doesn't carry anything so optional as eye vitamin drops). A note would be left for the physician to order them in the morning, but no phone call.

I have an iPhone and I use the "shift worker" app.

The patient was a pleasantly confused but still mostly appropriate 87 year old lady, who needed to get to the commode before breakfast. I gave her a good wash up down below, set her up for breakfast, then finished her morning wash after. Handing her a cloth, I say, "I've already washed your bottom bits, so just wash up your front." Patient, mishearing me, replies, "Sodomy?" I laugh and tell her no, we aren't that type of establishment. She laughs and says, "Good, because I haven't done that in a long time!"

Create a system for how you organize your patient care, and follow it. Ask other nurses how they organize their day and cherry pick the bits that work for you. As an example (what I helped my last student to create): Step 1: Report (Patient A, Patient B, etc) Step 2: Safety check -- introduce yourself, lay eyes on each patient, identify urgent needs (patient A, then patient b, etc) Step 3: Start your rounds. Vitals, meds, assessments for each patient in turn, starting with the patient with the most urgent needs. This is an example, and maybe wouldn't work for you, but if you always do things the same way, when you inevitably get pulled away by something, you know where to come back to and you spend less time worrying about what to do and more time doing it.

You're entitled to your opinion. What you are not entitled to do is imply that I "killed" my pet because it was "convenient". You don't believe that euthanasia is a kindness and that's fine for you. But you don't get to tell me that my choice was "convenient" because there are no laws preventing it. You weren't there looking at my beloved friend suffering and unhappy and you weren't there to understand that there was absolutely nothing convenient about my choice. So please, believe what you like, but don't apply your own beliefs to the actions of others.

And what is euthanasia but the ultimate comfort measure of modern medicine? You liken it to me taking the cat out behind the barn and shooting her. No. Just no. Maybe opiates could have kept her comfortable, but I know euthanasia did and she died in my arms, purring to the last moment. How is that cruel? How is that wrong? How does that equal me choosing convenience over her comfort? I am literally shaking I am so offended by this.

Wow. Just wow. How dare you.

As someone who recently had to euthanize my seventeen year old cat, I take great offense to this statement. I did what I did because she was suffering, not because I didn't want to care for her. I had her for seventeen years! I spent a great deal of time caring for her and money on her and in the end, why would I allow her to continue to suffer from an irreversible illness when I could end her suffering forever?

I've seen a few particular nurses who seem to have a problem with men who are nurses, but they are the minority (and seem to be the sort that have a problem with almost everything anyway).

Yes, a lot of the time, until they've gotten to know and trust you, doctors may we wary or hesitant to listen to what you are saying. Phrasing things as a question as someone else said can definitely help -- there are many nurses who DO try to tell the docs what to do, so sometimes that impression is all it takes for them to stop listening. A question asked appeals to their medical knowledge and often it'll open things up. I also am a huge promoter of generally getting the doctors to know and recognize you. You have to know who they are but not vice versa. Say hello to them even if you don't need them, make an effort to be remembered. A physician is more likely to listen to (and trust) a nurse they know over just some nurse.

Perhaps you accidentally missed the 'f'?

I had a conversation today in which everyone was getting "stints" put in. STENTS, people. Stents.

I haven't noticed this at all.