jds87

7 years later, I'm still not a nurse and it's okay. I obtained my nurse assistant certification in 2013 and have been in that role since. I honestly prefer working in a hospital over longterm care or traveling. Averaging every other year, I've attempted to go back in to nursing school. Every single time I need to withdraw due to "unforeseen circumstances", lol. I absolutely cannot do nursing school, work full time and take care of my kids all while being pregnant. I have 4 kids now and I'm going to try and go back this fall. And I mean try because of the entrance exam, not because I might get pregnant again! Over the years I have learned that one should not volunteer information. I was turned away from a home health aide position because I mentioned my TBI -- the employer literally said he couldn't hire me due to it, which is discrimination and I believe not legal. I have been able to gain employment elsewhere even after mentioning it, though. My doctors have approved me to go back to work, no restrictions, as well. I appreciate all of the responses, thank you! Regarding getting clearance from the doctor, I suggest asking them questions. What do you need to do? What or where are you lacking? What needs to improve? How can you do that? How can you get to where you need to be? After so long I believe it will be possible to get licensed, it's obviously just going to take time. I have to be patient.

What's concerning is that the patient's story correlated with the police report and witness statements and the medical record goes completely against those. Regardless, I thought that blatantly lying on a patient's medical record had consequences. It doesn't matter what consequences are wanted. What matters is that it seems that medical records are not as important as everyone keeps tauting then to be.

That is scary, "if it happened, it happened the way I chatted it." What if there is proof, via police report and witness statement, that part of the medical records is false? I thought that lying within a medical record has major consequences for the person lying.

Hypothetically. A patient comes in, willingly, via ambulance due to suicidal thoughts/attempt. Patient is a parent to a toddler and adamantly states child was nowhere near them at the time of attempt, while explaining what had transpired. It is charted in their medical record "[patient] forced child to watch them commit suicide". Why?

Why would a nurse [or medical professional] purposefully lie in a patient's medical record?

I would think they do, as the poster I see them. So, I believe that anyone can, even non-site members. I do appreciate the responses, it gives me a lot to think about. I'm doing much better than when I first posted, so I'm thinking that achieving this goal won't be as hard as I initially believed. I'm excited to start college for my degree now :)

Thank you, I haven't heard anything else about nursing and TBI recovery so that is very helpful. The only other thing I heard was a nurse at the local hospital had a TBI and is recovering and she is doing very well. That's a shame though, to encounter such discrimination, especially in nursing. Wow, I'm still motivated but your reply gives me a lot to think about and plan for.

I think it depends on how many patients you have and the amount of free time before, after and between them. Depending on how you schedule out your day, you can care for your patients and whatever left over time there is, you can judge what extra activities will fit in that time frame. I'm not a nurse, but I was a Home Health Aide (HHA), I worked for a company and then went independent. With the company I had between 1-3 patients (referred to as clients) per week, sometimes per day. I also was traveling between cities because they were spread out, so that took time out of my day. Usually I took breaks during that travel time. I also took on another part time job at a restaurant. But, I didn't have free time because I wouldn't have anything to do, if I did. While I was working independently, I only had one patient/client and worked 10-12 hours with her. After working, I would go home to pick up my husband and son, then go window shopping. I don't think that my story helps at all, but hopefully you have an idea of what you can do.

I hope that she's doing well, that must have been difficult for her. Thank you, I've been working hard and my son is really a motivating factor. Hopefully things will go well from here on out. :)

I haven't found any posts about nurses who have suffered a TBI and continued on successful with nursing. There aren't any, in fact. The only one's I have found pertaining to TBI, are about patients. Hopefully some of you may be able to help me? I was in a car accident 3/29/2012, was injured with a fractured pelvis, broken #11 rib, fractured sacrum, facial and left side scarring, plus a TBI. I had a subdural hemorrhage that led to a hematoma. I'm recovering well and aside from word finding problems and slight memory retention issues, you really can't tell I have a minor disability. I decided earlier this year, before my accident, to go into nursing. I've had to put off registering for classes, but when I am fully recovered and healed, I want to continue on that goal. Are there any other nurses that have had a TBI? Is there any perceived difficulty with the education process and actual work because of this? What should I be wary of? Anything specific I should focus on? Also, any other information would be awesome. Thank you so much.

I have a recent TBI and when I did a search for TBI posts on this site, I found this. I'm truly amazed by all of the nurses here and inspired by the nurse who worked hard through nursing classes with a TBI. I'm excited now, thank you for posting this and thank you to the nurse with the TBI.

I'm not a nurse, not even a student yet, I have to wait before applying for classes. Anyway, in general about socializing with others: I've noticed that most people get offended by blatant honesty. Just because people get offended (or are put of) by honesty, doesn't mean one should lie. I don't know what part of your interactions could be deemed as "mean" or "rude", those descriptions are really opinions and opinions vary. Have you tried being social with your coworkers, in a friendly manner? If they only see your interactions with patients, they might not see how friendly of a person you can be. That's not saying go ahead and hang out with them outside of work, just maybe try and open up small-talk conversations. Since you can't talk to people through the internet, we can only get the gist of you through typed text, maybe it would be more helpful for you to speak with a counselor that would be able to help you with interacting with others. That's not to say you're crazy or need psychotherapy, just gives you another person to bounce ideas off of and get opinions/methods to socialize with your coworkers (to come off as friendly and approachable). I think you being direct with patients, even doctors when you talk with them, is great. As a patient I hate when my healthcare team pussyfoots around about telling me what's going on. I'd love to have someone who tells me honestly about my healthcare.