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Thanks Agnus and right back at ya....I'll let you know what 'they' are planning for our 'staff appreciation day'.

Amen mtgirl63! We're in the same boat as you. We didn't get diddly either...not even a "We sure do appreciate our nurses and how hard they work" which would have been more than enough. Our facility is planning a 'staff appreciation day' as well and I'm sure we'll have to bring a dish for pot luck or contribute in some way....bull-puckey....alot of us are planning on a boycott and not just the nurses either. I work part-time at one of the major hospitals here in town and even THEY gave us a nice thermal cup with goodies...to EACH nurse and I think they have over 500 nurses employed there. My full-time job as all of about 25-30 nurses....go figure.

We just got a special nurse's day gift from our nurse manager and team leader....one of our staff nurse's is quitting! Yep, the team leader is new...came back from the county jail because the health dept lost their contract with the jail so they had to place all the nurses from the jail at the health dept. This team leader has been here before and was my supervisor when I was first hired before they talked her into going to the jail to try to dig them out; I think she made things worse over there. The staff nurse quitting has been here for over 7 years as a communicable disease/immunization nurse and knows her stuff like the back of her hand. She has been extensively trained in bio-terrorism and emergency management. She just had her evaluation last week and our new team leader took it upon herself to make it personal. So the nurse wrote a rebuttal on her evaluation and turned it back in. The program mgr and team leader requested a meeting with her today and told her how she wasn't being supportive and changes were being made, blah, blah, blah and the team leader DENIED saying any of the things that were said during her evaluation; basically LIED her a$$ off in front of the program mgr and she bought it! We are already short-staffed and they don't care...now it's going to be worse. THEY don't care because THEY don't have to deal with it! We do! The starting pay is lower here than in the hospitals and it makes it difficult for them to recruit AND retain nurses...but they don't care! Neither the program mgr NOR the team leader are able to step in and even do our jobs! They don't even have any idea of what our jobs entail on a daily basis! We have a union meeting on Wednesday night and I'm joining....I told the other girls they had better think seriously on it as well. There have been way too many underhanded things going on and there is only strength in numbers.....Happy Nurses Day!

Take home every two weeks is 966.00 and this is with 3 exemptions. I'll have to change it back to 1 soon for the last six months of this year so I get SOMETHING back on my taxes and don't have to pay. Community health just doesn't pay...and this is with a new wage scale after a new union contract!

Well, administration at my place of employment doesn't recognize ANY specific day e.g. secretarie's day, nurses day, etc. They said they will celebrate an All Staff Day sometime....when? They never said...how convenient. Instead, coworkers are left to recognize each other. For example, for secretaries day all of us nurses got together and bought a huge ice cream cake for all of our clerks to show our appreciation for their hard work. Today so far I've rec'd a pin and a coffee mug from other nurses that I work side by side with. At least we have the ability to show our appreciation for one another. And I'm sure the clerks will do something for the nurses...they always do and they make less than half of our salary. It just kills me that if THEY can afford to make the effort, that our employer could do SOMETHING.

I left bedside nursing on a tele unit about 2 1/2 years ago. There are very few things I miss...most being the assessments, skills, and direct patient contact. I don't miss the exhausting 12-hr shifts, too many high acuity patients to take care of and not enough help, or being too tired to interact with my own children when I got home. I have worked in a county health dept for the last 2 1/2 years full-time with all my holidays and weekends off and we have pretty darn decent benefits; I'm not complaining at all on that end. They are better than the hospital's! My pay was initially lower than that of the hospital but thanks to our union it's becoming more comparable to the hospitals here. I'm also able to work a part-time job in telephone triage for one of the hospitals here in town. It's OK...still allows me to use assessment skills...but I have a hard time sitting for 8 hours so I only work every Saturday. In short, don't really miss bedside nursing enough to go back...unless things improve as mentioned by one of the above posters!

Amy, I work in the immunization dept at a county health agency where we give alot of hep B series. I just started hep B series for the county jail and have to draw their titers when we are finished with them. In checking with the local hospital, I spoke with one of the dr's in the lab to find out when is the best time to draw the titers....CDC suggest anywhere from 1-6 mos for titers to be drawn. The dr at the hospital lab said draw the titers as close to the end of the 6 mos after finishing the series as possible to allow for optimal time for you to build antibodies. Since the titer was drawn only a month after you finished the series, maybe you could go back at the end of the 6 mos after finishing the series and have another titer drawn. At least this way you can avoid more shots and maybe you will have immunity by then. Hope this helps....Terri

Oh yeah, I can definitely relate and also remember those things I did as a new grad...and now relate to the "experienced nurse"...so true, so true. Thanks for a great laugh! And, Don, chill out...these are only jokes!

Rosey, I did pretty much the same thing as a new grad...just like the rest...only I gave a med that was d/c'd, looked at the MAR, it just didn't click in my brain! The thing...like everyone else said...we were smacked with reality and it makes us better nurses b/c we will be sure to check and recheck our meds before giving them. Now I work in immunizations and even though I know what the vials look like, I STILL look at the names on the vials each and every time to be sure I' drawing up the right vaccination and giving it to the right patient. Be good to yourself and chalk it up as a learning experience...esp since your patient was OK. Good luck and hang in there! ...Terri

Hi Rick! I've only posted a few times but read the BB on a daily basis just to keep up with the current issues. I agree with you, there is way too much cutting down of each other on this BB. I think nurses should be a more cohesive group and we shouldn't spend so much time trying to better each other. I've been an RN for 2 years, worked in the medical field for the last 15 years in some capacity e.g. medical transcriptionist, medical assistant, CNA, LPN, you name it. Worked in tele for a while and now work for the local county health dept and love it. Thanks for the great idea of introducing ourselves to one another!....Terri

1. RN for 2 years, LPN 1 year, CNA 1 year 2. 2 years 3. Midwest 4. No way! 5. Yes, for the most part. 6. Most definitely. Monday-Friday with holidays and weekends off. 7. yes, the current one. The old one was a big "L". 8. No, currently "redesigning". 9. No, never did to my knowledge. Work for a county health agency and you know how the government operates. 10. I wouldn't do anything else, BUT nurse! 11. No. 12. Every day, 1 hour for lunch. 13. Days. 14. I spent all of my holidays with my family this last year; first time in 3 years. 15. I walk the line for unions. Since I'm not a bedside nurse at the current time, hard to say. When I did work the hospitals, I thought we needed to have unions to barter for our pay/benefits but then you have to strike when they say strike; makes it financially difficult on your family not to mention our patients. 16. slow down maybe 17. This is a very interesting topic and would love to see the results.

I agree with KarenCCMA on the use of Demerol for migraine sufferers. I work as an RN in an urgent care facility and see many, many patients coming in for treatment of migraines, usually requesting Demerol. I also have migraines. What I can't figure out, is that when I have a migraine I am almost to the point of being debilitated; yet, somehow, these sufferers manage to walk in to the clinic, don't appear to be photophobic as they are NOT wearing anything to shade their eyes (all I want to do is lie still in a very dark room when I have one) and don't even appear to be grimacing from pain. Last weekend, one of our regulars came in, 3rd day in a row and again rec'd Demerol 100mg with 50mg of Phenergan. After she rec'd her injection, she asked me "Is that the max I can have?"! I just looked at her and replied yes. She also left with a script for Fioricet #3; all this after I pointed out that she had been in the last 3 days to the doc and rec'd the same treatment. Yet, another migraine sufferer receives Benadryl and Compazine for her migraines. I'm not saying that these people are not in pain, but do we have to give them Demerol every time they come in? There are other remedies for migraines besides this and I do think it encourages them to come in more frequently when they know the med they are going to receive. Any other opinions?

I agree with KarenCCMA on the use of Demerol for migraine sufferers. I work as an RN in an urgent care facility and see many, many patients coming in for treatment of migraines, usually requesting Demerol. I also have migraines. What I can't figure out, is that when I have a migraine I am almost to the point of being debilitated; yet, somehow, these sufferers manage to walk in to the clinic, don't appear to be photophobic as they are NOT wearing anything to shade their eyes (all I want to do is lie still in a very dark room when I have one) and don't even appear to be grimacing from pain. Last weekend, one of our regulars came in, 3rd day in a row and again rec'd Demerol 100mg with 50mg of Phenergan. After she rec'd her injection, she asked me "Is that the max I can have?"! I just looked at her and replied yes. She also left with a script for Fioricet #3; all this after I pointed out that she had been in the last 3 days to the doc and rec'd the same treatment. Yet, another migraine sufferer receives Benadryl and Compazine for her migraines. I'm not saying that these people are not in pain, but do we have to give them Demerol every time they come in? There are other remedies for migraines besides this and I do think it encourages them to come in more frequently when they know the med they are going to receive. Any other opinions?

I started out as a medical assistant; went to school in Phoenix, AZ about 13 years ago. I worked in physician's offices and gained a ton of experience having worked in GYN/onc, pediatrics, dermatology, and internal medicine. In AZ at that time (live in KS now), medical assistants were almost the equivalent of LPNs although not licensed but could be certified. We were allowed to give injections, perform venipunctures, EKGs, vital signs, and a host of other duties just as an LPN in a business office, of course under the direction of the physicians. When I moved to KS, I quickly found out that MAs were not utilized, until the last few years, and went on to pursue my RN. However, the 6-7 years I worked as an MA gave me a great background for my RN and I was already way ahead of most of my fellow nursing students having had alot of clinical training in MA school although not the detailed assessment skills; some RNs still can't perform basic laboratory functions which just slays me at times from putting in an IV to even knowing how to perform a dipstick UA or obtain a sample properly from a Foley catheter. I think it all just depends on where you to go to school and how much clinical training you receive. I do think there is a place for medical assistants in the medical field; however, probably not in acute care due to the lack of training in assessment skills.