richardgecko

3 12s/wk, however I work extra because I'm buying a house soom

i agree with this, but throughout this country wealth is typically stratified by race, so it's not too far fetched to say that the behavior that T/S is referring to is pretty typical of your affluent white person. And you're more likely to receive this type of treatment from a white person because there are far more affluent whites than affluent minorities. Now I will add this: I can say that I have received this treatment from more whites than minorities but my experiences differed greatly depending on what facility I worked in. When I worked in an inner city trauma center, I got treated like a chambermaid by people of all races. I found that people's frustration and loss of control over their unfortunate condition caused them to seek control over the one group of people they can control: nurses. They would run me ragged and complain about every little thing. And most of these people were far from affluent. They were minorities just like me, and they would routinely make comments about how much they hated the facility and how much the care sucked despite the fact that they/their loved one didn't have a smidgen of insurance and should be grateful that they are receiving tax funded healthcare. Inmates would do this as well: they were so used to the restrictions of prison, so when they had someone to take care of them, they abused it. now when I changed jobs and started working in a heart/lung transplant unit full of affluent whites with iron-clad insurance policies and end stage heart failure, I experienced the type of treatment T/S is referring to.

That nursing instinct is real even when you're a new nurse. my preceptor wanted to extubate my emergent c-mag pt because he was "doing so well" but I wasn't convinced. True he was responding to commands and on 40% fio2 but he still didn't look "right." His flows were great, everything on paper looked great but he just didn't look right, ya know?? I feel bad and I feel like I didn't advocate for my patient by saying "hey, maybe we should wait or at least get him bronched before extubating". I felt like since she had 10+ yrs experience and I have less than 1 yr I should suck up the experience for what it's worth and help when I can. She had RT put him on cPAP while we weaned him off diprivan. He was following commands and oxygenating well. We called the doc and he gave the green light to extubate 10 mins later. We extubate and he's making the nastiest rattling sounds, it's not stridor but clearly there's something in his airway. He's trying to cough as hard as he can but its not completely clearing his airway. Secretions are copious, bright pink and frothy = flash pulm edema. We call the pulm doc to bronch him immediately and he comes within 6 minutes. We bronch and reintubate. PA pressures skyrocket and don't come back down. As we're re intubation, bright pink frothy secretions shoot out of the ETT. Dude went into flash pulm edema before my eyes and I feel like crap because I didn't speak up on my intuition. I had a feeling it wouldn't go well but I didn't say a word....out of fear that my inexperience would invalidate my intuition.

I'm considering taking one in a few months. The pay is 50% more, I don't take benefits from the job anyway so that doesn't bother me, and I have a kid going to school next year so it seems as though it'd be easy for me to spend more time with him if I were off all week. I do feel like I'd miss out on some family events though. how has it worked for those of you who have been weekenders?

The unit I'm currently on: cardiopulmonary transplant ICU. i told my manager she's going to have to pry me away from this job to get me to leave

1. Nonpulsatile LVAD/RVAD/BiVAD pts have funky looking rhythms/art line waveforms and I really have to attune myself to it. It freaked me out to see nurses silence alarms on a heart rate of 0 and a clear vtach rhythm...but the patients sitting up watching wheel of fortune, lol. 2. Nurses are hard patients to have. 3. Changing specialties is like starting over in nursing.

As a person who recently bought out of a new grad employment contract, I highly suggest that you investigate the contract thoroughly and decide if the contract, the unit, the facility, and the organization is best for you.

I'm not going to insinuate that the comment isn't offensive because no one can say what personally offends you; however, i think you should take it up with your manager personally first.

Don't think I want a nurse taking care of me that doesn't have a grasp on basic math, reading comprehension, and science...

*call light dings* me: how may I help you? pt: I need my nurse. me: what can she/he bring you? pt: I need my nurse. *enters room* pt: can i get a second blanket? And can I get more pain medicine yet? Me: sure! *walks to the clean linen room and then the omnicell, muttering expletives under my breath* JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU NEED!!!! PLEASE SAVE ME THE TRIP!

^^^omg this applies so well to my last job. The vast majority of the staff had many nights the most experienced person on the unit was the NP and we came to them with issues we should have been able to go to the charge nurse with, except our charge nurses had maybe 6 mos more experience. The NPs would get stressed because they had their own jobs to do.

What are some red flags to look for when interviewing on a new unit? 1. Poor communication with the HR department. 2. Mass hiring into one unit (why did so many people leave in the first place? Things that make you say HMM?) 3. Not being able to get a straight answer when asking about patient ratios (well, our optimal ratio is typically __, but lately it's been __ to __) -- chances are they're tragically understaffed and you'll be working like a dog until they can get staffed...however long that takes please add on!!!

This makes me so happy! I love seeing others happy. Hopefully after my 1st 100 days I can post something equally refreshing. I'm still in nursing orientation and struggling to stay awake.

Your description is TRIGGERING!!!!

Gotta second eye injuries. It started with my older brother who has glaucoma...I watched him go through plenty of eye surgeries when we were young kids so my phobia started there. Eye patches freak me out till this day. I'm in trauma so I see a lot of windshield glass v. eyeball. They typically put some xeroform over it until opthamology can make a decision on whether or not to save the eye, and the thought of what's lurking beneath that strip of xeroform makes my soul shudder. When I did a clinical rotation in CVICU, we had a lot of periorbital edema to the point that the eyes wouldn't shut and all you could do is put a moist gauze over it. Some nurses would tape them shut. Freaked me all the way out.

I dont mind feeding patients, but the last time I had to feed a patient it took like 45 mins and the pt insisted I cut his meat into small triangular chunks with no gristle, alternate each bite between starch>veggie>sip of tea>meat>sip of water, and insisted on forcing his very strange political views on me. All while my PCA shopped for baby clothes. Longest 30 mins of my life.

the only thing that genuinely frightens me about trach care is when you replace the inner cannula and you activate that cough/gag reflex and a nice sticky steaming ball of sputum goes flying across the room. everybody should take cover. once timed it perfectly and it hit my least favorite PCC in the back of the head. GOAL!!!

Just realized today that I can't stand ostomy appliances. It's not the poop, it's just cutting and sizing the appliance and that messy paste. Tedious and irritating but somebody's gotta do it. How about you?

I usually sleep for 16+ hours straight. I work 4 or 5 in a row, usually.

Didn't know what shift it was, wasn't listed on the job website, I found out when I went on the interview

I didnt, the shift wasn't listed on the website, didn't find out until I went on the interview.

Update: talked to my current babysitter, she said she's willing to keep my son on the nights I work for a weekly fee. It'll only be for a couple months since I have to go through orientation for several months on day shift before I transition to nights. By that time my husband will be within a month and a half of graduation. thanks for your advice, guys.

The racist card? You're telling on yourself.

Yeah, you heard me right. I got offered a job and I can feel myself sinking into depression because of it. Im married with 1 kid, my husband works nights and I work days full time. I've been a nurse a little over a year or so, and I was blessed enough to walk into a day shift job in an ICU for my first job. the only problem is that my unit is in shambles. There's a lot to be learned there but we've had a high turnover rate due to consistent mismanagement. We're currently in the process of a management change. We've lost over half of our staff in the last 6 mos. my orientation was piss poor, and because I spoke out about it to my director, I've been a walking target ever since. Lots of lateral violence in this area. oh, and when I tried to transfer out, my manager (who happens to be besties with the HR recruiter) saw to it that my application was never sent out to any other managers who wanted to hire me. so I started looking elsewhere. I got three interviews in one week, I went on one yesterday and I got an offer this AM. i want this job so bad I can taste it. 7 mins from home in a high acuity CTICU. so much to learn. And a 5 dollar pay raise. but it's night shift, so if I take it, my husband has to quit his job, making me the sole breadwinner, and we can't afford that. when I mentioned it to him, he responded in the most smug way: "Well I can just quit my job. And you can pay all of the bills." *pops beer can, sips, walks away* he knows I can't afford all of the bills myself. And he knows how miserable I've been at my current job. Sometimes I just get tired of sacrificing my needs for others. I hate this "stuck" feeling. I already stayed in this city away from family to be with him. Now I have to endure a miserable work environment for at least another 6 months until he graduates and finds another job because all of his classes are in the daytime. I just get sooooo tired of having to put myself on hold for everyone else. I give to my patients, I give to my child, and I give to my husband and at the end of the day I feel like I don't have anything left of me FOR ME when it's over. I left that interview knowing I got the job and it made me sick to my stomach. Because I knew it was Just another opportunity I'm going to have to walk away from because of someone else. hearing that job offer in my voicemail brought literal tears to my eyes because I know I have to decline. I haven't been able to get out of bed all day. I am crushed.