WalterWho

Truth be told, your first year as a nurse is gonna suck wherever you spend it. Eventually things will click and you'll prove yourself. Don't give up.

Its worth mentioning that ASPAN publishes their recommendations for frequency of vitals, assessments, etc. Where I work, our policies often mention adhering to ASPAN standards and guidelines. As for patient assignments, I've heard some pretty wild methods including one that broke each type of case down to a point value and then however many points each nurse had at the time would determine who got the patient. Personally I prefer simply sticking to a turn base system without regard to what OR the cases are coming out of. Sometimes you might get screwed, but other times you make out like a bandit, but there's less manipulation this way.

Hi all, So I'm currently looking into travel nursing. I've thought about it a lot over the years and lately I feel as though it may be time for me to make the move. I have some questions for all the travelers out there who may be willing to share advice: 1. I'm interested in taking specialty assignments, mainly PACU. Is the availability of these types of assignments plentiful enough to move from one to the next and so, or do you find yourself filling in the gaps with odd assignments? If so, roughly how often? 2. For those of you with families, how far away from home have you worked on assignment? How did you/they handle it? Tips? 3. What should I keep an eye out for in contract terms? Any deal breakers I should be aware of? Any must haves I should negotiate? 4. Finally, if there's one reason alone that keeps you traveling, what is it? What's something you wished you had known before becoming a traveler? Thanks in advance for all the pearls!

Hello my agency peeps. So recently I've been seriously entertaining the idea of agency nursing, but I'm slightly concerned about the availability of assignments. I'm a certified perianesthesia nurse working Pre-Op/PACU and would obviously like to stick to what I know. Do any of you specialty travelers ever have trouble finding contracts in your forte? Of course, i'm not above working another nursing specialty, but one of the big reasons for me going contract is getting PACU experience in various facilities and with different patient populations/types of surgeries. Thanks, guys! Any input is greatly appreciated.

“I’m gonna kill you” Is what he said just before grabbing Ashley Schade’s neck with both hands during her shift in a Washington ICU. She detailed the event in a social media post: “having a strong individual’s hands around your neck, the inability to breathe, let alone call for help, to the point where you can’t see a thing and can only hear an emergency “staff assist” tone going off, is one of the absolutely gut-wrenching, most terrifying feelings anyone could ever imagine” How Much is Too Much?Although Ashley’s encounter was extreme, violence against healthcare workers happens all too often. A 2001 study by the Department of Justice found that out of all workers across all industries 16.6 per 1,000 were the victims of violent acts, compared to 21.9 per 1000 nurses. Furthermore, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), approximately 75% of nearly 25,000 workplace assaults reported annually occurred in the healthcare and social services settings. The statistics are staggering, especially when you take into account that violence in healthcare is often under reported, as most healthcare workers contribute violent acts to “just being part of the job”. In some circumstances, nurses and assistive personnel forgo reporting such incidents all together in fear of negatively affecting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) scores, however most facilities lack a formal reporting protocol to do so. We’re Here to Heal, So Why all the Violence?Its safe to assume that the vast majority of nurses did not get into the field out of a desire to fight people, so why all the fighting? A study performed by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) detailed contributing factors of healthcare associated violence in emergency departments across the nation. Most factors were directly related to patient conditions such as an increase in the prevalence of mental health disorders and patients or their family being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, while other factors were related to facility shortfalls like under staffing and the lack of safe visitor policies. What Can We Do About It?While a large portion of workplace violence in the healthcare setting stems from factors which are difficult to control for, there are measures we can take to increase safety for nurses and other healthcare personnel, and arguably the most important is awareness. As the phenomenon of healthcare violence gains public attention, more and more nurses and other healthcare professionals are becoming vocal and sharing their experiences, most notably through the trending hashtag #silentnomore often broadcasted by popular social media personalities such as “ZDoggMd”. While awareness may be necessary for change, understanding is how solutions are made. The lack of effective reporting protocols in facilities across the U.S. may potentially be the largest inhibitor of increased workplace safety. How can we possibly solve the problem when we don’t fully understand it? Furthermore, in order for reporting tools to collect accurate and useful data, nurses must be encouraged or inspired to report the incidents in the first place. That is why the notion that violence is “just part of the job” is so dangerous and counter to what we pledged as nurses: to do all in our power to maintain and elevate the standard of our profession. So, while we continue to be healers and provide exceptional care to our patients despite what they may say or do to us, it is of utmost importance for the sake of safety and the progress of our profession, to maintain the belief that violence is not okay, no matter what.

You know, I can understand how an LVN that may have been practicing for 10+ years can get a little bent out of shape when a nurse fresh out of school with no prior medical experience technically "oversees" them. Not implying that's the case here, but it does happen.

Oh, the struggle is real isn't it? I've always told myself that I work to live, I don't live to work. With that guiding principle I've come to the conclusion that yes, nursing can be the hardest thing EVER at times, but you know what? I'm home more days a week than I am at work, my salary is twice the average household income in my region, and occasionally I get to make a genuine connection with someone that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life, (also the fact that we get to wear pajamas to work everyday, yay!).

I'm personally a big fan of the BVM either hovering over the patient's mouth or just barely touching when the nurse/doc/medic quickly gives breaths

Man, I love these! Can't believe I just found this thread. It's my first nursing job in med/surg, code blue a few doors down, not my patient but I run to help. CPR has started and the nurse doing compressions is this tiny little thing so I ask if she wants me to take over, she doesn't hesitate to take me up on the offer. The patient is an older gentleman, I guessed mid eighties, there's these two middle-aged ladies who quickly leave the room (later find out that they're his daughters). The code team shows up. The doc walks up to the opposite side of the bed from me and starts to ask me questions about the patient that I don't know the answers to. So I look at him, and while I tell him that I'm not the patient's nurse, I notice this older lady standing by the window that I didn't see when I first walked in. She's in her eighties, wearing this blue and black sweater with a gold chain around her neck and we meet eyes for a second. She smiles at me. Now, you know that smile you might give someone that's kinda subtle and is really more a sign of sympathy than anything else? This was not that kind of smile, rather this lady actually appeared joyful, which I thought was weird. So this happens in just a short second or two and I get back to doing compressions. The guy never ends up getting ROSC and the efforts are eventually terminated. I hang around to help this nurse out with cleaning everything up. By this time the whole team is gone and it's just me, this nurse, the two daughters, and this man's body. The lady I saw, who I just assume is this guy's wife, is not in the room anymore. I'm gathering some of his things and I come across his glasses, I turn to the daughters and ask if Mrs. X would like to take them. They say no and begin to tell me that Mrs. X died just the summer before. So I apologize and explain that I just assumed that the lady with them was his wife, to which they appear confused and tell me that they came by themselves and that they were the only people in the room the entire day. No one recalls seeing a cheerful elderly lady standing by the window, or anywhere else for that matter. I like to think that maybe it was his wife just happy to be together again.

It seems to be a common theme that there's always at least one heinous professor that makes you question your entire existence in every nursing program, at least through my experience that is. What I can tell you for sure is that the first year out of school will be the hardest. You'll learn more in the first six months than you did throughout your entire college career and at times you'll think you made a huge mistake. Some of the other nurses will be mean to you for no reason and you'll most definitely leave a few shifts in tears. Your feet will hurt. You'll fall asleep on the couch from exhaustion. Eventually you will make a mistake that you'll beat yourself up about forever. You'll miss tons of lunches. You'll stay late charting. Doctors will be rude to you. Did i mention that you'll think that you made a huge mistake? But, you know what else will happen? After that first year, nurses will come to you for answers. You'll become a time management master. You'll eat every lunch. You'll leave at 1900 on the spot. Doctors will listen to you. Other nurses will recognize you for your proven skill. Patients and their families will sense your experience and actually listen to you. You'll be able to handle crazy situations like doing jaw thrusts while writing a note or family member fainting in the room while you're doing compressions on their loved one. I've had a lot of feelings similar to the ones you're having now, but to be honest I wouldn't change a thing. I love being a nurse, you just have make it through the rough parts, i.e. the parts you're in right now. P.s. I went to a liberal arts college so I have a lot of education friends and almost all of them presently hate their jobs

So I've applied to a couple of schools here in Texas, mostly online, but I can't help but have this deep uneasy sensation in my gut. I work full time in ICU with a wife and a 3.5yo daughter at home and I'm worried I won't be able to handle work, school, and family. Is there anyone that could describe their typical week in NP school in regards to assignments, readings, papers, tests, etc for part-time course load? Or any helpful insights for returning students with families and full-time work?

Funny, I was just talking about this the other day. I'm married now, but back in the good ol days I actually found that being a male nurse did help in the dating game, but maybe not in the way some might think. I don't think there were any girls that felt an immediate attraction to me after learning I was a nurse, rather I think being a nurse enabled me to be more socially comfortable, have more open and honest discussion, and to remain cool in intimate situations, which in turn may have had a role in all the things that happened and those that didn't, but who knows for sure. For example; I was having a drink at a local bar with my brother who was on leave from the army. The bartender was this cute young girl, sweet too, and we chatted quite a bit, innocent friendly things, but afterwards my brother whispers to me "how do you do that?" "do what?" "talk so easy to girls." I laughed out loud "i'm a nurse, bro!" and he just nodded like oh, that makes sense​

O. M. G. Becky...

I was orienting a new nurse when she said the "Q" word, of course I quickly corrected her, but unfortunately the q-karma proliferated exponentially through the cosmos before it could be dispelled. One of our patients soon choked on a piece of fish he was eating for lunch, coded, and ultimately died.

Is there any harm in applying anyways? Maybe even to both? You won't know for sure unless you give it a shot. Also, in my opinion, sticking it out and retaking stats and chem if needed is probably the best way to go. There's absolutely nothing wrong with going LPN, but there's probably a good chance you'll end up going back for your RN in a few years anyways right?