stefkane07

Im in the same boat. Ive applied to well over 50 positions since I received my license a month ago as well. My search is wide open to type of care, scheduling, ft, pt, pd... I received a few responses stating they filled the position or are not interested in new grads but other than that, nothing! Ive tried calling the places Im really interested in and get nowhere with the phone calls either. Ive even gone door-to-door to some LTC facilities to fill out applications in person.. Not sure what else to do at this point, very discouraging

Im in an accelerated LPN program, 6 months in and graduating in 4 months, I now go to clinicals 4 days a week...this past weekend was my first experience with an "actively dying" patient. HIV pos, multi system organ failure, jaundice (worse than my instructor had ever seen in her experiences)... Basically my patient was "rotting from the inside out"... Her room had a very distinct odor of what I assume to be 'death' she was strictly in the hospital for "care and comfort" only. I am curious to see if anyone else had the felt the same way as me after this experience. The nurse in charge of her care was very un-empathetic and judgmental. The patient was on a PCA ordered 10mg Dilaudid, only running at 6mg, the nurse refused to increase it, telling me the patient was not possibly in pain and insisting I washed and repositioned my patient despite the patient saying she didnt want to be. This patient awakened to stimuli and As I performed personal care she grimaced and "oww-ed" but held my hand as I soothed her. This was extremely hard on me due to the fact the patient was dying and had no family present. In the nurses report she said the patient had 'burned all her bridges'. I know as a nurse I will come cross things like this, but considering these circumstances I feel like this once case has dramatically affected me so far. Just curious to see how other students would deal/cope with a situation like this. I feel the nurse had no compassion for this patient whatsoever and considering the patient was alone I felt the nurse should have put all judgement aside t provide the best care possible for this patient to 'go with,'