ISeeURN

Thank you soo much.... have been working here with a local agency, never had to actually look at any other agencies.... but as times and life, and plans change.... again... thanks !!! :)

Hi, tried to post this yesterday, and can't find the thread anymore..... (computer illiterate at times) does anyone have any info on Agencies staffing in Joplin/Springfield? Any Info on the hospitals, workconditions? I am a 20+ year experience mainly Critical Care RN, am doing burn care right now , have a little home health and a little day surgery experience.... Any info would be appreciated.... thanks, angela

I had my own minor victory... I have been mainly working for one Hospital here for the last 4 years as an Agency RN in ICU. About 3 years ago, the then CEO came up with yet another award, "Achieving Professional Excellence" aka the APE award. (Sarcastically speaking: What were they thinking?). The Award turned out to be a MONKEY, dressed up in a Nursing Uniform, which got additional tools of the trade awarded by the recipient of this display. Shortly after starting this award, the CEO bought a display case, right next to the entrance of the Cafeteria and this monkey was grinning at everyone, visitors, hospital staff, nurses alike every day. I felt offended ( and maybe I am strange thinking this way), but what I saw was "Nursing" as a monkey business. I said something to some people, but the Award stayed, actually got a little monkey sister, as they handed out soo many "APE's". Yesterday. after 3 years they have finally removed the 2 monkeys. I had to personally thank the lady, who had actually only taken them out to make a Nursing History display. While I tried to explain my disgust with these apes, and why I felt offended as a Nurse her eyes got wider, she looked at me, and told me, you know what, I have never thought about it this way. I hope the dang things will stay in the closet forever, not to see daylight again - would make my Nurses Week this year... :) My point... if even the hospital administration portraits a nurse as a monkey (wondering what would happen if we would have a similar display/ "Award" for physicians for example)... do I have to be surprised about any "rap" Nurses may get?

I had this vision of a Flowerpot with a sprouting Nurse...:)

Just two of many articles found, that deal with this problem... :) Gender, I believe has to do with it... one of many aspects which contributes to the problem Come to think of it... almost a Catch 22... what makes us "strong" or "good", the caring, motherly, concerned part of our personality, makes us vulnerable or "weak" for abuse as well... Interesting... Words can hurt Horizontal Violence among Nurses in the OR - AORN Journal

Valid point as for Nurses going after each other (horizontal aggression, isn't that what it is called?) and not respecting each other... Could it be because it is a (still) mainly female profession ? I have noticed the tone and team work usually changes when there are male Nurses around. Could it be as well, as this is a profession still seen as one of the "social" occupations, for which you will be rewarded much later? (Nurse as an "Angel" and so on) Also look at the hirarchical Structure of the workplace... may that have something to do with it? (Let me add, I usually respect, get along, and like to work with pretty much everyone who happens to be on the same shift as myself...no matter what abbreviation anyone may have behind their name) As for physicians not doing this... maybe Vegas is "special", but we have quite a few prime examples here, who just love to go into what I call the "June bug mode"... Pumping themselves up by chewing out a Nurse over the phone or at the Nurses Station, before take off...( I have never seen it as bad as here, and had the Privi of working all over the States as well as in Europe) Unfortunately often Nurses don't stand up for their right to be treated like a grown up vs being treated like a small child. As to the extend... maybe that has directly to do with time spent at the Nurses Station? :)

I had an idea some time ago... better paid, and higher customer satisfaction ( no pun intended)... how about a Medical Fetish Brothel? 3 High Colonics a week,some IV Pole dancing and you are done with the workweek? Just kidding, unless there is financial backing out there... :) :rotfl:

I agree...Although, the last couple of years I noticed a positive Media display of Nurses....Ie- Johnson and Johnson had that 'Proud to Be a Nurse' commercial and some Tv shows such as 'ER' and 'Scrubs' have enlightened the definition of what a 'Nurse' is all about. MzKitten OCRN... This may have to do with many reasons. Treatment Options are looked up on the Internet, and as some may be legit, others may not be. Makes instant "experts" out of people. Three examples from the last couple of weeks on our ICU: 1.) I quote a family member here: "I saw an episode of ER where someone had the same problem, and that patient walked out of ER"- 2.)I had another family member tell me she looked up one of the ailments of her mother on the Web, demanded she knew the answers, and in a, how would I put it, offensive, aggressive tone told me to get a hold of her mothers physician right now ( at 11:30 PM). Mind you, the woman took not into consideration other health problems of mom, which landed her in ICU in the first place. Thank goodness the physician she wanted to talk to consulted on another patient late that night and was kind enough to call back. 3.) One family member when asked to come in, to sit with her (confused) Mom (Patient had asked to have her daughter at the bedside)responded: "What - me come in and do YOUR job?" Followed by: " Give me your name, so I can put you on my list of people in the letter to Administration whom I have complaints about as well"... Another reason may be that some people truly think that they are in a 5 Star Hotel with Valet, Room Service, etc, and that Nurses are something like the VIP Entertainers. (Sorry about the sarcasm). Seems normal (in my eyes) rules one would observe in any department store, office building etc need not be observed when visiting a relative in a hospital. That leads me to MzKitty, and the positive portrayal of Nurses on "Scrubs" and "ER". Sorry... I watched "Scrubs" only 5 minutes, and found it rather stupid (just my opinion), while I see Nurses on "ER" who try to land a physician (lets see how many Nurses did the hot little Yugoslavian Eye Candy Doc have so far? How many Docs did Nurse Hathaway devour in various storage rooms?). Maybe some Reality show about a non ER unit, the work Nurses do, a "normal" day or night with all its challenges, frustrations and good moments would open some eyes? (Maybe we should collaborate and write a script?)

During Nursing School Days, on one of the Night shift rotations in Germany... I am NOT making this up.... Sunday night we had a father bringing in his son, and attached vacuum . Well, the evil household machinery was removed, and everyone was sent back home (with household appliance - unattached). The next night, you would not believe it, here is the father, without son, but with Hoover.... guess he had to try if he had any more luck with the suctioning device.

Many stories came to mind, but this one stands out... I had just passed the NCLEX over here in the States, after having studied and worked as a RN in Germany for quite a few years already. Germans are not into abbreviations, as Americans seem to be, so I was rather unfamiliar with them. During one of my first nights on my first unit I worked at in the US, we got report from dayshift, and one patient was described as a "PIA". I had heard of "TIA's", figured it was something similar, and asked my preceptor later on that night to explain the unfamiliar abbreviation to me. She did, laughingly, as " Pain in the A..". Ooops. Several weeks later I was asked by the night Charge Nurse to log on to our unit Computer, and check on which patients were in the ER, and if anything looked like potential surgical ICU "material". ( This was pre-HIPPA). Imagine my stunned face, when one after another of the patients listed had a "SOB" next to their name. One of the sweetest nurses I had the pleasure to work with on this unit must have seen my slightly shocked face, and asked what was wrong, when I stated something to the effect, that it seemed to me that someone with a serious case of PMS (note my use of an abbreviation) must be putting in admitting info at the ER. Asked why I would think such a thing, I pointed out, that 80% of these patients were labeled "SOB's". Now if that was not rude... The Nurse looked at me, and all of a sudden burst into laughter, almost unable to blurt out " SOB stands for Shortness of Breath".For the time i stayed working at that unit I did not hear the end of it, especially when one of the admitting Dx's was "SOB" :)

Many, many, wayyy too many years ago, when I went to Nursing School in Germany, an American friend of mine gave me a book called "A Nurse's Story" by Carol Gino. It had quite a few anecdotes in it, which inspired me to start a magazine at our Nursing School, in which we told about our " mishaps" and " pranks" during clinicals. We shared the magazine with anyone at the school, and the hospital staff. Not only did people get a lot of good laughs out of it, it also brought the hospital staff a little closer to the nursing students (good for the teaching and learning environment back then)... I still have all my old copies, and still giggle when I pick one up and start reading... :)

Uh Oh..... I can see the s..t flying... :) Lets just hope they are indeed empty while in motion...

First post on here, so please excuse my hopefully not too horrible use of words... We have a line of commercials on tv here in Las Vegas right now, which left me at first giggling, then , after thinking about it for a bit, I was stunned and mad. One "medical Institutes" advertises for medical careers ( I have no clue which medical " professionals" they send out to the world.) A young lady in the ad talks about her wonderful education at this institute, and now, after completing the educational program, she can watch "ER" and wow actually understand what they are talking about on tv. Now that is a reason to get an education... so that I can understand prime time tv... Another one advertises for anyone to get into a medical career who so far had a life, which went no where... Add to that the "Dare to Care" - why would people not think we are a bunch of bedpan swinging Morons, trying to "land" a physician? Pictures and images like that make it apparently so hard to understand what Nurses really do.