Rebel_Kitty

Hello members, Im a new care coordinator for a long term care facility, I handle four units; 90 beds. I'm a fairly new RN only been practicing for 1.5 years. On my first week there, I had to do job observation wherein I shadowed the careaides and I noticed so many wrong things that they were doing for example; leaving soiled diapers on the floor and side tables, using sit to stand lift with only one out of two buckles secured, using paper towels and not toilet paper when wiping after bm, pushing wandering residents roughly down onto lounge chairs for them to 'sit' (we are a no restraint facility), mouthcare inconsistent (not done for all residents), not repositioning enough even though it says on the careplan to reposition q2 hours, pad checks not done enough and etc. What do you think is the best way to handle this and make sure staff knows what they are supposed to do. I started by talking to the careaide one by one and discussing their poor practices and letting the nurse in on the discussion (as the nurse is the shift supervisor and would be with them more than I would). I also said I will be documenting our discussion and will get them to sign it once I have it typed up, for it to go on their record. Am I being too strict? Should I have given them a verbal warning first? We are a non union facility btw..The CEO btw is a very passionate lady and wants to be the BEST care facility in the world. Thanks

Just an update! After my instructor's week of deliberation with so called 'nursing commitee', I passed! I believe in my heart that this particular instructor wanted me to fail. I did not give her the reason she was seeking. I worked hard (went to the nursing lab bi weekly and documented it well to show my perseverance), I did everything by the book and was on my toes all the time during clinical (well I had to anyway as she was watching me like a hawk - after putting me on a learning contract, I knew she was eagerly anticipating me to do a med error or miss an order or something like that ! haha to her) so basically I jumped hoops to please this horrible woman. I am so flat out broke right now as I couldn't work as I needed all my free time just to study but who cares I passed! At the end she had no evidence to present that I would be an unsafe, stupid and incompetent nurse. I did not have an incident report, were never late, had excellent paperwork. She had nothing on me. Amidst the ego crushing, shaming, bullying tactics and even embarrassing me in front of students and making me feel like the biggest incompetent ever; that there were times when I just wanted to give up and not show up and endure what I knew would be a heartbreaking day, I forced myself to get up from my bed and face her. My three months of pure hell is now over! And the reward is ever so sweet which is to continue on! I still cannot believe that a month ago this shrew confronted me and told me it would be better for me to withdraw from clinical and just redo it next year. I'm not wasting a year!! I'm so glad I did not take her advice. If there's something I learned from all this is that never give up in spite of adversities.

hey guys i know this is an old thread but ill still give it a shot...my question is how about heparin shot on the affected arm (the side where the mastectomy was done)? Has anybody seen a complication happen because of subcutaneous heparin injection on the 'mastectomy side'?

there was still some distance between the periarea and my face I would say 8 inches...but the fact that she was bullying me by the bedside I did not like that at all...

Hi guys, This is long. I just need to rant. I'm in my last year in a BSN program here in Canada and my clinical placement right now is at a cardiovascular floor. I am having problems with my instructor who nitpicks for example: she notices if my pt have a half full garbage by the bedside or if during a dressing change I forget a mepore and had to ask her to go outside and get it for me, or if the pt washroom is not tidy or as neat as she would have liked it to be, I did not wash the back of an independent pt stuff like this I can go on and on... yesterday after a pt has peed in the bedpan, I wiped her with some napkins and instructor exploded because I did not use the spray and made me move my face closer to the peri area so I can smell the 'stink' (I had a cold by the way and I did wash her peri area that morning)...Anyway this has made me extremely nervous and everytime she's there I just manage to screw up...The thing is she watches my every move such as hanging IVs, well now she said she'll watch all my bedbaths and pericare, dressing changes and of course this is quite draining as I am with her at least 3 hours ever clinical day (and she just volleys back all the negative feedback on and on which sinks me even more) and yes she has seven other students to watch so this majorly screws up my time and now it seems as if I have no time management at all..Not only that but the comments she's made about me are so discouraging...I can go on and on but please evaluate my grievance letter. I am ready to quit clinical even though I got weak satisfactory/satisfactory at midterm because she said that if I don't perform good she will fail me (if she's going to watch me consistently and she said she needs to, it's just not gonna work at all because of my anxiety around her and I know that Im not gonna make her happy at all. She wants me to be a 10/10 on everything and not have a single little mistake.). So somebody can give me some suggestions on how to edit/write an opening paragraph to my letter to the nursing counsellor please help... *On one occasion after a dressing change instructor has remarked "that of all the students in the ward, you seem to have the worst technique". It was personally devastating to be compared to my other classmates in the ward. *On February 27, after clinical - I was telling instructor about my experiences in Term V and mentioned that we picked our own patients, said instructor immediately replied that "you probably picked all the easy patients, hung out by the nurses' station, did the least amount of work you can get away with..."I personally worked very hard in Term IV and Term V. Her assumptions about me were wrong and very discouraging. *On February 27, after clinical - instructor remarked that "I've had two CPE classes before and that's 16 students - of all the students you are the one that is struggling the most...I've never seen a student struggle this much before". This was a crushing blow because I needed encouragement and need not be compared to previous term students. *On another occasion after an IV change instructor has remarked "I know you are quiet so your previous instructors probably thought oh she's just quiet and thought she must know her stuff...but actually you didn't" Her assumptions about me are not helpful. *On February 27, during IV change when I mentioned that I did not learn backflushing in lab, said instructor came back and said "I asked student B and she said you were taught backflushing in the lab, come here..." Thus student B was there with her to teach me how to properly backflush IV. Said student and instructor (with the help of a board and felt pen) taught me how to backflush IV. I believe CI needed to teach me the skill herself and need not bring in another student with her to prove to me that yes, it was actually taught in the lab. This was a very humiliating experience. *On February 27, my pt peed in the bedpan and I went in to wipe her with some tissues. Said instructor was there and instructed that I should have used the spray to which I complied. After wiping patient with wet cloths and spray. Instructor inspected my work and told me to put my face "closer" to the peri area. I complied but the distance was not enough so said to again put my face "closer" to the peri area. I complied yet again. She then demanded what I noticed. At this point I was terrified, nearly in tears and highly humiliated. She wanted to point to me the smell coming from the area and thus that my cleaning was not satisfactory. My patient was awake and watching us. This was a very demeaning experience for both me and the patient.

Hi Kath. That's really good to hear. I will contact College of LPN and inquire about this package. Which school are you going to? Were your classmates generally successful in finding LPN jobs?

"Why don't you call CLPNBC to find out? They administer the test and charge the fees". -Thanks. I will try the CLPNBC. "Why aren't you asking the hospital where you do clinicals if they hire nursing students for patient care? The hospitals in Alberta do, they have categories such as "employed nursing student" or "accredited care worker". They have their own test that they administer". -I'm just starting September 2005, so no clinicals yet. But I hope they do hire nursing students because I would like to work/make money asap and study at the same time.

Hi guys, I'm new here. So far I really, really like this forum. Anyway, I'm starting the RN program at Langara College BC in September. I ran into an ex co-worker (who also happens to be studying RN in Langara) and she mentioned that you can challenge the LPN exam after two years of RN study? So I'm assuming you can work as an LPN while finishing your BSN? Can anyone give me insight on this? Thanks a lot.