TKOLRN

When an issue like this pops up, I stop. I picture myself seated in a court room. The prosecuting attorney says to the expert witness, herself a nurse, "What would a prudent nurse have done in this instance"...I base my actions on the answer to that question, and I have posed it to myself many, many times in 16 years of ER nursing. Not ONCE have I been sued, not ONCE have I been deposed and not ONCE have I killed a patient. I may have pissed off some physicians along the way,but I went home with a clean conscience and patients that were better off for it. It's YOUR license and THEIR life!!

Perhaps they can be declared Chronologically Challenged and receive special government funding for clocks, watches, chauffeurs and someone to call them and let them know when they should leave for work. Hell, we cater to everyone else that doesn't want to do their share, why not late co-workers??

My wife is constantly rippin' on me because I live 10 minutes from work but leave 35 minutes before my shift. In 15 years of full-time work, I have been late 3 times!!I work with a lady who was late three time LAST WEEK!!!! It drives me crazy when people are chronically late..I agree with one of the other postings-that just screams "my time is more valuable than yours". Our work makes note of each tardy..you get pay docked AND a nastygram from the boss...

I worked with a nurse at my old job who was ALWAYS late relieving me. One particularly bad night she was scheduled 11p-7a. At 11:15 she sauntered by the trauma room where I was lavaging an OD. She stood in the doorway and laughed, not yet knowing that it was soon to be HER patient that I was lavaging. Well, I certainly knew and was determined to get the last laugh. Knowing there was a narcan order on the chart, I decided to do my lavage first. Always easier to keep the charcoal IN them and OFF me that way. Well, as this nurse now entered the room about 11:25, you can imagine how irate I was at this point. I finished the lavage and gave her report. Then, without a word, I walked over, drew up the narcan and slammed it in. As I hit the door, she said "What did you just give him?" I replied, "Narcan" and walked out. I wasn't 1/2 way to my car when he went ballistic. It seems in my "rush" to lavage the patient, I had "forgotten" to apply the PRN restraints. Needless to say, the first 1/2 hour of her shift was as crappy as the last 1/2 hour of mine. She was NEVER late relieving me again, and I worked there 4 more years after that!!:) :)

Our facility recently started this change too...The secretaries wore navy, nurses burgundy..In order to make if easier for the patients to know who's who,the nurses have a choice of 1)all navy, 2)navy bottoms, white top, 3)white bottoms, navy top or 4) all white.This should help, eh??..They are still figuring out what the sec. are going to wear..I don't know how the patients will figure that out if they couldn't before...I suggested name tags with your professional designation in letters sized so that the patient could read them....That got no response. Personally, I don't care...They keep payin' and I'll wear whatever they want...

I love what I do, however I don't always love where I do it...After 15 years, 13 1/2 of which I have been an ER nurse, I can still say I like nursing..It's all in how you cope with it. Ted

For all intents and purposes, I agree with Enright..I have worked both sides of the fence...My biggest complaint with being unionized is that the slackers are there to stay!!! That may be the price to pay for security, steady raises and decent working conditions though. Ted

Other than a 2L bolus of fluids, I have not heard of anything!! Good luck...I am anxious to hear if there is something.. Ted

Hi Keaston, Much like previous writers, we use a combination of Reglan, Compazine, Toradol and Narcotics. We periodically use imitrex but that is rare, for whatever reason. There is a treatment that one of our contingent Physicians uses...He works at a major teaching center near me and they have been doing a study on it...They use intranasal lidocaine....He instills between 1-2cc of 1% plain lido...The results are dramatic...There was a lady in the other day with an incapacitating headache (not the usual ER migraines that are reading a magazine when you go the waiting room)...he instilled the lido and in less than 30 minutes, she was pain-free. None of the other docs. have started using this tx, and I doubt that it is commonplace anywhere. I was suprised to hear about it...I will be anxious to hear about any other replies... Ted

There is no incentive in our unit (ER) for extra shifts..If nobody picks it up, they let us work short. I understand the floors do get an incentive though(??!!)..Considering almost 80% of the business here starts in the ER, it does not seem to be a priority to staff it properly, though I do have to admit there are not many days when shortages are not covered...

Bonus??? Are you kidding??? In the last 14 years of nursing, I have yet to receive a bonus of any kind. We get a small gift from our employer, but that's it. Actually, they charged us for our Thanksgiving dinner too!!! The kicker was that they charged afternoons $2.00 and those of us on nights $3.00!!!