Irish_Mist

Do not take these two classes together. You are setting yourself up to be overwhelmed and to fail.

OMG I was just talking about this yesterday. I can't stand it when nurses act like this. I find myself just rolling my eyes. As if they nevvvverrrrrr get annoyed when a patient acts like a horse's behind. ?

It sounds like your anxiety about making a med error is what might have led you to missing this lasix dose. Take a deep breath and relax. Going over the MAR multiple times every hour is not necessary. All this will do is make you anxious. This is a very minor event, the patient is fine, you are fine, and all is well. Move on and forgive yourself. You are just as much of a human as any other nurse and you will make mistakes but the important thing is to learn from them. My suggestion to you is to find some sort of way to get past the anxiety you have. I have dealt with depression and anxiety all of my life. I take medicine for it and I see a counselor. Both of the aforementioned have made my personal and professional life SO much easier. Maybe you could do one or both of those if you can't find a way to establish your own healthy coping mechanisms. No nurse wants to make a mistake but if you are constantly living in fear of making a mistake, it will probably make you more likely to actually make a mistake.

You don't. You find another job where there is safe staffing. Might not be the most helpful answer but it is the best one I've got.

My first thought as well. In fact, I wonder if the patient herself would even test positive for opiates. There a so many situations of caregivers or family members taking or selling narcotics intended for the elderly patient that it makes my head spin. Narcotics are destroying this country.

What in the everlasting hell is wrong with that teacher? My GOD!

I have always been opposed to bringing young children to the ICU unless it's an end of life situation. Even then, I'm not so sure it is a good idea. In addition to potentially getting sick, it has to be horrifying for a small child to see an environment like the ICU with alarms going off in every direction and their loved one with tubed and vented with several machines next to him.

ETA: saw your recent response to Fiona and see where you're coming from. I'm glad to know you agree that it's wrong to film the staff without asking. I personally don't see anything wrong with writing down interactions throughout the day or taking notes about the care/plan of care. But literally writing down times and what the nurse/ staff did in the room for the patient or said, that is excessive and tells me the family member is either incredibly distrustful of the staff or looking for a pay day via litigation. If you have that much trouble trusting the staff at your local hospital, perhaps it's time to go somewhere else for your/your family's medical care or pursue mental health services. Again, as I stated before, I have the right to my privacy. The patient expects their privacy honored, so do I. I refuse to be recorded doing my job unless my permission was asked and approved by my me as well as my nurse manager and upper management in the hospital including (but not limited to) risk management, HR, nursing administration, etc. I have no problem with someone having me be recorded for wound care, wound vacs, or some sort of detailed procedure that a family member is going to be doing for my patient once discharged. However, I want to be ASKED. If I find out that I am being recorded without my knowledge or consent, I will get the charge nurse/house supervisor/nurse manager involved immediately. As far as your last paragraph, you will be hard pressed to find a hospital that will allow their staff to "honor the requests" of patient who want to film their care in the OR, pre-op, etc. It's a major conflict of interest and sets everyone up for a hipaa violation. It's a potential state and federal legal issue. Not to mention, everyone these days wants to whip out their phone, hit record and the post on social media. I have no desire to have myself recorded and plastered on Facebook.

Is your son 55 and does he need you to be the one who talks to the doctor and not him? Break has been given.

I have the right to not be recorded without my consent at my place of employment. Patient's have an expectation of privacy and so do I. It's a two way street. It is totally possible for patients to advocate for evidenced based care without recording the nurse or writing down every single interaction. That's excessive and way over the top. Recording every interaction with the staff smells of "I'm looking for a reason to sue". Encouraging people to record interactions almost translates to "you can't trust these people to do their job or do it well therefore you need to record in case you need proof against them."

At this point in your life, do you really want to incur more debt and work a physically/mentally/emotionally demanding job?How much longer do you plan on working? If you want to work for another 15 years, sure, go back to nursing school. What kind of shape are you in physically? Do you think you can handle being on your feet all day and working 12 hour shifts? It's a bad idea and if people looked at this more realistically instead of with rainbows and unicorn dust, they would say exactly what I just said. I doubt you'll want to be at the bedside for 15 years and retire at 76 with student loan debt. ultimately, the choice is yours but you'd better think long and hard and have an exit plan in place if nursing doesn't work out.

I cannot stand families with the unhealthy dynamic between adult children and parents. It's usually between a son and mom and half the time, mom answers questions for the son as he looks to her for some sort of guidance when he's asked a simple question. If you're 55 years old, it's beyond time to quit acting like a toddler and cut the cord.

People who hound me about getting discharged the moment someone (usually a specialist who clears him/her) mentions possible discharge. Seriously, stalking me at the nurses' station or in the hallway will not speed it up. I once had to get very honest with this patient's daughter who literally asked me every five minutes when the doctor was coming. I explained to her that I paged to ask for a time estimate. Not two minutes after that encounter, she comes up and asks for an update. I said "ma'am, this doctor has a lot of patients. I have already sent her a page. She hasn't called me back as she is still seeing other patients. I am not going to send her another page as there is not an emergency going on. There is nothing else I can do at this time. As soon as I hear from her, I will come to your mom's room and let you know." I'm not sure what she expected me to do short of locating this doctor and dragging her in the room at gun point. People who have no clue what medications they take and then tell me "it's in the computer". If you are an A&O patient, the onus is on YOU to know what you take. Telling me "that little white pill" is not helpful at all. Patient family members who answer questions for the alert and oriented patient or even the non alert family member but still verbal. "Ma'am, I really need to hear your husband's description of his pain. But I thank you for your help." There's a few more but these are the main ones.

In general, I think it is a bad idea. If things go sour and the other party is bitter, they could throw some major accusations your way. It sounds like a great romance novel idea, but not a good idea for real life.