angeley1978

Thank you Linda. This was great.

The Spectator is a conservative tabloid. "Some suggest"? Seriously. The figures speak for themselves. This Swedish herd immunity nonsense is being amplified by right wing conservative news outlets. They are much worse off than other countries in their region and their economy is no better off. Here is another point of view. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/15/sweden-coronavirus-death-toll-reaches-1000

Nursing is supposed to be evidence-based. This is the result of the Swedish herd immunity model: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102257/cumulative-coronavirus-cases-in-the-nordics/ Not too impressive... And they have almost ten times the number of deaths of other Nordic countries. https://news.Yahoo.com/sweden-nearly-10-times-number-210442597.html

With a few exceptions, this has been my life as a nurse as well. After my life altering back injury, I went back to school and am now a nurse educator. I envy my students who are just starting the journey. In spite of the heartache and pain, and maybe because of it to a certain degree, it was a life I would not trade for anything. I became real in nursing. I learned not to sweat the small stuff. I learned I could handle the big stuff. I learned about compassion, courage, love, friendship, and hope. I also learned about despair, pain, anger, frustration, and death. In other words, I learned about life. Real life. Nightingale once said she could not teach someone to be a nurse. Each nurse has to learn it on their own. Learn well, young nurses. We are pulling for you.

Maybe. But I once allowed myself to be talked into staying on a unit in similar circumstances. At the end of a year I wanted to quit nursing altogether. I quit the job instead and learned that there is a big world of nursing out there. I went on to have wonderful mentors and never looked back. I advise my students to find a place to work where they feel supported and appreciated and if the unit they are on isn't that, move on.

I totally disagree with those who are saying "Stick it out". My advice is to get out. As a nurse educator with 27 years of bedside clinical experience, including ICU, I am appalled at the preceptor's behavior. Unless you want to view this as an exercise in learning what not to do, I would advise you to ask for another preceptor or find another place to work.

I called a doctor once to let him know that his patient was running a temperature of 101.4 F., was difficult to arouse, and had a heart rate that was above 90. He told me to call him back if his temp went to 101.5. I hung up and then called him right back and said "Guess what? His temp is now 101.5".

Sounds like Duke dodged a bullet by letting this nurse go--she was always going to put her personal beliefs above her patients' welfare. Also sounds to me like someone desperately in need of attention...

I remember it pretty much the same way. I got Hepatitis B from a patient two months out of nursing school because we rarely wore gloves.

I disagree. I think Mr. & Mrs., Miss, Ms. or whatever are too formal. They may have been OK for our parent's generation but the Boomers have never been a formal bunch. I am a Boomer (and RN of 35 years) and have been a patient many times. I don't like being called Mrs. I feel like the staff is deliberately putting a barrier between them and me. Not only that, coming out of anesthesia I don't react to Mrs. I've been called by my first name my whole life--only my son's school teachers ever called me Mrs. I don't think it is appropriate, however, to call patients Mother, or Grandma or Grandpa or anything like that. Staff are not relatives and should not address patients as if they are. Calling someone by their first name is friendly and warm without overstepping the bounds of professionalism.

I'm grateful for the chance to have a conversation about this with other nurses. I've been a nurse for 31+ years and the single most compelling lesson I learned in all those years is that things are not always as they seem and consequently, better safe than sorry. I don't think a 21 day self-quarantine is too much to ask considering the "sorry" part of this equation but I am open to debate other than "she doesn't have Ebola". She may have an undetectable viral load today but tomorrow isn't known. I suspect Kaci believes she is doing the right thing and I admire her service to humanity but none of us is infallible. It has been reported that Dr. Spencer initially failed to disclose his movements about the city to health authorities and instead claimed he self-quarantined in his apartment. True or not, patients misinform. We know that. When dealing with deadly viruses, misinformation could be disastrous.