Veronica Cheney

You might try volunteering at a local clinic too, sometimes they are in need of nurses desperately to help out and this would be a good way to get your feet wet. I can relate to your situation as it took me nearly six months to find my first job. Perhaps, too you might look in LTC, sometimes its not what we want right out of school, but sometimes you'll find that different nursing areas suit you better then what you thought you wanted in nursing school. I thought I wanted acute ER, turns out it makes me to anxious, and I was more concerned about the MDs not addressing chronic illness'. Moved to LTC, and wham I feel at home. There are many things you can do, widen your perspective a little and see whats there. Good luck!

I agree, sounds like the patient is experiencing a loss of control and this vitamin is his final stand LOL. I wouldn't call, I'd probably be very direct about the loss of control and get to the bottom of it.

I tell all my patients that they too have to advocate for themselves or their family members, in addition to nurses advocating for them. However, as nurses isn't it ultimately our responsibility to ensure we know our patient's wishes and see they are followed through?

I appreciate your wonderful posts, however, I still wholeheartedly disagree with you and that is based on significant research I myself have done on the subject, and not to mention entire medical communities. I did not misunderstand you at all, you've stated twice now that addiction is a weakness. The phrase "strong will" indicates a character trait as you've nicely outlined in your last post. Stating that addiction is a "weakness" or a "character trait" is stating that this well documented and researched psychological and physical disease is based on a character trait and is minimizing the severity of the disease/condition. Which then only contributes to the ignorance of the 1930s when addiction was considered a character flaw or weakness of moral constitution. This ignorance of decades passed has only contributed to the societal view that alcoholism and/or addiction is entirely within the control of the individual and therefore addiction still has a huge nasty stigma associated with it. The definition of addiction provided by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), states the following: "Definition of Addiction Medicine (Short Version): Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors. Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one's behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death." According to Psychology Today, "When referring to any kind of addiction, it is important to recognize that its cause is not simply a search for pleasure and that addiction has nothing to do with one's morality or strength of character. Experts debate whether addiction is a "disease" or a true mental illness, whether drug dependence and addiction mean the same thing, and many other aspects of addiction." I honestly appreciate your reply/s and am in no way attempting to be argumentative at all. We could debate this topic for a long time I'm sure. I do understand what you are relating regarding traits and responsibility for said traits when they are the sole reason for an individuals behavior.

When I first got sober I hated meetings, oh how I would sit and think about everything especially what others were saying, wearing etc. I was to busy picking everyone apart that I wasn't really listening and therefore didn't get anything out of the meetings (not saying you are doing this just sharing my experience). So finally I got a sponsor and she immediately told me the same the person told you, but she also started me on the 1st step right away, and I had to call her every day. Anyway, what helped me in the meetings initially, was to take a journal. I would then put all my focus on the journal doodling. Then I was able to listen, and I would write down phrases that I heard that touched me and then I started enjoying the meetings. Good luck!

What an awesome testimony!

Congrats on your ability to stay clean and sober. Everyday is a miracle when "WE" stay sober. Three things: 1) I am a recovering alcoholic of 7 years. 2) I am a nurse of 7 years. 3) I live in Kentucky Now the statement above that I have quoted is 100% inaccurate (sorry to the poster of that comment). Historically people in recovery have the strongest wills, and are generally very strong people. That is part of the problem with addiction, addicts are too strong willed. There is no weakness of character involved. Most people in recovery have survived things that a "normal" person would not. So now that I've cleared that up, I'll move on to tell you don't give up hope. The experience that you will glean from your recovery can and will be invaluable at one time or another to a patient you treat down the line. I have personally experienced this with patients and then ran into them at meetings for them to tell me thank you for saving their lives. Now I quickly tell them it wasn't me it was my Higher Power, who I believe is God. Humility is the key to successful recovery and integration back into your nursing career. If you need someone that shares your experience you can contact me at anytime my email is listed on my profile. Great job, I'm proud of you!

I have worked closely with palliative care patients and their families for several years. What I have noticed is that many nurses that are new to the facility automatically think that the palliative care MD kills patients. However, after some very thorough education they quickly change their minds. Ignorance in our profession is not bliss. I recently completed a research project regarding this topic. You can find it here, Palliative Care: A Nursing Response. There is a link on this post to the PDF file version. I hope this helps.

The palliative care MD that basically taught me everything I know about end-of-life care would tell me that if the patient was experiencing any symptoms of pain while the staff performed care to call to increase the pain medication dose itself. Sure we cannot and probably wont eliminate all pain but reducing it significantly is key. We also stopped doing the Q2 hour turn and usually the MD would order us to reduce the full turns to Q6 and then Q12 hours. However, in between those times, movement of a pillow here and there does count as repositioning.