saernurse69

Kitty, thank you for your post. I guess it would have been wise of me to let ya'll know that these patients had been in our ICU for more than 3 weeks and that it was and is always hard to make a decision in that time. I always am as non-judgemental as I can be however it is hard to see someone suffer. I am sorry that you had to go through that and thank you for sharing that with us.

Howdy! My sister-in-law is an L&D nurse for almost 20 years as an LVN and I work ER and ICU. Make the path, get the experience and find the places that hire LVN's. Here in Texas we do pretty much everything and get the training and the experience. I know that we will get our RN's eventually (I have 3 teenage sons LOL). Depends on the state and the hospital. Just my two cents.

Howdy ya'll...gotta vent or else I may just make some stupid decision like quit nursing and run a bar for nurses, LOL! I work in a busy central ICU..this means that we do all MICU, SICU, CCU, Neuro, etc. In the last 7 shifts ( 5 of them together), I have ran about 6 code blues on patients that were kept lingering with up to 5 cardiac drips, vents, PEG's and multiple lines because family members were not given good direct information about the very real possibility that we are just making their loved one suffer. Now I know that there are modern day drugs and miracles happen all the time, however, when the poor 80lb 80yo male is having chest compressions for the 4th time that day and has been burned twice by the defibrillator, IN FRONT OF THE FAMILY and they ask why he is "crunching" when we do compressions....I get a little angry. These people have been told he is not going to get better and that we are now making him suffer and that it is inhumane to keep doing this to him. I was able to get DNR's for 2 people who were anoxic brains and the family asked for the code to be stopped because I gave them the truth and let them know that it is ok to let your loved one die with dignity and not suffer. How come we as a people will take our dogs who have been run over and irreperably damaged to the vet to die in peace and yet we will make a family member suffer so? :angryfire I came home yesterday from the run of 12's and cried for over an hour, and I normally don't cry unless I am really mad. I know I can't change how people treat the death of a family member however I am willing to give full disclosure and trust to the person who is making decisions about their loved ones, so that they can know it is ok to let go when the time is right. I think a lot of nurses are scared of DNR's and scared to take responsibilty to talk to the family. This is sad. My grandparents decided to have out of hospital DNR's when they had terminal illnesses and they both died at home peacefully with family around them and I was able to care for them until the end. I guess I just got overwhelmed with the multiple codes on patients with little chance to recover at all......Thanks for listening to this ramble.

My 2 cents worth....there is vast differences between MA's and RN's. I was an MA for 4 years and have been an LVN for 11 years and am almost an RN. The MA's can give oral meds and IM injections. They can take vitals, they can do basic patient care and they are mainly office staff that I have seen. As an LVN I have been working in ER and ICU for the last 11 years and know the difference between myself and the RN's. The critical thinking skills and the care planning of patients is the greater difference as well as the basic physiology knowledge of disease processes. Most MA's don't even have the why or whats involved with the process, only the clinical skills to do the basics. I have seen and heard some MA's get into a lot of trouble thinking that they have the ability, knowledge and skills to do things that even with an MD order cannot be done. The MA's here in Texas get started at a minimum of 6-10 an hour depending on where you work and if you are certified to do lab basics or x-ray tech, otherwise they are not paid anywhere near a nurses scale. Generally, all I have seen is that they "room" and vital the pts for the MD and assist with exams and get meds in order. Other than that, not much is done by the MA. They are a great asset to the paperwork and chart part as to the refills of meds and answering questions that the MD gives them answers to. Just my opinion....

Howdy ya'll, Sherry from Texas here.... I am now in ICU, was in ER and this last few months have been OD's, non-compliant diabetics and yep we got the post c-sec mom with hypertensive crises....there is a NICU for the munchkin, however what about the mom's? We have all been fretting about what to do with the pregnant and post and have put together an impromptu inservice for the likes. I seem to have several different types of pt's each shift. Whew, maybe Alzheimers will stay away, I keep learning and get a few new brain wrinkles while I am at it!

If you are looking for work as an LVN, branch into the agencies that service Dallas and Ft. Worth. They pay well and use agency LVN's frequently. I worked as an agency LVN in Dallas and Ft. Worth for 2 years and loved it. Sometimes you could get good contracts to stay in a facility for a period of time. If you are looking for FT hours in the hospital as their employee, it is a bit harder but not impossible....Good luck!! Sherry The grass may look greener on the other side, but it's just as hard to mow :chuckle