TeeKay12

I have a slightly different experience: my daughter was severely injured at age 6. For years, we were in and out of EDs, ICUs, and rehabs. I went to nursing school for a 3rd career, after being a SAHM for 20+ years. I did ED, Med/Surg, and ICU. I always treated my patients and their families like I either had been treated or who I would have liked to have been treated. Either way, we're always trying to make others know that we 'get it'.

By your own admission, your husband is the one who outed you. To his best friend. Is it possible your hubby told the friend, who then told his wife and forgot to say "And they really want it to remain private for a little longer"? Why are you so obsessed with nailing this woman to the wall? Because she outed you? Or is there a more 'embarrassing' reason? Few people care if a couple engage in sex before marriage anymore. It's not that big a deal. Let this all go. She did nothing wrong. She wasn't really a friend to begin with, again by your own admission. She's your husband's best friend's wife. If you feel you need to do something about it, just let her know how much it hurt you. Professionally, she has done nothing wrong and cannot be 'punished' because she hurt your feelings and made your husband's family think less of you. Shake it off, pull up your big girl panties, and concentrate on your new marriage and your new pregnancy.

It's my license on the line. It's my job to make sure my patients are cared for to the best of my and my staff's ability - and that includes toileting, cleaning up feces or urine, and bathing if that's what needs done. Yes, it's hectic on the floor, but by making sure I help out when I can, I've garnered the respect and the helpfulness of my support staff.

I ask the patient what the worst pain they ever had, and how this pain compares. I started doing this after my nephew was in ED for RUQ pain, and stated his pain was a 4/10 to the question of "1 being none, and 10 being the worst you've ever felt". They almost sent him home, but his mom was talking to me and i quickly said "Tell them what his WORST pain WAS" Yeah - the barn suddenly collapsing while he was in the loft, and breaking both of his ankles. An US was completed, and he had an emergency lap appy. I hate the pain scale. I'd actually much prefer scheduled pain meds at a reasonable dosage than trying to chase the "pain" each and every one of my patients has as soon as their alarms go off (night shift, they're setting their phones for q1, q2, etc.). Or the elderly woman who tells me all night she's fine, no pain, but then her son or daughter who is a nurse comes in and suddenly she's writhing in agony!

One of the things I hated most about bedside nursing. Scripted performance. I'm very much for keeping the patients informed. I'm opposed to the idea of 'selling' the services of my colleagues - especially if I am required to either lie or state a fact I do not know. I refused to do this. I would just say "Good morning, Mr. Smith. This is Jean. She'll be your nurse for today." We also had the patient white boards, and I found they took more time and energy to answer patient questions about them than they saved.

"I was on WebMD and......"

"It all started with a mouse." (meaning, the smallest things can become huge)

I attended a 4 year university, considered to be one of the best private schools in the state for nursing. I was an "alternate" student - I was 40 when I started! I have a disabled daughter, and I've dealt with WCs (power and manual), vents, suction, trachs, meds, PICCs, you name it. Guess what? My first job as a nurse - I felt like I had no clue. I learned. I asked lots of questions, talked to everyone I could, and watched and learned. Your degree states you fulfilled the requirements for it. Passing the NCLEX means you've met the bare minimum requirements to be reasonably competent for patient care. Neither guarantees you know what to do. You're one up on the majority of new grads I've precepted - you admit you don't know it all. It will come.

It will depend on frequency of contact. I currently work in telephonic case management and handle low to medium acuity clients - from infants to elderly. My case load is 350. The majority of my clients, I contact and work with no more than every 6 weeks, sometimes every 12. The medium level acuity cases I spend more time on, speaking to them, helping set up physician appointments, explaining procedures, encouraging healthy behaviors, etc - about once every 2 weeks. The higher acuity clients are handled by other RNs and those clients have at least weekly contact - the case loads for high acuity RNs is 50.

I was on the interview committee for a new manager. We didn't ask any silly questions, but our interim manager, who was interviewing for the position did. She wanted to know if any of us wanted to see photos of her new baby, told us about her breastfeeding of the new one and potty training the older one, and then at the end, wanted to know if we thought we'd give her the job, since she'd done such a great job thus far (she had been a charge for a year, had been a tech, then an RN on the floor, and had been our interim for all of 3 weeks before her maternity leave - she didn't get the job).

Mine is feet. They don't have to be nasty, they just have to be feet. Trachs, ostomies, pressure ulcers, ocular emissions, feces, vomit, all of that doesn't bother me. Make me deal with feet and I'm gagging.

First, I agree - I've seen it in every culture I've worked with (first job was a predominately AA area, most co-workers were African or AA, next job was in a lower-income predominately white area, with a large population of Burmese and quite a few Hispanics). It happened about evenly across the board. Now, for the answering for your kid - I had a patient once who's mom stayed with her all 3 days AND nights she was with us. SHE was 68. Mom was in her early nineties. Mom used a walker and was frail as all get out. I was always afraid mom was going to die on my shift! (patient was in for a scheduled hysterectomy). Mom answered all the assessment and further questions. Patient was NOT delayed.

It used to be 60 minutes each way, 3 nights a week, 1900 to 0730. It is now about 25 minutes each way, 5 days a week, M-F 0800-1700. Much better!

I "failed" one class in my last semester. It was a tough semester for me, personally - I had a parent in ICU for most of the semester, another parent had 2 MIs, a child in ICU for a month (in a different hospital, in a different county), and another child who was severely injured and required 2 surgeries. Remember, too, that in nursing school, a "failure" is just really not quite making the mark, it is not an actual fail. My school, at the time had a pass rate of 77.0%. I had a grade of 76.8% in that class. My professor was willing to let me pass, my assistant dean was not. I retook the class, passed with a 98%, and learned much more the second time around.

In my area, no-one hires LPNs. No-one. It's hard to find a position if you have an ASN. Experienced LPNs in the hospital network I used to work for were phased out of bed-side care and became Techs (CNAs basically), IF they were given a position at all. Most were given a couple of years to get their RN, but if they didn't have it, were let go. And the LPNs who had in many, many years more experience than I did made $10-$15/hour LESS. Other hospital networks just phased them out completely. Even the nursing homes have stopped hiring LPNs. They all want RNs. This may not be true of all places, but in the larger metropolitan areas, it is.

Yes, and no. I was an older student, returning to university at age 40! I also had a family, a part time job, a critically ill parent, and a disabled child. The ill parent and disabled child helped get me through a lot of classes (oh, you want me to study SCIs, well, I have one of those at home, no sweat, I know more than enough no need to study that one). I will say, going to every single class no matter what was what paid off. Attend your lectures, have a good relationship with your professors, and study. Form or get in on a study group. It's better if it's not 'friends', but rather 'colleagues' so you won't get off track. It was tough, but it was doable. I attended a traditional 4 year BSN program at a private university. I was one of the few commuters and the oldest in my class. IF I could do it, I think most anyone can!

My nephew's girlfriend has a similar problem. Her parents wanted her to be a teacher, they said because it would always be a good job, she would always be able to find work, and it was respectable. She went to college to become a teacher. She took teaching classes, she student taught at different schools in the area. She hated it all. Her heart wasn't in it. She wanted to be a horticulturalist. She stopped taking teaching classes and started taking horticultural classes. Her father disowned her. He stopped paying for her college (well, he stopped helping), she wasn't allowed to see her siblings, she couldn't go home for holidays, he even took her off his insurance, even though it didn't cost him any more to have her on it than it cost for her siblings. She persevered, got her horticulturalist degree, and now has a very good job doing something she loves. While my nephew, who graduated with a teaching degree, is having a difficult time finding a position. BTW - her parents are okay with it all now, and the relationship is much better. Do what YOU want to, and do what you think you will be able to do for the next 20 years or so. Having a job or career in a field that interests you doesn't guarantee happiness, but it sure helps.

Since your kids go to a private school, I'd ask there. Let the administration know of your issue, they might know of a family who can help. Do you know another family living near where your job offer is who would be willing to take the kids? I understand wholly. While I was in school, my kids attended a private school. no-one near us to help driving. Good thing my university was about 3 miles away from the kids' schools (yes, it was one school, but 3 different buildings, one of them 1.5 miles away from the others!). I was able to drop off the kids a few minutes early, have another parent drive the youngest to the off-campus building, and then make my way to school, praying I'd have good traffic lights and find a parking space quickly. Good luck.

I must be odd. I don't look. Not because I don't want to, but our toilets at home are water conserving, and the 'gooseneck' is shaped such that it can hide a LOT of poo. Nothing to see here, time to move on. I got used to that, and now I don't look no matter where I am.

My advise to all new nursing students is two things: 1. HIPAA is real. Do not violate it. You could lose your position in the school and possibly the chance to work for that hospital, and if it's part of a network in a large city, you might be screwed (one of my former classmates, don't know what she's doing now, but it's not nursing) 2. During ANY test, think about it like it's NCLEX: read the question thoroughly, ask yourself what the question is really asking, think about patient safety first, then ABCs, then whatever else - if it's down to two questions, guess. NEVER, EVER change your answers unless you find the answer within the body of the test! I once missed a question on a Peds final, as did all of my classmates because we didn't use this - the question was; "A mother is visiting you for her child's 24 month checkup. She is worried about tooth decay and asks what a good snack for her child would be." The answers were: raisins, sugar free gum, hard candy, ice cream. The answer, of course, is the gum. It's the only snack that's sugar free and tooth friendly. (Yeah, we were all a little perplexed too)

The facility I used to work in required bed-side report. It was a very busy, 24 bed Med/Surg floor with large, far-spaced rooms. We RNs could have rooms from one end of the floor to another. If report were given at the desk, it's easy to find the 2,3,4, or even 5 RNs you were reporting off to, but hard to figure out where they were if they were ducking in and out of rooms. The thing I really disliked about it the most though, was that the incoming shift felt they had all the time in the world to chat with each patient, their family members, talk about how the previous shift had gone, ask if they wanted anything (food, drink, pain meds, etc.) and then proceed to fetch it before we could continue to the next patient. All while I'm just wanting to get off the floor and my feet because I'm hungry, tired, and feel filthy - and I've still got an hour drive home. Report that used to take 30 minutes for 6 patients could take upwards of an hour to give. Those same incoming RNs, of course, wanted to NOT go into the patient's room when I came on the floor, give a report that was "Well, you gave him/her to me and s/he's still the same." Then, I walk in to the patient's room and nope, not the same! So - yes, I love it. And yes, I hate it.

They give a brand new nurse extra time, because they haven't learned to think on their feet and how to manage their time yet. In two years, you should have already learned that. I'm glad to hear you gave 2 weeks. It's true - you can get a reputation. Plus, hospitals will put you in the "No rehire" category. Where I live, the larger hospital conglomerates buy up the little hospitals all over the state. One of the first things that happened when the small, private hospital I was working for was bought out by a larger organization was that all the people with a 'no rehire' for the company were let go from the small hospital too. If you get a black mark against you, it's hard to find a position anywhere. People believe they're safe in a large city - I can tell you, you're not. The nursing community is large but tight. Someone went to school/worked with/is on a committee with/is in a sorority with someone you work with. My mother is also an RN. I work for an insurance company right now. And I work with women I knew when I was a child, because they were my mom's co-workers.

i just told my future daughter-in-law that today, as she was telling me of her friends in nursing school because "it's good money, easily made". I'm afraid she'll now wonder if the insanity is hereditary due to my laughing hysterically at that and saying, "yes, it's easy - as long as you don't mind a little poop and vomit with dinner"

1. Get out of the bed. Your loved one can actually rest well sleeping alone for the night or two he/she spends with us. You're risking pulling out IVs, and you're making my job difficult. 2. No, I will not get you and your snotty kids a drink, a snack, or a popsicle. There's a cafeteria downstairs. Oh, it's closed? Must be time to take the kiddos home and feed them there. 3. Your baby girl will be fine, you can head home and sleep in your bed for the night. After all, she's 56, you're in your 90s and using a walker - I'm afraid you're going to fall (yes, seriously, for a lap appy!!) 4. I know you've been smoking in the bathroom. It stinks and the patient is unable to get out of bed. Yes, you're out of here. No, you can't stay. 5. This is my 2nd favorite "You won't believe what the patient's family did" story; The End Title CO2 monitor is annoying. We understand that. Please, for the love of God and the sake and life of your family member, do NOT either turn it off or worse yet, put it on yourself and 'pretend' to be the patient. (yep, patient's hubby got tired of it going off continually - as I did - and put it on, sleeping in the chair next to her). 6. STOP trying to feed or water your daddy/granddaddy/mommy/grandmommy who is DNR, on hospice, and has been unresponsive for the last 2 days. It's part of the process of death. We know it hurts - but really, making daddy choke to death on the ice you're spooning into his mouth isn't the way to let him go! 7. The wheelchairs by the doors to the hospital are for potential patients and for visitors who can't ambulate well. They are not for your teens and early 20s kids to race up and down the halls in. (and then they had the audacity to complain about me to the manager when I made them put the chairs back, explaining others may need them - yes, I was reprimanded - I was threatened with a day off without pay - threatened to talk to my lawyer and management dropped the matter)

Yes, I don't really care if it's in the LAC or the RFA. I can find that. It's in the patient, for goodness sake. I'll check it during my assessment. It's also in the charting. I hate it when I get report and the RN giving me the patient pauses and says "you know, I don't know where the IV is, let me look it up". No, just give me report. I don't need a blow by blow about family dynamics, unless security has been called, it's not my business. I don't need to know that the patient was on their call light all day asking for silly stuff. That knowledge will not automatically make the patient/family stop using the call light for my shift!