bondoson88

Why did she get an article written about that! Shoot, I have been cleaning a pt. BM all over and have my stomach growling because I was hungry I thought that was normal for nurses!

I know how you feel because after working at the same hospital for 32 years I and all the LVNs were laid off. I felt so sad, mad, betrayed,humiliated, disgusted and depressed about the whole thing. I also got screwed out of my 960 hours of sick time because if you have 20 yrs service and are age 55 you can cash out a percentage of your sick time, unfortunately I was 54 years old. I wouldn't help them at all in your dept with what to do. Let them figure it out themselves. Good Luck to you. Let them realize how valuable you are!

I have worked at an acute care hospital in CA for 32years and as of Oct 1, 2013 all14 LVNs will be laid off. So at 54 years old I need to go find a job. I thought I would be able to retire from here. I also have 960 hours of sick time and when you turn 55 you can cash a percentage of it. Well, I won't be 55 for 6 months. I worked the last 10 years in a critical care area. I worked with the best nurses. They were not only my coworkers, but my buddies, my friends. When you work with a group of people, you spend a lot of time with them, they become like your second family. This is the worst part of this whole thing. I was told on one day that I couldn't work in CCU, the next day all the LVNs were told we were not to assess our patients, don't listen to lung sounds,etc. We are not allowed to read tele strips, even though I have RNs asking me" what do I think this ?" I didn't know that any knowledge a person has can be taken away from them. An RN has to assess and chart on our patients. Before we could chart our "basic assessment" and an RN charted on our patient too. I felt like a burden and this was so stressful. I cried everyday at first. I am on a stress leave. I have enough sick leave because I never called in sick! I can understand why we are phased out because of the acuity of pts. IV meds etc. But it would have been nice for administration to say "Thanks for spending half you life working here!" I am better now but I still need to get another job because life goes on, right? I am trying to get a job in corrections/prisons right now. I wouldn't recommend anybody to become an LVN because it gets harder to get your RN as you get older and more prereq are required. So if you are young, get back in school, you'll have more opportunities, more pay, more respect, and you won't have to go through what I have. experienced. They used to let LVNs with 10 years of acute care experience challenge the RN boards, but once I got that much they no longer allowed it. I have RNs telling me that I know a lot more than most RNs but unfortunately the boards don't count experience as knowledge. I needed to vent all this out. I know one thing that I always take the best care of my pts, I never had problems getting along with coworkers or patients, I will go out of my way to help them. Even though I am not an RN (not yet), I critically think like an RN and I will continue to do so,

I have been an LVN for 30 years and I work in a critical care unit. At my hospital we were told to start getting our RNs because we are going to lose our jobs if we don't. My advice for you especially if you're young is to just go right to the RN program because you will feel unsatisfied by not being able to do all the things a nurse is supposed to do and nurses( RNs) will always treat you like you're stupid.And even patients and families may not want you to take care of them or their family members. And when your patient asks for pain med or has an antibiotic you have to have an RN to push it or hang it. And everything that you do, an RN must sign after you. Even if you are perfectly capable. Were I work we were told not to even read our monitor strips! I couldn't believe it! How can you take away from someone knowledge that they already have? And if I'm taking care of a patient on a heart monitor shouldn't I know what rhythm he/she is in? I'm luckey I work with the best RN's you could ask for and they know my capabilities, and they know me, so they don't treat me like I'm an idiot. Thank God. Plus, I've been at my job for so long I get a little respect for my experience. If you plan only to work in a nursing home then stay as an LVN but if you want to work in an acute hospital which is more challenging and interesting, then become an RN. Good Luck to you in whatever you do.

I have my very own 911 call. My husband had bought a used phone from a thirft store that had 911 programmed on it in speed dial. Anyways, we also own a 50 lb African spurred tortise. It was winter time and we usually have his dog house fixed up for him but we hadn't done it yet so we brought him in from outside so he doesn't freeze to death. Well, this phone had the longest cord on it and Harold the tortise accidently got tangled up in the phone. And if you have ever dealt with a tortise that is tangled on something, the more you try to untangle the more he will bring his body into his shell and you will not be able to pull it out. It was about eleven thirty at night and I was getting ready to go to bed when all of a sudden I hear this loud very loud knocking at my door. I thought who could that be knocking so hard. When I opened the door there were 2 sheriff deputies asking me, "Did someone call 911 from this residence?" I said . "No, I didn't call 911."( Of course they were looking at me for any injuries.) As we were standing there, I looked down on the floor to the right of me and there was Harold all tangled up in the phone. I said "My turtle must have called 911!" We all started laughing and one of the sheriffs said "How about that a turtle that calls 911! Now that is a first and funny one!" I immediately unplugged the phone from the outlet and threw it in the garbage!

Here in California, there is a website "MyFreeCE where you can get accepted and approved CE units. The classs/articles are from 1-5 units each. You read the article then take the test and you can print out the cerificiate of proof afterwards. There are a wide range of subjects and they are pretty informative. It is very convienient too. I have taken all my uinits I needed for my renewal several different years in the past. This website is free through my employer, group plan, but you can also join it for $29.00/year. I hope that helps.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you have a patient in a critical care unit and they are intubated and they have all kinds of lines here and there and the previous nurse has everything tangled up , going across and under the patient. to the point you have to rearrange the bed because the IV tubing is in front of another IV pole. That drives me crazy when everything is so tangled up! Not to mention when the room looks like a tornado hit it. Sometimes, the patients can look like a tornado hit them but some patients , no matter what you do they can look like that. but a room should be kept clean and neat Also when the family comes in it gives a good impression, if you keep everything nice, your patient will look good too. Another pet peeve is nurses who think that they know everything, or know more than you until you work with them and then you realize they haven't changed too many patients because they seem to be lost. I don't put them down, I just continue doing what I'm doing. I cannot stand to see a patient who hasn't had oral care to the point where everything is all petrified,dried up , disgusting yucky! And a patient that needs to be suctioned but no one has done it because either they don't know how or they just don't care. Or nurses that call resp everytime their patient needs to be suctioned, I mean not an emergency type thing! And as far as patients are concerned I hate it when you try to give them something to wash their hands after they use the restroom and they take the washcloth and wipe their privates, then you give them another washcloth and they do the same thing even when you tell them this is for your hands. I give up! The biggest pet peeve anyplace is when people do not wash their hands after they use the bathroom esp after a BM! That just grosses me out! When a family member comes in and instead of feeding their family member they insist you do it not realizing you have to feed 3 other people that don't have any family.(And their family member isn't the type that is a aspiration precaution pt)I think that about covers my pet peeves!

I am a LVN in California and I work in a acute care hospital and I assess my own patients. I can assess a patient just as well as a RN can maybe even better. I have worked on med/surg, post-partum,telemetry,peds,burn unit,icu, and currently have a position in ccu.I have been doing my job for 28 years ,so I've had lots of practice. All the RN's that I work with trust my assessments and I always confer with them when a there is a problem/question/decision to be made.I've been told by many RN's that they trust my judgement more than a lot of RN's that they work with. I take care of my patients to the best of my abilities. And when you work in a critical care unit, you must be continously watching their BP's, HR's, rhythms, O2 sats,RR's and observing any subtle changes .And I don't mean just looking at a screen, you must be looking directly at the patient ,interacting with the patient. Touching the patient is his skin clammy or dry?Is he symptomatic or not, is he dry/wet ,is he making any urine? what's his labs? When you suddenly notice your patient's tachy and earlier he wasn't you need to investigate and find out why, is he febrile? is he dehydrated? in pain? To me if you are not an investigative nurse with a "gut feeling or intuition" you are not taking care of your patient . If you don't pay attention and ignore or don't notice subtle or obivous changes in your patient it could have serious or fatal consequences! Even if you notice something with someone else's patient make their nurse aware. And always make sure your IV is good, and put a double extension on your IV or better yet put in another line because you never know what could happen. Because, you don't want to be fumbling to start an IV when your patient is crashing. Well. maybe LVN's aren't suppossed to assess patients initially but I do because how else are you going to know your patient? How can you properly take care of them if you don't assess them? Hey, I've told RN's when I'm floating admiting their patients,and assessing them that they can either co-sign my assessment or they can rip it up and do it themselves! I have never had anybody rip up or redo the admission data base yet! I think it is stupid to say that an LVN can't assess a patient. They teach you that in school. It's like sometimes people think that if you have LVN after your name that you are "on the low end of the IQ scale"or that your vision is poor or you're just plain stupid.

I know that there are some RN's that when they have to cover your IV meds they act all put out and sometimes if can make you feel like you are a burden, which is something I do not want to ever be thought of. What I have found that helps with that situation is that I help the RN out, I"ll do their FSBS or answer their lights and I'll help them turn their patients and help them with their bed baths,or I'll trade "hang this for me and I'll do this for you". And when I help them with other things(not the barter system) they'll say" thanks a lot for your help" I just tell them that they are welcome and that I may need their help in the future with my IV meds. They always say sure anytime! Most people respond postive to this if they don't well I feel sorry for them because in nursing you need each other, not just for doing patient care but for moral support,for each other's knowledge/experience,emotional, mental support and just being your friends at a very demanding job that not everyone can do. And you all know their are a lot of nurses out there that think they know everything and that have big time attitudes, who are very outspoken/rude and have some control issues.To me it is because they actually feel insecure about themselves .and they know more than you. Right! For me I treat everyone the way that I want to be treated, with respect. It is a very simple rule, it's in the Bible. Some nurses that have a whole 2 lines of titles after their name may know a lot about something but they don't know everything and a lot of times they haven't got a clue, like no common sense., or no emotional intelligence. Oh well ,it takes all kinds of people that makes up this world! I say Just Go With The Flow!!

I also had an instuctor that didn't seem to like me. My patient was a 20 year female who had a thyroidectomy and I was also in my twenties. The patient and I got along very well because we had a lot in common. Anyways, this mean instuctor told me that I was very unprofessional and that I didn't have what it takes to be a nurse and that I should just give it up right now. I wanted to start cryiing but I thought I'm not going to let that ----- see me cry. So it took everything I had to keep from crying! But when I saw my other instructor who was so sweet and was a nun I just lost it and told her what she said to me. 2 of my charge nurses at work were both told that they should do some other job by their instructor and they happen to be very excellent nurses! Thank God that we all hung in there!

I used to have things like that happen to me alot years ago,and it hurt my feelings but you just have to deal with it and ignore those comments. When you are an LVN/LPN you have to show that you are not an idiot.Do your job to the best of your ability and don't get all defensive and mad. That really makes you look like an idiot! Those RN's that insult you are usually the ones that don't know that much. When I was an new LVN I had this new RN following me into every room , on my case, on my back. It bugged me until my husband said ,"She's probably following you everywhere because she is trying to figure out things by watching you do them!" Then I thought he's right!You could be a dingy RN with no common sense but no one thinks you're dingy until they have to work with you and find out for themselves. So my advice is to work with the RNs and do your job,vent with an nurse whatever he/she is who agrees with you and show them nurses that you're not an idiot. Maybe they can learn something from you in the process!

A new nurse charts too much about stuff that you chart in school and her penmanship is neat. An old nurse charts the pertinent stuff, not neuro checks on an appy patient and hopefully it is legible. A new nurse will have every instrument, kellys, scissors, etc stuck on her waist band handy and accesible. A old nurse is lucky to have tape and a pen in her pocket because she's lost the kellys and her scissors a long time ago. A new nurse will call a Dr at 3am for an enema or for a couple of tylenol. A old nurse will call the Dr. at 6am and tell him I need an order for the enema and the tylenol that I gave your pt at 3am.A new nurse doesn't know what nursing judgement means, A old nurse does! A new nurse hasn't been abused by patients, doctors, the lab, the family members and who ever else there is and maybe made her cry. The old nurse has done that, heard that, been there!A new nurse has not mastered the art of poop cleaning and hasn't given a pt charcoal down an NGT yet or walked in a room with a pt with bm from head to toe and dripping off the bed onto the floor. A old nurse says" oh crap not again "!

I once had a patient that had expired down the end of the hall. She was in room 210a by herself, and there were only maybe a couple of other patients in other rooms in the same area whom could not get up OOB. All of a sudden a call light goes on and I look to see who it is and guess who? It was room 210a. I am thinking and saying out loud to my co-workers "someone come down there with me!" Light was on and the patient was still dead waiting for the morturary. Now 20 years later on that same floor that section had been renovated to be the ultrasound area, but was in the process of becoming a patient room again. The call button system was not supposed to be hooked up to the nursing station. Anyways, the nurses that work on that floor now are all new staff and I was telling them about that story. well the next day apparently the call system kept going off in that area and kept paging this one really new nurse all night. I guess it freaked her out esp after that incident that happened. I do think that there is something down that hall, but like I told those nurses, don't worry it's a nice ghost! :chuckle:eek:

I have had experiences with patients, namely the moms of peds patients that when they come in to see their child the first words out of their mouths are "Well I'm a nurse!" That is like a big red warning flag that you have someone here that probably will be a problem othewise know as a pain in the you know what. Whenever anyone in my family is hospitilized I never say anything about being a nurse and working in an acute hospital because I feel it makes you seem ignorant. Instead I talk to the medical professionals as I would talk to my co-workers. I always know when I'm talking to a family member that is a real nurse but does not reveal it just by the questions that they ask. I'll just ask them or say are you a nurse or you must be a nurse because I can tell by the questions you are asking me. Another clue when someone says well I'm a nurse, if you look at the face sheet and see their occupation it usually says unemployed, now everyone knows nurses can't be unemployed at least in northern California!

I have a position in CCU right now but being an LVN I don't get first priority. We have a lot of travelers and they have in their contract that they only will work in critical care. I expected that I would not be in the unit all the time because I am an LVN. But, I am a very experienced LVN and I function well in the unit. But of course I am limited in my scope. That is why I am going back to school because I am tierd of having RNs give my IV meds and sometimes I feel like I'm a burden but I try to use the barder system and trade off an IVPB for a FSBS. And I help everyone as much as possible. All the nurses that I work with in their are great! They know what they're doing and they treat me like another nurse. But I am very unsatisfied with being an LVN and I wouldn't recommend anyone to become an LVN first because they make it so hard to become an RN and you get treated like you're stupid. I have been an LVN in acute care for 24 years and I work in all areas of the hospital. I can work med/surg, tele, icu, ccu, post partum, peds, and when we had our burn unit I held a position in there. When I'm not in the unit I float out or the supervisor floats me out in the whole hospital with a beeper and I help out where ever I'm needed, and just in case someone doesn't show up or gets sick well I go take their place, because I can work in almost all the areas of the hospital. But after I get my RN I will work in CCU with all my good buddies in there! And they are the best group of nurses I have ever worked with and they really know their stuff. One thing you learn when you work critical care or with tele pts. is that you better have a good IV or preferably 2 good IVs!So if I'm on another floor and if my patient happens to code the nurses from CCU come to the code and if my pt's IV is no good they would probably tease me about that for the rest of my life! Because I always hear about the pt on 3rd floor that coded and when the nurse comes back she's telling all of us "that patient that coded his IV was infilitrated!" I do love my job but right now I'm limited and I am on the road to change that now!