Interpolfan89

I’m literally just saying I don’t think they should lose their livelihood over it. They were absolutely wrong for doing what they did and posting it, no question.

OK, it was a question, hence the question mark. Teaching moment. Not a moment to try to make someone feel dumb. Thank you for clarifying. I know it doesn’t negate consequences. I just felt the consequences chosen were kind of harsh.

I feel it would be a fireable offense if there was any identifiable images or information pertaining to specific patients or the hospital itself. Otherwise isn't it just using your freedom of speech to vent on a medium? DEFINITELY not something I would do or recommend doing, but I also don't believe people should lose their job over it and forever have difficulty landing another job because of it.

I am so sorry you are going through this. I feel the same way about how broken our healthcare system is. It’s disgusting and disheartening. I get burned out because of this as well. When the burnout takes over, I take a few months to a year off from nursing and do something else. This has happened twice in my nursing career. During one break, I worked a retail job. The second break, I worked for an animal hospital. The veterinary healthcare system is just as broken by the way LOL

I’m sorry that you are feeling this way after all you went through in school and what you sacrificed. You are definitely not alone in how you feel. I don’t know what state you are in but I am in MA and here there are quite a few settings LPNs can work in that use various skill sets. Since you worked as a medical assistant previously, would you want to go back to a clinic setting? There are many different departments within clinics that could use different skill sets (OB/GYN, urgent care, pediatrics etc). You could work in a long term acute setting where you may use trach and vent skills, wound care etc. You could do home care (private duty or home health visits) where you’d see all sorts of things. You could work at a dermatological or plastic surgery type clinic. You could work in assisted living, or substance abuse clinics, schools, or summer camps. It all depends on where your interests lie. I think it’s great that you got into a dialysis clinic as your first LPN job! You’ll be fine! Don’t throw away that LPN license just yet haha

This is typical of new nurses. I’ve definitely been where you are. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and often compare myself/abilities to other nurses. I just have to remind myself to look at the facts. When you are comparing yourself to these other nurses that just seem to know what to do all the time, get to know them. Ask them how long they have been in the field. You can’t know in 3 months what they’ve come to know over their 10+ years career haha Also, I’ve worked along side nurses that seem to be so focused, cheery, and speedy etc, and then I find out they take all kinds of prescription meds that definitely assist with all that hahaha

I know I am going to get virtually shot for saying this but I don’t agree that a new grad should NEVER be hired into a leadership role. Circumstance is everything. This person could have had a leadership role outside of nursing in which the same leadership skills would apply and transfer. I’m not saying that the OP did but I’m just hesitant to use the word NEVER. We learned in school that any answer to a question that contained the word NEVER or ALWAYS was usually wrong ?

This is a good topic! I believe all employers’ exit interviews should be done electronically so that people can feel comfortable speaking their mind about the organization they chose to leave. I think you should fill it out and be honest. Things don’t improve without constructive honest feedback. The employer will definitely read it. Whether they enact change because of it is another story ?

I’m very sorry to hear about all that you are going through. We do have to take care of ourselves in order to adequately care for others. You could try private duty nursing in which you’d only have to travel to one client for a set amount of hours. Unless your relief doesn’t show up you are guaranteed to get out on time. As some people mentioned, you could try working outpatient as well. Maybe more of a desk job in nursing could work for you too (MDS or something of that nature). It’s so difficult when you need the money but not the stress.

I agree that our healthcare system is horrible, and that a good number of the people working in it are abused. There are many days I have literally given blood, sweat, and tears during my only 5 year nursing career. I have worked in a variety of settings and they all cost me something. What keeps me going? Bills and hope. Currently, I make a good living wage as a nurse that enables me to pay my bills and do the little things I enjoy doing on my time off. My hope is to develop my creative outlets so much so as to someday make a good living wage off of them so I can exit healthcare stage left hahaha

I have a friend working in a skilled nursing and rehab facility. She has only been working there one month. On her unit, in the narcotic boxes on each cart and in the narcotic fridge, there are at LEAST 20 expired, discontinued,and inactive narcotics (liquid and pill forms). Some of these have been discontinued since last year. Some of them are from patients that have long since passed away or went home. My friend made a medication error and gave a patient a discontinued narcotic (right patient, wrong narc). My friend felt awful but was short staffed and therefore distracted and being pulled from the cart. She got a write up for this. Others have made the same error at this place and continued to make it after she did. Admin has been verbally told about the danger of those narcotics not being wasted, and they have also been emailed regarding the matter, to no avail. Here is the advice I gave her. I told her to call the unit manager/charge and make a complaint about the matter. Next, if nothing gets done, send an email to admin about the matter. If nothing is done after that, refuse to take the cart on her next shift. She thinks this is extreme. What do you all think?

Honestly, if I had been the Nurse on the other line I would have just documented "Nurse spoken with refused to give her name at end of call" or something to that effect and been done with it. I wouldn't have made a big stink over it. It's also possible that she asked her boss about it and her boss took offense and wrote that email. It's also possible the OP came across as a know it all and possibly quite curt in her explanation of HIPPA violation. People tend to take things personal especially when their own knowledge is insulted.

I hope that what that commenter was getting at was that if you are a nurse working as a CNA and something goes wrong, legally you are held to the higher standard of a Nurse.

"Do you think he's dead?"

Am I the only one who feels that the situation the OP describes is how nursing in that setting should be? Safe patient load for each nurse, and the nurse is not distracted while passing meds or doing treatments, and the nurse might actually have time to spend with each patient which will allow her to treat the human being and not just the illness/disease/condition. Im not saying nurses in that facility shouldn't know how to perform other tasks (in case the unit manger or secretary is out). I'm just saying the situation described sounds ideal if the future of nursing is going to improve.