Working4ALiving

No, nursing school did not prepare me for this situation but the death of my parent last year did. You may learn in nursing school what to look for/do when your patient is dying, and what you may say to the patient and/or his family...but it's just something you need to experience. It doesn't have to be awkward or stressful. Maybe you could speak with your nurse supervisor about what to do when someone dies..go over the procedure (I did that the other night with my supervisor). I have heard many of my classmates say that they were surprised that they cried after the passing of one of their patients or residents...and that is ok too!

I had to laugh at this remember last year when my father died after a battle with terminal cancer. I had the privilege of being with my father last year when he died, and soon after my sister-in-law (who had more experience than I as a nurse...I was in my last class in nursing school) was flattening him down in the bed, making sure that he doesn't go into rigor mortis in an odd position because it's hard for the morticians to flatten these people out! ETA: this is response to K+MgMSO4's post

I had 42 residents the other night who had 6 a.m. meds. It took me 2.5 hours to finish my med pass :/ which is actually considered SLOW at my facility. I do not pre-pour, do not sign early...I do my first check at 12 a.m. when I am passing those meds, the second check around 2 a.m., the third when I am passing them. I do make sure I can locate all eye drops, nasal sprays, patches, narcotics, etc. early on so I am not bumbling around at 4 a.m.!

I am a new nurse and love most of the CNAs with whom I work. I would have had a much more difficult time adjusting to taking care of 50+ residents if not for them. Most of them work their butts off the entire shift and do not complain! Being the only nurse on the floor, I cannot possibly be with every resident every hour. The good CNAs will let me know if anything is different with a resident and also give me tips on how to manage some of the residents' personalities. When I can, I will help turn residents, put them on bedpans/assist with urinals, etc. Nurses are only as good as their CNAs, and most of them at my facility are gems!

On my first night at a LTC, a woman who was known to be hostile, screamed at me that "You don't speak English". I calmly said to her that "I am speaking English right now and you seem to understand what I'm saying". She continued with hostile comments about my race (I am not caucasian) and my response was always, "I'm sorry you feel that way" (which I really was...for if she felt more positively, I wouldn't have to stand there and listen to this!) Anyway, fast-forward 10 minutes and she was having difficulty locating her lip balm and lotion. I found both (the lotion was expensive) and applied the lip balm for her. She never had a complaint about my race or "English" again! This woman seemed to just be anxious about being a new admit. At least at this facility, it has been rare occasion that I've encountered a resident who says racist words toward me. ETA: A resident's racist attitude is not about me, but him or her.

And then sometimes I will talk a lot about non-personal things, if the resident really pushes it....some of my residents just want to know what's going on with the rest of the world outside the facility....some are really that lonely and wish to temporarily escape their own situations. And some never have visitors

Thank you for your assistance. Yes I understand this is not my concern, but this happens to be my best friend from nursing school who may be hurting himself by calling himself "registered nurse" on linkedin. I have another friend who was asked to interview for a job in a hospital after a recruiter viewed her information on the same website. I just wanted to help, not hurt.

A nursing school friend is listing his job on social networking sites as "registered nurse" at a very popular hospital in area in which I live. This man has failed the NCLEX-RN twice and has since signed on as a CNA at the popular hospital with intentions of moving into an RN position as soon as he passes the NCLEX-RN. This popular hospital will traditionally hire new RN graduates who have been working there while enrolled in nursing school programs. My dilemma: how do I tell this man gently that if someone finds out that he is misrepresenting himself as a licensed registered nurse, he could get in big trouble? I had asked this man about misrepresenting himself and he said that he is "embarrassed" that he hasn't yet passed and doesn't want to tell his friends.

I don't volunteer much information about myself, but will answer personal questions on a case-by-case basis. For example, I will answer the question, "are you married?", "how long have you been a nurse?", "where did you go to school"? However, I do not answer with my city of residence or names of family. I work in LTC. Most of these people just want someone to talk to.