Purple_roses

At my nursing school, I saw a poster pushing for safer nurse/patient ratios. I can't remember all of the details, but I remember a call for Med/Surg ratios of 1:4, ICU of 1:1, step down of 1:3. I think that in an ideal world, this would be great. I ...

"Crying before (and after)"....and sometimes sneaking into the bathroom to cry *during* the shift.

This is exactly how I felt as well. I would say that it was about 6 months before I started to feel ok about coming into work. The first year is difficult, but just remember that you are learning and becoming a stronger nurse with each shift. And onc...

I wonder if it would be appropriate to have someone record the event? I'm not sure if that would breach HIPAA law, but people usually do whip out their phones for anything these days. I feel that I would feel better knowing that someone was recording...

This might be a long shot, but do you happen to know any CRNAs that went the military route for CRNA school? If so, did they find that commitment to be worth it?

In nursing school, I learned that there are different phases of becoming a nurse. Right now, I'm still in the honeymoon phase, where I'm really just excited that I've made it this far. I'm on orientation, and I still feel like I know very little--my ...

Did you specifically ask off for any of the holidays? Some people like working the holidays, so if you didn't request to have any of them off, they may have just assumed you wanted to work it. I actually had this schedule as well for this holiday sea...

I can understand why you wouldn't have thought immediately to ask about what drips to DC. Sometimes our jobs get so insanely busy that we barely have time to think, and it certainly doesn't help when it's somethhing you're unfamiliar with. Bottom li...

Awesome thread topic! I was literally just starting to think seriously about this! Right now I have 4% going into my 401k, but I need to start researching other investment avenues. Following.

I was going to say....true critical thinking should lead a nurse to this conclusion. I could see needing to get a new sputum sample from a policy and procedure standpoint, but critical thinking is what has made multiple nurses here ask OP if gastric ...

To be honest, I could say the same thing about myself! Haha! The other day I was just staring at an acronym in a doctor's note...a really simple acronym that I see every day at work and I could NOT for the life of me remember what it stood for and ha...

I honestly think you may have been let go because you're on a witch hunt. Every single facility on the planet is doing at least something wrong, and I'm not saying you shouldn't advocate for what's right, but it's how you do it that matters. I have a...

The risk is skin breakdown, which you can very politely educate a patient on, but if the patient is alert and oriented and requests two *briefs* then at the end of the day, two briefs it is. When im old and gray I'll be demanding my whiskey and heav...

I like this. Gotta focus on the positives sometimes and get perspective. And if you've tried focusing on the positives and still feel super negative and depressed about your job for a prolonged period of time, maybe it's time to freshen up your resum...

This is it! Schools maintain accreditation based on NCLEX pass rates and not job performance. You nailed it.

I would imagine the length and thoroughness of actual job orientation makes a big difference in preparedness. At hospital A, a new grad on med surg may be promised a 10 week orientation and wind up taking 6 to 8 patients by week 2 because the hospita...

I usually clock out on time. The latest I've ever clocked out is 30 minutes past my shift. Our ER isn't allowed to give us new admits close to shift change. I also work night shift, so I usually am not the one discharging patients. My unit's patient ...

I have actually never had a patient or family member get upset with me for holding off on things like water when coming from CVL. It's not like an assessment takes an hour. It can be fast, but it is the priority. I explain everything as I'm doing an...

Respectfully, no. Cath patient coming to ICU? I work cardiac and when I get a cath patient back, I'm assessing and getting those q15 vitals first thing. I have told family that the water has to wait before and I would never change that.

If a patient is on a bariatric bed and isn't ambulatory, there will be a wound beneath that panis. And it will be fungal.

This is the product of viewing patients as customers in a society where the customer is always right.

I work cardiac. The best part is feeling like a valuable asset to the team and feeling proud of myself after handling an emergency well. The worst part is that my manager sucks; he rarely acknowledges a job well done and almost always has a negative ...

OC this is the perfect place to come and vent. Vent to us after every shift if you need to! Get it all out of your system here. If you'll notice I've been a bit salty about nursing around here lately in the hopes that I get it all out here instead of...

Hang in there OC! Sometimes it's rough when personalities clash. You'd probably do really well with a more relaxed preceptor, but... I have a feeling that this preceptor wants to see that you're teachable. You have a lot of experience, but not exper...

This is why the customer service mentality sucks. You probably did a great job taking care of that relative. And really, you can't take great care of your patients if you have to give these massive updates every 2 hours. That's ridiculous. I think yo...