jdenni12

On a typical shift with 6, if I'm fortunate I have one walkie talkie. Most of my patients are upx1-2, or cocompletely immobile and are q2 turns. And of course almost every one of them are on iv lasix. Throw in 2 confused patients and that's a typical night for me.

Hi! I an a new-ish grad working on a medical telemetry unit. A 32 bed unit. We are specifically a heart failure floor, but we deal with a lot of other diseases as well. Afib, gi bleeders, even detox patients. We really can get anything. Our patients are generally high acuity. We can have patients on amiodarone, cardizem, heparin drips. Many are q2 turns, and most are incontinent. A lot of our patients are older and are fall risk and frequently confused. A lot of staff members have described our patients as being on "deaths door" and it's true because we have quite a few codes, and situations where rapid response is called and the patients go to the icu. Anyway, I'm on night shift and while we finally have enough staff, most of our staff have 1 year experience or less. We have one staff member who has 10 plus years and occasionally RNs who float in will have experience. I'm just speaking of RNs. On nights we usually start at 4 patients and can go up to 6, many of our patients being high acuity. There have been times when 2 staff members had to go up to 7! Because we were full. And our aids are always pulled as well. Usually we have one aide by 3AM. And on a floor with so many patients who are confused and are fall risk, not to mention with heart problems as well, we are severly understaffed.So getting to my question, those of you telemetry nurses with experience, is this a typical unit, or is this out of the norm? I think about getting another job, just because most nights, I feel like I'm working in an unsafe place, and I don't feel supported but then I hear "with the way I healthcare is now it's just as bad everywhere else". A lot of the times, I have a question, I go to the charge nurse and they may not really know, because they've never had to do it before. Now that I have to get acls certified, I'm probably next to be in line to be charge nurse. And I will likely be charge nurse at 9 months of experience, working with a new team of new grads who have 2 months of experience. And I feel wholly unprepared. My question is, is it really this bad everywhere else?

What qualities do you think would make a good OR nurse?

What are some signs of an ill managed OR? For example, what questions can I ask in the interview phase, that will alarm me to run far away because the place is unsafe?

How convenient I stumbled upon this post just as I was thinking of getting into OR! I'm a new nurse, with six months of tele experience and I'm seriously thinking of getting off my floor. I switch between wanting to do ER and OR. I know I really loved my opportunities to go into the OR whenever I did my clinical rotations. A few questions: How to make yourself attractive to potential employers, when you have no OR experience? What are the hours like? How to best prepare yourself while on the job to learn the various instruments and such (we don't cover OR nursing in school-just the sterile aspect of it) What would be considered an appropriate orientation time for a new nurse who has no OR experience?

Thanks for replying! I figured a year is the go to number. I was going to try and stick it out for a year. It's going to be the longest year of my life! It wouldn't be so bad if we had more resource and more experienced staff. I'm really new, and when things come up that I've never done before, I go to the other staff nurses and either they haven't done it, or really don't have an answer, and we're often so busy that they don't really have time to help which I don't blame them. It's incredibly scary. I don't wanna make a huge mistake and lose my license because we have a terribly understaffed and inexperienced floor.

Hi! I'm a new grad working on a medical telemetry floor. I was hired basically on the spot and I've come to realize that it's because most of our staff on nights have about a year of experience or less. Very high turnover rate. And most of our staff are looking for new positions. The air of negativity is pretty thick. It's not a happy floor to work on at all. Not saying that I expected nursing to be all roses and cotton candy, but I feel like other floors have more support. We have a pretty rough floor. Anyway, I am wondering how much time should I spend on my floor before it's "cordial" to leave. I know that it takes a lot of money to train a new grad. My heart is in psych and I plan to specialize in it, perhaps even obtaining my psych np. I don't want to burn any bridges and I hate to leave my colleagues in the lurch. Any suggestions?

Hello! I am new to this forum and this is my first post! I am a nurse tech in an L&D unit and I work specifically in the ER triage area of the unit. I am a senior nursing student and I graduate in December. There may be a full time position opening up for me when I graduate. However, I wanted to do ER or another medical unit to get a rounded experience. I also really love the fast paced environment of the ER triage area, so I think that ER would be a good fit for me. The only problem is, my area is over-saturated with nurses and many new grads are going without jobs for a while after graduating. Should I accept this position, or start out as a new nurse somewhere else hopefully? I like L&D but I do not plan to make it my life-long career. If I start in L&D will I have boxed myself in? I really do love my team, I know that is rare to find as I heard that many nurses eat their young and I know that I would have an easier transition onto the L&D floor than in other areas. I'm just weighing my option now, as the intentions that I make known to my boss now, may have a bearing on if she holds the position for me or not. Thanks!