Galendria

I agree that it can be frustrating to see patients eating food that is counterproductive to their health. At the hospital I work at patients don't order delivery super often, but there is a cookie shop, Wendy's, coffee shop/bakery, gift shop with ca...

I agree with the previous poster that it could be the brand of soup/sanitizer used. If so human resources needs to provide you with an alternative if you have a documented allergy. Also, does your facility still use latex gloves? I personally have...

I work at a level 1 trauma/regional referral teaching hospital on a very busy med surg/telemetry floor. Our matrix calls for us to have a 1:5 nurse patient ratio, with the occasional nurse able to only take 4 patients. The charge RN typically has 1...

A lot of great info has been brought up (and debated!) in previous posts. Back to the original question of the poster though I think several points are important to keep in mind... 1. Run heparin (along with all drips like insulin, etc.) in a dedic...

I know of the school b/c I'm originally from South Carolina. No one where I live now would know what I meant if I said MUSC though.

1. Urban Ohio teaching hospital 2. 11 years experience--med surg 3. Base pay=$30.71 4. $5 shift dif from 3pm-7am. Additional $5 weekend dif. $3 charge dif. $3 over-percent dif (for hours 36-40). Double time and a half when working holidays. Co...

This is a crazy long thread, but I just wanted to add my 2 cents in. 1. I'm a gun owner. I grew up in the southeast where guns, bows, hunting, and fishing are a way of life. 2. I would never be offended if a healthcare worker asked me either at m...

I would respond as a visitor the same way I respond if there is a car accident, someone collapsing at the gym, etc. I would offer first responder CPR/first aid until more advanced help arrived (police/EMS outside the hospital; code team inside). Wh...

Is your clinical coordinator a RN or advance practice nurse? I'm a bit confused because in your story she seems to be suggesting a plan of care/new orders to the family which isn't really in a nurse's scope of practice, especially since she wasn't c...

Thank you *so* much for linking the medical mistakes thread. I have been solid laughing for 15 minutes now. I had no idea so many miracles happen around us, every day!

If you are only 2 weeks into your orientation, then as a new grad (ideally) you should still be receiving quite a lot of support and assistance from your preceptor. Do you have a consistent preceptor that you feel comfortable talking to? Are you re...

We can phone in for meetings at my hospital, and they actually still pay us for our time! Its magical :)

Both my nursing jobs have been at large teaching hospitals in the heart of big cities. I just love the action, learning experience, and variety that big hospitals provide over smaller community hospitals. When I worked at the first hospital my husb...

Your post title made me *giggle*. What exactly are you and the family charging? The exit...the new snack machine...the cafeteria before all the coffee is gone?

Like other posters have said, my hospital gives a bit longer orientation to new grads than experienced nurses (12 weeks vs. 8 weeks). However, I think the real reason (and its controversial) that hospitals think new grads are expensive is the perceiv...

Like a previous poster, my facility asks us to strip the linen off the bed, and remove all tubing/suction/containers with bodily fluid in them after a patient is discharged. Housekeeping then comes in and deep cleans the room/bathroom, removes trash...

My husband got an abscess, and our doctor jumped to the conclusion that it was MRSA since I've been in the healthcare field for 17 years now. Cultures came back and turns out our house still has boring old susceptible to everything staph germs lying...

I worked as a pediatric nurse for 7 years before relocation made me move back into the world of adult nursing. First of all, I'm happy that the nurses in your life made such an impact on you, and have utmost respect for you in that you are endeavori...

I also work from 7am to 7:30pm. The unofficial "rule" for both shifts is that if a admission comes before 6:30 am/pm the previous shift will attempt to do most of the admission. If they arrive after 6:30am/pm the previous shift settles the patient,...

Wow, and I thought my short LPN gig before I finished nursing school was bad! That place had a ratio of 22 patients to 1 LPN on 7am-7pm shift and 44 patients to 1 LPN on 7pm-7am shift. I still felt as if my entire day was a never ending med pass. ...

Loriangel I agree with your puzzlement. I care for many patients in their 40's and 50's who are DNR-arrest, and I personally will probably change my code status to DNR when and if I am lucky enough to reach my 80's. Its a great option that our stat...

Is your assistant nurse manager also the charge nurse? If not, were they available to help? Its also ok to ask other nurses for help (and ideally on floors with good teamwork, they should be offering to help you if they see you are drowning). Some ...

I work in a state where patients can ask to be DNR--comfort care without a terminal diagnosis, so the amount of supportive care we give is quite varied...from traditional comfort care for the dying patient with liberalized diet, no labs, daily v/s, n...

There's a reason our hospital has "gut feeling something is wrong" on the list of reasons nurses can call for the emergency response team. Sometimes we "just know".

I agree with RubyVee that exercise can be extremely helpful. I prefer biking to walking, but there's nothing like pounding out the miles and getting endorphins flowing to relieve some of the tension and stress from a bad shift. Also, getting plenty...