deedee30

I work med-surg (basically). I laughed when I saw your question because at least where I work, I often hear myself and other nurses groaning about our "psych" patients and comment that we are not "psych" nurses. Many of us have stated without a doubt that we lack the skills and patience to be full time psych nurses. So, are you a real nurse? No way!!! You are a GOD (or goddess if we must be politically correct here). deedee

Is there any possibility these patients were already dead prior to the staff leaving? Sorry I do not know the whole story on this. deedee

I have been on both sides of this now. I am one of those nurses that hates going to the doctor. To make the story short :Severe back pain, can't walk, Son with Asperger's calls 911 (did very well and am proud of him), son let 911 know I was big so enough help would come (I told him to do that), 911 people were ALL wonderful (ambulance personnel and local law enforcement) truely professional and kind and there were several of them that arrived at my home, asked EMT to notify hospital enroute of my size so staff would be aware and she did, wheeled in and ER staff rude, EMT stuck up for me and redirected their behavior, also overheard one nurse say "Wow I didn't know we were getting such a big one", I live in high drug area and so was then denied pain relief until they were sure I wasn't a drug seeker (they actually said this to me!), In their records for 5 years and never received pain meds you would think a quick check would have showed this, no assistance with toileting (remember severe back pain), brought in small commode and said they had nothing larger and left, sent friend out to remind them that I am a nurse and know damn well they have a larger one and directed them to go up to ortho floor and get it!,nurse left me without call light and shut door (friend was out of room checking on my son), yelled for help, nurse returned, clipped call light to pillow, said I had to wait for doctor and left, I had not said a word to her and she did not ask why I yelled for help. There is more to this story, but I think you get the picture. In the long run it was a good experience for me. It made me a better nurse and gave me a closer connection to my patients with severe pain problems.I truely believe 99.9% of all nurses care about thier patients. I even believe the nurses that treated me so poorly probably care and were hopefully having an off day. Whenever I catch myself tempted to reply in a rude manner to a patient I remember how it felt. Whenever I have to answer their call light for the 100th time I think "well at least we gave them their call light" the comment always makes me smile for some reason, and as far as toileting goes, well let just say I am very prompt to respond to those requests as they are close to my heart LOL. Here's hoping we all try everyday to improve the care we give and grow in our profession and not in our waistline! deedee

I agree it sounds high. Many places will pay higher amounts if you work without benefits though.

This is the e-mail i received: Thank you for your offer of help to the Louisiana people in our time of crisis. I'm sorry this is not a personal email, but we are receiving many communications at this time. Here are the current contact numbers for LA Dept.of Health and Hospital for assignment to aid in disaster relief: 225-763-5770 and 225-763-5740. You may have to keep trying to call, because phone service is sporadic right now. You may also contact them at [email protected] (the first letter is a lower-case "L"), There is currently no lodging available. You may be sleeping in a shelter with evacuees. Please bring a sleeping bag and anything else you think you may need. Bring your current RN license from your home state and a picture ID. This is a difficult time for us, and we sincerely appreciate your willingness to help. Thank you again for your generosity in volunteering! Louisiana State Nurses Association

This was supposed to be funny? Sorry, I missed the hilarity there. Cara Cara are you still a student? As morbid as it seems, when you spend a long enough time in the trenches this type of humor is what keeps you going. It is human and yes it is irreverent but I assure you these nurses probably have as much respect for their patients as you or I do. deedee :)

I would be willing to head down also. The hospital I work for owns other hospitals throughout the gulf area that were affected by Katrina. I have contacted them directly and offered my time. I also e-mailed lsna.org to offer my time. I am in Minnesota and just recently returned from Florida. Hopefully I will be heading back south soon. deedee :)