OhioMary

It feels like 90% of them are automated... but yeah, there's those few times where it turns out that someone does actually need this refill. I don't like the last minute stuff (I don't want to be at work on hold 20 minutes after my shift ends!) It seems there's no good way to discern if it's a human-created or an automated system fax. I reckon it's just a matter of drudging through the pile, eh?

I recently started a contract with a doctor's office. It's for mental health patients in the DDS system. We get a ton of those faxes for refill requests from pharmacies. My office manager has asked me to follow up on these to see if the patient needs them - pulling the paper chart, seeing when the last medication was ordered, if it's been long enough calling the care provider for the client and asking if they need more medications. My question is - does anyone else do this? I've always worked in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities and I've never done anything but shuffle these refill requests from the fax machine direct to the shredder box at all other places. Thank you in advance for any feedback, adjusting to office life feels a bit strange.

I'm researching the process for becoming a nurse practitioner. I'm an RN with critical care and psychiatric experience. I love psych and see a lot of openings for psychiatric nurse practitioners around here. I understand that if I go psych or general practice I'm going to need a MSN either way - the thing that I can't quite iron out with my googling is if i get the MSN and then do qualifying processes for the NP or if there are NP specific MSN programs. As my screen name suggests, I'm in Ohio - I hear that location makes a difference on this stuff.

I'm so mad I could spit! So, I'm going to a bit of a disorganized school for my LPN-to-RN transition and I didn't find out until Monday when my Hesi (nursing school exit exam) was going to be. When I did I immediately called the scheduler. I was told to put it in writing and give it to the DON. I went to the facility the next day and when I tried to talk with the DON about what I needed she was more interested in reminiscing with the other nurses standing nearby about when she took her exit exam and talk about how I dressed to my interview (I wore a suit, I looked nice... apparently that's really really crazy behaviour on my part). Anyway, she more or less blew me off and then just walked away before I could make my request clear in person. I slid my paper under the door to her office and left... quite confused. The ADON sent me a text yesterday afternoon asking if I could come to work. She also asked if the schedule (which was electronically released yesterday would work for me). I replied this morning that I need the 2 days off the week before my Hesi to have a normal sleep cycle (I work 7p-7a) and finish preparing for the exam. I got a text back reminding me that schedule change requests must be submitted by the 15th to be considered and I would have to find someone to trade days with me if I wanted time off. I was hired barely over a month ago and I'm having a rough time. Bad aides, short-staffed, woefully lacking supply closet, and generally being treated like I'm the enemy by my peers because I spend time trying to give good care to my residents instead of rush through so I can get more smoke breaks. I was already feeling ethically twitchy about not being well-equipped to care for my residents and being in a facility where orientation included helpful hints like "don't time/date your dressings in case the change gets missed for several days" and "oh, yeah... you are out of that medicine, just chart that you gave it and send another request to pharmacy for it to be filled" and "the feed goes in faster if you mix the flush in with it, instead of flushing after at all. Oh, don't worry about the black fuzz growing in the g-tube." I'm grateful to have gotten a job in an area that's saturated with nursing schools. I'm feeling pretty crappy about it and have only a few weeks until I finish RN school. How do I figure out if I'm just a bit miserable adjusting to the job and throwing a bit of a tantrum about my schedule request not being honored or whether I have legit justification to throw in the towel? TL;DR: Asked for time off to prep for Hesi and was denied. New to the job and find the facility a bit trashy. Wondering if my instinct to run is a knee-jerk reaction to expected discomfort or justifiable.

I was wondering if you ended up trying out the VFFs while working as a nurse and how it went for you.

Yes, I was told off. It was weird. When they were ordering and invited me to eat I said "no, thanks", when that didn't work I reminded them that I bring my lunch, when that didn't work I said I didn't have any cash on me and wouldn't be able to chip in and I really didn't need any anyway. Then when the pizza arrived the nurse told me he was really hurt that I would eat my lunch instead of joining him in the large pizza he bought to share with me (that I hadn't been informed of until I was walking down the hall with my heated lunch to the break room). We were friendly and I'm sure he felt like he was taking care of me... but goodness gracious. So much drama over a gal not wanting pizza. So after all that weird guilt and pressure I caved and ate the pizza.

Yes, I was told off. It was weird. When they were ordering and invited me to eat I said "no, thanks", when that didn't work I reminded them that I bring my lunch, when that didn't work I said I didn't have any cash on me and wouldn't be able to chip in and I really didn't need any anyway. Then when the pizza arrived the nurse told me he was really hurt that I would eat my lunch instead of joining him in the large pizza he bought to share with me (that I hadn't been informed of until I was walking down the hall with my heated lunch to the break room). We were friendly and I'm sure he felt like he was taking care of me... but goodness gracious. So much drama over a gal not wanting pizza.

I am returning to a facility where I have previously worked as an STNA to work for the last few months of my LPN-to-RN program (as an LPN). It's a LTC facility, nothing fancy, not in a ritzy part of town, but the people that work there are so lovely. Trouble is, loving people often try to show their love by feeding you. I had a lot of food pressure when I worked there before. Was treated like a crazy person when I brought healthy lunches from home. And on one occasion I was even told off for not eating pizza that I was "supposed to be eating" (and gave in to this pressure and didn't eat my own lunch that night). Nurses are stressed out and self-soothe with food. I get that. I just don't want to eat things that don't make me feel good. How do I acknowledge that I appreciate my coworkers are trying to take care of me by including me in the 1 am pizza or Chinese food order but still opt out gracefully?

At 5'4'' the ready-to-wear nurse dresses seem to come to the top of my kneecap. I know in school in chemistry labs we were required to make sure our leg skin was completely covered in case of spills; I wonder if it's acceptable to have occasional knee skin (during movement) showing while working in the field. I wear the dresses as a personal preference. I'm afraid there isn't a religious resource for me.

So, I like to wear scrub dresses. I'm an LPN currently studying for my RN. My school provides pants and tops to wear but I have permission to buy my own scrub dresses. Anyway, I don't have guidance on what is acceptible legwear when wearing a scrub dress. In the advertisements for scrub dresses the women are all bare legged. I worked with an RN before that wore the longer skirts with knee-high trouser socks. It doesn't seem that knee-highs would be long enough to cover all the skin when wearing a dress. Are pantyhose the right choice? When wearing a white dress what color is appropriate (white, sheer, skintone)? Also, what are the preferred brands/styles?