AMatherRN

Wow. Maybe you need to reconsider this relationship. Seriously. My husband works full time, gets home in time to cook supper, and brings it to me so I can sleep until 6 pm. He does some of the grocery shopping and laundry. See, we're partners and we do what we have to for each other to make life slightly easier and more pleasant.

You cannot force a patient to do anything even if he ends up harming himself in the process. As others have said, keep documenting, but also keep offering whatever it is with explanation. Patients who are bed bound with trach and vent often take years to come to terms with their limitations and express that anger through noncompliance. I've had a couple of those, and eventually they get tired of the harm they do themselves and start not only complying, but requesting the care you've been offering. Trust me. Oh, and there's really nothing management can do except at their quarterly recertification visits, reinforce everything you are offering and informing them about. Seriously.

I've just started back for my BSN for the very ignoble reason of easier access to jobs. In reading all the stuff I have to, I've noticed that lots of people really seem to like piling up those initials after their names. As far as I'm concerned, they don't necessarily make you a better nurse. I'm not against learning new things, but please let those things be how to do the actual job better, how to use new equipment and supplies, insight into patients, etc., not this glorified, dull, incomprehensible word diarrhea just to make ourselves look better. We are what we are. Let's keep it that way. Maybe some people are meant to be scholars, but most of us aren't. We just want to get on with it.

I can't believe you actually had the chutzpah to post this and expect sympathy. Like others have said, you have to show up, do your job, minimize mistakes, and leave when you're supposed to. You have to follow day off policies. If you have "medical stuff", bring a note. If you had appointments for the medical stuff, you should follow policy about how far ahead to give a heads up about needing that time off. Seriously, most places would have fired you already, with good reason. And nobody's jealous of a whiner.

Does she chart witheld due to ________? If yes, I think you're stuck.

Private duty hospice care in a hospital. 70+ year old male dying of liver and kidney failure who discontinued dialysis and other treatments except for palliative care. He was well loved amongst his friends and co-workers who came to visit and stayed and told him how much they loved and respected him, one of his friends breaking down to tell him how much he appreciated his influence and advice. This nurse had to leave the area to remain professional. His wife had this look on her face - panicked and longing, but she respected his choice. His children? I wanted to tell the daughter, who did adore her father and spent a lot of time with him - that at this point, milk thistle and other nostrums would not do him any good. He had no liver left and his kidneys were not coming back. His son? Never wanted to smack someone through a window many stories up so much in my life. Besides trying to bully his father into treatments to see if a couple of more weeks would help, he would yell at his mother about how she gave up too easily and never made a good decision in her life. Had to tell him to keep it down and if he wanted to have this discussion, it had to be outside the room. Patients, even when they're rude, nasty and violent, are never as much trouble as some family.

1. Patient first, machines second. 2. Patient first, chart later 3. Patient first, family later. 4. Patient first, tidiness after. 5. Patient first.

. . . an all body fluid explosion.

For any task I do at home, I gather all my materials and arrange them. I also think about what else needs to be done and I try to prepare for multiple tasks. If I have to go upstairs or downstairs in our house, I make sure that I bring everything that needs to be done in addition to the primary task. And I've yelled at my husband, who was hit by a car and has a bunged up knee, to do the same because he will everlastingly go up and down the stairs for one thing at a time.