pogo

So, let me get this straight... you think you may have contracted HIV from a miniscule drop of blood through you're scaly, yet intact skin ???....and you need to find a suitable health insurance plan to cover this incident. You know that your chances of contracting HIV is very small, but you are working yourself up over having to further investigate this exposure. On top of this you say as a (projected) result of getting your exposure checked out, your school may question your health status. Please get FACTS about HIV exposure from your local health department for your own sanity. And for Goodness sake, get some health insurance while you are in clinicals !!! Thank your lucky stars that this was not a significant exposure, ie. a needle stick or blood splash to the eyes.

I think that you should fight the termination for the sake of the inmates and your professional reputation. Let me tell you, when I was a Correctional Nurse I would write up letters upon letters about the unsafe conditions that I saw !!!! It did little good at that time of my employ but at least there was documentation to the facts. The main issue with Correctional Nursing is litigation. When I was about to resign there was an investigation of a death of a inmate. Although, I was not directly involved with the incident, but my notes were under scrutiny and I must assume that my complaints were also noted. For your situation, it depends on what effect you want to have (Sledgehammer or Behind-the Scenes Maverick). You could present your case to the Medical Director of the institution. Or you could notify the State Health Surveyor. Maybe you could even threaten the Medical Director that you will go to the Surveyor. I know after the death, policies were changed and crash carts were purchased. It's a shame that it took a life being lost to come to that. Those Correctional Health Institutions seem to skate on thin ice. Good Luck:twocents:

i've been thinking about getting out of nursing and it occuried to me the other day- that the essence of my gripe is that when dealing with the sick, one must be in a relatively healthy state (mind, body, spiritual), be willing/able to give without getting (most of the time) , while putting up with extrarraneous stuff that has nothing to do with the 1:1 interaction with the patient (ie, egos/politics, budget, understaffing)....this if of course in the context of potentially having someone's life in your hands. when i started out 5 years ago, i had the all those necessary resources to do my job well. but, now i'm just tired--it's so draining. i wish someone would have stressed to me to ALWAYS take care of yourself 1st, no matter what!!! soooo, to you i'd say if you can muster up endurance to deal with these things--go for it, just be warned that it's alot of responsibility that you hold. and obviously, you must have a CARING heart (this will keep you focused and guide you through alot of the B*** S****). The best thing about nursing is that after something you've said or done has gotten through (and not in a control freak way), you get to witness the end result... and you know that patient's life will never be the same again. just beautiful. Oh, the other best thing is that if you don't like the speciality you're in, you can change it. or if you don't like the hours, change 'em....lots of potential horizonal, vertical, diagonal :chuckle moves to be made. hope you find your way.

yeah, these are BIG indicators. thanks for the reiteration.

a patient coded on the machine (this was while still in training, in i always keep in mind--every tx is a new one and what might have applied last time may not this time. so i would agree that 90% is "not running around like a chicken with your head cut off" time, but the other 10% is "potential for something to go wrong" time. the good news is you develop a sense of when to be worried and not, the more experience you get. soo, that's my 2 cents.

yeah....that's a good idea!!! i've been flirting with the idea of ED nursing, but frankly don't think i could handle the chaos for the long term. it seems urgent care is a face paced Dr.'s Office that mostly sees non-emergent situations. could you just give me an example of the kinds of cases that come in. Thank you for posting.

Does anyone have any innovative ideas on where RNs could work 3-4 days a week (full time 10-12 hrs/day), but not be in the hospital environment. I'm a bit stuck here, b/c I love community health nursing, but hate the hours. Then I hate hospital nursing, but love the hours. 9-5 is so predictable and I'd prefer to have whole days to get things done..like work out during non-peak hours, go to MD visits without filling out papers 2 wks in advance. I've already thought of dialysis nursing...other ideas would be appreciated.