lrsrusty

I'm also a fan of uniform advantage, the variety can't be beat and I can get tall scrub pants that aren't unisex.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy's mother dies. The paramedics arrive, check her pulse, declare her dead and leave Buffy alone with the body. Drives me nuts! End of life patient on Nurse Jackie, walking, talking, joking, eating chicken noodle soup, then a few hours later peacefully dying. I wish they would accurately depict the dying process so the public would be better prepared for it.

I'm glad I got into nursing to help people when they are at their worst. Even on my worst shifts I walk away knowing I made a difference. Good luck finding a job that works for you.

My hospital does the same thing with "hospital week". All staff get free meals, which are provide by our terrible cafeteria. This year nurses received a carnation.

I have been very fortunate to work at a small critical access hospital that hires new grad LVNs in their LTC, med/surg, and ER. I started floating between LTC and med/surg. Then full time nights on med/surg, occasionally floating to ER during codes and high patient volumes. Now I am full time in the ER after four years. Any LVN job involving direct patient care is stressful. Sounds like nursing is not the profession for you if you want a desk, or behind the scenes job. Nursing isn't for everyone, and if you are solely in it for a paycheck, God help you and your patients.

I work in a critical access hospital on the medical surgical floor. I come in at 1830, review orders, labs, radiology reports, and medications. I check the med fridge and count narcotics with day shift nurse. Get report, get my assignment from RN charge nurse and then hit the floor. I check vitals on all patients on the floor, we average about 10. During vitals I perform assigned assessments, assess IVs, toileting/bathing if needed. Next I move on to med pass and finish up night time ADLs. Most of the time however, New admits are thrown in the mix as well as recovering surgery patients. Once all patient care and orders completed, I chart. Of course, ill be answering call bells, checking vitals q4h or more often if ordered/needed. I'm responsible for checking the crash cart and quality controllers on blood sugar machine. At the end of shift I'm getting people out of bed for breakfast if needed. Assisting with ADLs, finalizing I and Os, checking blood sugars, daily weights, ambulating, toileting, giving AM meds and whatever else needs to be completed before day shift hit the floor. It's always an RN and me the LVN. We work as a team. Some nights are wonderful, others are complete hell.

I took care of this sweet failure to thrive lady. We had taken out her foley and her strength was improving so she was safe to use the BSC. That first night she must have gotten up 10 times. The last time I got her to the commode she said, "man, I haven't been this active since my wedding night." I was ROFL. Sadly, she past away a few months later. But she will always be one of my favorite patients.

I struggled with that too . . I work three on four off so I try to stay up as long as possible when my last shift is over, and wake up in the AM the next day. Or I'll sleep from say 1300 to 1900, up from 1900-0200, and back to bed from 0200-0900.