enc123

So I am not trying to "jazz" up my post with fonts and colors!! I was trying to use the quote button because I am new to this site and didn't quote and reply correctly so I am not sure what happened after I hit submit. No need to be rude because I was in no way rude or disrespectful to you.

What the ANA thinks is irrelevant to me. They are constantly sending annoying emails about their political agenda, so I've learned to ignore them. The individual states and BON are the ones with the practice act. My [COLOR=#000000]comment about ANA is the hope that they would actually stand up for us like the AMA does and protect our Nurse practice act. I am not a member but with issues such as these it often makes me wish I was more involved. I think this is why the medical community has been able to flourish. Thanks for your feedback.[/COLOR]

I don't think it minimizes what we do. I don't really care if they want to call themselves nurses. Hell, veterinarians call themselves DOCTORS all the time. Technically Vets are doctors. They become a (DVM) doctor of [COLOR=#000000]veterinary medicine and they start off in the same undergrad as doctors, nurses and dentist. I know my BSC is the same degree that in undergrad my vet, doctor and dental friends all have. We all took the same courses and then went our separate ways after that. The vets know almost just as much about medicine as a human doctor and they also went for training in internal medicine. Vet techs now in recent years are finally receiving a formal education, but for the most part I am not totally sure, but from what I researched after seeing this topic they still don't have to go and get and undergrad degree. Our profession already deals with people callously throwing around the title nurse, which is why I feel it minimizes what we do. I have seen so many doctors and even at my own facility the physicians call the CNA's their nurse. I work with one physician who stated to me that our job was so easy even a high schooler with a GED could do what we do!! He decided that he no longer needed a nurse and asked for the CNA to act in the role of Navigator. Lets just say his patient population began to suffer because they were not receiving the education they needed while undergoing treatment. [/COLOR]

Hello allnurses I have a question for you all. What do you think about the term Veterinary nurse. I came across a user on social media using that term and stating that she was a veterinary nurse and it was told to her that the title of "nurse" was a protected term and the correct term was actually veterinary technician. The nurse told the OP that she wasn't trying to be disrespectful but wanted to clarify due to there being so many myths and a great deal of miscommunication about the nursing profession. The person gave an excerpt of the nurse practice act where it states pretty much what the nurse stated and it discussed being licensed to use the title. So what do you all think? Do you think it is okay for Veterinary technicians to call themselves vet nurses. I think it minimizes what we do and how hard we worked in school and for this profession. I actually went and looked up the definition of nurse and the definition falls under promotion and wellness of the human kind and I am paraphrasing. I agree with the OP that vet techs care mimics that of a nurse but only to animals but I disagree with her using the title nurse and I agree with the poster that corrected her. The original poster stated that some states are going to start changing vet tech in its postings to vet nurse and I wonder how the ANA will feel about that. Will they actually stand up for us as the AMA would? I know that the AMA is a powerful organization but at the same time considering the majority of the US has nursing listed as protected in their practice act, it may not come to fruition.

HI Neezy I want to ask first how old are you? You do not have to answer but maybe you have time to change and do something else. I would also recommend that you finish your RN. This will open up more options for you where you do not have to necessarily work bedside or strictly patient care. There are many options such as nursing informatics, pharmaceuticals, and insurance is another that moves away from direct patient care. I know some nurses in insurance actually work straight from home. Nursing is a rough profession, and not only do the patients and family members chew you up and spit you out but your own colleagues can as well. I myself happen to love nursing and the profession, but there are many things I would change about it if I could. I would also suggest you try speaking with a counselor especially if you were attacked. That is a hard thing to deal with especially if you are already feeling down and depressed do to a career choice. Good luck to you and I hope you find some peace.

My first nursing job out of nursing school was pediatric home health. Did you ever think to try that. I spent my 12hr shift sitting next to the bed of a 3 year old who was total care. She couldn't move, talk, or communicate in anyway with me other than to cry periodically which I took to mean she was in pain if she moaned or seemed restless with it. I was a very fast learner and had great critical thinking skills already which allowed me to be pretty successful and the nurse that trained me made herself available if I needed to call her instead of the home health "charge nurse". You have had 3 months inpatient so that could probably help you with some skills in that setting. Home health was great in that I set up my schedule and you were there one on one with the patient. The mar was there for me to follow along with the schedule for the day which then became very routine. The agencies are always hiring in my area and I am not sure where you live, but if I were you I would check in to that. By the way you are not a failure.

The charge nurse is a new thing that is being tried in our clinic. I was the first to be assigned the role. My boss stated that I always stepped up when she was tied up and she realized that our clinic should have a charge nurses, so she put me in it to test out how it would work. I did not stay in the role I asked my boss to assign another nurse whom I thought was excellent in it because I was hopefully going to put in my notice. I do not plan to work as an NP in the same place. I already had some positions lined up and unfortunately like you said I was able to network but since I have not yet passed boards, I can't take any of the positions yet and I am staying on a little longer. I decided to push them way back until I really feel ready and not just ready to leave. This is actually the first time it has happened to me where it has really bothered me. I had some nurses at other places try it, but I was able to stop it in it tracks. My preceptor years ago even tried and I let it go on for a few months until I had enough and stood from my seat next to her and that was the end of it. I recognize that I have a really soft demeanor and often say yes more than no, so people have often mistaken my kindness for weakness, it has plagued me most of my life but being a nurse is what taught me to start standing up for myself. In this particular situation she just wouldn't let up even after I told her to stop being disrespectful and I wasn't going to take it from her.

This is the issue I have dealt with with this person. I see a counselor every so often for my own piece of mind, and spoke with her about my work issues and we discussed asserting myself but it did not work on her. After I told her that she was not going to continue being disrespectful to me and when she was ready she could speak to me in a more respectful manner, she only became worse. As far as some of the other posters stating that I poled the other nurses about our situation, I haven't spoken to them about our issues. I went and asked the other nurses had I ever talked down to them or disrespected them in anyway and if so I wanted them to feel free to come and speak with me if I had. As for the housekeeper once again she was the one who approached me with that information. I told her thank you don't worry about me I will be leaving soon, I will be okay and it was left at that. I have spoken to my supervisor about it as a matter of fact I have spoken with her multiple times about this person and she has acknowledged that this person can be a bully and has even tried to bully her as the manager. She is someone who has been very hard to work with since the day she started. I actually have moved myself to a new office so that I don't have to be near her when I am at my desk

So yes this is a real posting and yes this is something i am actually going through. As for my writing, I am not writing a formal paper. I graduated 3 weeks ago and do not have to focus on a perfect paper and perfect grammar. As for the question about sleep I have been up the entire night studying and researching and surfing the web during study breaks. I did not blame her for failing my boards. My exact words were "I worked myself up and stressed myself out so much". I also didn't ask the housekeeper about the other nurse. The housekeeper is a friend and noticed I was stressed and she was the one that told me she knew I was being bullied because the other nurse said it in the break room in front of her and another nurse. As far as me walking away, that is pretty much how I spend most of my work days. I ignore her and because our desk are so close together, I sit at my desk quietly getting ready for the workday. I am a person who likes peace and it is hard to come to work everyday when you have someone who is outright disrespectful to you and tries to put you down at every turn, inserts herself into your conversations then yells at you over something she wasn't even involved in or knew nothing of. The last time that happened, I got up and just walked away and once I came back into the office she was still standing there badmouthing me to another colleague. She looked up and saw me approaching so she stopped and walked off and the other nurse gave me an apologetic look. I just really hate being in such a toxic atmosphere and there isn't any reasoning with her.

I am writing because I have another nurse that I work with who is very domineering and has an very bossy personality. When she first started in our clinic a little over a year ago she immediately rubbed everyone the wrong way and non of the other nurses liked her. She was very difficult to precept or train and was not open to learning anything new. She would always tell us she has been a nurse for almost 30 years she knows how to do X, Y and Z. She was retired for 6 years and came back to the profession. We all excepted her even though she was very difficult to work with and as time went on she finally joined our group and would engage in conversations. Approximately 5 months ago our supervisor expressed to her that she needed to watch out on her overtime during one of our morning huddles and to make sure she leaves early that day to keep from having overtime on her paycheck. The next week the supervisor puts me in charge and we had a nurse who needed to leave early because of a sick child in day care this left a physician without a nurse. I asked her to step into that assignment because she was the only person free that day without an assignment and could fill the hole. I told her not to worry that even though I had an assignment I would help her so that she could leave on time and not have to worry about overtime. After I said that she exploded on me then proceeded to tell me I was being overbearing and disrespectful to her and talking down to her. She wouldn't let me get a word in so I just dropped it. The next morning I came in and she proceeded to go off on me again and tell me that what I wasn't going to do was ever disrespect her again and she has been a nurse longer than anyone. I normally do not speak up for myself and am pretty quiet but this time I stood up and told her that she was actually being disrespectful to me and all i tried to do was help her. She then went on to tell me that I talk down to the other nurses and she has noticed. I then went to all of the nurses and told them that I wanted to keep that open relationship that we have always had and to please let me know if I have ever disrespected them. They all looked at me shocked and asked where that was coming from that I am the nurse that they know they can always count on to help them or answer a question. My boss told me that she was giving the role of charge nurse because all of the nurses look to me as a leader and I am the one who precepts and trains all of the new staff and students. She said that all of the nurses really respect me and look up to me so when the nurses all told me that same thing I sat down and thought about it and realized that she may have been saying that just to hurt me because before the incident we had she had been one of the nurses telling me before that I am a great teacher and mentor to the students and nurses. She said that one day she was listening to me train one of the students and how well I relayed the information to the student nurse about breast cancer. It has now been 5 months since that incident but she has made it her mission to essentially bully me at work. I have been focused on school and graduating because this was my final semester in NP school and I was finishing my last clinical hours preparing for graduation and preparing for boards so I have tried to just ignore her but the tension and her actions make it really difficult to go to work everyday. My boss allowed me to go down to part time to give me time to study for the boards and during those weeks up until test day it felt great not having to be at working so I worked myself up and stressed myself out and put so much pressure on myself to pass boards to get away from the job that I failed my boards last week. My work is a toxic environment and one of the cleaning ladies even stated to me that she knew I was being bullied because the nurse told her one morning that she makes it a point to **** with me. She told the housekeeper she doesn't like me because I don't say good morning when I come in in the mornings! None of the other staff cares that i come in in the mornings and sit at my desk quietly not talking. I am not a morning person and most of the mornings when I come in I am working off of 2-3 hours of sleep because I have been up all night studying. I sit quietly at my desk to get my thoughts together and prep for the day ahead of me. I have always been nice to her just like I am nice to all of my other colleagues and as of right now she is the only one I do not speak to. I go in to work and go on as if she does not exist unless I have work issues to discuss with her. I have spoken with my supervisor about how she treats me and how disrespectful she is to me and she acknowledges that this nurse is toxic and does not communicate with the staff in a positive manner. How do I continue to go to work everyday and get through the work week and what is this nurses problem with me what did I ever do to her

This is actually not true. As an FNP you are trained in primary care but you can work anywhere you please and do not have to obtain more schooling. I am an AGNP and started off as an FNP. As an AGNP this puts me in primary care in the adult role where I do not see children where as before as FNP you can go and work in one of those urgent care clinics and see all patients children included. As an AGNP I accepted two positions one in primary care part time taking care of the adult population and my full time I am a Breast cancer nurse practitioner specializing in radiation oncology. I did not have to go obtain extra education. My FNP friends and PA friends we were all pretty much trained as General practitioners and where you went after graduation was your business. Now there are some specialties you can go into that will make you then have to go back like a Midwife they are basically OBgyns. But if you think of internal medicine then the playing field is level.

You have gotten excellent advice the problem here is you don't want to hear and except it. You only want people to agree with you but by your comments and response to others you have proved yourself to be incompetent and won't take accountability for your actions. This is really sad and I read each post and stayed quiet for a while but I can no longer continue to do so. You have come here and insulted fellow nurses and insulted those who didn't share your opinion. You have a long way to go and a lot to learn.

But we do have some ways to determine this. We can take a look at vitals. More often than not when a person is abusing the narcotics pulse rate is going to drop bp is going to drop and you see the classic falling asleep mid sentence. I am not saying you can not sleep while being in pain. I have sickle cell of all things and when I am in the throws of a crisis that is a "10", believe me there is no sleeping I am moving back and forth and crying with tears streaming down my face, my bp is elevated my pulse is usually 165+ and I sweat profusely because the pain is so bad. Picture a women in labor in the final stages where contractions are coming often and she's sweating and trying to breath threw that pain. That is my 10. I understand the pain scale so when I am in a bad crisis that make me go to the hospital its usually an 8-10. symptoms like these are indicators. Once my crisis has made its way down to a 5 if you give me that 16 mg iv push dilaudid my bp is going to drop my pulse will drop etc. This is when dosages can now be adjusted. My pain management doctor always said if you are in true severe pain you won't OD because the pain receptors will be there to take up the medication. Once you fall asleep then you won't push that PCA button in your sleep and this is why we tell family members not to so all of the assessment techniques are there we just need to utilize them in healthcare and we arent. We are just seeing everyone the same and saying well this is a high dose it would stop my breathing and we are failing to see that some people may have developed a tolerance and someone elses pain may be more.

Yes exactly!!! I take 200 mg morphine ER BID and I do not get high. Yes it is an extended relief providers not in palliative do not understand that. the moment I show my medication to a new provider I get "OMG you take this much how do you stay awake!?" Well first of all it's MS contin ER so no there isn't a high that goes along with it you can function. I am wide awake not impaired and this is why my doctor started me on it so that I could function in my science role then as I moved into the RN role my manager and I contacted the board to make sure this was okay and they stated I would be more impaired if I had to work in pain. What all healtcare providers need to learn is that MS contin ER is not the same as IR and when you take this daily your tolerance builds up and tolerance is not synonymous with addiction.

I couldn't agree with you more. Pain is more often than not under treated and stigmatized and people are stereotyped. I am a nurse who started off as a molecular biologist now moving into the NP realm and guess what my specialty will be? Pain managment. Yes I know there will be the drug seekers but as someone who suffers chronic pain and severe acute pain as I have Sickle Cell Anemia one of the most misunderstood pain diseases out there you can bet that I will do my research and make sure I care for my patients to the best of my ability. Post like this really upset me because if the assessment was performed thoroughly and correctly doling out narcotics to a patient in pain wouldn't be that taboo. I can't tell you how many times when I myself have been in the hospital in an extreme amount of pain and my physician has ordered for me to have a large IV push of Dilaudid the pushback that was recieved but after I received the dose and nurses took time out to really look at me they recognized there was no faking here. I have been given 16mg Iv push of dilaudid at once and I remember I myself giving that same IV push to a palliative patient and still watching her cry out in pain until her body gave out and she died later that day. I recieve treatment from the same group of nurses and doctors so it's not an issue now so I dread the day I have to move to a new city and come across the doctors and nurses who don't understand and don't care to understand and let my pulse jump back to 170 and watch me sweat profusuely and writhe in pain crying hysterically as pain pulses threw my body because they think I am that sickle cell patient who just want narcs.