jessimee

Yep, after thinking it over you are spot on. I think her "My advanced degree vs your google research" comment sort of embarrassed me for her (we may think that, but to say it directly to a large audience of people you know is apt to really turn off your listeners) and I was hoping for a reason to tell her to cool it with all the advice. But you are right. I have bigger fish to fry in my worldí ½í¸Š

FolksBtrippin, I was asking. I wasn't sure if there were legalities involved in making an assumption of an established provider-client relationship. There is some assumption of liability when giving advice to your neighbors...

That's just one example. She does get more detailed with her advice.

I'm just curious about the legality of something. There is a newly minted FNP in my neighborhood who frequents the neighborhood Facebook page giving medical advice. There was a discussion going on today about the flu shot and she made the statement that her "Advanced practice degree trumps your Google research" and yes, you should get the flu shot. I know her a bit--we've met a few times, but something about her touting her degree and accompanying it with advice feels not quite right. I'd hate for her to get in trouble. What do you all think?

For example, you are a certified med-surg RN (your facility pays you extra for being certified) with "x" years of experience and you transfer to the case management department as an RN. You are not a CCM. Can your organization lower your pay rate?

I work as the "resource nurse" on a med-surg unit. We typically have more surgical patients than medicals, so we have lots of admissions/discharges. I work 7-3, weekdays and my role includes helping with morning med pass (try to do one patient for each nurse), admissions, discharges, post-discharge follow-up calls and covering lunches. It's very crazy, but it has worked very well for our unit.

Of the three, I would recommend St. Anthony first. It is run by Centura, which is non-profit, and has a reputation for treating its nurses well. I work at another Centura facility and I find that to be true. Swedish is for-profit, run by HealthOne. We have quite a few nurses who came from there and report very poor staffing and pretty miserable working conditions. Denver Health appears to pay well, but I can't speak to what it's like to work there.

We have a few physicians who refuse to learn Epic. I had one recently who couldn't figure out how to put a patient on the particular insulin regimen that he wanted. He ordered "something similar", asked us to fix it, and left. Not only did I then have to take the time to figure it out, (double check with charge and pharmacy), put in correct orders, but also had to take time to write up incident report. Ugh.

If I could do it all over again, I would choose to be a musician (stringed instruments). But, that being said, I am happy being a nurse. I have never held a nursing job or worked in a specialty that I didn't enjoy. As a nurse, I make enough money to buy musical instruments and take lessons :), so it's all good!

Im hoping to come up with something that represents who we are as a specialty.

As a new grad, I worked as a pediatric med-surg nurse. I loved it but it was challenging as a new grad. We cared for all pediatric surgical patients in the hospital--everything from appendectomies to neurosurgeries, to urologic surgeries and orthopedic surgeries. Medical diagnoses included anything but cardiac or oncology. Everything from new type 1 diabetes, kidney failure (peritoneal dialysis), trauma/abuse, brain injuries, burns, to respiratory disorders, and septic neonates. Much of pediatric nursing involves educating and reassuring anxious parents. So you have to enjoy both kids and adults!

Hi All--I work at a small-ish hospital and some of the units have hoodies that they are allowed to wear at work (our uniform policies are otherwise pretty strict) with slogans/logos on them that represent their unit. ICU, for example has a slogan about not being "tachy". My floor is gen-surg/med-surg/trauma. Mostly surgery, in reality. We have a great team and the highest retention in the hospital. I think we deserve hoodies too! But I'm completely at a loss when trying to come up with something catchy that represents us as a specialty. Any ideas?

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses--I appreciate them all! My plan to deal with this is as follows--I will continue to not engage with her, acknowledge her frustration and move on. I will encourage anyone who approaches me with a concern (like the new nurse) that they might consider discussing it with our manager at their review, or sooner if they feel it's affecting their ability to safely care for their patients. I may make a general statement about wanting to maintain the good morale on the unit and how we can do that, in my upcoming 1year review.

Thank you. With this particular individual, it is mostly behind people's backs. And it's constant. And yes, it's shoes and hair comments, but it's also complaints about their work habits, what they've done that is "totally stupid", how she can't believe someone was given that job, because she could do it so much better. Things that serve to make co-workers question the abilities of each other. Above the level of razzing, IMO.

To the poster who said it sounds like I've been talking about her quite a bit--I actually haven't been talking about her quite a bit. I just try to avoid her and when she does approach me and tries to engage me, I politely acknowledge that she's frustrated and move on. Her attitude doesn't affect me, I am a firm believer that what another poster said is true, we are only responsible for our own feelings/responses. I became concerned the other day when a newer nurse approached me who WAS taking this nurse's comments personally, and is struggling to be happy on our unit. I felt bad that all I had to offer her was the "That's just how she is, don't take it personally" argument. It just doesn't seem fair. But as said in another post, at this point it's someone else's issue to to take to management, not mine. Unless I want to be proactive, which would need to be done carefully.

I don't think that's possible. I just think that the, "She's allowed to be disrespectful to co-workers, because that's just how she is" is not right. She has made one of our CNAs cry, and made other nurses feel intimidated. I hate the term "bully", but that's how I would describe someone like this. We don't necessarily have to be nice to our co-workers all the time, but we should at least be respectful. Maybe I'm wrong on that though... My fear is that that attitude will spread (we have a lot of newbies), and I really value our non-toxic work place.

So, I work on a fabulous unit, with mostly very nice people who respect each other and work well together. But, there is one nurse who is just plain mean. She says nasty things and complains about whoever happens to be not around. Her nasty things range from complaining about their work habits, to personal attacks about people's hair or shoes being ugly. When I was orienting, I was told by my preceptor, "That's just her personality". I guess, my feeling is that it's ok for her to be her not-nice self on her own time, but at work, she should tone it down and act like a professional. What do you all think?

Hi all, I am having trouble grasping something. I work on a med/surg floor where many of our surgical patients are type 2 diabetics. During and after surgery, they are taken off of their oral antidiabetic meds, and put on AC and HS accuchecks and Humalog, sliding scale coverage. If these folks are insulin resistant, how is the insulin going to work for them? They already make insulin, just don't use it properly right? I know that at some point, the pancreas poops out and stops making insulin, even in type 2's, but how do you have any idea how much endogenous insulin they do have? The things that keep me awake at night...

Yes! This is how acute care nursing should be

So just an update on this topic--I took a job in a med-surg unit as a "Resource RN". And I love my job! I work 7-3, and fill the morning lull before the admits/discharges start, by passing am meds for nurses so they don't get behind. The rest of the day is spent doing admits, discharges, iv starts, passing pain meds and fielding questions from newer nurses. When census gets high, I keep some of the admits until the next shift comes on. We generally have ratios 4:1 RN and 7-8:1 CNA, with a charge (no patients) and a UC. The only grumbling I ever hear on our unit is about problems with lack of supplies. I'm hoping that our patient satisfaction scores go up, as I really try to prioritize discharges and attending to pain. Now if we could just get a resource CNA whose sole job would be potty patrol, it would be perfect!

I am currently working on a med/surg unit 1/2 time and am fortunate enough to work 7-3's, set schedule (it's a job share) so I can be home after school. Next year all 4 of my littles will finally be in school full time and I'm thinking about options for filling in the my other 20 hours. 12 hour shifts are not an option. do home health companies require that you commit to a certain number of hours? Can you drop to minimal or no case load in the summer and still keep your job?

So I'm eligible for transfer within my hospital system after 6 months at my current position, which will be in July. I really want to transfer to a different facility closer to my kids' school, but I'm afraid that asking so soon after being hired will just make me look like a job hopper and make my current supervisors unhappy (they have to recommend me right?). What do y'all think? When should I start applying and let my current NM know that I'm interested in moving to another facility?

I love talking with patients and educating them about their medical/nursing care. What I don't enjoy as much is shooting the breeze with families about whatever football game is on the TV (you know what I mean). I am more of an introvert and making small talk wears me out. I want to be polite, and not come off as "too busy to stay and chat", but at the same time, I need to do my job as a nurse and get out of the room, both for my time-management, and for my own mental well-being. Any thoughts on this (besides moving to OR or maybe ICU where talking with families is more focused on what's going on with the patient)?

Is anyone willing to share their ortho/joint/spine brain sheet? TIA

You absolutely should do some time in a clinic before investing in an FNP program. You could find out if you even LIKE primary care. It is vastly different than what you have been doing. But not necessarily easier or less stressful.