suseliz

As a new grad, I had the opportunity to work labor and delivery my first job. I really wanted to, but decided I wanted other experience first. (I know, not post partum as was specified in the letter.) No one would ever hire me for labor and delivery down the road because I did not have labor and delivery/post partum experience. Twenty years into my nursing career I was on to grad school to become an NP. I was working the float pool in my last job in the hospital and floated to post partum for a weekend. They begged me to transfer to their department. Moral of the story—go for what you want!

I have been in nursing 41 years. Started out with a BSN, got my Master's 20 years ago. How did I last? You can say a lot about nursing, but it is always changing, if you are doing it right you are always learning something, if you ever reach the point you've seen everything you discover you haven't, and it is never, ever boring.

I had a confused patient in ICU back in the late 70's. I noticed a pair of glasses on her bedside table and put them on this little old lady. They were huge! I came on the next day and she still had them on. Her doctor came by later in the shift and asked, "Have you seen my glasses?" Then it dawned on me why her glasses case said "Dr. Reed" on it.

Means, modes, and EOC's. Whatever the heck those were.

"I wanna be a work from home nurse when I grow up. Probably hugely stressful in its own right, but I prefer to be stressed in my Jammie's." I work from home, and in my jammies if I want to. It can be less stress as complicated patients are to be referred, but we are to keep the ones that are appropriate. However patient satisfaction and getting our patients taken care of quickly is key. If you want less stress, don't be a nurse.

After 20 years practicing as a Family nurse practitioner and doing many physicals, I would vouch for general ignorance of female genitalia by women. Many women feel that area is "gross". I get comments as I sit down to do a pap, "How can you stand to do that?" Women don't want to touch themselves down there to use a lady partsl cream, barrier methods of contraception, a Nuva ring, or Estring. Use a mirror to look at themselves? Are you kidding? Women are shocked and upset to know they have a yeast infection or BV. They have no clue about the risk of STD's even though they claim to have had sex Ed. There are many women who are very sophisticated and many who are not.

Once I didn't show for a night shift. They changed my schedule from what it had been for years. The night supervisor called, I got out of bed, got dressed, and went in to work my shift. Nothing else was ever said.

I hate the pain scale. I have asked many a patient how they would rate their pain reminding them a 10 is how they would feel if they were run over by a truck. Then the lady who was chatting on her cell phone, perfectly made up and hair done, looked me in the eye and said, "10!". When I was in the ER a year ago with diverticulitis, the ER doctor asked me to rate my pain. Having a high pain tolerance, I said "4". Then she looked at my chart, saw that I was tachycardic, my BP was 190/110, and I had a fever. She sent the nurse in with IV dilaudid. When I got home I crawled into bed and realized I must have been having more pain that I thought because of the amount of pain relief I got. My husband was hospitalized several months ago. He was dying of cancer. The nurses asked him about pain frequently and gave him medications for complaints I never heard before. When he was discharged home to hospice he was so goofy I was afraid for his safety. I adjusted his pain meds down and gave them regularly. He was as comfortable as I could get him and I got my husband back for a few days before he died.

Yes. It is one of the big regrets of my life. I have two sons who are physicians (both of whom went to med school on military scholarships so don't have huge debt). The only reason I didn't is because I didn't think I could.

I'm dating myself and it wasn't a doctor show but I was incredibly impressed to watch Edith Bunker (All in the Family) give CPR exactly right.

18. I graduated with my BSN at 22.

I hardly remember the staff ratio that day, I'm remembering only myself, perhaps an other person. We had maybe 16-18 patients and two staff on a post neurosurgery floor. They look easy in the Kardex (remember those?). But are are unsteady on their feet, can't remember, terrible proprioception, etc. I tried to take care of my patients. I put an obese lady on the bedpan and when she rolled on her back, my arms up to my armpits were stuck, I mean STUCK under her. She was too sick to help me or even understand I was in trouble. I had to yell for help, finally the p.m. Nurse who came early, a God bless her, helped me.

Absolutely. I have for 40 years.

The reality is that working nights takes a physiological toll on your body. I shudder to think of all the near misses I experienced driving home from working nights, even after sleeping the day before.

My son didn't sleep before his shift because of a "mandatory" meeting in the middle of the day when he worked in a group home. He fell asleep driving home and caused a 3 car pile-up. When he was a resident he would pull over and sleep. I've had all sorts of close calls driving home after working nights. You have to be safe for your shift AND safe getting home again.

"Does Malpractice pays fees to protect from the BONs or the public? Not sure... I paid $7000 to my lawyer and we didn't even go to a hearing. The BRN.charged me with $15,000 in cost recovery. My lawyer got it reduced to $9000." Both. My malpractice insurance is through the Mercer Company. NSO is another. Last time I paid my liability policy to State Farm I noticed they had some kind of malpractice coverage. Don't work another shift until you get your own coverage. There are workshops on nursing malpractice. Take the courses. There are great courses online.

Does Malpractice pays fees to protect from the BONs or the public? Not sure... I paid $7000 to my lawyer and we didn't even go to a hearing. The BRN.charged me with $15,000 in cost recovery. My lawyer got it reduced to $9000. Both.

"How much did it cost for all the legal fees? If you don't mind letting us know, just to have a ball park of what getting a lawyer costs if we're ever in such a situation?" This is the reason for getting malpractice insurance! They pay your costs to defend your license against the board of nursing. They will provide or recommend an attorney. I have carried my own malpractice insurance for 40 years. Google it. Pay attention to the ads you get in the mail. Don't do anything else until you buy it. The cost is reasonable. Don't be in the position of having to pay legal costs out of pocket.

I have not had a board complaint, but my late husband had a complaint from his professional board. We learned 2 things. 1) Carry your own malpractice insurance in addition to what your employer carries. Your own malpractice will cover and represent you for charges made against you by the board. 2) Your initial response to the complaint needs to be through your attorney.

I was working my 5th night in a row. I realized my mistake before I walked out of the med room. However, it was a serious enough potential error, I called in sick the next night. I was just too tired and I did not usually work 6 nights in a row.

Ageism? I think it depends on your point of view. I left hospital nursing in 1994 when I decided I could no longer provide safe nursing care with the current staffing levels at my hospital. I became a Family Nurse Practitioner, so I could see my patients one at a time. I was in a practice I loved, but left in 2014 after 17.5 years because corporate medicine got to be too much for me. I thought I was continually exhausted due to my age, but several doctors followed me out the door. I now work per diem doing online convenience care. I work from home and work when I want to. I was recently offered a part time job out of the blue, which I accepted, will work one day a week in a psychology practice prescribing antidepressants and anxiolytics. This is something I became very good at in primary care. I am a recent widow and need to cobble together an income for 3 more years until I can collect social security at age 66. My point is that I think ageism exists, but... I don't think anyone in any profession should expect to do the same thing for the same employer for years and years. I think it's important to prepare for changes in your career. When I graduated with my BSN 40 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams imagined what I am doing now as an NP.

My only regret about nursing is that I turned down an ER job way back when.

"I'm not sure if I can stick it out for over a year in this place. What would you do?" I don't think it would hurt for you to start looking. It may take awhile to find something new.

"Having hospice can let a spouse just be the spouse, not the full-time nurse." My husband died two months ago from bile duct cancer. He had been suffering from fatigue 6 months previous to that and not letting on how really terrible he was feeling. His symptoms came to full flower on February 3 and he died on March 23. Seven weeks. During that time I nursed him round the clock. By then, his profound fatigue turned into weakness, no appetite, massive edema, and ascites. His liver had failed and he was in renal failure. We had a week of tests and were told liver cancer. We were referred to a cancer center and were told they would get to us and were unconcerned about how sick he was. He would no longer eat, and was too weak to do any self care. He was hospitalized in our local hospital after a hemorrhoidal bleeding scare. During that overnight stay, he had a paracentesis which removed 6 liters of fluid. He initially felt better, but by the end of the week, he was terrible. The local hospital wondered if he met criteria for admission (just thinking weakness) and did not encourage bringing him back to the ER. However he became so weak I could hardly care for him at home and fluid reaccumulated in his abdomen. We went back to the ER and he was admitted to the specialty hospital. By the end of the week, we were told it was bile duct cancer. He was discharged too weak to even get himself into the car for the drive home. His oncology appointment was pending. After 5 difficult days at home and another belly tap, he was back in the local hospital. We saw the oncologist the day before he was discharged who recommended hospice. The hospice consultant told me that hospice would allow me to be his wife, not just his caregiver. Fat chance, I was too busy with round the clock care. I would have given any amount of money the night he died for a suction machine to get the secretions out of his throat. I had to struggle with my 300 pound husband when he became agitated and could no longer follow commands. Luckily I had my adult son who is also a physician to help me the last week he was alive. The best thing about hospice was they home delivered the meds, the staff was supportive (but did not make it possible for me to be anything but his caregiver), and I only had to make one phone call when he died. I am am so very grateful for 20 years of hospital experience and 20 years of advanced practice nursing. My husband received excellent nursing care from me as I navigated our broken and disconnected health care system. But no, I did not get to be his wife when he was dying.

I am so sorry for your loss. I lived it as well. My husband died from bile duct cancer on March 23, 7 weeks from the day we knew something was really wrong. For several weeks we were told they didn't know for sure what was wrong. Being on the other side was a nightmare.