EllaBella1

Just tell your employer and bring the RX information. It's not wise to hide that you are taking meds. If you get injured on the job the first thing they will do is drug test you, and it will be a lot harder to explain everything after the fact than it is to be upfront from the start.

Yes, my dentist refused to see me until it had been 14 days with no covid patients... which hasn't happened since March, and hence I haven't been back since. ? Since then I stopped telling people, honestly. I just answer no. With the exception of my son's pediatrician. I've been upfront and honest with them since the start, and they have been fine. They have us come in the back door and go right to a room instead of the waiting room, which is fine. Whatever they need to do to feel safer works for me, as long as they treat my son appropriately which they have.

I wasn't responding to you. My post was in response to the OP. I didn't even read your post until I just went back and found it. I agree with what you said, a family member should not have been told that, and the physician should have been upfront with them. With regard to your comment about attacking experience- if that was in reference to my post, then you're mistaken. I wasn't attacking experience, I was simply stating that the OP doesn't seem to have the experience (based on their bio) to truly understand why we make decisions to vent some patients and not others. And I'm sorry, but it is a conspiracy to think that hospitals are venting covid patients for higher reimbursement. Not even going to argue that point.

I don't mean this to be rude, but do you even care for intubated patients? Your username includes 'tele', so I assume you are a cardiac tele RN, not one that works in ICU. The truth here is that unless you routinely care for vented patients, or have extensive experience with managing critical ARDS patients, there is no way for you to truly understand when we look to intubate a patient. With COVID patients we see patients routinely with PF ratios that are absolute crap. A year ago a patient with a PF ratio of 75 would have been in a rotoprone bed, intubated and paralyzed without question. Now we see patients with PF ratios less than 100 sitting on 100% CPAP with high peep for DAYS. The problem with this is these patients are having complications. I can't even tell you how many patients I have had this year with pneumos or pneumomediastinum. I have personally had several patients on 100% cpap on 12-15 of peep who have developed pneumomediastinum recently, who might have an SPO2 in the high 90s at the time, but we intubate them. Why? Because we know the crashing and needing chest tubes is right around the corner. To someone who doesn't see the full picture it might look like we are intubating someone who is 'doing OK' and doesn't need it. Or another example, someone in ARDS whose CO2 is rising on each ABG. If they are a full code and bipap/cpap isn't helping drop their CO2, they are getting intubated, even if they have an SPO2 of 99 on the monitor. All I'm saying is there is a LOT more to who gets intubated and who doesn't than you might think, and there are many reasons for medical necessity for intubation aside from the obvious low SPO2 and airway protection. I can promise you though, physicians, critical care nurses, and RTs are not out looking to intubate people for money.

Honestly, I didn't read through all of these responses. I did however, read bits and pieces, and while I agree that it isn't a scope of practice issue, I do think it's an issue. You need to be trained or receive orientation on tele patients. As a med-surg nurse, would you know to check QTc before giving Tikosyn, for example? My guess is probably not. You will have someone else watching your tele monitors who will be able to alert you to changes in rhythm or potential problems, but you would still need to have the clinical insight to know when to check your tele. That said, I don't think it would take much training or orientation to get you up to speed, and I think it says something that your floor feels comfortable and confident in floating you to a higher level of care.

I've been working covid ICU for 8 months now. I'll be honest with you- when it first started I was showering at work, changing into clean scrubs before driving home, and stripping down in my garage and going right to the shower. We weren't leaving the house, I wasn't taking my toddler out for anything. My in-laws used to watch my son, but my husband started working from home so that we could keep the baby home too. As time has gone on things have changed. I don't shower or change my scrubs anymore, but I do change my work shoes and wear clean shoes home. I cavi wipe and then UV my cell phone. I leave my work bag in the garage- still do the strip down in the garage thing. Scrubs go right into the washer, and I go right into the shower. We don't really see any friends or family, and if we go anywhere we wear a mask the whole time. My toddler goes on errands again if he needs to. My husband had to go back to the office part-time, so my in laws have my son once a week again. It's a risk, but one that they are willing to take. I wish I could live in a bubble essentially to keep my family safe, but it's just not sustainable long-term. I take precautions and always make sure I prioritize double checking my PPE, and do my due diligence to clean the unit and sanitize anything I touch. 8 months of emergency intubations, codes, and aerosolizing procedures galore and I'm still negative for antibodies. So that says something.

I was kicked a few months ago by an alert and oriented adult male patient. Management encouraged me to file a police report. I have found that police might not always be willing to investigate though or file charges. We had a nurse who was punched in the face and ended up with multiple facial fractures, and police refused to file charges because they felt that the patient didn't have the capacity to know what they were doing. Which in my opinion shouldn't be on the police to determine...

You should still be fit tested. If it doesn't fit you well and you fail the fit test then you need to talk to your manager and refuse to take covid patients until they provide you with a mask that protects you.

Were you fit tested for the mask? It sounds like it's not a good fit for you.

USF has on-campus programs.

If its reasonable for you and your family, consider moving for a year to get experience. I moved from NYC to upstate NY and there were plenty of new grad jobs there in all specialty areas. That was before I had kids though, so I would understand if it weren't a realistic option.

This is why people job hop so much these days. The best way to move up the pay ladder is to stay at a hospital for a few years and then move on to the next. A lot of hospitals focus more on recruiting new talent than on retaining their current staff. It's a shame, but it's what happens. Also $23 an hour sucks. You should definitely go somewhere else.

I felt like it was way too expensive for what I was getting. Classes were huge and lecture style, with very little guidance. I initially went to NYU because I wanted to stay in NYC after graduation since I'm from there originally. I felt that going to a school with a 'name' in NYC would help secure me a job after. In the end though I just felt like the amount of money that I was spending to go there was not at all worth the value that I was getting. I applied to a few CUNY programs, but ultimately decided to try moving away from NYC and did a 12 month program in another part of NY. I'm glad I did, because I met my future husband there and never ended up moving back. Plus I have a fraction of the student loans to pay back that I would have had if I stayed at NYU. ?

I went to the University at Buffalo and did their 12 month ABSN program. It was great. Prepared me well, and Buffalo is a cool city. I'm very happy with my decision to go there.

That sounds super boring. I would skip it.