RNforLongTime

RNforLongTime specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

RNforLongTime's Latest Activity

1. 

   A Patient's Perspective - To all of the Nurses at allnurses.com

   RNforLongTime replied to AnonBoston's topic in Nurses

   Thank you OP for this heartfelt message of appreciation. I've been an RN for 20 years. I can count the number of times I've been thanked by a patient and their families in my career on ONE hand. Most patients/Families, don't think they need to say please and thank you because it's our job to wait on them hand and foot and give in to their every desire. Thanks to those Press-Ganey surveys and HCAHPS scores, we now basically have to bend over backwards to accommodate the patient/family EVERY time! No matter how short-staffed we are, no matter that we haven't eaten ALL DAY! No matter that our bladder is ready to explode. Hold on...I'll be right back with that glass of ice for you.....but I digress. It is usually a joy to care for patients...some days are better than others., that's for sure! We nurses ARE human after-all. I hope you are healing well OP! Prayers for you!

   • Feb 27, 2017
   • 60 replies
2. 

   What's Rude?

   RNforLongTime replied to Ruby Vee's topic in Relations

   Sounds like someone has a mental illness. Now I'm not knocking legit people with mental illnesses but I can think of a LOT more things to spend money on than scrubs. That said, the day my grandmother was dying in the hospital and I'd come down the street to her hospital from mine. I had bubblegum pink scrubs on. Hospital staff thought I was their new Infection Control nurse!!

   • Sep 15, 2016
   • 144 replies
3. 

   What's Rude?

   RNforLongTime replied to Ruby Vee's topic in Relations

   Things that bother me: Coworkers who cannot be bothered to perform the basic components of their job. Bosses who DO NOTHING when you inform them via incident reports and emails that your coworkers are not doing their job. Coworkers who feel that it is their business to monitor what you are and aren't doing while you are at work and they are not. Coworkers who confront you in front of your coworkers! IF you got a beef with me, Discuss it with ONLY ME behind a closed door. DO NOT run to the boss with a beef you got with me UNTIL you have discussed it with me first! We are NOT in middle school anymore! Coworkers who cannot clean up after themselves so you gotta spend 20 minutes clenaing up after them so you can then do your job! Coworkers who 'forget' to pass on pertinent information during report. Like a pt with a PICC LINE...or a pt with a wound vac. UMM...ya should've told me that in REPORT!! I shouldn't have been surprised by that during my rounds. (I work in a prison so we don't do bedside handoff) Coworkers who think that us 3rd shifters do nothing all night but watch TV and gossip with the Correction Officers. Then argue with us when we didn't do something that THEY were told BY THE BOSS to do the day before but they're so lazy they prefer to pawn it off to other staff. And the laziness is allowed to continue by management. Snitches and two-faced coworkers. I've learned in my 20 years in this profession that the ONLY person I can trust is ME! SO it's a very rare occasion when I 'vent' to a coworker....somehow my 'vent' ends up in the ears of the bosses :/ Patients and families that think they can DEMAND certain treatment otherwise they'll get me FIRED because they're paying my salary!! I'm so glad I work in a prison because I can tell an inmate NO and not have to worry about a Press-Ganey score

   • Sep 15, 2016
   • 144 replies
4. 

   Do Rn's miss having Lpn's in the hospital setting?

   RNforLongTime replied to Finestnurse, Lpn's topic in Relations

   To be honest? No. While I've worked with a few kick-butt LPN's most of the ones I did work with, did not like to take responsibility for anything and would constantly blame the RN...like look, YOU CAN call the Dr yourself for your patients LOW BG...giving him more SQ insulin IS within your practice so therefore you can take a phone order for that. I had to give any/all IVP meds AND cosign their assessments/charting, even though that was all fully within their scope of practice. Working with an LPN just made more work for me. NOT A ONE of them EVER offered to do something to ease MY burden. NOT ONE!

   • Sep 15, 2016
   • 26 replies
5. 

   Nursing is the Biggest Mistake of My Life

   RNforLongTime replied to almost_nurse's topic in Nurses

   almost_nurse, move to Erie PA! I can guarantee you that you'd likely be able to get hired at either Saint Vincent Hospital or UPMC-Hamot, which just earned Magnet status. It's NOT in the sticks...half-way between Cleveland OH and Buffalo NY and about 2 hrs away from Pittsburgh PA. It's on Lake Erie and the COL is VERY reasonable! You can find a great house for about 125K. We have some great public schools in the area. Lots to do from beautiful Presque Isle in the summer to skiing at Nearby Peak and Peak in the winter. Oh...dump that fiance too.

   • Apr 11, 2016
   • 297 replies
6. 

   New Corrections Nurse

   RNforLongTime replied to DaveMHA-RN's topic in Correctional

   I've been a Correctional Nurse since Sept 2014, so I'm coming up on my 1 year anniversary! I REALLY like my job, especially on 3rd shift. The inmates are locked up. The pace is generally slower. I'm usually the only RN on duty along with an LPN, sometimes 2 LPN's. We have 2300 inmates at the prison where I work in NW Pennsylvania. I'm glad I finally got in! Our Superintendent (Warden) and a fellow RN, said she didn't want to hire me because I'm a former ICU nurse and she thought I'd be bored working in a prison. I interviewed for my position 3 TIMES in a year...the RN Supervisor on days is someone I used to work with and also told me the same thing the Super did. I was their #1 choice ALL 3 times I interviewed but was blackballed by the Super the first 2 times :/ I'm pretty sure Im proving to them that I'm not bored and that my clinical expertise was desperately needed

   • Aug 16, 2015
   • 4 replies
7. 

   Best Sick Call slips

   RNforLongTime replied to DawnJ's topic in Correctional

   I had one that said...my leg hurts real bad...can I get it cut off? I just love the ones that've been suffering with a problem..so they'll come up to Medical for an emergency visit, which they're charged $5 co-pay and $5 for any meds they receive. Had 1 who had leg pain for two weeks, yet never bothered to place a sick call slip. Shaking my head on that one and I told the inmate...ANY problem you have...submit a sick call slip...the PA's usually see the inmate within 3 days. We have 2300 inmates at our Medium Security prison so triaging is a must

   • Jun 28, 2015
   • 25 replies
8. 

   How easy is it to lose a license in correctional setting?

   RNforLongTime replied to reptilesavvy's topic in Correctional

   Well...where I work, we are unionized. Our Union has saved too many of our nurses' butt for egregious errors. The last one involved narcotics. That nurse is only being punished with a suspension..AND over the HOLIDAY weekend no less...so, how is THAT punishment? it's not really. Because this nurse feels that they didn't do anything wrong, they being the nurse in question. What's also funny is that us RN's and the LPN's have different unions :/

   • Jun 28, 2015
   • 44 replies
9. 

   Inmate/Staff Relationships

   RNforLongTime replied to Tina, RN's topic in Correctional

   I think I read a comment here that said the only thing an inmate can offer you is Prison Time....that's it. I'm polite and nice to all the inmates...they'll say hi to me if I see them on the Walk or on my way to chow. I say hi back. Or say hi first. I'm a friendly person. IN NO WAY am I flirting with them. Just merely treating them like a human being

   • Jun 28, 2015
   • 22 replies
10. 

    I lied...a story of how I outright LIED to patient's family.

    RNforLongTime replied to JDougRN's topic in Emergency

    Oh..you definitely did the right thing here. It brought me to tears...these kinds of lies are ok. HUGS OP! You're a great nurse :)

    • Jun 28, 2015
    • 162 replies
11. 

    Don't talk bad about your patients

    RNforLongTime replied to BrendaH84's topic in Relations

    True DAT! My previous night-shift coworker gave report like the OP described..up to and including a detailed description of the pt's poop/vomit/wound drainage...save that crap for your doucmentations, which I CAN READ after change of shift report!

    • Jun 22, 2015
    • 75 replies
12. 

    Why did you come to allnurses? What made you stay?

    RNforLongTime replied to tnbutterfly - Mary's topic in Nurses

    I've been on AN since March 2001. Made some great friends here, my current UserName is NOT my original one. I change it up from time to time due to how a former coworker turned me in to management at a former job for something I'd posted here. I'm still friends with a LOT of people I've 'met' here...we started our own spin-off message board and now have a private FB group. I did meet one nurse that I met here in real life in "08 at NTI-Chicago. I'm really good friends with one fellow-RN from here...we used to meet in the chat-room late at night as we'd all worked 2nd shift then....Even talked with THE Brian then....and met him at that NTI plus a few other Admins at the An booth. I pop in every now and then...to get info...to see what's goin on....with the advent of FaceBook, I'm not here as much as I used to be....gotta be careful because BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!!

    • Jun 19, 2015
    • 189 replies
13. 

    Why do nurses seem to have a bad reputation?

    RNforLongTime replied to unbrokenx3's topic in Nurses

    Even now that I work in a male Prison, I seem to get respect from MOST of the inmates. Some will even speak out on my behalf if they witness another inmate being rude or disresectful to me. I've overheard them numerous times. So no, nurses do DEFINITELY NOT have a bad rep...we consistently are #1 in the Most Trusted Professions...the only year we weren't was when Firefighters took that spot in the post-9/11 year :)

    • Jun 18, 2015
    • 114 replies
14. 

    Saving Lives, 1 cup of Gatorade at a Time!

    RNforLongTime replied to mikethemurse's topic in Correctional

    My story wasn't really a 'save' per se...this I/M had a hx of esophageal cancer....comes up due to coughing up blood x 12hrs...coffee ground emesis...Looks really pale and emesis reeks of GI BLEED to me. O2 sat 88% on Rm Air...so I slap some 02 on him and call the Dr (as it was the Friday MORNING after Thanksgiving so the Dr wasn't there) Tell him that I think its a GI bleed....admit to infirmary for 23 hr OBS...he'll see I/M in the am.....the PA had come in and the Infirmary RN tells PA about this pt...PA orders blood work to be done on Monday (as that's when the pleb will return)...long story short...I/M's VS continued to deteriorate...ends up getting sent to the hospital on evening shift.....I/M ends up on a ventilator....family got 1 final visit with him before they withdrew care. Initially the IM didn't WANT to go to the hospital because that's what I'd told the Medical Director ought to happen. The inmate looked THAT bad. I was right but it didn't change the final outcome.

    • Dec 10, 2014
    • 12 replies
15. 

    Saving Lives, 1 cup of Gatorade at a Time!

    RNforLongTime replied to mikethemurse's topic in Correctional

    Oh I understand that....and when I don't know, as I cannot diagnose (technically) I call the Medical Director, a DO, and let him make the call whether or not the inmate needs sent out. If he decided otherwise, I make sure I CYA by documenting, documenting, documenting....If I have an inmate c/o chest pain, in our treatment room in Medical, we have a 12 lead EKG machine..I hook him up and look at it. I have 17+ years of nursing experience under my belt all of which was in acute care, with 12 being in critical care. (my CCRN certification expires next yr). I realize that not all the nurses I work with, have my level of experience....one of them, the prison was this RN's FIRST nursing job....not sure that's a good thing, imho. My hospital that I left, just went through Stroke Certification to gain Stroke Center status...and the 1 thing I was told was not to go looking for zebras (i.e.--Bells Palsy) vs stroke. Our Prison system has what's called Nursing Evaluation Tools...that basically tell you what to assess with the presenting problem.

    • Dec 10, 2014
    • 12 replies
16. 

    Saving Lives, 1 cup of Gatorade at a Time!

    RNforLongTime replied to mikethemurse's topic in Correctional

    It does. Just don't want to see anyone get sued or have to defend their license (which is what happened to the nurse in my scenario). I was taught to always first think stroke or brain attack before something like Bells...as from what I know, it's not that common.

    • Dec 8, 2014
    • 12 replies