Tameric

I used to work nights, both 8hr and 12 hr and I'd bring dinner to eat between 1am and 3am. When getting home about 7:45am, I'd eat a small breakfast, work outside, yardwork, go for my walk or aerobics, then to bed by noon. Up at 5:30pm and off to work, no meal. Break around 10pm so brought light snack, I didn't sleep more than 5-6 hrs, all I needed then. Some need at least 10hrs sleep so it all depends on the person.

Neezy, I get that you hate nursing, but is it nursing per say or the type and environment and people you are surrounded with? I love "nursing" but am not doing what I went into nursing for due to various injuries and 40 years of pounding those cement floors and long hallways. I find that the part that I hate are the people....of course not everyone, but coworkers are mean and gossipy more so now. The patients are the same, expecting safe quality care which I believe gets worse every year. I've been abused in several ways by patients, staff and doctors as you may expect working in hospitals this long. I've also been a patient in many hospitals in different states, as well as the ones I work in. I have yet to receive that quality care throughout my stay. I have yet to be assessed upon admission as every patient should be, especially specific to my diagnosis. Again, I love being a nurse. I don't love the direction the profession has gone. With that said, the only one who can change your situation in you but there are many sources out there to help you accomplish that, and many support groups which would be more appropriate for this topic since you'll be in the company of others with similar views. Good luck, be stong and do what is good for your well being, no one else's. Do it now so you can enjoy your life.

There's a shortage of good nurses. But also it depends on the area and how picky you are. Many of us didn't get into the ideal job at first. We worked areas available to gain experience. And many new grads once they started working, changed their mind as to the area they wanted. In my hospital, we have many vacancies due to the location and we have many contract nurses but even these nurses are hard to get. Currently, a big percentage of our contract nurses are Filipino nurses that haven't gotten experience in the states yet. The majority are excellent nurses. As far as permanent applications, few and far between but recently received applications from PR. Where are the nurses? Out there wanting the perfect job and location, which doesn't exist but for a very select few. Try something new. It not only gets you in the workforce, but gives you experience and any nursing experience is another step toward achieving your end goals. Good luck.

As a directive from above, we started hourly rounding two years ago on the inpatient area. Each unit came up with ways that would work best for them. I am a manager but worked this unit many years on both shifts and we had 2-3 times more patients that the last few years. Nevertheless, any change or any added work to the floor nurse never goes over well. We are an adult acute med/surg/telemetry unit. We had already gone to EHR and BCMA and have a computer in every room to make charting real time much more convenient (though the computers always seem to have a problem). Hourly rounds....that didn't go well with me to start, especially since I had to implement it. I didn't like adding another paper on the clipboard. The purpose of EHR is to decrease the paperwork....hahaha that didn't work out so well. Anyway, since all nurses should involve the patient and family in the care, we decided to try something a bit different. We took the paper idea and made large poster size laminated charts (we have 7Ps). On this poster, we have an area at top to update the date, day, doctor, nurse and CNA. Then we list the 7Ps. Below that is a round chart (we filled this area with something related to this culture of patients). Around this circle are the hourly times like a clock and a short line beside it. Because it's laminated, we can use dry-erase markers, so no papers to gather and replace every day or every patient. It's just erased and updated with each day/patient. The poster is place on the wall across from the patient, so they can also see it and read most of it from that distance. There are actually good evidence-based reasons for the hourly rounding so I was open to trying it. By having the poster on the wall that the staff initial, the patient, as well as the family, can see when they were checked on. If the patient is asleep, they are not awakened to answer 7 questions, that's a bit overboard. But for those patients who need assistance and tend to get up to the bathroom and fall, this could be beneficial. This isn't limited to just the RNs, but any nursing personnel, physical or respiratory therapists, physician, etc. If they are in the room, they may be addressing some of these 7Ps and initial at that time slot. As long as someone did confirm that patient was safe and the needs were met, it is a good thing. Pain in the you-no-what? Of course. But instead of shuffling through clipboards and papers, if you're in the room with the patient, you are walking by that poster and just initial it. The beginning of each shift the CNA is responsible for updating the top portion. As a guideline, we had the CNAs on even hours and RNs on odd hours, but that's definitely not how we care for the patients so it's to be a team effort. Overall, it should decrease the number of falls, call light use, and the patient doesn't feel abandoned and ignored, waiting for pain meds or someone to help them to the bathroom. This is in theory of course. I believe it is effective, though it's still a work in progress until we come up with a better way. If we stick with this, the replacement posters will also have a place for the updated pain goal and activity level.