Sitters/CNA's: Thank you for "doing nothing"

Two mornings ago I received a distraught phone call from my mother telling me that my dad, who is suffering with end stage COPD, spine compression fractures, and a distinct lack of proper narcotic metabolism, became flighty, picky and squirrelly to such a point that he was assigned a sitter.

Look, I've been around. I know what can be said about sitters. I know that for every one that understands the amount of sheer effort and work that goes into trying to keep someone in bed, calm and intact, there are several more misguided individuals that think sitting is easy, requires little effort and even less work.

Obviously those individuals need to meet my dad when he is blitzed out of his brain on Fentanyl and Vicodin. Let's just say that when my family decides to lose it, we don't just misplace our minds, we straight up blast them into orbit never to be seen or heard from again. Read More

Ever have a patient work your very last nerve?

I had a patient yesterday that truly must've thought I was his audience at the comedy club. He had such a snarky sarcastic attitude, a really dumb sense of humor, and wasn't funny. He made obnoxious comments and was clearly trying to see how far he could go before he ticked me off.

When he could tell he was skating on thin ice with me, he even said "don't go into some corner and cry now, I was only joking." I told him, "you're giving yourself too much credit, my skin is a lot thicker than that." Read More

What is your favorite nursing scrub design? Do you have one?

There are many nursing scrub brands. Many colors ... many designs ... costs vary.
What is your favorite design? What is your favorite brand?
If you could, would you change the design of your work place? Read More

We are ALL on the same team.

You know what I'm freaking sick of? Mixed-unit and mixed-discipline hostilities. Or at least that's what I call it. We're all on the same team. We all want what's best for the patient. We need to start acting like it. Read More

Do you have any motivational nursing quotes?

I saw a quote today on AllNurse that I would like to post around the workplace in "interesting" places, for example, on the back of the restroom stall door, over the pyxis, etc. The quote I saw was, "Be the type of nurse you want to work with." I Love that.

I want to be the anonymous morale builder and motivator at my workplace. So if anyone has some motivational, cute, humorous or thought-provoking quotes that I can print on a small card and leave around for others to find and be amused, comforted or otherwise built up by I would appreciate it. Read More

Home Health-The good, The bad, and I'm getting out.

I've been working in home health now for almost 3 years as a RN case manager in southern California. I'm posting this so those of you that are thinking about home health know what to expect and I'm basically just venting why I have a love/hate relationship with this job... Read More

Burnt out and struggling emotionally

I do hospice and palliative care. It's been a year. I'm completely burnt emotionally. Hospice I handle much better than palliative care. Palliative care is quite draining as I have most patients who have no resources, are somewhat poor, and mostly dying but trying to live. They depend on me so much. And there is only so much I can do. They call me personally, want me to pretty much make their life or death decisions... Read More

A word of advice for a strange question?

In order to ask the question I must "out" myself. I'm muslim and wear a scarf to cover my hair. It has never been an issue in acute or ambulatory settings, beyond a little patient or staff curiosity. I am about to start as a new nurse in a level 1 trauma center ED (Woot!!!!) I have done a little bit of time in ED's before and have seen some madness, but never a personal attack. I have been threatened before in critical care, but again, never attacked. Read More!

Yet another holiday, some musings about family.

Having completely uprooted my life not that long ago, I have often sat feeling sorry for myself because of how lonely I've been. I recently just realized how much AllNurses has done for me to get me out of that funk. If I am lonely, I come on and socialize. If I am upset, I come and vent to you guys. If I have a question, I know someone will have awesome advice for me. Like my family, there are a few here I look up to greatly. There are a few that just make me shake my head. There are also some I just love to hate! Read More...

Dear Hospice Nurses, I beg you for a moment of your time, please.

As some of you may know, my dad has not been doing well for the last six months to a year and has been the topic of two of my articles. I am here to humbly ask you for information regarding hospice. I know of hospice and have had two grandparents in hospice at the end of their lives. To be fair, I was not a nurse at the time and the different view from inside vs. outside the system has left me with more questions than answers. Read More

Midlife Career Change to Nursing - Advice, please

I'm a 42-year-old lawyer who's seriously considering making a career change to the nursing field. (I've been an unhappy lawyer, in several different law positions, for 18 years now...). I am looking for a career that allow flexibility in scheduling and geographic location (although I am by necessity in the NYC area now as I have two aging parents) as well as an active, on-my-feet kind of job that involves significant person-to-person contact, and nursing seems to fit that bill. Read More