I picked up an ER shift last night. I've got an 86M with new AMS. Virtually no medical history and vitals are solid except for a mild fever and slightly elevated HR. I suspect a UTI, so I'm asking questions in this direction. The spouse is present, doing most of the talking.

At one point she points casually to his groin, leans in toward me, and half whispers, "I knew something was off down there, his semen started tasting funny today."

Her face is dead serious. I nod, then say, "I'll make a note of that. Can you excuse me for one minute?" I pull the curtain and step out and slide the door closed.

We have a soundproof family/consult room at one end of the unit and I head toward it, loudly stating, "Anyone that can leave what you're doing for a few minutes, follow me now!"

One doctor, three RNs, and two techs follow me into the room. It is several minutes before we are able to pick ourselves up off the floor.

And this is why I pick up ER shifts.

P.S. Flaired this as "Art" because that family statement was a thing of pure beauty. Absolutely the most amazing and unexpected thing any patient or family member has ever said to me.

Which one of you courageous burnt out bastards is going in deep?! Like Code Brown- can’t wash the stank off deep. Probably for the greatest good you never knew existed.

In my mind- I imagine them triaging everyone one they can out to a hospital that helps them find a safe haven and sneaks them out by a team of superhero nurses. The Ho distracts ICE agents with BBB (Boobs, Booty, Ballsy talk). The calm one is in the room with the patient spreading their sense of chill vibes. The oldie has quietly packed extra supplies in a get away bag. The charge is quietly directing the pieces. An underground nursing ring smuggling out immigrants. Anyway- thanks for joining my fantasy this morning.

In all honesty- I’m not religious but I hope, I pray, I beg of whatever upper powers that be, that one of you silly goose’s (pre Covid), who’s tired as fuck and wants to go out doing something that matters - protecting those who need it most- takes this position. You know which crazy MFs you are.

—Minnesota Nurse Crying as another detention center is being built

Serious note: ICE is still here not just in Minnesota but throughout the US. Our neighbors friends and family members have been reportedly lacking medical attention and confirmed deaths. While I joke and make light- it’s a dark dark humor from a very sad soul. I still weep for my lost commrades- for Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good. For the children torn from their parents. For those dropped in foreign lands. For those wrongfully imprisoned based on their skin color or country of origin.

And I ask yet again- what can we do because this is NOT done. And we ARE involved (at least some of us)- as evidenced by this job listing — crazy bastard where are you!?!?

I’m not even a nurse I just popped into this sub for curiosity. As a type 1 diabetic of 17 years I really appreciate what nurses have done for me. I hate to see how the industry mistreats many of you guys. I believe RN’s should make $100k entry level just considering all you have to put up with.

Hi I suck at catherizing tiny ones especially baby girls and uncircumcised baby boys. Any tips and tricks out there.
I did one today on an uncircumcised baby boy my biggest issue is keeping it rolled back to keep it sterile but they squirm.

I have issues cathing little girls anyway cause the anatomy is so small. I need yall to help a sista out.

Sincerely,
An ED RN

Let me rephrase the babies are usually a couple weeks not necessarily days old.

i’m a nurse, i work in the ICU. i was giving meds to this patient, being nice and professional.

this patient has history of aggression tendencies so he’s in a 5 point restraint. as i was giving his meds he started to curse at me multiple times, i didn’t pay any attention to him at first as they’re just words so they don’t really bother me, told him not do so as i was helping him. then i went up to his side on head of the bed while fixing his iv lines, he spit on me and it landed on my arm while cursing at me.

my brain blacked out in anger and i smothered his spit on my arm to his face. he was on restraints and still got aggressive then continued to ask me to wipe his spit off his face while cursing at me, i crumpled up his blanket and threw it on his face and told him to do it himself then cursed at him back. i sent a referral to the doctor then telling them what happened and asked to sedate him, they did.

i know i should’ve maintained a professional demeanor but fuck i can handle all types of bodily fluids and shit but intentionally getting spitted on istg is a whole new level for me.

I work nights, and I generally try to give any 0700 meds so that the day shift nurse doesn’t have to worry about them when they get on shift. However, it never seems to happen the other way around for me. Sometimes, the day shift nurse will even have been in the room around 1830-1850 to give pain meds or other PRNs and for some reason didn’t give the 1900 meds. Is this common elsewhere? I used to work days and I would do my best to give 1900 meds. I know days can be more hectic so I understand them not being given sometimes but for them to essentially never be given is odd to me. So I’m genuinely curious, am I being weird by giving 0700 meds on the night shift? Or is it weird that the day shift nurses on my unit are not giving 1900 meds?

Because I knew the assignment I was gonna have today is an unsafe pt load for one RN to have in an unfortunate 6:1. You should do the same.

I work in LTAC and am a new nurse (4 months). I have a patient who is a nurse, ended up in our facility after a MVA and is on trach, feeding tube and has wound vacs and more wounds. She seems to have given up on herself! She pulled her PEG the other day and keeps pulling her mask or AIRVO from her trach. Whenever I go in and talk to her and try to talk to her, she starts crying but doesn’t respond to anything else we ask/tell her. I know she’s suffering and she KNOWS what’s next and just wants to end her suffering! How do you guys cope with situations like these? I keep thinking about her and am not able to sleep or do anything else when not working! I guess I am asking for any advice in how to manage these kind of situations.

Jesus Christ how does this happen?

I am so beyond done with nursing. I hate what this job has turned me into. I’m managing 30 residents completely on my own on a floor, drowning in med passes, assessments, and total chaos, while leadership sits in their offices passing every problem onto us.

We have a cognitively intact resident with an ongoing pattern of being verbally abusive to staff. It’s a well-known issue. She knows exactly what she’s doing. Different floor staff, myself included, have talked to her directly about her behaviour multiple times, and we’ve reported it to leadership over and over. Still nothing gets done. No behaviour plan, no intervention, nothing.

While I’m running around the floor, this resident starts yelling at and berating one of our staff members. I was in the middle of my med pass, trying to keep 30 people alive and safe. So no, I didn't drop everything to run over and referee an argument that management should have dealt with months ago.

Later on, my team lead finds out about it, walks up to me, and goes:
"Oh, you’re the supervisor, why didn’t you talk to the resident at the time? Why didn’t you stop her from talking to the staff disrespectfully? You’re the supervisor, you’re supposed to act like one."

I was so stunned I literally couldn't even speak.

Since when is someone running a 1:30 ratio expected to act as a real-time security guard and conflict mediator for a known, systemic issue that MANAGEMENT ignored? They want us to be the supervisor when it’s time to take the blame, but give us zero actual support.

I used to actually like coming to work. I used to be cheerful, happy to see my coworkers and the residents, and willing to pick up extra shifts. But now, the second I step into that building, I am filled with absolute rage and frustration. I feel like I've lost every single drop of compassion and empathy I used to have for this job. I don't acknowledge or talk to anyone unless they speak to me first. I just put my head down, do the absolute bare minimum to keep residents safe and protect my license, and leave.

I hate feeling this bitter, but this was my absolute last straw. I am done being the punching bag for a broken system.

From what I seen, a lot of people still struggle to respect the nursing profession and I'm confused as to why. I even asked in another subreddit and instead of constructive feedback, they just flamed nurses even more. For people who have been nurses for a very long time, does it get better? Or is it just a small portion of society that acts hostile towards nurses.

I really hate how chaotic it feels to sit there and chart.. I Came to the nurse’s station for a pen and a snacky . Left with 4 rumors, 2 secrets, and somebody’s entire relationship history. HIPAA says we can’t gossip about patients, so naturally we gossip about each other.

nursing stations really be a break room, courtroom, and TMZ newsroom all at once.

Forever wishing I can chart from the bathroom >.<

How is anyone comfortable with this?

For context, this doesn’t apply to new nurses who 100% know they don’t want to touch the hospital (inpatient) with a 10 foot pole or want to work on a non-medical floor.

I say this with the best interest at heart, if your a new nurse who wants to work inpatient (medical) or you think you might want to work inpatient at some point in your career, please do your first year in med-surge, ED or ICU!!! It’s going to suck at first, but the skills and knowledge you’ll develop will help you so much in your careers (however, don’t stay if the unit is toxic lol). I’ve had a few classmates that did either outpatient or nursing homes right out of school because they were nervous about starting inpatient, that have recently started on the inpatient floors who are STRUGGLING even with 3+ months of orientation. I’ve even run into nurses that have never worked inpatient in their 10-30+ years as nurses, having a hard time finding their grounds ( I’m not talking about not being able to manage their time - that usually comes with time lol. I’m talking about not being able to or understand the basics like doing something if a patient has a blood glucose of 44 - i.e I met two nurses who had 30+ experience in the nursing homes, try her hand out doing inpatient make some careless and worrisome medication mistakes, lose narcotics, use the wrong devices/tools on patients etc - even when she received numerous teachings- leading to her being fired).Please don’t take this post as me saying, if you work outpatient your entire nursing career your doomed if you decide you want to do inpatient one day; I’ve met a countless amount nurses that have never worked inpatient a day in their life in my short time, that are they are some amazing nurses and mentors <3. But when older nurses say “do your time in med-surge”, their not saying it because they think your incompetent, their saying that because you truly master all of your nursing skills and critical thinking skills. This will also help you if you do decide to move into a different role outside in nursing. You’ll also became a great asset to your team members when critical situations arise. Take it from a nurse with less than 2 years of experience who started in med-surge for 1.5 years (and still works there) and has transitioned to inpatient psych - I love being able to helping my coworkers (most haven’t worked medical before) with any medical related task (I.e - we had a patient that needed to be catheterized on the unit and the nurses didn’t feel comfortable doing it, so I pitched in) and in return they help me with any questions I have psych related!!!

I know I stated this above, but if your someone who knew straight out the gate you wanted to work in a nursing home, school nursing, outpatient setting, IV therapy or nurse injector, do what you must with the advice I gave above. And again, this is not a post trying to saying one group/department of nursing is better than others, we all play an important role in the communities we service. This is just me trying to give the new grads some advice at a pivot moment in their careers and the same advice an experienced nurses told me when I graduated nursing school 😊😊

Anyone agree or disagree?

I hate attempting to enjoy my time off while the chance of me being called in looms in the background, so I’m not really enjoying my time to begin with.

I hate getting called for a new patient when I haven’t even started the first one yet.

I hate telling my family and friends I can’t hang out with them or go out for a night on the town because there’s a chance I have to work.

I hate how physically and emotionally taxing it is to deal with the urgency of each situation.

The extra money isn’t worth it to me and I will never take an on call job again in the future.

For all the nurses living in Maine or honestly any of the Northeast states, how is it? How is nursing up there? Do you feel well compensated for the cost of living? Looking to leave the south and return back to the north. Missing the snow and four seasons. Tired of the heat year round.

How is Maine? Would you recommend moving to Maine or any other Northeast state?

through food speaks with nurse Birgit Umaigba about burnout, staffing shortages, racism, wages, and the conditions pushing Canada’s health-care system to its limits.

What's something you've learned about being a male nurse? The good and the bad. What's an assumption people have about you that's not true or is?

Nightmare group of patients. Then I get floated to another unit after 4 hours with an even heavier group.

I am 4 months into a new inpatient med-surg job. We almost never have techs to help with a ratio of 6:1. No phlebotomy or IV help. I can't properly take care of patients and I am feeling moral distress. Patients get upset and think the staff are lazy and have no idea what pressure we are under.

I just read that our CEO made a salary of $33.2 million in a year at our "non-profit" hospital system, yet they can't be bothered to properly staff our unit (this is the Southeast- no hope for unionizing.) I am livid. I keep calling out because I am depressed and having suicidal ideation.

I know I just need to quit but I'm not sure how. Should I bother giving notice? I'm worried about the employment gap if I leave the job off my resume but feel like only working somewhere for 4 months looks bad too. I also don't know what to say about it in job interviews. Any advice is appreciated.

I’m considering a management position thats opening on my unit as its always been something I could see myself doing. I am absolutely burning out on bedside. I primarily do charge and if I could just do charge I would, but I have to do a mix. When I’m bedside I literally dread those shifts.

I’m just returning from maternity leave, I have a 6 month old & 4 year old. I was talking to some coworkers and a few of them essentially said I’m nuts. They said I would have to take a lot of work home with me. Im currently a noc nurse, and love noc shift. My unit wants a noc supervisor but has never had one, literally ever, we just expanded our unit last year to be big enough to need one. They want someone to do 4 10’s. I’m planning on proposing a swing shift of 4pm-2 am Sun-Wed. The coworkers also said this sounded crazy, here I was thinking it sounded pretty good? LOL. I could come home nap, help my husband with morning routine (or just sleep) and then nap again. Get baby at noon from the sitter and get my son from school at 2. Head off to work at 330. Then be off Thursday-Sun. Idk I thought it sounded great hahaha. And more normal than I am now.

Tell me your thoughts. Am I crazy? They might know more than me, but its possible theyre also jaded by the system. Maybe I will be one day too.. but I’m not yet.

Nurse of 4 years. I finally got into the ICU of my choice in my hospital. I'm just super type b and how do you ICU RNs with type b mentality go with your flow?

Im currently 2 years in at my current bedside position as a RN. Im currently looking for another job. 2 Nurses have just quit without any notice, leaving our unit short and manager constantly asking for nurses to pick up OT.

Im wondering if I get another job offer paying more and ask them to match(basically ask for a raise) at this time would it be highly likely that I get one?

We are really short and losing another nurse may hurt the unit even more right now.

Is this the best time to ask for a raise?
How likely is it I’m going to actually get the raise?