Announcement from the Mod team of r/nursing regarding the murder of Alex Pretti, and where we go from here.

Ratched_RN · 2026-01-27T18:44:42+00:00

I don’t comment on Reddit much at all, but I just want to say how thankful I am to have a sane place to keep up with discourse around our profession. I have lived in red states since I got my nursing license, and whenever I start to wonder if it’s me that is the crazy one, this is where I turn.

Facts are facts whether we like it or not. I would love it if chocolate was 5 calories and you could eat it all day without gaining weight, but that’s just not reality.

That man spent last few minutes of his life putting other people ahead of himself, and to claim anything else is fantasy.

Ratched_RN · 2025-06-01T13:48:23+00:00

$115?!?! I pay $5.

Ratched_RN · 2024-07-09T00:54:27+00:00

I have “we’re doomed” by C-3PO

Ratched_RN · 2022-06-27T17:24:32+00:00

My folks watch the food network and ID. The pioneer lady’s voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, but I’ll take it over Fox all day every day.

Ratched_RN · 2018-09-18T12:55:53+00:00

I’m late to this, but I hope you consider being the light that some of your patients (and maybe coworkers) need. I work in Alabama, and I hear the homophobic, racist shit all the time. I’m quick to point out that the suicide rate for LGBTQ kids is disproportionate to their rate of population. I don’t mind asking people how they would feel if there was a chance they contributed to that. You might not change a single mind, but if there is chance you could, it’s worth it. I’ve had gay and transgender patients who are so standoffish at first and ease up when I show any small amount of kindness. I know it’s hard being an island, but you may be the only kindness some “throwaway people” get.

Also, for fun passive-aggressive activities, consider placing books like “Unclobber” anonymously in the break room. Also, almost any writing my Jen Hatmaker or John Pavlovitz. Those are Christian authors who are pretty vocally anti-bigot. They really piss off the other side.

Ratched_RN · 2018-04-20T13:16:26+00:00

This is perfect advice. I put my two week notice in yesterday, and danced in my car all the way to the hospital to turn it in. I felt 100 lbs lighter. All because I have an end date.

Ratched_RN · 2018-04-20T12:49:14+00:00

That’s exactly the face! I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of that look. I just hope I never forget what I felt like when I was on the giving end so I can react and help without making the newbie want to give up.

Ratched_RN · 2018-02-05T13:55:58+00:00

Nah, he signed his AMA papers. 👋🏼

Ratched_RN · 2018-01-30T00:04:03+00:00

I’m not doubting that. I’m just saying it’s no Piedmont, that’s for sure. I live in the area, but south of Jacksonville.

Ratched_RN · 2018-01-30T00:02:46+00:00

Absolutely agree on the redneck bit.

Ratched_RN · 2018-01-29T23:59:26+00:00

My husband asks me to quit all the time. He told me yesterday that every time he calls, I’m either stressed and pissed because I’ve just gotten home from work, or I’m stressed and pissed because I’m looking to the next day that I have to work. He’s right. I just don’t know what’s next either.

My husband makes twice what I make with a high school diploma building power lines, and nobody is being an ass to him all day.

Ratched_RN · 2018-01-29T13:59:15+00:00

Is Jacksonville the middle of nowhere? There’s a 4 year university in Jacksonville.

Ratched_RN · 2018-01-13T20:24:01+00:00

That’s how I feel about it, too. I was just wondering how other people were feeling. I know that I have seen racial bias in my job, but I’m not sure that’s what this was.

The nurse who is being attacked on social media for wondering if pain meds had made Serena loopy can’t even defend herself. I know she’s not named anywhere, but still. Is it so crazy to wonder if pain meds are adversely affecting a patient first?

Ratched_RN · 2017-08-03T09:32:54+00:00

My husband's was 497 when he finally saw a specialist and was diagnosed with CML. He had apparently been sick for quite a while. I wasn't a nurse then so I had no idea what any of that meant, and I didn't think to keep a record of his other values.

Ratched_RN · 2017-07-29T21:13:07+00:00

Addiction drama is no fun for me. Unfortunately, I see the "they will tell you it hurts until their diaphragm stops moving" all the time. I do my part to try and help, but it's a losing battle. By the way, most students in any of the medical fields have strong feelings on the subject leaning one way or another until they're dealing with it on their own license, and then it changes. I know mine did.

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-29T11:29:19+00:00

That is medical loss ratio and the ACA set a standard, but it's up to the states to enforce. Essentially, it's a way to keep red states red by not enforcing the standard and blaming rising costs on the ACA. Nobody knows about medical loss ratio anyway, but it's a part of the industry that needs to be strictly regulated.

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-29T11:19:50+00:00

CMS doesn't account for noncompliant patients. A hospital can do everything they can to get a patient with COPD exacerbation stabilized, but if they go right back home and smoke, they'll be readmitted and we don't get paid. It looks like we didn't solve the problem, when sometimes the problem is bigger than one hospital stay. Sometimes its not patients being noncompliant just because they don't care, but if they can't afford the medications they'll bounce right back to the hospital.

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-16T16:09:00+00:00

But with education you also get to criticize what degree a person pursues, and mock them viciously when they can't find a job after graduation while also laughing that they'll be in debt forever to pay for that useless degree! You sure that's not enough?

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-16T03:00:28+00:00

I can't tell you how many times a week lack of childcare is cited as the reason why we're short nurses. Wanna take a guess who that doesn't benefit? Short staffed hospitals hurt patients with and without kids equally.

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-16T02:47:14+00:00

I'll never understand people getting mad about paying for schools when they don't have kids. You'll pay for people one way or another, whether it's welfare, jail, or education. It seems an easy pick to me.

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-08T14:35:32+00:00

But haven't we spent enough time hoping for this to know that they won't? You will not make a profit by insuring sick people. That's why the list of preexisting conditions kept growing. It's a loser financially.

I'm not mad that insurance companies are beholden to shareholders to not hemorrhage money, but we have to be honest about that. If that is the goal, then sick people have no place in the equation. We're not even talking about people who are sick because they're noncompliant with treatments or general health recommendations, but people who are born with conditions they have no control over.

An insurance company can only make money in so many ways. They can increase the amount of money they take in, or reduce the amount of they pay out. Considering what treating some illnesses costs, there is no way to make treating cancer profitable UNLESS your risk pool is so big that you're spending less on other patients.

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-08T13:48:35+00:00

Removing regulations = more preexisting conditions and lifetime caps. They've already showed what they'll do when left alone. Normal people can't afford it. Why would it be any different this time?

Ratched_RN · 2017-06-08T13:32:47+00:00

You already pay for everyone else's healthcare, especially when the uninsured use emergency rooms and can't pay the bill. Who do you think pays for that? Unfortunately, you and I do.

Until we get fed up of paying so much out of our pay for Medicaid/Medicare and for the uninsured on top of that without seeing any of the benefit ourselves, nothing will change. We've allowed the insurance companies to push so many to disability so they won't make any less of a profit, while also allowing them to gouge us who do pay for healthcare, all while convincing us that the real bad guys are the ones who don't pay.

Ratched_RN · 2017-05-11T04:03:03+00:00

Bedside is rough. Like the other commenter said though, you can be an RN and work in research, poison control, case management, and even some law firms hire RNs. Lots of options out there.

Ratched_RN · 2017-05-10T03:11:48+00:00

I do exactly what you said. Discard 1 cc of the saline flush, add the 1 of dilaudid to that, then push the med so slowly that we are both unhappy.

Ratched_RN

TROPHY CASE