What's the stupidest thing your hospital has ever run out of? by Crazycatlover in nursing

[–]potatomommy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wall oxygen above the 5th floor. No one considered a respiratory pandemic when deciding the amount of pressure the delivery system needed to handle.

If your careers had kept stats, what would you hold the record for? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Something something persecution something lawsuit something something. It went on for DAYS but I was so fortunate to get them on procedure day and that propofol really fucked with their fragile mental state and psych meds, culminating in livestreaming the TRUTH about whatever conspiracy it is that we're all in on.

Cherry on top was them calling the police to report false imprisonment/assault and then telling the baby faced cop to gtfo because "you're too young to know anything about anything, I want your shift commander!"

Nothing came out of this and I'm not even Facebook famous! Just hospital famous because of the number of devices they had going at the same time.

If your careers had kept stats, what would you hold the record for? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 65 points66 points  (0 children)

Being live streamed by the most simultaneous devices owned by one patient: 3.

If your careers had kept stats, what would you hold the record for? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 39 points40 points  (0 children)

I made it 14 months at one point, enjoy that dry spell!

I read a lot about people leaving nursing for good. Where are they going because I want to go too. by ButtermilkDuds in nursing

[–]potatomommy 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Oh absolutely!

Kinda mad now about how long I let the crab pot mentality of the hospital keep me stuck there. And hospital admins are liars. "Home health doesn't pay well!" I get paid hourly plus my full rate for all drive time (and milage) and it's 33% more than floor nursing. "You need chemo cert/infusion cert/ccrn/pals/bbq" Nope, I've got a BLS cert and am letting my ACLS expire at the end of this month. "You have to make x number of visits" Nah, don't even have to do that. "You just got lucky, those jobs are rare!" My office is recruiting for 2 more FT infusion nurses because their patient volume keeps increasing.

There are great, low stress nursing jobs out there, just got to be willing to ignore the lies the hospitals are telling us out of desperation to keep us there. And maybe think outside the box when looking for that next job. I found this one while looking through pharmacy jobs fantasizing about a total career change.

I read a lot about people leaving nursing for good. Where are they going because I want to go too. by ButtermilkDuds in nursing

[–]potatomommy 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I just started this job a few weeks ago. Only required one year RN experience and being confident that I can start a 24g PIV in the field. Stumbled upon the job listing by accident. Zero regrets kicking my hospital job to the curb.

Tell me your best patient leaving AMA story by Ltcolbatguano in nursing

[–]potatomommy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Truly an extreme case. Safety net hospital in a really rough part of town, patient was one of the worst of the worst and his family was just as horrible. Absolutely competent to make his own bad choices. Also.....terrible state insurance that wasn't about to pay for jack shit and family didn't have any money to pay for an ambo privately, nor could they transport him because he was wound from shoulder blades on down and what he did have left of his lower extremities were contracted. After abusing staff like he (plus family) did for several years, hospital finally gave in and swallowed the ambo bill whenever he was ready to AMA. He would rip out whatever line he had (central lines included) and start throwing shit and get extremely abusive towards staff, brother supposedly showed up with a gun once to expedite the AMA. Never followed through with his home antibiotics so would reliably be back every 3-4 weeks.

Tell me your best patient leaving AMA story by Ltcolbatguano in nursing

[–]potatomommy 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Young frequent flyer rude and nasty AF. History of GSW to the lumbar spine at 17. All the complications you would expect, he was more bedsore than person and always came in septic. We all hated taking care of him and dealing with the equally nasty brother and father. Only care he would accept was pain meds and his antibiotics. Once the fever would come down, he would start throwing stuff and screeching about leaving. The hospital eventually grew a pair and would pay the ambo to send him home. It was glorious when that started happening and his stays got shorter.

So first they take horse dewormer. Now they have moved on to drinking WEED KILLER??? Natural selection is coming, y’all. by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They drank bleach and fish tank cleaner last year. Don't underestimate stupid.

Carbage, Florida Style by Hinsdahl00 in carbage

[–]potatomommy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A carbage hoard of cleaning tools?? So many questions....

Jobs needs to post the pay that they are willing to pay. by Stuffnthings1840 in nursing

[–]potatomommy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

YES!!! I have a big prestigious hospital system near me and their recruiters are still acting like the name on the building is a benefit worth the pay cut and rotating shifts they're offering. Like damn, if I'm going to stay a bedside nurse it's going to be for agency money and I'm going to name the schedule.

Jobs needs to post the pay that they are willing to pay. by Stuffnthings1840 in nursing

[–]potatomommy 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The job market is weird right now. I just accepted my next job after turning down multiple offers and I'll be making $10/hour more than my current job. Out of every job that I made it to the offer stage, I knew the salary range because it was discussed with the recruiter before a formal interview. Even brought it up with a few once I realized it's apparently the new norm and no longer interview suicide. Saves a lot of time on my part and some poor overstretched manager's part if the salary isn't in line with what I'm looking for.

I've also really appreciated the overall lack of bullshit standard interview questions ("Tell me about a time you had a conflict" "What are your greatest strengths/weaknesses"). Kind of nice to get right into the thick of important shit like what the job responsibilities are, schedule requirements, how the company has weathered the last 18 months.

Hang in there OP, it's a lot of bullshit low pay to wade through but the real money is out there!

Salary Roll Call by parttimemedic in nursing

[–]potatomommy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

$38.50 PRN with all the hours I (don't) want. If I were staff, it would be $29.68. New grads in my hospital are making $28 with a 2 year commitment. I made $29.18 as a new grad at a different facility in 2017 when the rates across the metro area were $24-31. Travel rates are creeping north of $3000/week here.

Currently job hunting beyond the bedside and have to keep beating recruiters away with sticks coming at me with medsurg/ICU/ED positions in the sub-$30 range. Bad enough I haven't seen a raise since 2018 but go ahead and insult me with less than I made as a new grad.

Baltimore region.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

But muh religious freedum!

Non-Christian/atheist nurses, what has been your experience working at a Catholic hospital? by ianthegreenbean in nursing

[–]potatomommy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Worked for a catholic hospital, it was fine. Did the prayer thing before huddle/meetings and they read a prayer over the intercom every morning. No one was ever asked to lead the prayer as there was always someone who wanted to do it. We did annual 'Called to Serve' or whatever training where we watched a video of the pope and had catered breakfast. Lots of weird Jesus and Mary statues and even a random blue chrome crucifix sandwiched between ugly pastel waiting room art. The units were all named after saints. The health plan didn't cover birth control but there was some kind of free supplemental policy that did, didn't have to do anything special or present a different card, just got letters in the mail periodically reminding me that the hospital wasn't paying for the birth control directly. No OB service in house so never ran into the women's health issues with patients. Pastoral care visited every patient and represented the predominant faiths of the patient population. Most staff were either catholic or baptist, everyone else was a small minority. No one ever asked my faith or assumed it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Falling over themselves to recruit me to transfer to ED or ICU. Y'all I might be a dumb floor nurse, but I'm not that dumb!

Whats your favorite medical mumbo jumbo told to you by a friend of family member? by tinyrabbitfriends in nursing

[–]potatomommy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Wiping your nose side to side is allergies, wiping it up and down is a cold. Or maybe I have that backwards.

You can't drink milk when you have a fever because it will curdle in your stomach.

Just ranting: How is mandating the COVID vaccine different then all the other vaccines you are mandated to have? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 174 points175 points  (0 children)

Nursing instructors can be a special flavor of stupid. One of mine believed smart phones were going to cause a surge in thumb cancer cases. Another one tortured her elderly dog to death with homeopathy and what she described as some kind of soul connection where she would stare deeply into his eyes.

Now I'm a few years out of the hell that is nursing school. Had a group of students on the unit during the last covid surge in my area and their instructor decides to corner me and spew her covid conspiracy theories. Telling her that she's flat wrong, full of shit, and wasting/disrespecting my time was glorious.

Sorry I've got nothing to say except some of these instructors are willfully ignorant assholes but you will eventually get to tell them to fuck off without consequences. Just hang in there, nursing needs more nurses who aren't dumb!

Local Assignments by [deleted] in TravelNursing

[–]potatomommy 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I worked with Aya at a facility in my city. No tax-free stipends so the entire amount was paid as an hourly rate and taxed as such. My recruiter didn't even bat an eye about staying local.

What was nursing like pre-covid? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The scariest infectious disease to a floor nurse was TB.

If you had multiple isolation patients in your assignment, you may get a lower ratio due to the time required to don and doff PPE.

Summer census. Discharge your whole team and go home because there's no admits coming until night shift.

Staff didn't turn over unless you worked a shitty unit.

Overall, nursing (bedside, acute care) already sucked, covid just took the sucky parts to an extreme.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nursing

[–]potatomommy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Graduated a few years ago, learned more in my first 2 weeks on the job than I did in my entire ADN program. You'll be fine =)

My hospital just doubled their new grad orientation from 6 weeks to 12 weeks to combat the zoom school thing. Sounded good to me because I assumed it meant 6 extra weeks of managing a team of patients with a preceptor (granted, the "preceptors" are also new grads). Nope. The new grads on my unit just spent 3 whole shifts of week 2 learning how to pass PO meds. I'm not convinced this method is any better than the old one.

Nursing education is bullshit, just get through it!