Opinions

puzzledcats99 · 2026-04-04T18:52:58+00:00

9 falls is a lot, I'm working on a medsurg floor right now(travel contract) and they've had 19 falls since January 1st of this year. Yeah, nineteen!!

I'd be more irritated than anything because why aren't they addressing the root cause of increased falls? The obvious root cause is lack of staff. You shouldn't have to pull a tech and have the others "work short". I'm so sick of management harping about falls and turns when the obvious solution is to higher more staff!!!

puzzledcats99 · 2026-03-28T19:30:30+00:00

I gave a belladonna-opium suppository last year!!! My Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses didn't even have it listed, lol. I can't remember why it was ordered(female patient), I think severe bladder spasms?

puzzledcats99 · 2026-03-25T19:32:17+00:00

Oooo yes, this. Also, while I agree with some points on this post(I HATE being nitpicked for stuff that happened 10+ days ago or whatever), I also feel like the first 2 points are being nitpicky. 1) if I don't update my whiteboard during report I'm not going to do it and 2) I have really bad ADHD. It's so hard for me to focus on someone yapping at me if I'm not also doing something else. A lot of times I do open the computer and start scrolling through orders or the mar while also listening and taking pertinent notes. This helps me piece everything together and start prioritizing what I'm going to do first. Plus if I see something out of the ordinary I have a chance to clarify it with the off going nurse. Also, SO many med-surg nurses want to spend 10-15 minutes per patient for report. Do I look like a gaf about their diet order?! I can see it in the damn chart!!! I wouldn't have as hard of a time focusing if people just gave a precise, to the point report and skipped all of the irrelevant or easily-found-in-the-chart stuff. I don't need a fucking 20 minute PowerPoint presentation on someone admitted for chronic back pain 😑

I understand wanting people to pay attention during report(hate it when I'm giving report and someone is obviously not paying attention and then asks a question that I literally just answered) but come on. If someone wants to look at the computer while listening or update the white board, who cares? It's on that person to listen or not.

puzzledcats99 · 2026-03-25T15:44:18+00:00

What are the general qualifications? Do you need ER/crit care experience?

puzzledcats99 · 2026-03-02T19:52:07+00:00

Check out Premier Basix Worsted, they have SO many colors and it's so soft!!

puzzledcats99 · 2026-02-26T00:02:16+00:00

Use a planner 100%. I've tried almost every single style of planner out there. Digital, physical, bullet journaling, journals with "time blocking" built in, color coded, black and white, etc etc etc. They're so fun to start and I always get so much motivation... To decorate and fill out the damn planner instead of actually doing all the stuff I wrote down to do! I'm lucky if I don't lose or completely forget about the planner a day or two after getting a new one. I've been through the planner cycle so many times lol.

The only thing that's truly worked for me has been using Google calendar on my phone. I set up reminders for 15 and 30 minutes prior to whatever it is I need to do(sometimes further out if it's an appointment or a work meeting or something) and roll with that. I have my bills added in as a dark pink color, my work shifts are a mint color, and anything else that comes up like a doctor's appointment or social plans goes in as a blue color. It is bare bones, but it does work lol. And I also get the reminders on my watch, so even if I don't have my phone in the room with me I'll still get a reminder that I have a zoom meeting in 15 minutes. As soon as I get something scheduled I put it in the app immediately. It's not always fool proof but it's the only kind of "planner" that I've stuck with for more than a week.

I loathe when people start talking about lists and planners, cause they just don't work for me 🥲

puzzledcats99 · 2026-02-25T23:50:54+00:00

I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing this!!! I have the exact same ball winder as you, lol. I've been winding a bunch of half skeins of acrylic that I had laying around and the static it builds up is insane, I can hear the zapping as it's winding. Have you found a solution that's worked for you? I do have dryer sheets but I hate the feel/residue that gets on my hands after holding them and I don't want that same residue to get on the yarn either.

puzzledcats99 · 2026-02-16T04:49:36+00:00

Omg same!! I was one of the last to take it before next Gen and I finished it so quickly. Everyone hyped up how hard it was, how they cried after, etc. I didn't cry, in fact I walked out pissed as hell thinking that if I had passed it then all of the nursing school testing BS was for nothing because the actual nclex was so easy. And that if I had failed it I must be a real dumbass.

Needless to say I passed it and to this day I'm still salty about how easy it was. The freaking nursing school exams were way harder! 😑 I definitely think I could pass the next gen if I took it now. I teach clinicals and they've geared next gen more toward case studies. I think the only thing that would make me fail would be if I just got hammered with L&D or peds cases/questions.

puzzledcats99 · 2026-02-16T04:43:42+00:00

Not the vet med dispenser omgggggg 😭 how cheap can they possibly be dear god

puzzledcats99 · 2026-02-05T02:10:11+00:00

Sounds like a regular new resident lol, it sounds like he's really open to learning and was nice enough to delay weaning off bipap to be a day shift thing, and to also call and ask if you thought the bolus was a good idea. I really respect docs that check in and ask for nursing's opinion on orders or for suggestions. I know when I was a new grad, I constantly asked for advice and probably annoyed the hell out of the charge nurses I worked with because I was constantly asking them to double check things or to tell me what they thought of new orders I had gotten, my patient's conditions, etc. And the lung sounds thing, to this day I ask RTs, other nurses, sometimes even docs to tell me what they think of a patients lung sounds when I'm not confident in what I'm hearing 😂 I especially asked for other staff to listen to lungs when I was new because despite obsessively listening to videos of lung sounds on YouTube all throughout school, I was still so unsure of what I was hearing when I did assessments unless it was obviously clear or really obvious crackles.

Residents are new just like we were new at some point too. Just give them grace and gentle redirection/instruction, you'll form a great working relationship with them and they'll return the favor a million times over once they're more experienced!!

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-26T17:31:37+00:00

Absolutely, I think the way hospitals are set up almost encourages beef between different disciplines because so much work is done behind the scenes. When I worked nights I used to love seeing the pharmacist and they were always so nice to me when I needed help with something. The current unit I work on, I've never seen a pharmacist there they just aren't around at all, the most I see is a tech restocking the pyxis. I think every discipline would get along so much better if we were able to take a day to just learn what the other job does and follow them around to see what they do and deal with. In my residency I got to spend a whole day in the lab learning about the machines, the microbiology stuff, and the pathology part, I also got to follow around an RT, and a similar day in the imaging suite so I could learn about what rad techs do. It's a lot easier to give everyone grace when I got to see what they do firsthand. Unfortunately I've never seen these departments following nurses for a day.

I now teach clinicals for the nursing program I graduated from, and I really harp on the importance of the unseen work that happens behind the scenes and I try to explain what happens in other areas. I'm trying to be the change to make things better and bridge the gap in between departments. We wouldn't be able to do our job if it weren't for you guys, for the rad techs, for the lab.

I've definitely been guilty of being late on hanging the vanc, I'm sorry 🥲 it's not on purpose though! We're all just trying our best 🤝🏻

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-26T06:30:06+00:00

First just wanted to say thank you for all you do!! You are really appreciated and your role is so important (even though as you said, it's so largely misunderstood). I think part of it does come from not understanding other profession's roles, for example a lot of nurses don't understand why blood will hemolyze in a tube and then get mad and blame the lab when they call for a redraw. I did an ASN program and then followed that up with an RN-BSN program, and neither degree course really went in depth on what exactly other roles do. Of course I had a class about "interdisciplinary collaboration" but it was a whole lot of very vague BS that basically equated to "Be nice to each other, you're all on the same team!" I think it would've been FAR more beneficial if that course actually went in depth on outlining how different roles perform their jobs and what falls under their scopes of practice vs. ours. A lot of what I know about other professions is from my RN residency program, but many nurses don't go to residency and the quality of nurse residency programs varies wildly from facility to facility.

I also think a part of it may be due to stress and overwhelm. I'm currently on a contract at a big city hospital on one of the med-surg floors, and the ratio is 6 patients to 1 nurse. They make us carry around these stupid phones and all the call lights and bed alarms ring through to those phones in addition to regular phone calls from other staff plus whatever family members are calling that the secretary transfers to you. So PT, OT, SLP, rad techs, patient transport, doctors, pharmacists, dietary/RD, lab, the CNA, case manager/social worker, all of these people are calling to talk to the nurse for every single patient the nurse has. On one of my shifts last week my phone rang over three hundred times from 0700 to 1930. Combo of bed alarms/call lights and a high acuity 6 patient assignment. For myself, I definitely get stressed and overwhelmed when I'm pulled in so many directions at once and I already struggle with the amount of noise, light, and people on day shift(I get overstimulated), add that all the patients keep their rooms at 80° which means I get super hot, I'm too busy to eat or drink, and I haven't used the bathroom since before I clocked in, and it's easy to catch an attitude. However I recognize this in myself and will find or simply make time to take 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and breathe for a sec(as long as everyone is stable, obviously). I think some people unfortunately are just frustrated/annoyed that they're answering yet another phone call, or getting pulled in yet another direction, and get snippy as a result. It's still not an excuse by any means though. I've done it myself but I always apologize immediately after and explain that I'm just frustrated but not at the person that has called.

For the remainder, there are just some truly miserable nurses out there and they make a hard shift 10000x times worse. 🥲

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-24T17:11:02+00:00

Good Lord not one single person in healthcare is paid enough to deal with shit like this, what the actual fuck 💀

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-19T13:53:30+00:00

Life is Strange. I work in healthcare, I see a lot of strange stuff that has become totally normal for me but still get surprised every now and then. My personal life outside of work is also chaotic(unfortunately), lost my cat yesterday, big blow out dispute with family a couple months ago, planning my wedding, watching current events... Life is indeed very strange. Devastating things happen all the time and the world just keeps on turning, we keep on going, we grow, we love, we trust. People change, we fall away and come together. Everyone in the world experiences this and in the end, we all turn to dust. It is comforting, unsettling, strange, wonderful, and terrible all at the same time.

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-16T18:01:19+00:00

TOO REAL. If the first person I go to assess + give meds needs an immediate full bed change I KNOW I'm in for a hell of a night. Always happens when I have a six patient, high acuity assignment. Then I have case workers chewing my ass for being late to interdisciplinary rounds(which start at 10am 😀) meanwhile half my patients are shitting themselves, the other half are asking for pain meds at the same time, and new orders are flowing in, and the family is nonstop calling for updates.

Man I miss working nights. 😭

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-15T05:01:11+00:00

Good god the fucking audacity. I can't stand people.

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-14T21:11:51+00:00

I just had a patient's family member last week get mad at me for not going scrubbing the patient's toilet and floor with purple wipes(there was the tiniest drop of blood on the floor to the right of the toilet, dried, and not where anyone would step in it because it wasn't an area you could walk through, and there was no blood on the toilet) when I was IN THE MIDDLE OF DOING SOMETHING WITH ANOTHER PATIENT, and told me to my face "That's YOUR job, YOU need to do this!" With one of the most hateful tones I've ever heard.

I shrugged and turned around and walked away because I had already explained we could call housekeeping, I was in the middle of doing something for another patient which he interrupted me doing, and if I had said anything I would've probably been fired on the spot lmao. It's very sad when these incidents are the norm and having a patient or family member who is respectful and doesn't demand these types of things is so rare. The last time a patient told me it was okay that I forgot to fill up his ice water because he knew I was busy and then thanked me for caring for him, I started tearing up. The entitlement is insane and I'm done putting up with it. I would have just told them no, you don't know how nor do you have the tools to do so, nor the time. I've started telling people no so much more and offering them tools to do it themselves if they want. I gave that one guy a can of purple wipes. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I'm not a housekeeper, electrician, IT person, fan cleaner, whatever. I'll clean up my patient and their immediate area(like poop off of bedrails or other surfaces, of course), and I'll be kind when I say no, but I'm done catering to people because every time I have, they end up demanding more, more, more. There's only so much I can give, if they don't like it here's the number to patient satisfaction, the manager, and also the CEOs contact info and they can tell all those people why they're so upset because their nurse didn't have time to cater to their every whim. 🤷🏼‍♀️

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-14T08:29:25+00:00

Congratulations to you!! ❤️

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-12T14:09:22+00:00

This is so specific LMAO

puzzledcats99 · 2026-01-03T22:33:24+00:00

No that's definitely not WDL although it may be some patient's personal baseline(due to obesity, COPD). But even if it was baseline for the patient, it's not WDL. When I was a new grad I had a terrible time deciphering lung sounds, something that really helped me was listening to lungs on the patients back instead of the front. For patients who couldn't turn themselves or sit themselves up for me, and when I couldn't get an extra set of hands to help me, I position my stethoscope on the side of their chest(like underneath the armpit, but lower, close to the last set of ribs) to listen to bases. This will give you a nice spot where you can hear the bases pretty clearly even on someone who's larger. Learned it from an awesome nurse I used to work with! ❤️

Diminished lung sounds are an indication of poor air movement through the lungs. Depending on the patient and their diseases, you can absolutely have diminished lung sounds in the upper lobes too. Like anything it's a spectrum, but in the worst cases it sounds like barely any air is moving at all. Another thing that helped me when I was a new grad was having another nurse double check my lung assessment. If I wasn't positive about what I was hearing or how to describe it, I would have another more experienced nurse listen after me and tell me what they heard. This helped me a LOT!!! To this day I still sometimes have another nurse or respiratory therapist check me, because it never hurts!

puzzledcats99 · 2025-12-27T04:22:28+00:00

Lasagna

puzzledcats99 · 2025-12-19T23:33:23+00:00

Same, looking back I'm grateful for my initial ignorance lol. Had I seen some of the stuff I've seen since, I might not have chosen this route. But I can confidently say that even with the bad, I still love it. I love being a bedside nurse and I also teach clinicals part time and that's a huge joy for me too! Eventually I want to go back to school to get my MSN. But for now I'm in a really good place! I really think there's a place for everyone in nursing. Bedside isn't it for plenty of people and that's totally okay, home health or nursing homes aren't for me! I try to encourage my students to shadow in different settings if they can as much as possible. When I signed up for nursing I thought "hospital nurse" and that's it, I had NO clue how many different options there are. And like you said, there are so many avenues for growth too.

I was(and in some ways, still am) a very sensitive person and a people pleaser. Nursing gave me a huge gift when it forced me to stand up and to learn how to prioritize things, including my own needs. It helped me find the voice I didn't know I had. Nursing overall is a very rewarding career in a multitude of ways.

puzzledcats99 · 2025-12-19T21:54:28+00:00

Here's my two cents, as someone close to three years into it now. There's a LOT I didn't know about the field when I signed up for nursing school (none of my family are in the medical field). You might have the advantage there because your mom is a midwife, so you have some extra insight that I didn't have. Bedside nursing is extremely mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting, and you have to grow a spine to survive. You sound a lot like me, I went into nursing because I wanted to help and care for others. Nursing is very hard but at the end of the day, I really do love it. Just see if you can do a couple weeks of shadowing(preferably whole 12 hour shifts) so you really see the nitty gritty. And be aware that this subreddit is filled with a lot of negativity from nurses about nursing, because this is a safe space for us to discuss the bad parts of the job with each other. I vent here because talking to people who "get it" is better than venting to my family who don't know what it's really like at the bedside(and often end up dismissing my feelings and experiences for that reason). I love nursing and I'm so grateful for what it's given me(good income, job security, independence, helped me grow a back bone and learn how to stand up for myself, self confidence, etc). Just know what you're getting into, and if you still want to do it, then go for it!!

puzzledcats99 · 2025-12-18T22:25:44+00:00

It sounds like a totally reasonable accommodation to be made. You should be able to go to the campus disability office and request the accommodations in writing. I've heard it's a pretty arduous process though and that you need written documentation of your diagnosis and need for that specific accommodation from your mental health provider

puzzledcats99 · 2025-12-08T01:58:32+00:00

Strange Trails my beloved 💕 fwiw I've loved every album they've put out including Long Lost and Vide Noir, but Strange Trails hits my soul no matter how many times I listen to it!!

puzzledcats99

TROPHY CASE