Nurse hazards

[3.0L]

I'm sure Lady Jane can add to this:

My RN daughter called me this morning (as she does almost everyday) and told me that one of her patients slugged her in the eye yesterday as he was coming out of anesthesia. She's had combative patients before, this one was the worst.

If that's not enough, her supervisor discouraged her from filing a report! WTF!

She filed a report anyway.

God Bless our nurses.

[ASAP]

wow

Hope she is ok! Anything medical right now is very tough as everywhere is short staffed.

[ezaircon4jc]

My wife is combative coming out. She isn't that physical, mostly verbal. It's quite comical! On the other hand, my daughter and I are quite boring; we just wake up. I did get a bit panicky when I woke up from my open-heart surgery with the vent tube down my throat. I felt I couldn't breathe and the tube kept filling with fluid, though the nurses were quit good at sucking it out. I NEVER want to go through that again!

My son-in-law is a nurse and he does have some stories from when he was in the hospital. He's an NP now and in an office.

[jmg]

Nurses are understaffed and underpaid. Good for your daughter for filing a report! WTF is wrong with her Supervisor? Is the super an RN too?

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I'm sure Lady Jane can add to this:

More often than not, it's a panic reflex but being told not to write this up? That's a new one on me. You always need a paper trail when it comes to assault. You just never know... It would be interesting to know what was behind the supervisor's motives.

Friday and Saturday nights in the ER is often a battlefield. I've slugged a few on occasion. When the LEOs bring one in handcuffs, the restraints stay on. I might not be able to fix crazies but I sure can sedate them.

[HondaRC51]

All nurses need to start wearing sparing gear when on the clock. Or those dog bite training suits police use.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by HondaRC51

All nurses need to start wearing sparing gear when on the clock. Or those dog bite training suits police use.

If I woke up next to that, I'd be combative too.

I remember coming out of the fog of a high (104) fever. I had Montezuma on my liver. Guess what day it was, and guess what outfit my nurse was wearing to celebrate said day???

No, it wasn't Hub-worthy. . .

[Tambohamilton]

I get an itchy nose coming out of general, every time! And there's always an oxygen mask in the way of giving it a right good scratch

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

I get an itchy nose coming out of general, every time!

How many times have you been under?

[DocOfTheDead]

I’ve had 12 surgeries. When I was younger, I would wake up wanting to fight someone. Younger people, especially young males, are more prone to it.

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2500079-overview

Having spent 5 years working as a tech in three large emergency rooms, one of which was attached to a psych hospital, I’ve been in *plenty* of rather severe physical altercations. That’s one of the reasons I decided against emergency medicine. I didn’t want to be doing that crap when I was 60.

[Maynard]

New-nurse initiation at VA hospitals is to tell them to always wake patients by shaking the side rail - if you gotta touch them, shake a foot.

Waving a larger bore catheter about in a threatening way while describing where it could be going has also been rumored to have a certain 'de-escalation potential'.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

More often than not, it's a panic reflex but being told not to write this up? That's a new one one me. You always need a paper trail when it comes to assault. You just never know... It would be interesting to know what was behind the supervisor's motives.

Friday and Saturday nights in the ER is often a battlefield. I've slugged a few on occasion. When the LEOs bring one in handcuffs, the restraints stay on. I might not be able to fix crazies but I sure can sedate them.

Attachment 3271526

I think her supervisor's motives are to hide in her office and do as little as possible. But that's just me.

My RN daughter is extremely committed to her patients, as she should be. But yet, two recent hire RN's piss and moan because they say no one will help them prepare a room for the next patient. But did they ask anyone for help. No.

I've learned a new word in recent years. Projection.

I sense that my daughter is burning out. She's a very gifted artist and she's started to ramp that up. I don't blame her one bit. I should also mention that she has her Master's degree in nursing administration, so I think she get's it with staff. She's been on both sides of the fence. After two years as an administrator, she went back to straight nursing saying, "handling a bunch of females on staff isn't much fun."

She's always been a straight shooter, so I believe her. But then, we had some buttheads in our all-male shop as well.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Isn't it standard practice to restrain people using belts on the bed?

No, it isn’t.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Isn't it standard practice to restrain people using belts on the bed?

They used that blue tape to restrain me. For some reason my wife told them I get combative; I don't and she should have known that. It was a good thing though as I would have ripped that vent tube right out of my throat!

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

How many times have you been under?

Only 3 times, to be fair. But still, 100% itchy nose rate

[Lady Jane]

Fecal matters, urine, vomit, infectious diseases, violence, physical strains, abuse from patients, doctors and administrators, extra long shift because there's nobody to relieve you and you have needy patients. etc...etc...

[Watching The World Burn]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I think her supervisor's motives are to hide in her office and do as little as possible. But that's just me.

My RN daughter is extremely committed to her patients, as she should be. But yet, two recent hire RN's piss and moan because they say no one will help them prepare a room for the next patient. But did they ask anyone for help. No.

I've learned a new word in recent years. Projection.

I sense that my daughter is burning out. She's a very gifted artist and she's started to ramp that up. I don't blame her one bit. I should also mention that she has her Master's degree in nursing administration, so I think she get's it with staff. She's been on both sides of the fence. After two years as an administrator, she went back to straight nursing saying, "handling a bunch of females on staff isn't much fun."

She's always been a straight shooter, so I believe her. But then, we had some buttheads in our all-male shop as well.

Sorry to hear that - I have no doubt your daughter is both very good at what she does, but also cares too. The caring part is probably what is going to burn her out though, especially if she gets surrounded by mediocrity and nurses who just don't care.

There are definitely good nurses out there, but I feel like more and more of the good ones are leaving (and no wonder, they can get paid more by being a traveling nurse than attached to a hospital, so I get it) or getting burnt out because the incoming ones are either dumb as a post or simply don't care. That, coupled with the amount of nurses that are in administrative roles only and are just creating layer upon layer of useless red tape in a hospital setting aren't helping things any either.

My wife and another surgeon had to catch a nurse from inserting a needle full of antiseptic into the implant that they were going to put in someone...would have very likely ruined the implant and said nurse had been in the plastics room for 10+ years now...you'd think she would have learned, but no.

Whole system up here is broken and the administrative / bureaucratic nightmare that has been created is just burning out the good nurses and doctors too. I know several doctors that have just decided to call it a day because the system just keeps getting worse. For us though, its going to have to fully break before it can be fixed.

Case in point, my dad needs a new left knee. His family doc said its going to be close to a year before it can happen and that year only starts after he gets seen by Ortho....which is another long wait in itself. I've got the ball rolling for him though because our neighbours are doctors who can help him jump through the hoops to see ortho a lot quicker than normal, plus they know some ortho guys, so due to that, my dad is going to get seen a lot quicker now than the average Canadian. But anyone else? Good luck.

Wish your daughter well and I really hope she's able to take care of herself and stay in it - she's definitely needed!

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Fecal matters, urine, vomit, infectious diseases, violence, physical strains, abuse from patients, doctors and administrators, extra long shift because there's nobody to relieve you and you have needy patients. etc...etc...

Many of those same things are also experienced by flight attendants from the recent news coverage.

Thank you to everyone who chose nursing as their career, because I certainly couldn't do your job.....

[Lady Jane]

On any given night...

[KCuv]

I have a nurse staffing agency - is nurse daughter looking for a high paying travel contract??? you can get a referral fee! haha

[OtoPA]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I'm sure Lady Jane can add to this:

My RN daughter called me this morning (as she does almost everyday) and told me that one of her patients slugged her in the eye yesterday as he was coming out of anesthesia. She's had combative patients before, this one was the worst.

If that's not enough, her supervisor discouraged her from filing a report! WTF!

She filed a report anyway.

God Bless our nurses.

Always report, right away. Anything else is an out for the hospital should she be hurt on the job. Worked in OR, finger pokes were reported and followed up on.

[xbigbenx]

I been a nurse for 2 decades. Parents were both nurses as well. ICU and post anesthesia the last decade.

If they guy was still half out and was obviously oppologetic once he was actually awake, I wouldn't call the cops if he hit me. I would report it as a work injury and get a occ health ticket going.

Don't want to quote all the different people but some things from this thread.

In general, bedside nursing sucks. It's a customer service job but all of your customers don't want to be there, are sick or hurting, or have a family member that are. The hours are long, the admistration rarely cares about anything except numbers whether it's $ numbers, patient satisfaction numbers, or some random "indicator" number that their boss yelled at them about.

Money was great during covid, especially as a travel nurse. Travel money has decreased to the point its not worth it unless your lieing to the IRS about having two places of living.

There are good parts. Knowing you made a difference in someone's life, the adrenaline rushes, etc.

But honestly if I didn't get a super cush job working ICU at the veterans hospital with a pension I probably would have left after travel nursing was done.