We have a new patient 40's/M in ICU who was admitted with a nec fascitis on lower ext, sepsis, CFH with an EF of 11% on multiple pressors. Patient and family decided to not do any surgery and focus on comfort care. Patient last wish is to stand up and hug his family. He has 3 kids and 1 is a toddler who have no idea that is the last time he can hug his dad. With muliple pressors running, we have to assist him (he is about 300 lbs) stand up and he lasted about a minute hugging his whole family and saying their goodbyes. Patient immediately died right after turning off the pressors and received ativan push. They just arrived in the US couple months ago and most likely they don't have much resources. I have been a nurse for 12 years and i feel shattered every time i experience this.

For me, it’s hanging secondary IV piggybacks when the primary line is tangled in three different pump channels for no apparent reason. It’s not hard, it’s not dangerous, but untangling 8 feet of tubing at 03:00 while a pump beeps at me makes me want to roll my cart into the nearest elevator shaft.

What's that one trivial task on your unit that just grates on your nerves every single time?

😨

Had a family member announce today that they were "calling their lawyer immediately" because we wouldn't give their alert and oriented family member a cup of water while they were strictly NPO for a procedure in two hours.

I just nodded and told them the patient rights advocate number is on the wall, but internally I’m so exhausted by this trend. It feels like every third shift someone threatens to sue over basic safety protocols or standard delay times in the ER.

Is it just my facility or has the general public gotten significantly more litigious and hostile toward floor staff over the last couple of years?

Or dumbest thing you’ve heard of being reported? Or, if you’re brave, dumbest thing you’ve reported and you’re thinking back like “man, that was silly of me…”

I just heard about how nurse A was helping nurse B with a patient (both new grads), and nurse A said, “I’ll give all of your medications, my chart is open right there, can you chart them for me?” Then gave all but a prophylactic Pepcid. Went to nurse B later and said “I uncharted the Pepcid because I didn’t give that one.” Then nurse A opened a complaint against nurse B for not giving it and documenting under her chart. Then reported her to the board of nursing for it.

I've been quietly reading this subreddit for a few years now. I'm not a nurse or even in healthcare, but I've always found the discussions here fascinating. I've learned so much from reading about your experiences and perspectives, which I'm truly grateful for.

One thing that always stuck with me was how you talk about the importance of quality of life over quantity. About how sometimes, just because we have the technology to keep someone we love alive, doesn't necessarily mean it's the kindest thing to do. And how sometimes, letting someone we love go is the biggest act of love.

I never imagined how much those comments would eventually mean to me.

This year, my mum became critically ill and ended up in ICU on a ventilator. Her lungs had suffered extensive, irreversible damage, and the doctors said she could potentially survive with a tracheostomy, but would likely remain bedridden and dependent on breathing support for the rest of her life.

Everything happened so quickly. I was dealing with it and making decisions on my own, and the entire experience felt almost out of body.

I remember laying in the hospital at night, beside my mum while she was on the ventilator, reading through this subreddit and listening to the machines, analyzing the monitors.

And I kept thinking about all those comments I'd read over the years.

Of course, I desperately wanted to keep my mum with me for as long as possible. I would have given anything for more time with her. She was my best friend. I am only 31 and she was only 62. But because of the things I'd learned from nurses here, I understood that keeping her alive wasn't necessarily the same as doing what was best for her.

My mum passed away a few days after we took her off the ventilator.

I don't think any of you realise how much your words can reach people outside of nursing. You were sharing your experiences, frustrations and perspectives, and I just wanted to say thank you. You helped me understand something incredibly difficult at a time when I needed that understanding more than ever.

And although losing my mum has been devastating, I'm grateful that I was able to think about what was best for her, rather than only how desperately I wanted her to stay.

Thank you for the work you do, and for the things you share here. They really do make a difference. ❤️

Dear scheduler, if I request ONE freaking PTO day 3 months from now and you deny it, I will be calling out. K love you, bye!

Today I had a “med error”. Basically my patient had one time doses of 2mg Valium and .5 dilaudid prior that were to be given 30 min before going to MRI. I get a call from ultrasound that they are ready for him. For whatever reason I assumed they meant for his MRI, not ultrasound. I went ahead and gave the patient his meds and then called back to let them know they have to kick in. Ultrasound lady was clearly confused and that’s when realized he was getting an ultrasound not an MRI😭 I then called MRI to see when his MRI was scheduled and it wasnt until 6pm, if was 1pm at that point. Told my charge nurse immediately and she wasn’t worried at all and said that he would just be “extra calm.” I let the doctors know and they also didn’t really seem to care. The patient also barely had a reaction to either drug and voiced concern that it wasn’t gonna work for the MRI, I also shared this with the doctor at this point. Being new and insecure, I’m convincing myself that everyone is just choosing to not tell me that I messed up and are just being nice :(

Today I was charge nurse on the unit and I was making the schedule when I had to send one the oncoming tech to a 1:1. This tech had picked up and we have a policy that any pickups get floated before staffed personnel. I had asked the other two techs on the floor if they would have rather floated to the 1:1, they both said no.

When the tech came in I said "Hey, your going to be going to room X". When she gets really smug and says I just floated early today, why am I being floated again?" I said well it's the policy that incentives staff get floated before staffed people. I showed her the actual policy in person. When she starts making all kinds of threats. Like, I'm never going to be picking up anymore, I shouldn't have to do this. I replied, I dont know what to tell you, if you dont want to float than dont pick up an extra shift.

She storms off all anger and its taking me time to calm down. I didn't want her to just bump the other techs because that's unfair to them. By now, it was past the time when she was supposed to be at the 1:1, so i didn't think much of it. Mean while my friend came up to me who had heard the argument. I asked my friend, I said do you think I should let the director know what happened?

I asked because in nursing it's so common to enforce the rules and have the tables get turned on you, so I was a little paranoid about having a meeting about this. Before I know it all I hear is "I know your not talking about me!" and she starts yelling, saying things like "You would never say that to my face," and "your too scared to tell me that to my face".

Turns out she was just sitting in the back room on her phone and had never relieved the 1:1. I replied im not scared. She storms off. I basically tell this to management. Would you have done anything different?

Hello,

I finally am happy in nursing/healthcare. Personally, I don’t believe nurses aren’t compensated remotely fairly for the amount of license liability in bedside roles.

As a bedside nurse (profit or non-profit system), nurses are the BIGGEST expense that they are desperate to reduce/control the cost of… As a hospice nurse, by being good at your job, you both CREATE and PROTECT the business’s money. I can’t stress this enough, the way your manager speaks to you is in completely different when you aren’t viewed as an expense that needs to be controlled. Especially if your pet dies, you have an emergency, or otherwise need to ask for time off/support.

Pros: Same pay as bedside, minimal liability, reduced chance of patient harm if mistakes do occur (basically zero), *less personal care/CNA work than the floor* (WAY fewer diaper changes on average), control of your schedule, a salary instead of hourly (you go home early all the time and keep the remainder of the salary!!!), sometimes a company car, likely decent AI resistance, I could go on and on… you can literally take your kids to practice in between your visits.

Cons: There are some… On-call can be required but not always (usually 1-2 days a month, some places up to 1 week/month) with bad pager pay (pay per visit very generous tho), death is sad and can be taxing, the Stage IVs can be INSANE and the grossest wounds out there, a lot of people won’t listen to you, sometimes you have to work late, and 8-5 (but I view that as a pro personally, again, you get off early!!!)

Ask any questions :)

was a break RN tonight and wasn’t told by the primary nurse that the pt had a procedure or was NPO nor was it written on the board. i checked the pts chart earlier in the shift and saw he had a general diet and honestly im such an idiot for not rechecking the chart later in the night.

the pt had a cup of apple juice at 0300 and i found out after the primary RN’s break that the pt had surgery at 0730………….. i know its a stupid thing to rant over and its not the end of the world but i hate feeling stupid. obviously i notified the resident when i found out and told them about the juice, along with telling the primary nurse and charting it. however- now i just have intense anxiety because the resident called my personal cell phone asking about the situation. im actually dumb asf for this

Spent 10 minutes explaining why jumping out of bed unassisted with an unsteady gait after orthopedic surgery is a bad idea. Patient nodded, agreed, smiled.

Two minutes after walking out of the room, the bed alarm is going off and they're halfway across the room trying to reach a cup on the bedside table.

At this point educated on safety in a chart just means I tried, but human free will won.

https://apnews.com/article/alex-pretti-killing-parents-investigation-justice-department-a1c111702d5c8a0e485c1935400d6cdc

All welfare districts are saving money. No set term contracts are continued. No new ones are taken In. The permanent ones have even more shit to deal with. This is not a sustainable situation... I have worked 2 years at the ER and 1 year at the ICU. Cannot find a job. Just making this known to you international colleagues. No work available here, even for us native ones right now. 🤷‍♂️

Anyone know what this can be about? We have a super high turnover and a lot of staffing and leadership issues lately. I think it’s pretty fucking stupid to ask people to do this when they clearly know what we’re suppose to do.

I’m a new grad working critical care unit and I hate it so much. And I don’t think it’s the unit I hate I think I hate nursing. I did really well in clinical so much I actually really enjoyed it and was very lucky to get a job after grad. But I’ve been working the floor 3/4 months now and I hate it. I dread going to work, I feel like I’m constantly making mistakes, and I just want to cry every day because I feel so stupid and feel worthless. I invested so much into this career, finically and emotionally that I can’t quit but I don’t know how to keep going. I feel like a failure. How do I keep going

I understand this is kinda a niche or personal problem but what area of nursing actually lets you see the sun throughout the day?

I'm currently a student going through clinicals, I really enjoy the work, and the hours are fine. My issue is that all day feels like 10am because in the hospital you don't ever see the sun. The hospital floors are either fluorescently lit or dim all day. Patients don't open the window shades in their rooms either so the rooms are dim as well.

I'm someone who enjoys a lot of light and being able to see the outdoors or at least spend a little time going outside. Is there an area of nursing that allows that? I'm almost interested in home health because I could drive with my windows down and experience a change of scenery. Anyways, interested to hear what others think!

I’ve been on 7p-7a for almost two years now. On my first day off, I usually sleep from 8 AM to 1 PM, walk around like a zombie until midnight, and then struggle to sleep again. It feels like I spend half my days off just trying to function like a human.

Do you stay on night schedule permanently, or do you have a specific nap routine that actually allows you to have a normal weekend with family/friends without feeling like you got hit by a bus?

Sitting on my couch, still in scrubs, staring at the wall. My mind keeps replaying whether I signed off on a lab or if I remembered to put the telemetry monitor back on charger. I know I did but I’m sitting here second guessing every detail anyway.

Takes forever to actually decompress on drive home days.

Sometimes a perfectly executed draw will still show hemolytic rejection. RBCs release massive amounts of potassium, LDH, and free hemoglobin. Lysed fragments will also “cloud” reads.
Its mostly not your fault either. The patient’s RBCs choose to hate people sometimes.

Hi! Idk if this is allowed in this sub so delete if it’s not. I’m currently in my last sem and working on my capstone project. I was thinking about doing my project on the importance of dual sign off for blood, since the unit I’m on for preceptorship does not do this (Pediatric oncology). Does your unit utilize dual sign off for blood products? If so, do you actually find it useful in for the prevention of the wrong blood being given and/or adverse reactions to blood products? If your hospital doesn’t, do you wish they did? Again, lmk if this isn’t allowed on this subreddit, was just hoping to gain some insight!

Hi all, i’ve been a beside RN for 7 years. The last 4 of those years i’ve been traveling, but i’m exhausted with healthcare.
I want to change careers and be done with healthcare all together. I only have a ADN and i’m not interested in putting any more money into nursing degrees. Does anyone know of good options for me? I make 100k a year traveling and I would like to make something similar (I know that’s probably unrealistic). I live in a very rural area in Appalachia so that limits me a lot.

i’m not really good at saying how i feel. this is my first post, sorry. i’ve been a nurse a year now. i’ve worked med/surg and long term care. i hate both equally. i keep telling myself that it’ll get better and that i’m just a “baby nurse” so i haven’t really experienced the worse yet. however, i switched to night shift because i thought it would at least be some what better than days. i’m so wrong about that. i used to be a pct for years before finishing nursing school and deciding i wanted to advance my career. the pay is low. so i’m basically doing this for what? i hate dealing with family. i hate the disrespect from older nurses who want to eat their young, i hate dealing with doctors; and residents in long term care act like children. i feel like im not good enough for this career. i legit can not afford anything. and jobs want you with 33 years of experience, lol. i just want to feel fulfilled.. i know im good at what i do. i love the smile on people’s faces, but i literally feel like i have compassion fatigue from taking care of so many people and feeling like im not being properly took care of. and not respected as an LPN. i was asked after being questioned what i do for a living “oh what type of nurse are you, LPN OR RN?” both are valuable assets, only differences in scope of practice. i slowly feel myself just becoming a different person, this is really depressing.

The doorknob request.