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Addryan
Student
Boise, Idaho
3
Questions
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when does it get rough when you are working in the field as a rn
#nursing-education #nurse
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Suzanne Swain Brint
Nursing
169
Answers
Santa Monica, California
Updated
Suzanne’s Answer
Hi Addryan,
Clinical nursing is a daily challenge. These challenges vary depending on where you are working: outpatient, inpatient, doctor's office, call center, travel nursing, flight nursing, emergency nursing, school nursing.......... The list is almost endless.
What makes a day rough is not the severity of illness or someone dying. At least , from my perspective, it is the presence or absence of support (physical, financial, staffing, administrative) in any particular situation.
Let me give you an example. Let's say I'm a home health nurse caring for a dying patient. I have all the right drugs. The patient has been given a hospital bed. Her insurance will allow me to come and see her once a week for one hour. What about all the other days of the week? Her husband is elderly and can't take care of her. There aren't any children who can help. Their friends are elderly. Her insurance will not pay for any other type of care.
This situation has just become ROUGH. I will have to call her doctor and the doctor, most likely, will have to make the decision to put the patient in a nursing home as this is the only thing her insurance will pay for. This decision will be against her wishes to die at home.
Say you are working in a hospital. The nursing office will only allow two registered nurses and one nurses aid to take care of 26 sick patients. This really happens and has happened to me. The registered nurses have to administer all the medications and take care of any emergency. The nurses aid has to make sure the patients are fed and bathed. This is a very ROUGH day! All it takes is for one patient to suffer an emergency to disrupt the care for all the other patients. In this type of situation, the nurse will not sit down until the next shift starts working.
Does this answer your question??
Clinical nursing is a daily challenge. These challenges vary depending on where you are working: outpatient, inpatient, doctor's office, call center, travel nursing, flight nursing, emergency nursing, school nursing.......... The list is almost endless.
What makes a day rough is not the severity of illness or someone dying. At least , from my perspective, it is the presence or absence of support (physical, financial, staffing, administrative) in any particular situation.
Let me give you an example. Let's say I'm a home health nurse caring for a dying patient. I have all the right drugs. The patient has been given a hospital bed. Her insurance will allow me to come and see her once a week for one hour. What about all the other days of the week? Her husband is elderly and can't take care of her. There aren't any children who can help. Their friends are elderly. Her insurance will not pay for any other type of care.
This situation has just become ROUGH. I will have to call her doctor and the doctor, most likely, will have to make the decision to put the patient in a nursing home as this is the only thing her insurance will pay for. This decision will be against her wishes to die at home.
Say you are working in a hospital. The nursing office will only allow two registered nurses and one nurses aid to take care of 26 sick patients. This really happens and has happened to me. The registered nurses have to administer all the medications and take care of any emergency. The nurses aid has to make sure the patients are fed and bathed. This is a very ROUGH day! All it takes is for one patient to suffer an emergency to disrupt the care for all the other patients. In this type of situation, the nurse will not sit down until the next shift starts working.
Does this answer your question??
Tiffany Cobb
Registered Nurse
6
Answers
Charlotte, North Carolina
Updated
Tiffany’s Answer
Hi Addryan,
Speaking from much personal experience, a lack of support seems to be the biggest challenge I've faced through my time as a Registered Nurse. While any day on an inpatient unit can be busy for any given reason, a lack of staffing is always the biggest issue. Less nurses means more patients per nurse, and this can become a major safety issue for nurse and patient. Often, nurses won't have time to sit down or take a break, and will often eat while they chart and forego bathroom breaks. Nurses and healthcare techs occasionally receive backlash from patients for taking a few minutes longer to answer call lights, and this can overall decrease morale for each nurse and the staff as a whole.
However, when faced with a challenge like short staffing and lack of administrative support, nurses are usually able to come together and support each other in a special way. Of the different unit's I've worked on, all the nurses have been willing to help support each other by doing simple tasks: passing medications, answering call lights, taking reports. It's the little things that truly help nurses come together and I think that's one of the things that makes the profession so special.
Happy Nursing!
Speaking from much personal experience, a lack of support seems to be the biggest challenge I've faced through my time as a Registered Nurse. While any day on an inpatient unit can be busy for any given reason, a lack of staffing is always the biggest issue. Less nurses means more patients per nurse, and this can become a major safety issue for nurse and patient. Often, nurses won't have time to sit down or take a break, and will often eat while they chart and forego bathroom breaks. Nurses and healthcare techs occasionally receive backlash from patients for taking a few minutes longer to answer call lights, and this can overall decrease morale for each nurse and the staff as a whole.
However, when faced with a challenge like short staffing and lack of administrative support, nurses are usually able to come together and support each other in a special way. Of the different unit's I've worked on, all the nurses have been willing to help support each other by doing simple tasks: passing medications, answering call lights, taking reports. It's the little things that truly help nurses come together and I think that's one of the things that makes the profession so special.
Happy Nursing!