I was on the interstate yesterday when a truck hauling a work trailer had a freak, single car accident literally right in front of me that blocked me in the right lane. Me and the other 2 cars that were blocked in the right lane bMgot out to check on the guy and call highway patrol. A solid 15 minutes after the accident, a random woman traveling in the other direction pulls over to the shoulder of the left lane on her side of the interstate, runs across the median, and then crosses 3 lanes of traffic to come up to us yelling 'I'm an RN!!!' with a hotmess bag of supplies on her shoulder. I was literally standing there, in my scrubs, dumbfounded. All I could get out was 'So am I and everyone's fine.'

Ya'll. DON'T DO THAT SHIT. DO NOT RUN UP ON ACCIDENTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE INTERSTATE WITH YOUR OLD BAG OF QUESTIONABLE SUPPLIES.

Finally off after a stretch of eleven with only two days off and have to flip my schedule to be back at 8 am to teach a class tomorrow, so I decided to treat myself by ordering Indian food for lunch. Went to pick it up and the owner happened to be at FOH and recognized me (remembered my name and everything). Hauled me around to introduce me to staff, handshakes, whole nine yards, told me I eat for free from now on. . .I love Indian food and I love free food even better, but goddamn it was so awkward lol

Edit: forgot to include that the shirt I had on over said no bra was a picture of a legally distinct Paddington bear saying “going to stop paying attention, I’ve noticed enough”

A patient at my facility drew this on a t-shirt with a Bic ball point pen. He is 5wks clean off of meth and wanted to make something to give to his daughter when he graduates from the program.

He said he used to be a successful tattoo artist and owned his own shop. Lost it all to his addiction. This is the first thing he has drawn in years.

What a beautiful thing to witness, watching this man arrive as a shell of a person. And 5wks later to be awestruck by his creative talent. I love my job!!!

Pain is horrible. No one should sit in pain. But howwww can you not ever remember “the only medicine that works for me”? Why is it always “it starts with a D?”

Maam, if I was in so much pain and finally found relief from ONE med after MANY tries, I’d be writing that shit down EVERYWHERE. How can you forget your only solution!?

I have ZERO issues giving it to you. But help me help you!!! I’m gonna start asking if it’s Dilantin!

I felt so good about my job the last shift. It's been a dumpster fire few weeks of staffing and acuity. I received report on a hospice patient that he was needing every PRN as soon as it was available and that family had been so concerned they called the hospice company directly overnight. He looks miserable during report but is not able to verbally respond to anything at this point. The newer, wonderful but understaffed/overtasked night nurse didn't page for anything additional because she thought the timing and doses were already high.

Hospice RN comes to the floor right when we finish report, I catch her at the nurses station and give her the run down. I suggested a continuous drip, changing some of the PRNs to scheduled, and dose changes for some of the PRNs. She was supposed to help with a hospice admission first but was able to coordinate with their provider. All the suggestions were implemented and within a few hours he looked super comfortable, family agreed he looked so much better. We had a great rest of the day. He didnt even need any PRNs because the continuous and scheduled were enough. I was back the next day and he had a great night, family was at bedside and had no concerns. He passed away peacefully after shift change. It feels really good that I've grown from being skittish with hospice dosings to being able to recognize when they need more, advocate for it, and see it make a difference. Great way to end my week. Rest in peace my friend.

I went through 54 years on this planet never having to take prescribed pain medication. Then I had two experiences that warranted taking pain medications -- bilateral partial knee replacements and what I initially thought was a heart attack but ended up being Pericarditis. For the knees I had a script for two 10/325 percocet q4 prn.using a CT. For the later after refusing a CT based on the overwhelming pain when lying flat I was given 6mg IV morphine and shortly thereafter was laying flat in a CT machine. The percocet got rid of the pain more or less for about 45 minutes of every four period. The other times it was slowly ratcheting up to the point whereby the meds "started working". The morphine lowered the pain but it was still fairly strong just not to the point of causing tears. FYI the later situation ended up not being Pericarditis which explains the pain when lying flat.

Two different situations. Two different common pain treatments/medications. Both on paper large doses especially for someone opioid naive (at least in the first situation). But during both times if someone asked me the question if my pain was being controlled the honest response would be "no". From these experiences my clinical practice in regards to pain medication changed. I was definitely more patient and empathetic but I also know that this only happened since I had those experiences first hand. Pain is absolutely overwhelming -- it's as if you have your ear up against a speaker that is set at the highest volume. Until the volume goes down it's almost impossible to focus on anything else.

Enough about me. I'd really like to read about your experiences with pain medication both personally or as a clinician. Or both. From my experience I 100% admit that my viewpoint on pain medication has changed and that this happened later in my life and later in my career at the bedside. Taking that along with an aging demographic of our patient population its' a topic that warrants an improvement -- something to make it safer, with better patient outcomes and much less frustration for us clinicians. Thoughts? Stories to share?

Today I got verbally accosted by the charge nurse because I went into a “hostile” patients room with them and was nice to the “hostile” family and patient. Charge claimed I made them “look bad” for enabling their behavior by simply treating them with kindness. I spoke to them calmly, listened to their requests, and did nothing extraordinary. Charge then proceeded to toss the clipboard at me, tell me it was my patient, and refuse to continue seeing said patient. This behavior is pretty typical for many employees at this unit. It has been escalated to management but I have no doubt nothing will be done. I am so sick of this.

New ER nurse, but not a new nurse. A patient came in not protecting their airway. They were assigned to me but when my colleague stepped in to help, my mind just went completely blank. They did everything so fast, just jumped right in and took over everything.

I ended up just doing some small tasks like attaching the monitor and oxygen. And at one point I even left the tourniquet on the persons arm, which we discovered shortly later. I also didn’t cycle the vitals machine when I thought I did. Then I didn’t crank the O2 up as high as I needed to or jumped right to suctioning when the person desatted either, I just ran into reposition their head and reapply the oxygen that had become removed before the rest of the crew came in.

Kill me. I am mortified. I am so embarrassed and felt like a complete idiot. While I’m newer, it isn’t like I’ve never seen this and managed it before. I’m not sure if I felt anxious like I had performance anxiety or what. Either way, I’m not well liked on this unit and know people have their reservations about me, and they’re right! I’m so scared I’ll freeze up like this again in another similar situation.

Does this get better?! And how? Should I just leave?

i’m a new grad orienting on a floor right now and my mom just told me that they’re going to put our family dog down. i loved that dog, and i currently live 1500 miles away, so i won’t get a chance to say goodbye. it feels silly to call out, i probably won’t, but that’s just heavy news before heading to work. it just really sucks and i’ve been crying the entire time. i have to leave in an hour because i commute but i don’t want to do anything right now. i also work tomorrow, but i think i can push through.

his name was milo and he was the sweetest dog ever. i’ll miss him a lot :(

EDIT: i tried to call out but no one was answering. i live an hour away so i ended up just going in. when i got there they were all surprised because they thought i had called out. i don’t know how the information was shared but that was quite literally the cherry on top.

thank you everyone for your kind words. i have three days off after friday anyway, so hopefully those will be some good grieving days.

Curious to hear from nurses who are leaving bedside, pivoting into something different, or doubling down and advancing their practice.

Are you pursuing CRNA, NP, management, informatics, med device, business, or leaving healthcare entirely?
What’s your 5–10 year plan? What are you working toward, and why?

I’m especially interested in hearing from nurses who have already made the leap. Was it worth it? Would you do it again?

Third shift this week. I'm six months off orientation, med-surg trained, and last night they floated me to ICU with a 1:4 assignment. One was on a levo drip I had never titrated before. Charge was in the code of another nurse's patient for six hours. Resource nurse? 'Called in, not coming.' I asked the house supervisor for help with an art line I couldn't get to zero and she said 'you're ICU now, figure it out.' I stayed three hours late charting. Nobody died. I don't know if that's luck or if I'm just too tired to process what almost happened.

So in the past five years that I’ve know my boyfriend his pay has skyrocketed from being below what I make to now almost double.

He has zero degrees. He is very direct and refuses to take no for an answer when it comes to time off and working weekends and holidays- def not a kiss ass.

The kicker is that the new role he is transitioning to is basically desk work that I could 100% do with minimal training.

I’m feeling like such a clown for continuing to take the back breaking, soul draining, at times abusive, and risky (liability) job for such crap pay. The numbers just do not add up anymore when you consider the economy. I live in the south and the cost of living is no longer cheap. My mom even makes what I make as a factory supervisor.

Have any of you went out on a limb and switched careers?

Hi guys! Considering making a major lifestyle change.
I have been a nurse for 5 years and want to switch to flight attendant… lolll. For context im 25, not married, no kids.
I love nursing with all my heart BUTTTT! Im super burnt out. Im tired of the mean spirits in CVICU, im tired of the nitpicking, I could spend a whole shift taking care of an extremely sick pt and family will get upset over the smallest, dumbest thing, me being at the center of everything, and responsible for everybody else’s job, the use and abuse is pushing me away.

People tell me to just do travel nursing or go to CRNA/NP school, but TBH I think I just dont want to be responsible for human lives anymore. Im super overwhelmed by all of it.

But im also so scared of how unstable FA lifestyle is, oh and the paycut! Its pretty significant even with a major airline.

Anyways, Welcome aboard!

I’ve been a nurse for two years, and while I’ve met plenty of fantastic people, I consistently struggle to feel accepted within nursing groups.

I’m naturally quieter, kind to everyone, and have no interest in gossiping about coworkers or putting people down. I’m also not particularly Type A. I care about my work and take pride in doing it well, but I have boundaries and don’t believe in sacrificing my personal time or well-being to prove my dedication.
Nursing has never been my entire identity or a lifelong end goal; I’ve always envisioned exploring other careers eventually.

My first job as a new grad involved malicious bullying that pushed me out. My second was much more positive, although there were still people who got irritated when others didn’t do things exactly their way. My current workplace is a mixed bag: I enjoy most of my coworkers, but there are a few bullies, and my first experience has left me wary of things escalating.

What I find particularly frustrating is the gossip, cliquey behaviour, and double standards. Some nurses laugh off their own mistakes but criticize others for theirs. Others are incredibly inflexible about how tasks are done, even when someone else’s approach is equally safe and effective. I understand the importance of standards and patient safety, but I don’t understand the need to police every little thing simply because someone does it differently. What gets me is these same people then complain about nursing and yet why are they making things extra difficult for themselves and others???

I realize I’m only seeing things from my perspective, but I’ve never experienced this to the same extent in other professional environments.
Has anyone else felt like they don’t fit into nursing culture, even when they get along with individual coworkers? I’d love to hear from people who have worked in other industries and can compare the workplace dynamics.

you start your new grad nurse job, you struggle to get through your first two years. you make it through. then what happens after that? you keep searching for a higher-paying job? you try to leave bedside? have you ever had to go back to your parents' place because you couldn't do it anymore?

what they’re thinking when they’re accusing me of kidnapping them and threatening to call the cops 😭😭

L&D nurse in my 40s with only 2 years experience(career change) . A month ago I got on shift and took over care for a traveler's patient maybe an hour post shift change. I got a super quick run down and she ran off to start pushing with her other patient. I go in and she is standing over a small pile of blood clots and blood dripping down her legs. I immediately think placental abruption. We get her in bed put baby back on the monitor and i do a cervical exam she's 6-7cm dialted with a buldging bag we don't feel the head. We call the doctor in she calls for the bedside ultrasound and the baby is no longer head down and she's now 7-8 cm. We rush her to the OR For an urgent section. Baby is still category 1 when we discover the mess we're in. The doctor is berating anyone and everyone for the whole duration of this story FYI. The doctor demands we use a transfer board to transfer the patient from the laboring bed to the section table, this patient has a BMAT of 4 they are perfectly ambulatory, why she's demanding this we dont know we just know why she's demanding this but board is under her and away we go. The MD doesn't count down or warn or anything she just yanks the patient hard and fast making my head flip back in the process giving me whiplash. At the same time she lifted the board from her side and the patient started rolling off the board requiring me to lunge forward to stop her from rolling off. I ended up with a hurt left shoulder and neck. I can't even lean forward to brush my teeth without neck pain and shooting headaches. We get heart tones in 125s-135s you heart a beautiful acel into the 150s its still a cat 1. The doctor is gonna splash and dash her she has an RT splash her with idoine and starts draping. I will say that the doctor made multiple INSANE mistakes without going into detail, she wanted me to stay on the heart tones and told me she was gonna drape over me with my arm going across her belly....she tried to start the procedure without the patient being sedated or a time out, she cut the OB tech during the surgery, she sewed a lap in, afterwards she bolused the same patient herself in PACU during a hypertensive crisis took my forever to get her pressures down she had to go on mag and everything....... I am on the lightest of light duty answering phones with a headset and I'm worried about my future. Xray and MRI mainly showed inflammation and cervical spine straightening probably due to spasms.I cant lean forward I'm gaining weight from the inactivity. I get numbing and tingling around my shoulder blade which is made worse tilting my head down Im a bit depressed. I definitely cannot reposition a patient who's baby is deceling, i definitely can't do vag exams. I'm honestly very worried about my future and don't know what or how to go about this. Looking for advice and encouragement I guess. FYI baby was ok the baby was a complete breech with a 40% abruption.

What is up with people feeling the need to assign nurses more and more tasks??? I worked private duty Peds. My patient is pretty independent but has a trach, is developmentally delayed and has some behavioral issues. I have a lot of downtime.

His sister asked me the other day if I get bored. I didn’t know how to respond because (1) it’s not professional to say yes IMO and (2) it’s not her business. She’s not my employer so what is she going to do with that information? She then asked me to do housekeeping and build a shoe rack. To say I was appalled is an understatement. I do the work assigned by job. I document every hour. My patient is safe. To ask me to do chores around the house because you think I’m “bored” is so disrespectful IMO. First of all, if I’m bored, I have my phone, my laptop, and my iPad. What makes you think building furniture is fun for me? Not to mention, families don’t realize if a nurse gets hurt in their house, they can be sued!!! If something were to happen to my patient while I’m not doing my JOB, I can be in a lot of trouble. Am I overreacting?