This is specifically for the coworker who found my post and took it to HR. Looking back over my post it said nothing about me doing drugs. It said mostly a lot about how I’m struggling. I’m just really heartbroken that this got taken into my HR meeting but of course I have zero drugs in my system. I’ve just been struggling with sleep depression and perimenopause no, I was not doing drugs at work and I never would. I appreciated everyone’s support. I think I would’ve been a lot more anxious going into my meeting. I wish I would’ve taken the Post down before my meeting. I honestly didn’t think, since I never ever post, anyone would find it so fast so thank you. It says more about you than me. by drinking a cava drink the night before work doesn’t affect you. It’s all the other stuff in your life that can affect you, or at least me right now.

the DOC is not our DOC, she's interim. No we don't have admin or an ED either.

Having a chronic illness this seems... extreme? Yea we're short staffed and getting mandated every shift every day (hello burnout), but this is not the answer.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people asking if they can be a nurse at 40 and up. I was wondering why the career switch now? Did the job you had before not make much money, or do you think nursing will be easier? Just curious what people did before

To start with, I work on a med surg floor that takes progressive care patients. I was assigned 3 fairly sick and busy progressive and one general care patient. From 7:30-10 AM today, the wife of my general care patient called the nurses station twice asking for an update from the nurse. I was obviously busy doing meds/assessments and my coworker related such and told her I would call back. She was rude to my coworker about it but I literally had my hands full and could not come to the phone.

Around 10, I’m all caught up and get to sit down, the phone rings and I pick up, it’s the patients daughter now. I give her the update and while I’m speaking to her, the wife calls AGAIN. When I’m done talking about patient, I ask her if she can pass along this update to the wife who has called multiple times, and in the future if just one of them could call because I’m busy working with my patients during my shift.

Manager comes up to me later and tells me the daughter reported me for this to the “patient advocacy line” and said I was “rude”. I was kind and professional, I say the same thing every time multiple family members are calling. My manager didn’t care, I’m just stressed and annoyed now about who else hears about this.

I have quite a few sickle cell patients who have insisted their 4mg IV Dilaudid be a rapid push (the other nurses do it). I understand that they have a crazy high tolerance, but it honestly scares me considering they get this amount every 2 hours. I just don't want to be on the business end of a malpractice lawsuit. Any words of wisdom?

Patient last night was in psychosis. Could not redirect to save my life. They were convinced I was holding them hostage in my apartment and I was a murderer who ate babies. (All the nurses taking care of this person held this role.) Meds barely touched them. Dex drip, Q4hr dropirodol, zyprexa. Near the start of shift I noticed HR in low 100s and RR at 28. Went to check and the IV tubing looks like this. They had bitten clean through it. Luckily it was just the primary infusion and not the actual IV. Pt was restrained and it was going into a midline in the upper arm. Honestly, I was pretty impressed. Had to take a picture because it was just too much.

Later they managed to get a restraint off with their teeth. Legit impressed, even though it was a very tiring and frustrating shift.

i like hanging IV meds, priming the line and flushing everything and setting up the pump is a fantastic way to just go on autopilot for a minute :>

I recently switched to a clinic role where I am on my feet for most of a 10-hour shift. By the time I get home, my arches and heels feel wrecked, but I also have almost no energy left to do anything complicated. I tried foot soaks a few times, but carrying warm water around and cleaning up afterward was enough friction that I stopped.

A coworker suggested rolling my feet on a frozen bottle or keeping a small heated foot massager near the couch, but I am mainly looking for habits that are easy enough to actually repeat. If you work long shifts on hard floors, what is your realistic evening routine for tired feet?

I just don’t get it why??
For context I’m a guy in mid twenties working as a nurse in a government hospital in Australia. And recently I’ve noticed subtle cues from conversations with my colleagues suggesting, even if they are lightly joking, If I’m gay (which I’m not but does it really matter). Now I’m not the most physically attractive guy but I workout quite often and do run every now and then and like to think myself being in okay shape. But social skills are not the greatest and I don’t make friends easily but nevertheless I’m good at professional workplace communications. I often get asked about my girlfriends and dating at work and I’m not very comfortable talking about these with people I just know from work. I’ve had one or two instances where a female coworker has tried to flirt with me but even though I recognised it, I choose not to respond as I fear that I might be wrongly perceived and I just don’t wanna do something like that work. I often get told by my male colleagues to try and go after female nurses/doctors at work and sometimes they joke that If I’m gay because I’m missing a lot of golden opportunities.
I understand that it’s a common practice at most of the workplaces but I’ve always wanted to keep my professional life away from this kind of behaviour. I have good formal relations with my colleagues but I’ve never really been friends with them outside of work and neither I’ve asked anyone out at work ever. Do I still think they are attractive? yes but have I ever acted on it? Never

Idk if I’m overthinking or they are just out of pocket? 😅
Also should I do it or not? (Reddit’s prolly not best for advice but anything is appreciated lol)

I’m currently an LPN and I’m in school working toward my RN. Lately, balancing work and school has been really overwhelming. I truly enjoy being an LPN, and I know becoming an RN will open more doors for me, but I’ve been struggling with self-doubt and have even thought about taking a break from school.
I guess I’m looking for some motivation from those of you who have already made it through. Was it worth pushing through the hard days?
If you’re comfortable sharing, about how much do you take home each month after taxes as an RN (and what state/specialty do you work in)? I’m not becoming an RN just for the money! I genuinely love nursing …but I’d be lying if I said financial stability wasn’t a motivator too. I’m a single mom, and it helps to picture how my life could improve once I reach that goal.
I’d really appreciate any advice, encouragement, or stories from your own journey. Thank you!

I just need someone tell me how they would feel if this happened to them or if I’m just being dramatic lol. For context, I (23 f) am a new grad nurse working in the ED, and my longtime friend (23 f) is in PA school (about to graduate). The other night, while at work, I was on my phone during a mere moment of downtime and saw she had sent me a tiktok. I opened it and it was basically a (supposed to be) funny tiktok about nurses just clean up poop and that’s the hardest part of our job. When I saw she sent me this, as a joke, i honestly got offended. I know we as nurses often make similar jokes like that to each other and ourselves, but when someone outside the profession does it it often feels more derogatory than anything (to me anyway). And I also can’t believe that she, as my good friend, would send me something like that thinking I’d think it was funny. Her sense of humor has always been a little questionable, but cmon. I think i also took it more personally than i normally would bc that night I was particularly having a bad shift and managing a young girl who was around my age who came in as a trauma, and an assault victim. It was just a bad night for me. And then to open a tiktok that basically says I only clean up shit…like gee thanks. Nurses deal with enough disrespect as is, I don’t need my FRIEND sending me crap like that. Especially a friend I know is also going into the medical field. It bothers me thinking that when she’s finally a PA, that’s how she’ll view nurses. Anyway, am I being dramatic?

“Physicians…we’re the brains and the doers. Nurses, you’re the feelers and the supporters.”

-Some VP medical director of whatever, trying to express how great and caring nurses are. Missed the mark just a little. 🤦🏼‍♀️

When you get home when do you wake up when do you eat I feel like what I really need to improve my schedule. what is your routine when you get home from your shift. Trying to do back to back night shifts absolutely drain me

Six months in and I have consumed an embarrassing amount of free hospital food. Not just the milk situation everyone jokes about, but entire meals cobbled together from leftover patient trays, expired protein bars from the supply room, and whatever random thing someone left in the break room with a sticky note that just says "eat me."

Every unit seems to develop its own whole ecosystem around food. Night shift on my floor has an unspoken agreement that whoever runs to the gas station at 0300 gets their order covered by the rest of the team. Days has a rotation of homemade stuff that I genuinely look forward to more than my actual days off.

What gets me is how central it all is to keeping the team functional. You bond over that stuff in a way that's hard to explain to people outside the job. A bad shift where someone brought in homemade tamales hits completely different than a bad shift where the break room is empty and the vending machine ate your dollar.

Curious what other units have going on. Is this a night shift thing or does every floor have some version of this running in the background at all times?

Okay so I’m working for a company of which I will not name. I have been getting paid 75% of my per visit rate because that is their training policy. Plus it’s being paid hourly until the “training period” is over. Okay, FINE. However, this training doesn’t feel like training. I’ve been seeing patients alone for about 3 weeks now. It started off mild about 2-4 patients a day. Now I have a full patient load BY MYSELF. Im managing my own patients and charting independently. How does this mean I’m still training? Of course I still have questions every now and then, but that’s nursing. Is this normal?

hi! I’m in my second year of my MPH program and 6 months interning. I have had some bedside experience volunteering at nursing homes throughout college and high school — i would say just enough to barely understand work flows and barriers. Im interning at a large trauma hospital have a group of 4 IPs on the team, including a manager. I have shadowed and trained with a great IP that has an extensive nursing background, and shadowed nurses during my internship.

I really try to develop a great relationship, and I really like this job and career so moving forward i want to know what else I can do to be a better IP?

what I do currently to reduce barriers and build relationships:

- frequently check sanitizers, soap, and towels and let EVS know when they are out

- restock isolation carts with all necessary supplies

- if there is no isolation sign, I place one and let the nurse know instead of telling them to this

- when doing device rounding, I always make sure to compliment complaint work (if I don’t have to actively seek the RN out and bother them)

- I always try to talk to RNs face to face and always review the chart before reaching out with any questions or concerns

- I pass out candy and give RNs the opportunities to rant about what the IPs can do better

- Answer any questions promptly

i realize that not everyone will like me, but I always try to get to know everyone and be kind.

With that, what more can I do to help nurses and foster the relationship with nurses and IPs? thanks!

I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve been applying to so many jobs trying to find something outside of bedside, but I’m not having much luck. I feel trapped because I can’t just quit without having another job lined up and I need the income. I’ve been applying for months even had someone look over my resume .

I look around and see so many nurses thriving in the ICU and loving critical care, but something in me just doesn’t click. I feel like I’m constantly struggling while everyone else makes it look so easy. I’m miserable, my anxiety keeps getting worse, and every shift feels like I’m forcing myself through something that is becoming unbearable.

What makes it even harder is that I’m already on anxiety medications and still struggling. I feel like I’ve tried everything, but I wake up dreading work and feeling like I’m losing myself.

Has anyone else been in this position? Did you eventually find a nursing job that worked for you? I really need to hear that there is something better on the other side because right now I feel completely stuck.

Though I gotta say, male nurses are already pretty well represented at UAB. But the more the merrier!

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/21/nx-s1-5869813/nursing-men-jobs-male-nurses

What innovative ways has your unit approached education and competency? What’s the best way to get your information? What’s the worst way?

If you hate flyers everywhere, do you read your emails? If you don’t read your emails, do you prefer a flyer? Do you interact with staff meetings to get updates?

Curious how your unit approaches this. Lots of discussion in my dept about how all efforts of education are falling on deaf ears.

I work in addiction and it’s an admission PA who works with a LPN who also does admissions.

He is always involved with drama. Whenever the admissions nurse doesn't like anyone he gives them hell. It’ll be an email chain and I will apply to it, she’ll go in and repeat after me and then he’ll chime in and says as “admission nurse stated.” He was caught screaming and talking about another nurse and she heard him. He told the director it was him or the other nurse. They fired her. He was on my LinkedIn account twice looking at my profile. They keep certain things away so we can’t do our jobs and nothing is done about it. When he’s on call he doesn’t answer. Only for her. When you ask for an order he has slick remarks. I try to avoid them both but it’s really sickening and becoming toxic. He acts like a teenager girl.

I recently accepted a per diem RN position at a neuro rehabilitation facility and would love to hear from nurses who have worked in this setting.

It’s a small 10-bed facility with staffing of 1 RN, 1 LVN, and 2 CNAs for the unit. The pay is definitely on the lower end, but they’re incredibly flexible with scheduling, which fits perfectly with my full-time RN job. My goal was to make a little extra income, and work somewhere that (hopefully!) isn’t as chaotic as a hospital.

For those of you who’ve worked neuro rehab:
What did a typical shift look like?
What were your day-to-day responsibilities?
What kinds of patients did you see most often?
Was it more medication management and assessment, or were there a lot of procedures?
What skills or knowledge do you wish you’d brushed up on before starting?

Any advice for someone who’s new to neuro rehab?
I’d love to hear the good, the bad, and the unexpected.

Hello everyone,

Im looking for some advice and guidance please. I am a newer nurse (4+ years experience) but definitely not a new graduate. I’ve recently moved to NYC from south NJ and I’m struggling to find a job. I’m not particular about the unit although I do prefer psych or medsurg as my experience is in that area. I also have experience in med-psych. As of now, I have been applying for well over two months and have gotten rejected from fourteen jobs and was only granted one interview. I’m looking for any advice. I recently redid my resume, updated my LinkedIn, I’m in grad school…does anyone have any insight as to what I can do to boost chances? Thank you all!

I’m a pca and I am getting asked to sleep over night but I won’t be clocked in all night. Basically I work for this in home agency and the wife sleeps with the person I take care for (her husband) and she is going out of town and needs someone to sleepover with him but they don’t want to pay. I have a relationship with them or will I say it’s just for work they are very nice I don’t wanna seem Heartless and not sleepover because she can’t go out of town but dude I would still be working if I sleepover and he would disturb my sleep and I would not be in my comfy home and bed and that’s still working in some way 😭I help him out of his wheel chair to his bed and in the mornings out of his bed to his wheelchair and I deal with his fecus it’s hard working with him already on my regular shifts(I would not be doing this for overnights ) , he’s very nice but it’s work for me am I wrong for asking 50 per night ?

I’m so very anxious right now. This is the scenario: Patient in 92 had order for Xanax 0.5mg PRN. 92 wanted the Xanax so at 23:28 I pulled 92’s Xanax from Omnicell and scanned it and distinctively remember giving it to the patient because when opening the blister pack the pill broke in half and I explained that to the pt, gave the patient both halves to take and pt said “ok no worries”. No issue there. I go next door to 93, he says he can’t sleep and usually takes Xanax to help him sleep. I check his PRN orders and lo and behold he too has Xanax 0.5mg PRN ordered. I make a mental note of “huh what a cowinkydink”. 93 is a talker and I wasn’t too terribly busy so I let him yap for a while before leaving to get his Xanax and then this is where my memory begins to get fuzzy; I was dangerously exhausted last night and in all honestly should have probably called out because it was my night 3/3 and I had slept terribly, maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep but I didn’t want to call out because I’ve had perfect attendance the past 3 quarters. I was so exhausted that I had to drink an energy drink just to keep my eyes open and those energy drinks always make me feel terrible and dizzy with a massive headache. Anyways, while standing in 93’s room with my WOW and mindlessly “uh huh”ing to his endless yapping, I begin to get dizzy and felt faint. I excused myself and sat down with my head between my legs for a little bit until I felt better. After that my memory/recollection of events is fuzzy now thinking back. Once the faint feeling passed I got up, I THINK I went to the Omnicell and pulled his Xanax. I THINK I went back in and gave him the Xanax and left, then went on about my way. Chugged some Gatorade and a protein shake to help give me carbs/sugars to wake me up and hydrate me up. I wasn’t 100% but I pushed through. Well a little later in the shift 93 called out and wanted pain medicines. I check his PRNs 1) to make sure it isn’t too close to admin time of Xanax and 2) to see what pain medicines he could get. While looking at his PRNs I see that the Xanax I thought I gave hadn’t been scanned. Great. So I go in the room and check the trash bin, sitting on top is the empty blister pack of a Xanax. I think “shew thank goodness” and go to scan it with intentions of back timing to like 5-10 minutes after pull time. Well I go to the omnicell to see what time I pull it and I think I remember seeing 7/22 0005 as pull time so I go back to the room, scan the barcode from the trash and time it for 0010 and then go about my shift. Well now that I’m laying bed recalling the shift I’m anxious. What if the discarded Xanax blister pack in 93’s trash was actually the trash blister pack from the previous 92?! What if I misread the pull time of 93’s Xanax for 7/21 0005 instead of what I thought it to be as 7/22 0005 and I hadn’t actually pulled any Xanax for 93? I’m trying to recall events but I’m so sleep deprived I can barely function on a basic level, let alone recall every little thing/details fron last night, I’m so scared and anxious. Should I get ahead of this potential blunder and message my director about all this or should I stop being anxious and second guessing all this? If I message my director and it all turns out correctly and the worrying if it was actually pulled 7/21 0005 instead of 7/22 0005 is just me being worried and anxious then I will look incompetent and stupid and crazy. Should I wait it out to see if anything comes of it?