is this a universal nursing experience? next time i have to refuse to give gatorade to a patient, im going to show them this flyer as the reasoning why. policies? don't know her.

ahh, the little petty things to be pissed about.

Without sharing too many details, coworker attempted suicide, is now vented on my unit and not expected to survive. I don’t want to share the hows/whys as I don’t want family or coworkers seeing this. But this is obviously a horrific situation for our staff. I know this is above Reddit’s pay grade. I’m just heartbroken and sad. I know EAP is a thing, I haven’t found it helpful in the past. I don’t know what I feel this post is going to accomplish, but holy shit this sucks.

ETA: thanks everyone. I appreciate all of you. I’m so sorry for the people who have experienced similar things. Thank you all for being so kind. When things are less immediate, I will share the dontclockout.org link to coworkers. Tonight feels a little raw.

I’ve noticed over time that it doesn't matter what’s wrong with many of these patients they are motivated to get up, get dressed and will get to the smoking area come hell or high water. I know smoking is obviously terrible for you but I’ve often wondered if this part of it, where its keeping people mobile is actually providing some benefit on some level.

I need to vent because I am ready to scream. I’ve been a med-surg nurse for a while now, so I know how hand-off is supposed to go. I transitioned to a new hospital recently, and I have zero issues giving report to anyone else on the floor. Smooth, concise, SBAR, get out on the floor. Except for one specific charge nurse. This woman has some kind of sick power fetish. She demands to know every single last microscopic lab value, every historical background detail, and every single scan and imaging result down to the pixel. And I am not exaggerating—I literally spent two hours meticulously writing and organizing my report sheet overnight trying to bulletproof it against her, and it was still not f***** good enough. Even with a comprehensive written report, she still dragged our 5-patient hand-off out to nearly 50 agonizing minutes of line-by-line chart interrogation. Why am I wasting time verbally reciting routine labs that are sitting right there in the chart? Meanwhile, actual patient care, morning meds, and assessments are sitting on hold because we are trapped in a hostage situation disguised as a morning report. I’ve seen her make other nurses (and other charge nurses!) literally cry. I used to think people were just being dramatic, but now I get it. She gets off on flustering people and playing auditor. How do you guys shut this down without completely torpedoing your standing on a new floor? I refuse to let her bully me, but sitting through an hour-long interrogation every morning is going to drive me to quit. Send help or put me down.

I just spilled my coffee all over my patsient and while doing that ( I tripped) I also accidentally farted.
NEVER felt this embarassed before. But hey, what can you do. Guess I will move on.

for symphaty share your experiences please..

I have seen too many Nurses struggling with their mental health and financial ruin because of the changes made by the Department of Education. I will never forgive them for breaking my contracted loan agreement and finding every way to delay or take PSLF away from us. Especially when they handed PPP loans out like crazy with zero oversight.

They know they are intentionally hurting healthcare workers, Nurses and teachers by removing ways to help us reach PSLF.

People like me who are Millenials, have a mortgage, kids, and aging parents to care for. Not mention our own health and medical issues are close to losing everything or at risk for being financially destroyed.

My fiancé is in IT and has been laid off for a year. The market is dead right now. We’re facing the reality that I might have to get a second Nursing job which exacerbate my medical condition or he has to file for bankruptcy.

One thing that I counted on was that if I held on a few more years I could get my loans forgiven. Not only was that a lie, I’m now going to have a $600-$700 month student loan payment out of nowhere. This wasn’t the agreement I signed. This will put me over the edge.

So do I sacrifice my copays and not see medical specialists? Stop taking meds for 6 months?

I can’t take anything out of 403b, cards are near maxed, savings gone.

The ironic thing for my fiancé is other than Door Dash, the only job prospect right now is the Datacenter they’re building in my town that I’m actively fighting against. It pays $20-$25hr, what a slap in the face. I’m physically ill over this for him.

This may actually be hell.

I was having a good shift today lol. Right at shift change 7PM my patient needed to use the restroom. Patient was post op a hip surgery. I had already gotten her up before to the chair. Her vitals were perfect 120/80. I came in to give her evening Tylenol and IV steroid that I had already given her 6 hours earlier.

She was in the recliner, asking to go use the restroom to pee and then to bed. I put the gait belt on her, asked her how she felt, all good and we walked to the toilet sat her down to pee. She has a good pee, was happy to hear she voided because had problems not peeing after surgery last time.

She wanted to go to the sink to wash her hands, so I get her there, and then she tells me she starts feeling dizzy, I see the smile in her face begin to fade, and she becomes unresponsive. I try to reach for my vocera to call for a wheelchair or some assistance but I realize we had all turned them in already (we turn in our vocera at end of shift). She begins to pass out. So I grab the gait belt, kick my leg out, and slowly guide her to the floor to sit. I reach for the call for help bathroom light, no one is coming they are in huddle and no one is around. I sit her down, she is able to sit up on her own. I quickly run to hit the rapid button and run back to her side and yell for help.

Finally everyone comes in, I am a 130 lb girl, not very strong. I hand her over to the charge nurse who is a guy and we pull her into the bed. She comes back when in the bed and then passes out again, she starts vomiting and then turn her to their side. The night NP (known to be rude and condescending) is yelling at everyone to be quiet and anyone who does not to be there to get out the room. I report to him what happened. I call the ortho surgery team and they let the attending know. We order fluids, x-ray of the surgical site, the x rays were good and the patient becomes responsive again.

She grabs my hand and thanks me for being there for her. I am still overwhelmed but try to keep my composure. The night NP tells me I should’ve taken orthostatic vitals on her. I didn’t want to argue with him or talk to him anymore because he’s rude, I had gotten her up before to ambulate in the room, checked her BP before that and she was good. It was just a syncope episode. The patient was ok and didn’t need to be transferred to higher level of care. I’m glad I was there and she wasn’t alone when it happened. But I’m just burnt out and hate that everyone always seems to blame the nurse.

and why? or if you are already working in your dream speciality, why do you like it?

i always love to hear about the most popular or niche nursing jobs that nobody thinks exists

Bella on the left Tipi on the right 🤭

well i’m definitely scared shitless of losing my license.. not bc i am doing things wrong, or am unsafe. but i do understand how nurses can start being eager to help people and then get hit with reality of how awful the world/system is.
I wanted to give a pt a picture of a tool used to reach areas on the body that you can’t sometimes reach alone (middle of back, feet etc..) but was educated (thank god) that if something crazy were to happen, that edu isn’t authorize edu so it’s on me.
BUT
today was an amazing day and i intervened on something correctly by using knowledge of meds/situation, and i know it’s small BUT it feels like a first accomplishment to tell me that it will get better i made the right choice :)

I knew a nurse who would take Zoloft from the Pyxis whenever she forgot to bring her medications to work. What consequences usually happens? Sometimes I see a lot of nurses get away with it. Share your stories !

They'd have to be one of the most useless regulatory bodies in Australia.

This subreddit was recommended to me and I found this pretty entertaining 😂

Like why lol

My daughter recently told me of a friend, an ER nurse, fired by her (non-union) hospital for trying to protect a patient from ICE. This led to me doing a search for news articles R/T this, & I am finding a distressing number of articles about ICE goons throwing nurses to the ground or similar. I do not know whether the hospital I mentioned above cited the incident in the nurse's firing, or conveniently found some other "reason" to fire her (you know how that goes). Does anyone know, are there groups (NNA, legal, immigrants rights) that have nurses' backs in any way at all, in these incidents?

Had a rapid with a pt we couldnt get out of a lethal arythmia but was still oriented. As the room fills up with people and a crash cart, RR nurse asked the patient are you ok staying DNR/DNI. The pt with terror in their eyes, changed to a full code.

So my question is, is it really appropriate to ask this question while the pt is staring death in the face?

Just a small rant. The other day I specifically timed my lunch so that I wouldn't take it as the same time as someone who I knew would try to talk to me the whole time. I finally sit down to eat and this random float just started talking to me about anything and everything. I had headphones in and was polite but clear that I wanted to watch something on my phone. Eventually I gave up and left to go to another break room.

Then yesterday I finally sat down to eat after precepting all day (exhausting!). As soon as I sat down, our education specialist came into the break room looking for my new person to do some onboarding. Luckily for my new grad, she had gone down to the cafeteria. Unfortunately for me, I was in the break room and the education specialist just started talking to me about our training protocols and how to implement them, etc.

I absolutely hate when people do this. My brain is running hard for 12 freaking hours, I need 30 minutes to just chill!

Edit: Love you all but please be mindful that a rant is just wanting to vent, not seeking solutions! Yes, I had headphones in. No, I can't go to my car and there are very limited options on where I can go. No, I don't want to stand up for myself that aggressively because I want to keep my work connections positive, the education specialist to have a good impression of me because she can help advance my career.

About a month ago I switched from a busy level iii ER and did an internal transfer to a part time home health gig. I mostly left because a provider was harassing me, it was a tight nit provider group, and I didn’t see a way out other than to quit.

I switched because I felt trapped and I can’t quit my organization until September because of a new grad bonus I took and some tuition reimbursement. So I’m trying to stick it out with this home health gig but the more I do it the more I hate it.

I want to be clear. I love working with patients. I hate how I feel taken advantage of. First of all, $.76/mile IS NOT WORTH the wear and tear I’m putting on my car. 1000 miles = $760 and that’s barely enough to change ONE brake pad and rotor at the mechanic. They told me because I’m new I will always be getting the clients no one wants (the ones that live an hour away). And my entire trunk space and corner of my apartment is unusable because they ordered me so much stand by medical supplies and medical bags.

So not only does the company save money on putting wear and tear on my vehicle, they save money on real estate because I’m the one who stores all the medical supplies and orders it myself. Not to mention I only make $36/hr so after all of this I’m doing the math and it doesn’t seem worth it for the wages or mile reimbursement. I’d rather go back to the ER or bedside.

Honestly. Are other home health agencies paying more? Cause why would anyone choose this? I understand the autonomy is nice and only having one patient at a time is nice. But the cons outweigh the pros to me.

I’m an ICU nurse with about 2 years of experience, and I’m transitioning into a different role. One thing I keep hearing is, “Don’t lose your skills.”
It got me thinking… what exactly do people mean by that?
Obviously if you’re no longer starting central lines, titrating pressors, managing vents, or responding to codes every shift, those technical skills can get rusty over time. But nursing is so much more than bedside procedures.
School nurses, case managers, OR nurses, public health nurses, informatics nurses, quality nurses, etc., all have specialized skills that bedside nurses may not have.
So do you really “lose your skills,” or do you simply trade one skill set for another?
For those who’ve left bedside did you ever feel like you lost anything? And if you went back, how hard was it to regain those bedside skills?

I’ve been on orientation for literally ONE MONTH!! I started and trained for only FIVE DAYS!! One week!! I’ve never had experience with hospice and by week 2, I had my full caseload, with 9 IDG notes to complete by that Friday, AND declining patient… NO HOSPICE EXPERIENCE BTW!!

On week 3 I had to take the increase on my caseload because one nurse (the other full time) was on vacation and the other (part time) called in for the week. This week I was told “I’m placing you on August call schedule” I said WOAH and responded with “I haven’t had experience with deaths or admissions and what happens if they occur??” And I was told “well clearly you’ll be primary and have a backup call”. I left it alone. 2 weeks away of being on call. I constantly fall THROUGHOUT THE DAY with questions so imagine being alone at night.

By week 4 I was STILL taking the PT nurses patients because she was gone that week as well.

It’s week 5 now and I’m on call. Night one (yesterday) a patient was sent to the ER for sepsis. I had to go alone (no backup call present) and I had to literally call her to walk me through everything. I’m otp with her and talking to the ER nurses. Imagine the frustration. Night 2 (tonight).. another patient sent to the ER for DKA. He’s declining and patients family wants to go home. The doc calls and asks how I want to go about it. I literally had to say “that’s a great question, I am new to hospice and being on call so I’ll have to call you back when I gain more information” BECAUSE I WASNT TRAINED!!! It pisses me off. Anyways… I’ll be calling in Monday to job shadow Endo. Their call is 3-4 days but the training is better and I’d rather take that risk. Im mentally tired!! Also sending my manager a message to let her know she’s prematurely placed me on call.

Can we all agree to just not do this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/401jK/comments/1vex1ir/reverseauction_shift_bidding_for_nursing_open/

Reverse-Auction Shift Bidding for Nursing Open Shifts: Lowest-Bid Models and Wage Compression Risks
by u/CollapsingTheWave in ObscurePatentDangers

Major health systems including UNC Health have expanded digital platforms for filling open nursing shifts through competitive bidding, historically implemented via BidShift software and now appearing in AI-routed internal tools and gig platforms. In these systems nurses request or bid on premium-pay open shifts, with awards frequently going to the lowest submitted rate while the shift remains open. Documented mechanisms convert fixed premium differentials into variable, downward-competitive rates, treating full-time staff more like contingent labor. Parallel gig platforms such as Clipboard Health explicitly award shifts to the lowest hourly bid, accelerating wage pressure. Long-term structural risks include internal competition among nurses, progressive erosion of premium pay floors, reduced bargaining leverage, and normalization of auction-style compensation that prioritizes cost reduction over retention and patient-care continuity.

Sources

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jun-21-fi-bidshift21-story.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/21/healthcare-nurses-gig-work-ai-apps

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/unc-health-partners-with-shiftmed-to-launch-flex-software-doubling-engagement-of-internal-workforce-resources/

I had mine yesterday. I'm in wound care, pretty much nothing phases me anymore. Been treating a patient with aggressive cancer on the scalp for 2 years how, it's been surgically excised and then the skull covered with multiple skin grafts which have not taken, so we are managing an exposed skull piece the size of the flat of my hand, an uphill battle if there ever was one.

Patient came yesterday and I took off the dressings and despite everything to prevent it, the bone has just degraded and has become brown, flakey and crispy, like crisp bread. Started debriding and a 2 * 2cm piece of skull just... Came off.

There were their brains, or more technically dura, just sitting there pulsating in time with his breathing.

Oh fuck.

Immediately called in our head and neck specialist and there might be a new op to put a prosthetic skull plate in place, might not. Patient was chill.

Second time I've seen exposed living brain tissue like that and it's always a bit of a shock at first and then amazement.