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’ve been a nurse for less than 6 months and i really hate my current nursing job. I was so excited to become a nurse, after my preceptorship I just hate going to work now. I feel inadequate as a nurse, i don’t feel supported as a new nurse and going to work makes me feel anxious and sad because I don’t feel like I know what i’m doing, and when I ask for help from more experienced nurses they treat me as if i’m a bother, or if i should know all of these things even though i’ve been a nurse for a couple of months. My last day of preceptorship, i asked my preceptor to go in the patients room with me just to make sure i was performing a skill correctly and she refused and stated i need to be more independent. I just feel stressed and find myself wanting to escape whenever i’m not at work. Is there easier during jobs than being bedside for new nurses?

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!

“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. 🤦🏼‍♀️

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?

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

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.

Any Maine nurses here?? Travelers and staff! A few questions…

How do you like working in Maine? What kind of practice do you work in? What is the starting pay for new grad rn? Considering my options for staying in Maine or not.

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!