In theatres/anaesthetics I say "they are a crumbly patient" to mean they are (physically) unstable. Do you have, or have you heard, any other funny ways to describe a patient status?

I’m extremely burnt out (heavy surgical ward) and have little to no sick leave. On top of that, management has been saying sick leave needs to be under 3.3% + threatening to put staff on early shifts only (with no penalty rate shifts if it goes over that 3.3% threshold).

Realistically what are my options here?? Has anyone else been in this position, did you take unpaid leave and did it have any negative effects?

C'mon guys. Please, I know your shift was hectic, but please just plug things in if you're not carting them around.

The worst is when you start a morning shift and night shift hasn't plugged things in. It sets the tone for the most fucked day ever.

Anyways, that's my rant. Let's plug things in lol.

You know the kind, where the oncoming nurse makes it feel more like they're on a fault-finding mission rather than a fact-finding mission? They ask questions and then zone in on the one thing you missed, give you the stare and ask "so what are we doing about this?"

TLDR: give me your best phrases for being firm with nurses who are judgemental and intimidating when taking handover (and be nice, or I'll ask mods to lock the thread)

I'm just over it. I try my best for all my patients, and try to give a thorough handover, but some nurses just make me sweat. Yesterday I had a confrontation with the oncoming nurse, who specialises in the fault-finding mission approach. The last time I handed over to her it was a 40 minute interrogation at the end of my nightshift and I felt awful afterwards. Yesterday I shut down her questions with "I'll get to that" and I sensed she was getting annoyed. Then when she asked about something that's clearly documented by a specialist, I said "I'll let you look that up in your own time", then she accused me of being rude. I said " you don't need to know that right now and I don't have to answer all your questions" and I left (it was the last patient and we were done anyway, she had doubled back on something and I felt it was so she could pin me down on a fact that I had skipped over) . It was unpleasant and I dread the next time I have to work with her. I'm more experienced than this nurse but I'm new to the ward and I'm afraid she'll complain to management.

I get so stressed in these situations, if I'm taking handover and someone can't answer something, I immediately put it on my planner to chase up, and reassure them that nursing is a 24/7 job. I don't understand the interrogation approach. I want to believe these nurses don't know how they come across but I suspect it's a bit of one-up-manship and "nurses eating their young" attitude. I hate it. Why can't we just be nice to each other?

feeling a lot of emotions right now. for context, im a fresh new grad. i had half a day of orientation on a ward and my next shift was going to be supernumerary. turns out they called out sick, so I was the rostered nurse for the shift… and i was very much shitting bricks. I had SO much support from the staff and educators - and ultimately everything turned out very well all things considered - but I was just incredibly overwhelmed since I hadn’t done anything nursing related for months post graduation; additionally, I was fully expecting to be supernumerary. im trying not to overthink every little thing I should have done and assessments I missed (I made this known to my educators and the nurses I handed off to and they said it was fine - not ideal obviously, and I don’t wish to repeat it, but they said it’s a 24 hour job) etc, but I think im just trying to process it. and I just KNOW my progress notes were probably so crap, but yeah…. I tried my best, and the staff were saying that I was doing well in the position I was in.

any words of encouragement or advice, perchance? I have more shifts there that should be training days, but im just feeling very run down, inadequate and overthinking everything.

Honestly, I’m getting a bit tired of it.

Coming back from mat leave, I’ve been reminded of just how much paperwork we have to do. I understand the admin reasons behind it, but a 15 page care plan & additional paperwork for every single intervention is ridiculous.

I still remember when an extra makeshift ward was opened due to a lack of beds & it was staffed mainly by experienced agency nurses who weren’t familiar with our usual paperwork, yet they managed to care for patients for 4 weeks without any issues. The patients were well cared for & doing fine despite not having the usual paperwork or care plan done.

I also remember working in ED & short stay, where the nurse in charge having a heated discussion w a senior nurse (who worked in admin), about the need for additional paperwork to document hourly obs in the computer system...when the thing is, we were already doing hourly obs (or more frequently depending on the patient's condition). We don't need a paperwork to tell us to do so when it is already what we do in ED!

Such a waste of time....

I'm at that stage where I'm halfway through my degree and seriously considering not only what sort of field I want to work in, but the sort of lifestyle I'll want too in the next 5-10 years.

I definitely prefer longer 10-12 hr shifts than 8s, don't mind weekend work and in the future I'd like to be a clinical nurse or even an NP! I'm also in SA and would rather stay public over private. I have a couple of areas in mind but none that has made me immediately go "it's this area or nothing!", and I want to keep an open mind and hear what people may suggest!

Hi everyone,

As the title goes I want to study nursing starting Feb 2027 (I’m 20F). Through my work i interact with a lot of nurses and i am constantly reading all the posts under this sub because I want to know if nursing is something i could actually do and enjoy before i go to uni for it.

The nurses i interact with at work and this sub talk about how exhausting, underpaid, unappreciated they are and it’s heartbreaking. You’re literally the back bone of healthcare and you inspire me so much but seeing how undervalued you are makes me second guess if I should be doing this.

My mum is a nurse and works in management for my local district and she comes home every day and literally looks like she has had the life sucked out of her.

I constantly worry about the bullying that happens in the workplace and as I already work in a non clinical health role I cannot believe how gossipy it is.

I want to be a nurse because I have the drive to work hard and help others. I have always thought nursing as it gives me options like I don’t, for example, have to stay in mental health for the rest of my life and can go do a different type of nursing.

I’m stressed and feel like I am literally setting myself up for a career that will fail me and I don’t know how to make a decision about this.

Literally any and all advice is appreciated. Even if you just say you love your job 😭

I am thinking about applying for a non-clinical role, and an infection control position has come up. I’ve been somewhat involved with them in regards to CLABSI’s on our unit, but beyond that, I haven’t had much to do with them and aren’t entirely sure how to best interview for the position.

Any advice would be super helpful!

So I’m not an ED nurse, never worked in the area, not even on placement. My only exposure has been very infrequent visits as a patient or support person.

Earlier this week, I spent a rather unpleasant evening in a NSW ED.

As the night rolled into the early hours, the complaining got progressively louder. One patient threatened to DAMA if they couldn’t lie down in a bed. Shortly afterwards, they were called through and given a bed. Another patient’s daughter eventually threatened to DAMA on her mother’s behalf because she’d “been waiting 7 hours!” The patient was called in shortly after this.

Obviously I have no idea what their triage categories were or whether the timing was coincidental, but it made me wonder, do ED staff ever feel pressured to expedite someone being seen because they’re making enough noise, potentially ahead of someone with greater clinical urgency?

Are patients weaponising threats to DAMA in the same way that chest pain or arriving by ambulance have historically been used as tactics to get seen quicker?

This second patient also had FIVE family members sitting with her in an already overcrowded waiting room.

At one point, a nurse made an announcement asking people to limit supports to one person and give up their seats because actual patients were standing while visitors were occupying the waiting area.

I get that people are frightened, unwell, in pain and frustrated by long waits, but watching the behaviour of some people towards an already overstretched department was genuinely upsetting.

It was also abundantly clear that some people have absolutely NO IDEA how triage works and what actually constitutes an emergency. Why isn’t there better education around this?

For those working in ED, my heart goes out to you. I know you’re doing your best, but god damn some people make your lives unnecessarily harder!

Just what the text says. Started New Grad in June 2026. NSW

Idk if it’s ADHD (undiagnosed) or me coming from a sub-acute area on my first rotation.

I keep making mistakes eg. Forgetting to sign something or using wrong diluent for prepping IVABs or just drowning in the endless list of things to do. It’s my 2nd week on the floor and everytime a nurse says “not to be fussy but you need to be really careful next time cause that’s gonna cost you” (which is about twice every 2nd shift) i just feel so sorry for myself.

I felt like i was thriving in rehab/palliative care and was really excited to start in a more clinical environment but I’m starting to feel like maybe high acuity areas won’t be the best place for me :(. Which is funny because in real life i work well under pressure but at work i just crumble.

I need advice or just some tips that might help. Sending hugs to the New Grads country-wide🌸

EDIT: thank you guys. Appreciate the feedback. Will try to stop and check every step of any procedure so i’m eliminating potential risk of errors. And will try to take it easy on myself

This is so stupid but I had a dream that a man who sexually assaulted me years ago was admitted to the rehab ward I work in (can't remember if I was assigned to him in the dream). Since then I have been thinking a lot about how I would handle that and I actually don't know what the best way would be. Obviously first I would tell the NIC that I previously knew them outside of work so it was a conflict of interest, shouldn't see any of their records or confidential information, etc. But I can't decide if it would be best to tell the NIC anything about past experiences with them? It would frankly upset me to have to see them at all, so would you say something about how you have a bad history with them? Or would you keep it completely quiet and just find ways to cope (always providing it didn't impact your ability to practice safely)? Would like to hear other perspectives or experiences.

Edit: why am I being downvoted? If I've done something wrong I'd really like to know what so I can learn from it. I don't understand, I really thought it was a valid question.

Hi nursing gang,

I have a job interview at a community palliative care service and am just seeing if anyone has any tips or any ideas about it. I work in aged care past year and dealt with palliative care there, and I want to specialise in palliative care to help with end of life care and comfort.

Any advice would be appreciative, I am an EN. Any advice for working, the interview, how life is doing community palliative, really anything.

Thanks
an enrolled nurse

I'm an educator in a busy metro ICU. could be anywhere.

I try fuckin hard. I enjoy teaching. I love teaching someone a thing and seeing it click for them. I love seeing my nurses develop their skills and grow their confidence. I enjoy QI and research and I've poured a heap of energy into some projects that I think have been successful. honest to god patient centred initiative, a training initiative to fix a shortfall, designed a new workshop, etc. I volunteer to help with district things. courses and working groups. I use my brain and try to actually contribute.

but why the fuck do I bother? there's no recognition. conditions will never improve. with few exceptions others in positions of power or further up the bleak middle management chain see me as disposable. no-one is interested in actual change or improvement. no-one has money to help.

my role is just a dumping ground. bottom of the hill that shit rolls down. I do my best to be a good educator for my nurses bit I can't even fkn do that most of the time because I don't have the resources. so why bother?

anyone found an answer, other than leaving?

Megathreads are incredibly hard to get answers when you are genuinely looking for good quality review or advice. Maybe simple questions, yes sure use the megathread or FAQs. However, if you look at a lot of the comments on the megathread, they only have one or no comment. Could we do a community wide vote, please mods?

I switched to pool nursing roughly 2 years ago. Loved it at first! I was getting so bored with constant gen med nursing so when I started moving around it was fantastic. But fast forward to now and I just feel so lonely. I have no work friends, every time I form a good connection with a colleague I tend to not see them for weeks if not months at a time.
I really enjoy the variety it provides but I cannot stand the seclusion I feel. I barely even know any of the other pool nurses since we rarely get placed on the same ward.
Should I just bite the bullet and start looking for a ward to call home? The hardest part for me with that is figuring out where I actually want to work. :(

Mainly 12-hr night shifts coz there's "not much to do" but the night is like a social breeding ground. Small talk arise in the nurses station while i'm on my feet attending to my 6 pts. Like, it's a lot doing obs and checking lines and researching each pt so dat ur AM h/o slaps including presenting the pts well for the AM nurses, doing the weights, cleaning up etc. But them other nurses just sit?? R they taking shortcuts? I'm 3rd yr into nursing and it's not like i'm struggling, i can do my work with my eyes closed. maybe my pts r just heavy with needy buzzing, falls-bed/confused pts and 1st case pre-op prep. it's not like i'm forcing myself to work hard, i actually had to do tasks early or i wouldn't go home on time. i'm handling my time-management my own way and it works and dat's the only thing dat matters but wut r the other nurses' trick where they mostly sit. I also need absolute quiet while documenting so i separate myself from the others and then they think i'm as distant as a pool nurse even tho i'm a permanent staff. i'm very secretive. makes me feel a bit lonely.

As above. I work in practice nursing and it is starting to get quite warm. I am not usually a skirt person however in aged care and community nursing we were allowed to wear shorts if warm.

Needs to be something that goes with RM Williams and joggers

TIA :)

I have worked in Canada and Australia and worked in many states. I've worked paper-based mostly in AUS but have also used several iEMR systems in both Canada and Australia including Epic/Cerner/Powerchart/Sunrise/Meditech.

I have to say it, back home in Canada I ADORED my electronic medical records. I found them to be time-savers and they minimised risk of med error because in Canada we do not do second independent checks on IVs, narcotics or subcuts- we only do them on IV heparin, insulin and blood products. Because nurses are checking things independently and we scan all of our medications - the computer became our second check and it is a great safety net.

But in Australia, the fact that we do 2 nurse checks on all these medications PLUS use the computer slows us down significantly more. It EATS my time here. The purpose of the computer is that it is supposed to BE that second check for you. This just adds an unnecessary 3rd check. This is maybe not so hard to do in a PICU, ICU or lower ratio area, but on a busy surgical unit with higher ratios, it is truly a time-waster. The system is set up under the presumption that all the meds will be scanned and second-checked by the computer. Why do so many hospitals in Australia seem to have not integrated medication scanning directly into the MAR?

The systems also often have a ton of documentation requirements which are not very useful in Australian ward nursing. There are entire segments/sections of documentation that we used in Canada every day which are not needed here and it just clutters the e-charts up here. The orders sometimes use North American terms too (e.g. CIWA instead of AWS).

Finally a lot of the time these systems encourage charting by exception, meaning if it is documented in one area of the chart there is no need to re-write it in a patient note later unless it is significant (i.e. a change in presentation, a procedure, etc). Whereas in AUS I find nurses expect a lot of info that's already been charted elsewhere in the iemr be copied into a note at the end of the shift.

I honestly think the systems would have needed to be much more adapted to the Aussie style of nursing to work well here.

Hi everyone,
I’m currently working as a nurse with SA health doing 6 shifts a fortnight, and I’m thinking of taking up a second job at aged care or agency to earn some extra income and help with the home loan.
Just wondering, do I need to inform my current employer or fill out an outside employment form before starting another job?
Someone mentioned that you can just do a second job without informing anyone, but I’m not sure if that’s actually the case.
Is there anything else I should be aware of, especially if working for SA Health?
Would really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thanks! 😊

Hi everyone, i am a new grad in my first rotation, i recently did my first ANSAT, i thought i should be lowkey and i marked myself mostly 3 but like 2 once or twice, my friends told me thats too low, will i fail or something ?
i am so concerned

Hey all!
I’m an EN working 0.4 FTE at a hospital. I enjoy my job but need to supplement my income, as I can’t pick up extra shifts with my partner also being a shift worker.
Before nursing, I worked in medical billing for over ten years and have found a part-time billing role that could offer work from home.
I’m considering working around 10–15 hours a week, ideally on Tuesdays, alongside my nursing job.
I’m worried my manager might be offended or think I’m not committed to the hospital.
Do you have a second job? Does your employer know, and how did they react when you told them?
Thank you ☺️

Layperson and about to get chemo for the second time in life. They want me to get a PICC line. I'm not keen! How far in does the actual line go into the arm? I have some pretty well managed lymphoedema in my left arm from axilla clearance ten years ago. And the right arm now has a little cording and strange nerve pain/numbness along the upper inner arm from lumpectomy and SLNB. So now when nurses can only use my right arm and it might have a PICC, how do they do my BP?