5 replies to this topic

[scgirl]

[olympus]

I am average weight, but being on my feet soooo much has caused plantar faciitis. I had to get cortisone injections in the bottom of my feet so I could walk normally. That was about 3 years ago and I haven't had any problems since, thank god. I would also recommend support hose or you will blow the veins out in your legs. I use to have beautiful legs until I started nusring

[Abbeygirl]

My feet don't bother me as much as my legs do. I wear the Croc shoes which are great. They are not real pretty but they do feel good. I can not stand support hose. They burn me up and I usually pull them off half way through a shift. My legs are firm, very firm and by the end of the day they feel like rocks. I do not have problems with blown veins in my legs, but they hurt like crazy. I guess this is from good family gene's.

My real solution to ending sore feet and hurting legs is a new line of work. At my age it is sounding better and better all the time. I love my job, but my new song now is, give me a desk, just any old desk, I need it badly. Maybe someone will listen.

[3boyzmom]

Woo-hoo Abbeygirl, I hear ya! I have Morton's neuromas on both feet. They hurt like the dickens. I have had shots in the feet- a series of 3 in each foot; it helped a little bit but not nearly enough.

A desk... in our line of work, though, you don't get just the desk- I got one of those "desk" jobs- (clinic manager) and what it means is that I still stay on my feet all day long and do direct patient care, and then SOMEWHERE other than between the hours of 8 and 5 you figure out when to get your deskwork done (reports, stats, etc.) I'm still trying to figure out how to do that!

I want a job at a desk, that doesn't involve talking to anyone. On the phone or in person. Just sit down and write whatever it is I'm supposed to write. Then go home and maybe my feet would be in good enough shape and my mind rested and alert enough to actuallyTALK with my FAMILY and DO something with THEM!!!!! I know, those jobs don't exist. I can dream though!

[Abbeygirl]

Hey 3boysmom. I don't even mind talking to people as long as they don't expect me to jump up and do CPR and defib them, or as long as they don't weigh 250 or more lbs and expect me to push their stretcher at a mad run up and down ramps getting them to the unit. After about 3 of these patients in a shift, yea I wouldn't mind just sitting talking to them from a desk. Wonder if that would be good patient care to just pull up a chair beside a patient having an MI and just talk to them. Ha.

[3boyzmom]

Well maybe stress is what led to their MI in the first place, so what they really need more than anything is therapy anyway!!!! You can push morphine while you sit and talk, cantcha?

One of the things I loved about psych nursing when I did it all those years, is that you could usually actually find a little time here and there to sit down in a patient's room and talk with them. I always liked doing the admission assessment, because you talked about everything. I think I'm a naturally nosy person- I like to hear all your personal business! Nah, it's more than that; I liked having real conversations, and to be able to talk about "the elephant in the room." Such as when a spouse left after a tense visit to be able to say "I noticed you were crying while your husband was here. Would you like to talk about it?" Of course all of us as nurses can do that, and most of us are quite capable of a very therapeutic conversation- but in the medical setting there is usually not time to really HAVE the conversation you'd like to have. I know there's not in the clinic where I am now. If I told a patient now "you seem upset" and they told me whatever the awful problem is they're having; I'm pretty limited to something like "I'm really sorry to hear that." because face it, I have to move on. I really do want to talk with the person but the situation doesn't allow it. It usually ends with "be sure to talk with the doctor about it." And you know that's not a long conversation either.

Don't get me wrong, there are times when you just have to make the time. Like when a patient comes for a visit and tell you that their grown child was killed in a wreck a week before. Things like that, you just have to tell a coworker "I'm going to be in here with Mrs. Smith for a little while." But those are the exceptions.

I personally think that is why sometimes the elderly go on and on about their various aches and pains with us- they don't know any other way to get someone to stop and LISTEN to them. I think they might like to talk about life issues, but they've learned that ain't happening in the medical field.

Well, I digress. Anyway, if I can't talk in the manner which I would LIKE, with people, then I'd rather have a job where I didn't have to talk at all. So there!