iriska_meller

iriska_meller specializes in Diabetes, Primary care.

Latest Activity

1. Prescribing Medical Marijuana

   iriska_meller replied to iriska_meller's topic in Advanced

   You are correct, no one can "prescribe" but in my state an MD/NP/PA can get certified to "recommend" it. Essentially you certify that patient has one of the "approved" conditions with "approved" complications - state publishes a list - and patient ta...

2. Prescribing Medical Marijuana

   iriska_meller posted a topic in Advanced

   I live in a state that has legalized medical marijuana. I can take a class for a few hundred $ and become licensed to prescribe it. I practice mostly inpatient, but have a part time gig in primary care Anyone has any experience with this? On one han...

3. Nurses please try to look a little more polished at work

   iriska_meller replied to OnlybyHisgraceRN's topic in General Nursing

   When I went to nursing school, we had a rule of "hair off the shoulders". It still bothers me when I see nurses with hair in their face, hanging down, touching patients... Not only this doesn't look professional and "put together", it also creates ad...

4. Toileting Bariatric Patients

   iriska_meller replied to Toileting Help's topic in General Nursing

   The most recent... A very obese man, and he needed a urinal, but could not reach the area himself (abdomen in the way...). In addition, he either had a "peekaboo" penis or it was hiding somewhere in the layers of fat. So I lift the gown and look... a...

5. Things you'd LOVE to be able to tell patients, and get away with it.

   iriska_meller replied to AngelfireRN's topic in Relations

   To the family member #8 of the same patient, who comes to the nursing station for the umpteenth time with the same question: "Which doctor can I talk to about my mother's condition?" "The Medical Examiner!!!"

6. Who reads your charting?

   iriska_meller replied to Texas Tornado's topic in General Nursing

   Some of our docs don't even read other docs' notes. The last night I worked one of my patient nearly coded, went bradycardic to 20s, passed out, etc. He recovered, thankfully. the night resident left a nice long detailed note in the computer. The att...

7. PT rooms too small??

   iriska_meller replied to crosby's topic in General Nursing

   Oh this is a big pet peeve of mine. I just want to find the person (or team) who established the size of the rooms and doors... bring them to people's court and sentense them to 10 years of daily assignment of moving beds in and out of the rooms with...

8. How do you keep your hands in good shape?

   iriska_meller replied to LilyBlue's topic in General Nursing

   One "miracle thing" is Lanolin - goes by brand "Lansinoh". it is sold as a breastfeeding product, for cracked nipples, but it heals everything. It doesn't absorb fast though, so its best to use it when you sleep, probably with gloves.

9. Kaplan Qbank - 50% to 60% ratings. What does it signify?

   iriska_meller replied to rex.jr_RN's topic in NCLEX

   Kaplan is notorious for having the most difficult questions. When I was studying for my nclex I used Kaplan book and Saunders book. On saunders practice tests I usually got at least 85%, on Kaplan - 63 at best. Passed NCLEX with 75 uestions though. S...

10. RNs caught lying

    iriska_meller replied to inland18mempire's topic in General Nursing

    But aren't there things that you don't have to directly assess if other things are there? for instance, if your patient just had a big BM independently, she probably does have bowel sounds. If a 35 year old is in for nausea/vomiting and been hopping ...

11. How many patients are you expected to take report on?

    iriska_meller replied to AnnaMary's topic in Med-Surg

    I work night shift on a medicine/geri/neuro floor. we have 2 stepdowns (4 pts each) and 27 floor beds. Each stepdown gets one RN, and the floor gets 3 for the night and 4-5 for day. We also have 3-4 PCTs on the floor. When we are lucky we have a char...

12. Than who's fault is it?

    iriska_meller posted a topic in General Nursing

    So we've determined that we have nothing to do with it (sky-high cost of healthcare). Let's try to figure out who we should crucify. To start with, I'll give a couple of things that have been vothering me to no end. A couple of months ago a went to a...

13. Arguments Disfavoring Hourly Rounding

    iriska_meller replied to CaLLaCoDe's topic in General Nursing

    I like the way we do rounds on night shift on our unit. Between the hours of 12 am and 6 am when at least some patients fall asleep and most of medications are administered, we assign each half-hourly round (for the whole unit) to one of the RNs and ...

14. Patient Care Tech duties..replacing Nursing duties?

    iriska_meller replied to c5150b's topic in General Nursing

    That may be true if there are both a PCT and a CNA assigned to the same patient load. But we only have PCTs now. And me personally I don't mind wiping butts one bit. I do mind however when my IV meds, abx and blood transfusions are delayed, sometimes...

15. Patient Care Tech duties..replacing Nursing duties?

    iriska_meller replied to c5150b's topic in General Nursing

    Our hospital in NY just started transitioning NAs into PCTs. As PCTs they can do 3 additional things: draw blood (not from a central line though), do EKGs and fingersticks. No IV insertion or foleys. This is a good help sometimes, because a blood dra...