You know you're a neuro nurse if.....

I agree with the comment from other nurses saying "Ewwwwww Neuro!" But I love it!!

You know you're a neuro nurse when you like the vented, restrained and sedated patients...

You absolutely DREAD visiting hours...

You don't blink twice when you have a pt with bolts coming out of their head...

You wonder how you came out alright when you were a kid and fell and hit your head...

You've ever had to explain to a family that what the neurosurgeon meant when he said the surgery was successful was that the patient lived through it.....

I think this is the only reason i make such a good Neuro nurse. good being a nice term for lift team or Code-R's. As well as patients who aren't on Diprivan yet haha.

wow didnt know that thanks

No matter how many different ways you tell a family that their loved one is brain dead, they still look at the patient and say "Oh you're doing so good. You're gonna pull through this." and believe it too.

Your patient's family starts to do the neuro check with you every hour.

You squirt your co-workers with left over Mannitol because it's cool.

You use a penlight so much you need a new one every week.

You are able to converse with a completely confused patient and a completely aphasic patient.

You know the transport team and the CT techs by first name, and some of their family.

You do an extra exam because you "have a bad feeling".

Had a pt not too long ago who was AOX3, speech clear and appropriate, denied pain, nausea, numbness, tingling--assessment WNL all the way down the line. But when I asked, "How are you feeling?" he replied that he was okay, except that he felt confused. Couldn't specify confused about what, just "confused."

So I gave him a GCS of 14, because he thought he was confused, but clearly he wasn't confused, except about being confused. (Actually, he was a few hours post-ictal and probably just a little woozy around the edges. Didn't page the neurologist, but just mentioned it when I saw her next.)

I used to joke about doing it, but more recently actually have paged to report a neuro change when the GCS increased. Usually just save that until I see the doc again, though.

One of my coworkers had a pt last night who posted his name, b-day, what day it was and where he was on a sign of his door, because he wanted to get some sleep.

The only unit where you put restraints on for patients that touch their rear then scratch their incision.

You know your a Neuro RN when:

You SDH patient's BP sky rockets and their heart rate goes to about 180 and your first thought is "better get some Atropine"

Been there, done that.

You know you're a neuro nurse if...

You've ever said, "Oh don't worry about it, he's just having a seizure."

You've ever come to the uncomfortable realization that there are some people who really don't want to hear about GSW to the head.

If you're ever had to explain to a neurosurgeon that your patient's bizarre behavior is a seizure.