Nursing Network for Nurses and Nursing Students - Latest Articles Page 5

Not another silly article on Hand Hygiene!

By madwife2002 - I know we have numerous articles and threads on Infection Control and hand washing but it appears to me that the minority of healthcare workers actually are not washing their hands as often as they should. A sad fact is although we maybe washing our hands, there are other people out there who do not wash their hands. Now in my mind’s eye, I can see you all gasp and feel indignant at my written words but stop for a minute and consider this statement; Do you always and I mean always sanitize or wash your hands after every interaction with the patient, after leaving their room, after... Read More →

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Do not underestimate the difficulty level of nursing school...

By tenjuna - As I am almost done with my first year of my ADN nursing program, I decided to write this article with some thoughts about where I was a year ago. I know I am being overly dramatic here, but hey what the hell may as well put my Composition II skills to use. :up: I started my journey April 2010, after having mulled over my choices for a career change for an extended period of time and deciding I needed to sign up before anything was going to change. I spent the first 3 semesters taking classes on another degree I was picking at whilst I tried to finalize what I wanted to be when I... Read More →

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We are ALL on the same team.

By Mully - You know what I'm freaking sick of? Mixed-unit and mixed-discipline hostilities. Or at least that's what I call it. I'm talking about the constant complaints about everyone else in the hospital. Now granted, I've only ever worked at one hospital, but having talked to both my mom and my sister who both work at separate hospitals, it seems that it's the same no matter where you go. It goes something like this... RT giving attitude because the nurse calls them about a patient. - Don't worry, I'm only assisting with an intubation. I'll be sure to rush to your 89% O2sat. Read More →

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Perspective: Depression from One Side of the Bed to the Other

By Tait - As I have progressed in my career as a nurse I discovered a passion. Stress management. Stress management touches all aspects of our lives with increasing urgency. As we move forward each day we are expected to manage more, accept more, think more, and accommodate more. For more what do you ask? For more of everything. In our home lives we are expected to be Pinterest parents, cooks, home makers, and community leaders. At work we are expected to carry more patients, give ever increasing levels of customer service, contribute to shared governance, chart with legal precision, and still have... Read More →

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Yet another holiday, some musings about family.

By uRNmyway - My family is an extremely close one. We all grew up in the same general area, with only 2 exceptions (an uncle who visited every few years and an aunt every summer). My immediate family is even closer. We see each other as often as we can, and keep very little from each other. Some find that strange, but it's just how things have always been for us. All of that changed for me a few years ago. I had always had it in the back of my head to try nursing in the US. I mostly thought I would attempt travel nursing though. Then I met my fiance, born and raised in Georgia. We visited a few times... Read More →

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Sitters/CNA's: Thank you for "doing nothing"

By CheesePotato - Two mornings ago I received a distraught phone call from my mother telling me that my dad, who is suffering with end stage COPD, spine compression fractures, and a distinct lack of proper narcotic metabolism, became flighty, picky and squirrelly to such a point that he was assigned a sitter. Look, I've been around. I know what can be said about sitters. I know that for every one that understands the amount of sheer effort and work that goes into trying to keep someone in bed, calm and intact, there are several more misguided individuals that think sitting is easy, requires little effort... Read More →

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Work is Hazardous to My Health

By MunkiRN - I almost died today. A man comes into my busy level 1 trauma center with ALOC and no known cause. The sister says he has had a fever for the last couple of days and developed hives yesterday. The paramedics think he probably overdosed on benadryl and is just sleeping it off. If only that had been true. When we realize this man isn't getting any better, becoming more somnolent and suddenly tachy, the benadryl OD dream comes crashing head first into the meningitis reality. A head CT is ordered, and a lumbar puncture set up is at the bedside, now the real fun begins. I need to back up a... Read More →

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Everything I Know About Life.......

By VivaLasViejas - Am I the only person around here who's sappy enough to have owned a copy of that adorable poster with all the things someone learned about life in kindergarten? As cliche'd as it all sounds now, I've never forgotten such pithy sayings as "Hold hands when you're crossing the street" and "Wash your hands BEFORE you go to the bathroom". Oh, wait.....that was nursing school, not kindergarten. Oops. I was trying to focus on my weekly nutrition-at-risk report this afternoon when the memory of that long-ago collection of wisdom popped randomly into my brain, whose synapses had been misfiring all... Read More →

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Human Misery, Human Victory

By TheCommuter - For starters, I work as a staff nurse at a specialty rehab hospital. Rehabilitation nursing involves assisting patients and their families to manage short-term, progressive, and long-term impediments and disabilities in ways that constructively facilitate the highest level of function possible. My place of employment receives a substantial share of patients who are disabled as the result of cerebrovascular accident (CVA), better known as stroke. CVAs are all too common in American society. In fact, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, only trailing behind heart... Read More →

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Innovative Nursing Part Deux: Being Genuinely Present

By CheesePotato - You've heard me say it before and I cannot help but believe firmly that it merits repeating: I work with some incredible people. Now let's keep it real, they are merely people the same as the rest of us--but for some reason I am fortunate enough to bear witness to their moments of magnificence. Meet James. Jim, Jimmy when he's cheeky, or Jimbo when I'm feeling deeply entrenched in my southern roots. No--No, Jim. Stoppit. Get over here and stand still. I want to talk about you and you're making it very difficult. James, you will be eager to note, stands a towering 72 inches-- Read More →

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A Plea to Nurses Everywhere

By SarahLeeRN - I don’t seem to process everything that I see, hear and do at work until I am home. My lack of reflection until later might have something to do with running around like a Looney Tunes character for eight or more hours caring for the sick. It is difficult to be reflective when life has to be lived so much in the moment. But after the last IV has been hung, the last lab value dealt with, the last medication given and the last note written, as I drive home, fragments of my day begin to surface as I try to unwind. I have different “topics”, I guess you could call it, that I mull over as I... Read More →

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Can I Work as a Certified Nursing Assistant or Medical Assistant While in School?

By TheCommuter - Imagine you are a nursing student who wants to start accruing healthcare experience now. However, volunteering at a hospital or nursing home might be totally out of the question because you need to be paid for the services that you render. Volunteer experience is valuable in many ways, but let's face it: the unpaid experience will not keep the bill collectors away. If you are a nursing student, you have several employment options at your disposal that will lead to direct or indirect healthcare experience. You can directly apply for entry-level positions as a direct care staff member (also... Read More →

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A Place to Call Home

By jaelpn - My name is Julie- I've been employed at S***** since January 2009. I am the full-time LPN in the evening. Throughout these last four years, I've come to learn about many life stories of my friends that have come to know S***** as "Home". Those first few weeks are hard on any new resident that comes to live in an unfamiliar place. I've seen someone who has become angry with the family, wanting to leave and 'go home' ...begin to open up and call some of their fellow peers 'friends'. The family comes to visit and can't believe the difference their loved one has made. It takes time, but... Read More →

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Perspective: My Path to Nursing and Beyond

By Tait - Back in 2000 I was a a failing science major. My ideal career at the time was a double major in Physics and Chemistry. In 1996, after failing even choir, the only words on my mind were "Academic Bankruptcy". Bouncing in and out of community centers for the next few years was basically my attempt at finding a path, but instead finding nothing but slowly mounting student debt. Around 2000 I was dating a mediocre man who suggested I "just be a nurse". I didn't take him seriously because he had also told me to "just be a secretary like my mom" which pretty much showed me how much respect her... Read More →

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The Patient Who Receives No Visits

By TheCommuter - I’m certain that every nurse who has ever worked at the bedside has provided care for the patient who never seems to receive any visitors. In fact, the roles were reversed nearly five years ago when I was the patient laying in a bed on a women’s medical/surgical unit at a community hospital in a large city. Even though my inpatient hospital stay was a swift overnight affair, I received no visitors. The facility was located almost forty miles from my home, so a friend dropped me off on the morning of my planned admission before she reported to work, and another friend picked me up at the... Read More →

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