Hello All

BrandyBSN · Aug 19, 2003

Hello! I'm here in Hannibal Missouri. Graduated from Truman State University in 2002, and am an emergency nurse. It will be interesting to see who is from missouri!

Rhoresmith · Aug 19, 2003

Hello,

I to am from Hannibal Mo and am a nursing student at John Wood Community College in Quincy Il..... today was my second day only had A&Pll and since this was with the same teacher I had A&Pl with it was great he is a wonderful teacher.

Yesterday was scary for me, I was very nervous but my 2 teachers were great and they seem very nice will know more in week or two.. So lets here it from all the great nurses in Missouri yeahhhhhhh

Rhonda

kjseam · Aug 20, 2003

Hi all! I am in Kansas City and I am working on pre-reqs at Penn Valley. This is only my second semester. I will be taking Algebra, Psychology and Chemistry:eek: . Math was never my strong suit lol.

Kelly

shadylane21 · Aug 20, 2003

Hi all I will be starting the lpn course this monday at the met center in st. louis and I am very excited I wondering how your first semester at deaconess. just wondering because that was one of my choices that and meremac;)

Janet E Groll · Aug 22, 2003

Hi Vikki, My name is Janet, and I live not too far from your school I am available as a sounding board, or mentor as you go through school and get your land legs, per say. I have been in the hospitals for many years and graduated from nursing school in 1987. My email is [email protected] feel free to contact me for any support and or encouragement. Good Luck.

barb4575 · Aug 22, 2003

I am originally from Overland Park, KS but worked and lived in MO as well...I just wanted to let you know that health care is superior as compared to where I live now in IN. Wanted to give you something to smile about when things get tough! I have been reading some literature about the unionization going on in the KC area and would like to hear more about it. Wow, the midwesterners are progressive, aren't they?

Good luck to all,

Barbara

dianacs · Aug 24, 2003

I am a nursing student in the St. Louis area. Nice to "meet" you all!

Nursekath · Aug 26, 2003

Howdy, don't know if I'm doing this correctly or not. I'm wanting to know anyone's experience with using Synagis in a five year with chronic lung problems. I'm a school nurse concerned about a kindergartener who is facing a tough winter and the possibility of RSV.

pappyRN · Aug 27, 2003

Hi,

I live in St. Louis and unfortunately am no longer practicing. My area of specialty was Neonatal Services/Special Care Nursery. Eight years ago I was injured and have subsequently developed Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy- RSD and Fibromyalgia/CFIDS and am now inactive and disabled. RSD is now known to many as CRPS I and II. It stands for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I graduated from a diploma school of nursing way back in 1974 so I am a dinosaur! The total number of years I worked as an RN was 22+. I miss it terribly but have too many cognitive problems regarding memory etc. and am on pain management therapy.

I miss my career more than I could possibly explain. Of course, there were days when I wondered what the heck I was doing being a nurse but since I have been unable to work it is almost like a death of some part of my life. I'd give anything to have a bad day if it meant having a bad day but as a NURSE!

Because of my situation and all that I've had to learn about it, I encourage you from my personal point of view, to learn all you can about managing a patient's pain. Pain management is a fairly new field but is one that needs a lot of education and advocacy for the patient as well as knowledge for healthcare workers. There is a tremendous amount of bias regarding a patient and pain and many are labeled quite unfairly as drug seekers. However, that couldn't be further from the truth in almost all cases. Research has shown that most pain patients do NOT take their pain meds for a high. They take them to relieve their pain. In over seven years of pain management I have never felt a high from anything that was prescribed to me. I have, however, felt very nauseous and like I had a very bad viral illness but the trade off was worth it to be able to have a few hours of partial relief. It is almost impossible to completely relieve neuropathic pain.

There is a huge stigma towards chronic pain patients and we encounter many colleagues who are uneducated and undereducated about pain management. Hopefully schools will soon update their curriculum to close this gap in knowledge that can have such detrimental effects on patients in pain. There is a LOT to learn. I never had any idea about all I know now about pain management now. We were always taught to give patients the lowest dose possible without even considering the type of injury or surgery the patient had experienced. The main thing back then was that the fear of RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION which was drilled over and over again in our heads. So, we were AFRAID to medicate our patients to the point where they were comfortable. When I stop to think of how many poor patients suffered due to our ignorance...I shudder. I think you would be astounded at the amounts of meds a pain patient can take and NEVER experience even a moment of respiratory distress. I should have stopped breathing a while back!lol

Some nurses believe that just because they do not see a patient screaming and carrying on with their pain, that they are not having severe pain but are faking. I assure you that most of us would rather die than for you to see us behaving like that. Crying is reserved for the privacy of my home and I would never stoop so low as to cry in front of others. It would be humiliating to me. Believe me- it IS possible to be in severe pain+7-9 out of 10 without crying and still be able to laugh, smile and/or fall asleep-probably from exhaustion from the many hours we are unable to sleep and try to find ways to deal with the pain. We have usually had our pain diagnoses for a while but maybe not and could YOU cry continuously? It would be impossible. There is a great deal of stoicism in pain patients although many of us wait way too long before we seek an intervention by going to the ER. Many pain patients will simply continue to suffer dreadfully rather than going to the ER and risk being labeled as a drug seeker or worse. Imagine that someone has doused you with gasoline and then...lit you with a match. That is what I experience each and every day of my life. I now am on methadone in an effort to just be able to do the basic activities of daily living. I am usually able to be awake and dressed and be driven to the grocery store to do about an hour's worth of shopping but afterwards, I most likely will have to rest and I may not recover from the trip to the store for the next few days. I took me five days to recover from going to my son's out of town graduation and almost two weeks to recover from his out of town wedding. By recovered I mean awake and dressed and relaxing as much as possible in the recliner. I have to depend on my husband and daughter for house cleaning. When I try to do what I perceive as my fair share, I usually exceed what I should have done by having good common sense and there are consequences.My family has basically lost their Mom, wife,daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend without me even dying. I have missed so many special times in my children's lives because of pain that was undertreated. So, before you judge those who c/o pain, PLEASE make sure you are educated and/or DEMAND that your school curriculum be revised to teach you about modern day pain management. There IS a difference between addiction, tolerance, physical dependence and when we experience withdrawal for any reason we go through a hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Pay special attention to the term pseudoaddiction and it's relation to the undertreatment of pain. It certainly opened my eyes. I had no idea about much of this until I had to learn it because I was now the patient.Please read anything you can find by Margo McCaffery. I am not sure if I spelled her name correctly but it's close.

Good luck in school for those who are still in training and also to those who are working. This is a wonderful profession and I couldn't have been more proud of being a nurse. I still carry that pride in my heart and I miss being a nurse so much that it hurts...MORE! lol

Brandy- my son and his new wife both graduated from Truman in December of 2002. They were both business majors. Truman is a wonderful school AND a VERY difficult school. Everything I have ever heard about Truman's nursing program has been of great compliments and respect. I know my son and dil say they feel they received an excellent education. It's not a big school but it is earning a great big reputation for excellence. It's too bad the reputation is out in the open. I hope it retains that small school atmosphere with the equivalent education of a top university-which it is!

Nice to meet all of you. I will try my best to remember this forum is here!

Warm personal regards,

PappyRN

allthingsbright · Sep 1, 2003

Hi everyone,

I am working on my pre reqs at Penn Valley in KCMO too! I am taking a&p and speech, then hopefully onto nursing courses this spring!

nice to "meet" you all,

amy

LauraF, RN, ASN, CNA, LPN, RN · Sep 1, 2003

Hi Everyone! I actually live in Kansas now. But I grew up and went to school in MO. I received my LPN from St Charles County Community College back when they were taking over the old StMary's College. So we are talking late '80's early 90. I had many wonderful jobs in the stlouis area, the Children's Home Society and GHP to name a few. I miss StLouis very much!!! I'm currently going to school at my local community college here in KS to get my RN. Good luck to you all, and enjoy the cooler weather we are having!:)