inside the mind of a nurse.....

I find myself looking a people's ankles for signs of edema. I also notice finger nails and ear lobes as they can show signs of CAD. One day the 20 something youngsters on the unit were going out for a smoke. I felt deeply disturbed by this as I always do when someone I like or love lights up.(I never say anything because it is waste of time but it hurts me) It suddenly dawned on me that I was much to old to ever witness them suffer for their foolishness and suddenly I felt relieved. :w00t:

Not eating before driving has crossed my mind more than once. Looking at ankles for edema too. Pass pedestrians who are morbidly obese and hope when they come to my hospital they can still move themselves because I'm getting to old to move them.

Find yourself assessing people in shops and the street,wondering how long it will be before they become a resident!!

I find myself checking out people's veins.

Two weeks ago I worked 4 12 hour shifts in a row, and for the 4 days I had at least 2 total cares per shift. I work up at 3 am the next day, and started trying to figure out when was the last time my husband had been repositioned

I found myself assessing my mom's elder dogs for non-verbal signs of arthritic pain and asking her if she was giving them anything for it.

I found myself assessing my mom's elder dogs for non-verbal signs of arthritic pain and asking her if she was giving them anything for it.

I was deeply horrified one day to discover my Shi Tzu (Sp?) had an irregular heart rate. The vet assures me all dogs do. Who knew?

I don't think I have any ODC type traits because of being a nurse.

I do think about the germs on money, door knobs, etc but germs have been in those same places long before I was a nurse. I am diligent at work about washing my hands. Mainly because I don't want to pass germs around at work or bring germs home to my family but beyond work I use normal hygiene practices such as washing my hands after using a public bathroom, washing hands before I eat in a restaurant, after using a pay phone etc...

I may be weird but I feel like your body has to build immunity to germs and how can you if you're forever using antibacterial agents? I believe this causes the superbugs.

When I was little my Mom always said "God made dirt, dirt won't hurt". I think there is some truth to this.

As far as checking out people's veins, ankles, fingernails, etc that's just a trait of a good and observent nurse.

Having been an ER nurse for a long time, I know that bad stuff happens to good people and so, I am always telling my family that I love them!

Passing people on the street and thinking to myself..'I hope I never have to look after you!'.

I do carry around hand sanitizer for those moments when no handwashing facilities are available and I want to eat something or just feel grotty. Oohhh, the thought of what people do with their hands and don't wash. Yuk.

I assess a lot of coughs and decide in my head whether they are smokers and how long they have left. Just joking, I don't really do that but I do check out their coughs!

I could go on and on...my mind is obviously a scary place!

:igtsyt:

Having been an ER nurse for a long time, I know that bad stuff happens to good people and so, I am always telling my family that I love them!

AMEN !!! I never say goodbye to my family or my kids, whether it be in person or on the phone, without adding "I Love You" and it is always reciprocated.

:ilyc:

I probably wash my hands more and more carefully than most people. I carry hand sanitizer but I'm not compulsive about using it. I try not to think about germs too much!

On the other hand, I assess and diagnose automatically, without thinking about it.

I may be weird but I feel like your body has to build immunity to germs and how can you if you're forever using antibacterial agents? I believe this causes the superbugs.

When I was little my Mom always said "God made dirt, dirt won't hurt". I think there is some truth to this.

I agree with you. I've recently read (can't cite the source right now) that our obsession with cleanliness, particularly with our kids, may be one reason there are more allergies and asthma now. The theory was that kids' bodies are normally fighting off germs constantly. If everything is so clean and their exposure is so limited that this isn't happening, then the immune system starts reacting to things it shouldn't react to.

My older son was a very regular visitor to his pediatrician's office when he was small (I kept expecting them to add part of the rent to our bill!). By the time he was school age, he went through the first 5 years or so without ever missing a day due to illness.

I'm not advocating anyone give up regular use of soap and water, but maybe we need not be quite so fanatical about it.