Nonlinear thinking

[Cobweb]

Well, that's what my son calls it. My coworkers call it, "What the hell is she doing now?"

Anyway, I see a lot of new young or soon-to-be nurses on here. In the old days we had to invent a lot of the things we used, whereas now people are encouraged and even forced to obey the rules. I spit on the rules. Only other people have to follow them, and then only if they are my rules. It seems to me that thinking out of the box is discouraged in corporate medicine.

I thought a thread where you post your most inventive solutions to problems might be fun.

Example: I had a youngish (50s) pulmonary patient with other health problems who was riding his scooter on the sidewalk and hit a bad patch and had a bad fall. He hurt his back and it was so painful he would not use a urinal, let us change him or pull him up in bed, etc. He just refused to be moved at all. Now, I knew a secret about him from previous hospital encounters. He had a serious Butterfinger jones. He could hear that paper crinkle from a city block away. So, the first day he was my patient, I taped a Butterfinger to his trapeze bar. "Oh, you evil evil dog (censored)!" he moaned while I cackled. I told him that it would hurt much less if he moved himself, than if we moved him, and if he wanted that Butterfinger he better reach up and get it. Every day I taped one up there, and guess what, 3 weeks later he walked out of there. He told that story to everybody he passed and to this day he calls me Godzilla for my evil ways. We're the best of friends...now...muahaha.

So tell me your crazy solutions, please!

[TazziRN, RN]

I spit on the rules. Only other people have to follow them, and then only if they are my rules. It seems to me that thinking out of the box is discouraged in corporate medicine.

I sincerely hope you're kidding about this part.

[EmmaG, RN]

Well, that's what my son calls it. My coworkers call it, "What the hell is she doing now?"

Anyway, I see a lot of new young or soon-to-be nurses on here. In the old days we had to invent a lot of the things we used, whereas now people are encouraged and even forced to obey the rules. I spit on the rules. Only other people have to follow them, and then only if they are my rules. It seems to me that thinking out of the box is discouraged in corporate medicine.

I thought a thread where you post your most inventive solutions to problems might be fun.

Example: I had a youngish (50s) pulmonary patient with other health problems who was riding his scooter on the sidewalk and hit a bad patch and had a bad fall. He hurt his back and it was so painful he would not use a urinal, let us change him or pull him up in bed, etc. He just refused to be moved at all. Now, I knew a secret about him from previous hospital encounters. He had a serious Butterfinger jones. He could hear that paper crinkle from a city block away. So, the first day he was my patient, I taped a Butterfinger to his trapeze bar. "Oh, you evil evil dog (censored)!" he moaned while I cackled. I told him that it would hurt much less if he moved himself, than if we moved him, and if he wanted that Butterfinger he better reach up and get it. Every day I taped one up there, and guess what, 3 weeks later he walked out of there. He told that story to everybody he passed and to this day he calls me Godzilla for my evil ways. We're the best of friends...now...muahaha.

So tell me your crazy solutions, please!

One of the funniest posts I've read here :lol2:

Butterfinger jones LOL!!!

[chadash]

I sincerely hope you're kidding about this part.

I am sure she is, and I just loved it :)

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

great post! The serious part of the post is "How can we accomodate creativity to meet the needs of patients.."

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I've never heard of a Butterfinger "jones".

(deleted what I thought it sounded like)

steph

[llg, PhD, RN]

While I certainly don't support that people should ignore the research and the guidance of experts who have proven strategies to teach .... :) ... I do think the OP is on to something here. In the olden days, nurses had to be creative and devise solutions for their problems: today, they are rarely given the chance to think for themselves.

Have young people been so indoctinated with the idea of adhering to policy and practicing only according to established guidelines to the point that it has stunted their ability to engage in creative problem-solving? That's a good question worth discussing.

I remember back in the old days when there were few pieces of equipment designed for neonatal ICU's. We jerry-rigged things all the time -- requiring us to rely understand the mechanics of how things worked and be able to explain an improvised set-up to the next nurse coming on duty. I think we were more "in touch" with the technology we used back then.

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

GREAT thread.

I'd like to hear more innovative nursing from the experienced set.

[Becca608]

I've never heard of a Butterfinger "jones".

(deleted what I thought it sounded like)

steph

Must be like my diabetic mother's '3 Muskateer' jones. !!!!!!!! What a sugar junkie!!!!!

[Becca608]

A former MD that I worked for had this antiquated system using big magnetic tapes to back study subject data onto. I kept EEGs stored on it and also kept complaining that we needed to update to a more modern system.

Needless to say, we got up to a deadline where we were trying to get our publication together and he wants to know where the EEG data is so I can take 'just a minute, compile it, and run an ANOVA'. He finally locates my two-week old note that the ancient backup machine had eaten the magnetic tape for the study with all our data on it.

It was our weekly phlebotomy day for our current study. He comes to look at the tape (which is in a big gnarl) and innocently looks at it and asks if I can save the majority of the data. I spent the rest of the day untangling, cutting and splicing this thing with the only thing I can find--scotch tape.

It worked and I got my new system!!!