pr0dr0me

It does turn into water, yeah, but for a patient who isn't a high aspiration risk and just needs to keep their stomach empty for decompression or before surgery, the tiny amount of water that they get very slowly from having a couple of ice chips every couple of hours is small enough not to matter.

Our orders say "NPO including meds," in which case meds must be via another route, "NPO except meds," in which case a small sip of water is allowed only to take pills, and sometimes an additional order listed under Nursing Orders or Nutrition Orders that states "Patient may have ice chips" or whatever else. So, if it says just NPO, then I ask the doctor if they can have an order for ice chips and they say yes, I can put that in as Verbal with Readback. Sometimes they're really specific, like NPO including meds except that their morning beta blocker should be given before their CABG.

I expected that to be followed with, "You stay at work until you're presyncopal, intractably vomiting, or having coughing fits in patient rooms, and you still feel guilty for going home and calling out for the next shift."

Aaand I'm done. This absolutely bizarre post devolved from an inexplicable compassion for some administrators who have to come up with like 3 more menu items, into the revealing rants about a completely unrelated person to this discussion, a cousin which you literally admitted is a "fanatic" and therefore irrelevant to a discussion about reasonable accommodations for ethical objections to animal products (similar to the religious restrictions for which we accommodate already), then into a weird backtrack where you pretend to have made an angry post opposing the simple provision of beans and PB sandwiches just because *you* personally like meat, and finally into name-calling because you realized you're making no sense.

You respect them... as long as they're willing to eat dead animals in the hospital.

I would think vegans who are that strict about it would be okay with going without vegan juices (do you mean like the cranberry cocktail with added sugar?) and desserts while they're in the hospital. Dessert isn't necessary for healing. A day's worth of good meals that provide protein, vegetables/fruits, fats, and carbs, however, is. And it's easy and cheap to provide that. Beans and rice = cheap. Many vegan breads and peanut butter = cheap. The same fresh fruits and vegetables provided to the meat-eating patients = cheap. I doubt the mandate is going to force hospitals to provide certified-vegan Gardein patties and vegan chocolate cake. But if a patient literally cannot eat a meal, or has to eat something unsubstantial for their entire stay, OR is forced to eat the meat, butter, and eggs that probably landed them here with their MI or stroke... that's pretty ridiculous considering a vegan diet is just no animal products. Emergent's cousin is not all vegans. We also provide kosher and halal options, which I believe are stricter than "no dead animals or their secretions."

Well, I doubt the mandate is based on your cousin's weird raw vegan whole food diet. It's probably just plant based.

It is about free choice. The free choice of the patients. If the hospital isn't obligated to provide different food options, then why are they obligated to provide anything at all except one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner? If it's so burdensome to provide some beans as an option beside the meats and cook the vegetables in vegetable oil instead of butter. It's really not a complex diet. And there is paleo stuff on the menu already.

People, THIS is the selfish act to which OP and their coworkers could have fallen victim. Murder is selfish. I don't care how tormented the murderer is.

Ooh! Ooh! I had one for weeks, in for "acute hepatic telepathy!"

I agree with previous comments stating nursing judgment is OK to hold meds, but that the LIP needs to be notified so they can change the dose or at least be aware that the patient is hypotensive/borderline hypoglycemic/borderline bradycardic. Or they might tell us to give it with continued monitoring because of xyz reason why the risk of skipping it outweighs the benefit. My facility has also had issues with RNs acting outside of scope on insulin, apparently. I get we are afraid of hypoglycemia more than hyperglycemia, but the LIP needs to be kept in touch, and prolonged hyperglycemia is also bad for most medical-surgical patients.

I jumped out of bed at noon once (I was sleeping 9a-5p for nights) and ran to the closet to put my jacket on so I could go... into the living room, I guess? To put a pt's oxygen back on. My boyfriend was really confused. I have a lot of missed care nightmares.

Why do they always murder their wives, too?

I have a boyfriend, not a husband, but I definitely relate to this. He's very sympathetic but sometimes he just does not get it. Most people cannot understand what it's like to have death be just a normal day on the job.

I like to crochet with my favorite yarns, lift weights, and listen to metal, post-hardcore, metalcore, rock, and '00s emo music. I don't know why the last thing helps--seems counterproductive, but it's not. Sometimes I watch Scrubs or some medical drama, which usually helps and occasionally makes me burst into tears, if it hits too close to home. But even that is cathartic.