naijanurse

Wishing you both the very best, and THANK YOU and all staff other involved for the care you provided for Thomas Duncan.

Lol, no thanks. But I'm sure the pay would be great. Maybe if I brought my own Hazmat suit.

CNN reports that Texas Health Presbyterian is now short staffed because as many as 70 staff members are in self imposed quarantine. They are also preparing for the potential of more people becoming positive for Ebola Virus. Plus, people in the community are too afraid to seek treatment there, for fear that they will contract Ebola once admitted. Not to mention the threat of walk out by nurses who claim they are working in unsafe conditions. Sounds like a nightmare for that hospital, and I won't be surprised if some higher ups lose their jobs. I applaud the move, and pray for a full recovery for Nina Pham.

i Feel so bad for this poor nurse getting such backlash for traveling. There should have been CLEAR guidelines set. Was she placed in self imposed quarantine, or was she simply told to monitor her temperature? Was she even in direct contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, or simply working on the same floor? We have yet to hear the whole story, and unfortunately Amber Vinson is too busy fighting for her life to tell us her side. From what I understand, when she flew from Texas to Ohio, she was afebrile. It was only on her return trip back to Texas, that her temperature was 99.5 (which is still not a fever, but cause for concern, given that she was in close contact with an Ebola patient). She had enough judgement to call the CDC, who assured her that she was fine to travel. Who knows what the real truth is, but can you imagine being in her shoes?

I remember a few years ago during the H1N1 epidemic, we had a patient on our unit who was suspected to have it. We were provided with PAPRs (Infectious Disease PAPRs >> ILC Dover), and rotated that patient out so that it was fair for all staff involved. Obviously staff members that were pregnant, or had young children at home were excluded, but it worked out nicely. Before taking care of the patient, you had to be inserviced on how to use the PAPR, and signed off on a competency. I never felt unsafe, or unsupported as these poor nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian did. I guess my point is that with proper training, I would take care of the patient. However, I would never judge another staff member for refusing the assignment.

I am praying for the two nurses affected, and all other staff that were in direct contact with, and cared for Thomas Eric Duncan. These must be scary times for all of them. Meanwhile, if the stories on CNN are true, I really do hope that the nurses at that hospital band together and walk out, until they are provided with better equipment to deal with this deadly virus.

I rarely ever comment, but I just wanted to clarify, her temperature was 99.5, which is NOT considered a fever. We do not know what her temperature was the previous other times she checked it, or even what her baseline temp was. A better way to self monitor might have been to report a 2 degrees or more rise from baseline and to seek further treatment. I think the media is sensationalizing this story, and placing blame on this poor woman, when it seems that there weren't clear guidelines on what to do (or what not to do) after Ebola exposure. Any one of us could be in her shoes, and no one can say for certainty what they would have done. Prayers for Amber Vinson, and Nina Pham

I have to work tonight, not looking forward to it. Already packed extra clothes/food in anticipation of having to stay for a few days. The city has been threatening all day that the bridges might shut down if winds get up to 70mph, and if they do, I have no way of getting into work (short of having the coast guard take me in, and I'm sure they have better things to do at this time). I was stressing over this all day, and finally it occurred to me that my safety is more important than any job ever will be. Hope everyone stays warm and safe!

When my father had to have emergency surgery, I agonized over finishing my shift or leaving. My family tried to downplay how serious the situation was because they knew that if they told me, I would've left right away, and they were concerned about me losing my job. I talked to my charge nurse (at my hospital the charge nurses have their own assignments), and she told me to leave. She said if it were her father she would leave, no questions asked, so she couldn't expect me to stay. I gave her my report sheets and told them to call my cell phone if they had any questions. I was so grateful for their compassion, and got there just as my dad was getting out of surgery.

Last night while taking care of a patient, I was exposed to their bodily fluid. (I won't go into details, because it was kinda gross). I felt it hit my face, on my right cheek. I wasn't sure if it hit my eye or not, but immediately took my contacts off, and irrigated my eyes with water. This patient has known communicable diseases, so I was really freaked out. I told my charge, who said since I wasn't 100% sure it hit my eye, that rinsing it alone should be ok. I didn't feel comfortable with that, and ended up going to the ER for more aggressive irrigation. They also tested me for diseases. I was down there for longer than I thought I was going to be, and ended up giving report to the next oncoming nurse over the phone. I felt kinda bad leaving the floor short while I was in the ER, but my health comes first. What would you guys have done?

Thank you everyone for your replies. I called my unit to see how things were going and they said that there were discharges so now census is low. So it turns out that if i had gone in tonight, someone would have ended up getting pulled to another unit. Funny how things work out! I feel so much less guilty now. I am definetely going to go to the doctor's tomorrow to cover my butt. Oh, and I just wanted to add that although I have blisters on my hand, none of them has broke open, and that's the only reason I was thinking about going into work tonight. If I had open wounds I definetely wouldn't put me or my patients at risk. Although I never thought about the fact that the constant handwashing during my 12hr shift probably would have probably caused them to open up. Thanks once again! Happy Holidays!

I already feel horrible because I know that I left my coworkers short staffed. I had all the intentions in the world of working today, but here's what happened: This morning in my sleep deprived state ( I had worked the past 2 nights), I decided it was a good idea to try and cook some breakfast. Well, long story short I grabbed the pot handle with my bare hand and burned myself pretty bad. Blisters formed almost immediately. Luckily it was my left hand and I'm right handed, but the pain was excruciating. I burned the palm of my hand, my four fingers and my thumb. This happened at 9am, and i was supposed to work tonight 7p-7a. So after dipping my hand in cold water for 2 hours and feeling no relief whatsoever, I called work at 11am for some advice. I talked to charge nurse and told her my situation, and asked her what I should do. I was more than willing to come into work; I even switched into Christmas so that one of my coworkers could have off today. I have never called out on a holiday before ( I barely call out at all), and to make matters worse, my manager isn't the fondest of me. The charge nurse called the supervisor who said if I was unable to use my hand then I really shouldn't be coming into work, so I called out. But i still feel horrible, especially since the pain has started to subside and I know that they will be shortstaffed tonight. And I'm dreading having to talk to my manager about this tomorrow, because I have a feeling hat she will be less than understanding. I am planning to go to the doctor's tomorrow to have him look at it and write me a note. Has anyone else had to call out on a holiday?

I'm surprised at your hospital policy. i also work on BMT and EVERYONE wears isolation gowns (staff, family members, etc).Our unit is a locked unit, and before anyone can be let in, they need to put on an isolation gown. They are also required to scrub their hands. The reasoning behind this is to protect the patients from germs visitors may be carrying from the outside. Doctors are not even allowed to wear their white lab coats, they have to leave them at the door. We deal with high risk immunocompromised pts, and the last thing we want to do is set them back, so we take extra precautions. The yellow gowns stay on until they leave the unit. Some family members complain because the gowns are not comfortable, but they know that if they are not compliant, they will not be allowed onto the unit

I also live in NJ, however i work in Pennsylvania. When I first went for my job interview, I was asked to provide a Graduate Nurse License, which I had no clue what it was. They gave me information on how to go about applying for one. Basically you have to provide the BON with proof that you graduated fron an accredited nursing school and I believe that you also have to provide them with proof that you are eligible to take the nclex, and for a fee (i believe it was $30 or so) they provide you with a temporary "license". Once you pass the boards, it becomes null and void and you get your real license that you can practice under. I think that it was only good for about 90 days or so, and then you either had to take the nclex or shell out more money to have it extended. My situation was a little unique because i took the boards in NJ and then had to apply to PA for endorsement, so I was working under my GN license in PA even though I was an RN in NJ while waiting for my paperwork to go through. Maybe it's the same in Delaware? Hope that helped!

Usually when you draw blood from a PICC line, you need to turn off all other IV fluids running through the PICC. The reason being, is that lab values can end up being inaccurate. The H&H was probably off because it was dilutional due to the fact that fluids were running while you drew your blood (even if the tpn was running through a different lumen, it will still dilute the blood). TPN can affect all lab values especially Chem 7s so it is always best to turn off or put the TPN on hold, flush another lumen with 10ccs of saline, draw up a 10cc waste, and then draw your blood for labs. hope this was helpful!