jenin

But strangely, doing chest physio with young kids and teens with cf, and suctioning kids in icu, never bothered me.

Old men and sputum cups...yuk!! Just listening to them made me want to vomit...let alone the cup of sputum.....

Fine crackles can sound like hair rolled between your fingers next to your ear. This is how I have always described them.

Then there are those who are allergic to ALL generic medications!

Full Sputum pots....ick, ick, ick!

I have maintenance ect every 2 weeks under general anaesthesia. I am in Australia but I cannot imagine it being done anywhere with the pt awake! No way!

I have had many ect treatments over the years. I currently am on a maintenance regime with one treatment every two weeks. I have minimal side effects. Only a minimal amount of memory loss, I think. I function, I work in a part time job as well. I am the most stable. I have been in 11 years of severe depression. Works for me and I wish other people in the ommunity didn't judge me harshly for it. Still has a major stigma unfortunately. I am still on anti depressant meds as well but will be on those for life I suspect! Feel free to ask anything u want to know!

Sputum from paeds patients is fine...suctioning doesn't bother me. The only time I remember that was sickening was when a kid with bronchiectasis and a trache...and behavioural problems...aimed at me and coughed :uhoh3:. Was glad I was masked, gowned and goggled!! Old men and sputum cups gross me out totally Listening to them hack and cough and then spit into a cup of sputum is just wrong

This is quite amazing...and amazingly beautiful..

If someone has a mental illness that is well controlled by medication and their psychiatrist has cleared them to work then I don't see a problem!

A number of years ago I had a breakdown and quit my nursing studies for good in the middle of a clinical shift . I do suffer from clinical depression and all my stress just culminated during that particular shift and I broke...it was horrible. Walking out isn't something I'm proud of but I literally could not continue at that time. It happens...

The mistake that really gets on my nerves is loose and lose! So many people write loose when they should spell it as lose . Does my head in

Starting Over....I have no doubt that I would be dead without medication, at the very least . At the moment I am sure that ECT helps me to function day to day, in combination with meds. Over the last 10 years I have lost my career as a physiotherapist of 9 years standing...depression has also cost me a potential nursing career and I am currently functioning as a part time pharmacy assistant with my current treatment regime. Severe depression also triggered anorexia nervosa and due to depression/anorexia I have had around 14 IP psych admissions with a total admission length well over a year . Since starting ECT I have become more functional and am now also a healthy weight. I do still struggle with depression..meds/ECT are not a cure for me, I know, and now accept that. I am angry at what depression has cost me however. For me, *sunlight, avoiding isolation, prayer, keeping my mind occupied by staying busy, etc...* is unlikely to cut it. One of the most difficult things about ECT is the fact that people judge me for it. It is my decision ultimately..yes?

I have had 3 courses of ECT as an inpatient, for depression, and currently have it every 2 weeks as an outpatient (Maintenance ECT). I think ECT has saved my life as my depression is very treatment resistant. Currently my procedure goes like this: arrive at the hospital at 6am...get obs done, make my way to the day patient room/lounge and doze a bit. Assemble with the 3 other ECT patients in the waiting area by 7am. I get called in some time between 7am and 7.45am (each person only takes 15 minutes)..lie on the bed...get jelco in...nurses attach electrodes..BP cuff etc. I get put to sleep and wake up in the recovery area not long after. Can sometimes wake up a bit disorientated but usually pretty good. Stay in recovery until fully awake and obs fine. Go back to lounge and have breakfast. Get picked up at 1pm and go back to my parent's house for the night. The worst aspect is the muscle soreness the next day...jaw, neck, back, legs . But by the following day I am fine... So, nothing terribly barbaric as far as I'm aware

I work in a chemist as a pharmacy assistant and I am very careful to let customers know when they purchase an OTC or prescription med with paracetamol (in Australia) in it. It is currently winter, with a lot of people buying cold and flu meds OTC. The majority of these contain paracetamol. Unfortunately people can now also buy many of these meds in the supermarket with noone to point out that they contain paracetamol . I educate re the maximum safe dose/day at each sale. Even though the info is on the pack..who reads that? Not many....

Old men and half full sputum cups and the noises they make to get sputum up :o

I can handle sputum or any secretions suctioned from traches or ETT's etc in children or adolescents, including those with cystic fibrosis and lots of secretions. But when it comes to old men with COAD spitting into cups full to the brim with sputum....ICKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!! Both the sound of them hacking it up and the sputum itself is blahhh

Desperate for aged care nurses in Australia!

I am even more stunned and disgusted by the USA health insurance system everytime I read another post! Move to Australia is all I can say! (isn't America supposed to be the land of the free????!)

I cannot believe the US insurance system . I am Australian and insurers cannot refuse to cover anybody. When you join, or upgrade cover, the most you will need to wait for cover, or upgraded cover, is 12 months for pre-existing conditions. I have just upgraded my insurance. I pay $150/month and after relevant waiting periods, where I am still entitled to my previous level of cover, I will be 100% covered for IP treatment in participating private hospitals or as an IP in public hospital. Specialists sometimes charge more than what is covered so there may be some out of pocket expenses, but nothing to what you guys pay. I have also upgraded my *extras* cover (included in the $150/month) so have better optical, dental etc cover. People who don't have insurance can get public treatment but may have to wait for elective stuff. Urgent and life-threatening stuff usually is treated in a public hospital. So I consider myself v lucky!

As a student I was standing in a side room with other students and a tutor, assessing a pt with a brain injury and a tracheostomy. When he coughed the sputum hit the opposite wall . It was hot and crowded in there, and with the sights I had to get out of there quick before I hit the floor

I'm currently doing a 2yr grad entry course. I think it is appropriate for someone like me who already had a medical background and has studied way more anatomy and physiology in the past than is covered in a 3yr nursing degree. But at the uni I'm at they have no pre-requisite regarding what type of degree you must hold to gain entry to the 2 year course. We have teachers, drama grads, IT professionals who obviously have no background in health sciences. The rationale that I think the uni holds for allowing this is that 1st year of a regular 3 yr undergrad degree includes subjects on relating to patients, study skills etc which they assume is already present in someone who has a uni degree already. I don't know if that is the case for many of the students. The other issue that I can see is that many of the grad entry students are from overseas and studied in a different language and have poor english language skills. It would take an ENORMOUS effort for these students to get through..I couldn't do it! In the 1st semester of the course we do a composite 9 unit subject that covers the basics of anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology, as well as a 9 unit clinical based subject that teaches 'hands on' skills and clinical reasoning, care planning etc...then from the 2nd semester we stream into the regular undergrad programme in the middle of their 2nd yr. Although I was classed as '2nd yr' in my 1st clinical placement I was careful to point out to staff that I was grad entry on my 1st placement...for me, I don't think I am 'behind' the regular 2nd years at all but I did work as a health prof for 10+ years before this.. Just my thoughts/experience..