Eric01

In our Emergency Room, we do try to take care of our patients with migraines. If I encounter a patient who tells me they are having IV what is a typical migraine for them, I will often start an IV and run a bolus of 1L NS (assuming no contraindicatio...

I had a confused little-old-lady a couple weeks ago who was upset that she kept getting hemmoroids in the mail. I suggested she stick them back in the mail marked "Return to Sender". I had another patient who had ECG electrodes on and was dressing fo...

I currently work on a surgery floor where we occasionally get APS orders for PCA's. Our pre-printed orders from APS include a narcan protocol. They just revised it recently. Now for RR about 8 and rouses briefly with difficulty, we give one amp narca...

Just a hint, as well. I currently work burns/plastics. We are the burn referral centre for the Martime provinces. A number of our burns come to us already tubed. A lot of facilities will cut the excess off the ETT after securing it. 24 hours later, d...

At the facility where I work now, "Code Black" also means bomb threat. At the facility where I did my schooling, "Code Black" meant 'there is a situation that staff needs to know about; the emergency briefing will be (Dept A, via email, etc)'. Most o...

I work in the burn unit of our local hospital in Halifax, NS. It is on the fourth floor, immediately below ICU and the OR, and several floors below the heli pad. There are two entrances to the floor, plus one stairwell. Our unit has two large private...

I remember taking offence to this in high school, but my chemistry teacher said that it has never been absolutely proven that smoking causes lung cancer. He said that there have been numerous cause and effect studies, but no quantitative/qualitative ...

My facility (in Nova Scotia, Canada) is comlpetely smoke-free, and has been for about the last year. I think that it is great (I'm a non-smoker). Anyone who wants to smoke must go off of hospital property. Nicontine patches are provided to patients v...

My wife and I met when we were in first year of nursing school. We were married the summer before our final (4th) year. Now, we've been married for 14 months, and are working at the same hospital, though different units. We're lucky; both of our unit...

There is one nurse in particular on the floor where I work as a student who never seems to respect or pay attention to anyone with fewer than 15 years experience, especially a student. She always refuses help with patient care, no matter how busy she...

I have recently encountered a patient with RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy), and was wondering if anyone knows much about it. the only information that I have been able to find is on patient advocacy websites, rather than more clinical resources. A...

Well, in New Brunswick (Canada), we have between 4 and 6 feet of snow. The sidewalks are basically tunnels with walls that are for the most part over 6 feet tall. And we're likely to get more through the next month or more!!! Start shovelling.:)

I may be new, but I kinda had the same feeling the other day. I work as a student on an ortho floor. We sent a pt down for surgery about 0830. She came back at 1200. I did her first set of vitals, and everything was ok. Her primary RN asked me to do ...

My faincee and I met in first year of our four year program. Our first date was watching videos about vital signs. When they showed temperature, they showed all routes...a little more graphically than we had expected. How romantic. We got engaged the...

Another joint military/nursing one is SNAFU: Situation Normal, All F***ed Up.

With the Tim Horton's coffee, the rumor is that they add extra caffeine to it for various reasons. The rumour is that they have already added so much caffeine that if they were to add any more it would become a restriced substance like tobacco and al...

I agree, men do not necessarily make better nurses than women, and vice versa. At least the quality of care is not dependent on gender, rather the individual. Personally, the male:female ratio's were an attractive feature of nursing, or rather the di...

In my first clinical rotation, I was in a nursing home with predominantly female residents and staff. My instructor assigned me to a female resident who refused my care. I was reassigned to another female resident who also refused my care. My instruc...

My name is Eric. I'm 21 now and will be 23 when I graduate. I'm at UNB in Canada. Currently in a serious relationship with a great fellow student. Most of my classmates are between 19 (fresh out of high school) and about 45, though the majority are o...