fivewestortho

how aobut sitz baths after surgery. also warm bed pans. We don't even have metal ones anymore. Just plastic. I wonder if they too are thrown away? How about testing urine ketones. Haven't done that in ages?

oh i remember taping butts to side rails and using a heat lamp to dry the open area. I also remember using mom with the liquid part dumped inthe garbage and the past placed in the mouth and on the tongue, cured crusted mouth still does.

What a great subject. Lets see. I went to nurisng school right after highschool grad. Went to the big UK university in Ky. Flunked out. Was told to find another profession. Went to a hospital diploma program for 2 of 3 years. Flunked Microbioloby( a 9 am sat morn. class). Was told to find another job. Entered retail and was at a local large dept store for almost 4 years. Left and was asst manager at a K-Mart. Got passed over for a promotion. Quit. Stayed home about 6 mo and played housewife. Boring-----. Husband challenged me to go back to school . Went to the local state vocational school and became a cosmetologist (hairdresser). Worked for 7 years as a hairdresser. IRS called me on taxes for tip money and wanted 1700 dollars. I told them if i made that much money i would be driving a corvette not a chevette. told them they probably made my decission for me to change professions Went back to school same vocational school and became an LPN. Workers at the school took bets that i would be back to get my chef degree. Ha Ha. Not yet. I worked in a local hospital for 5 years as an LPN and was told that I would not be getting much higher pay unless I got my RN. Went back to school at the local university and went on weekends and nights. Graduated in one year. Here I am 25 years later and considering my masters for teaching and I am not a young chick. I have 2 grown sons and a 60 yr old husband who i consider my 3rd kid. My how life does have its pitches and curves. hope everyone else does it easier than I, but all my past makes me even a better nurse. I can relate to almost any patient with any background.

at the facility i work at we are again asked not to go over our TO. But there isnot effort to accomodate for morning or afternoon breaks or even a lunch break without interuption. My mother in law worked in a factory and got two 15 min breaks and an hour for lunch. no wonder we have so many overweight nurses for all the snacking just to keep up some energy. I wish there was and answer but it is a time age problem. The patients come first and the nurse last. Some where in between the CEO gets paid big bucks.

Have the least amount of furniture and the most pt friendly lounge chairs. I work on an ortho pedic post op floor with new hips and knees. We are constantly looking for walkers, bedside comodes, loungers, and call lights long enough to reach from the wall to where the pt is sitting. I also think that it was not a nurse who designed the lighting in some of the patient room. Where is ther extra light for dressing changes, foley catheters placement, pt reading. UGH!!! There is so much. I trained in a new hospital that found out that they had hung the bathroom doors backwards. UGH!!! They did not ask a nurse. Maybe that could be a new quiz program. Ask a nurse.

One event i remember from my early days of nursing is taking care of a 80 something female and doing hs care. she brushed her dentures and put them in clean water in the denture cup and proceded to remove her artificila eye and placed it in the cup with her teeth. I was so upset i told her i would get her another container with sterile water for the prothesis. She ju7st laughed and said" I always keep an eye on my teeth." Later i informed her physician what had happened and he assured me that if this was her routine and the water was clean and the teeh were clean let her do what ever she usually did. If it had not hut her by now it never would. Ha ! Ha!

i have an assocate degree with all but 19 hours for a bs

I would probably repeat the order and tellthe doctor that i am writing it as he had spoken. on our orders there is a box to check that you have repeated the order. It clears you and puts the ball #$%^%$$# back in his court. I would also consider an unusuall occurance to be written up. then he has to explain his order to the hospital review and ethics board. OH BOY

This is an eye awaking discussion. I started as an LPN in 1982 at 6.10/hr. I quit hairdressing at an average of 10.00 /hr. the hours were better and the insurance better. After 25 years of nursing, 18 years as an RN. I make close to the salary of starting nurses. Experiece at this time does not count for much. 3 % raises does not cover gas and cost of living. New grads at a hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio start at around 20/hr. and I have to teach them everything I have learned over 25 years in the 6 weeks orientation time. UGH! I wonder if I should go back to school for chef training. What is the salary of the teachers in nursing schools? I here they have a shortage.