cbs3143

There are reasons for these policies. Part of being a "good and competent" nurse is not being afraid to ask a co-worker to double check you, especially with medication doses. If a hospital has a policy that a nurse doesn't feel is worth following, and something bad happens, they'd better hold onto their a$$ because it's going to get rough. My facility used to require a double check of Heparin doses, and still does require double-checking of insulin doses. We often ask another nurse to double check other drug calculations. It is not a sign of being incompetent, it is a sign of caring, making sure you get the correct dose for your patients. I have double checked other nurses when they've had a question or felt uncomfortable with a dose calculation, and they have double checked me. It's just good nursing care. Chuck

Thanks ayemmeff, I've seen some similar double entendres. :rotfl: Chuck

I worked ER for many years and witnessed the deaths of many patients. Some affected me more than others. The vast majority were elderly with chronic respiratory or cardiac conditions. Those I really don't recall any specifics. The younger patients and pediatric patients were far worse for me. Memories of victims of house fires, electrocution, CO poisoning, drowndings, stabbings, GSWs, snowmobile collisions, and MVCs seem to have stayed with me through the years. We didn't have critical incident stress debriefing back in the old days. We just handled it the best we could. I recall crying for some of them. When a child was killed, I would pick up one of my own sleeping children after I got home and cleaned up. They never knew the theraputic effect that they had on the old man. I hope that they never have to learn. We could sometimes share our feelings with co-workers, especially with a particularly difficult death. Whatever helps you to cope with the loss of a patient, especially one that you've known and cared for over an extended period, should be practiced. Crying, talking with family members and co-workers, attending funerals, and personal prayers for the deceased are all appropriate coping mechanisms. Best of luck with your nursing career. Death is a part of life, and patient contact exposes you to more death than the average person. It is still a difficult aspect to the profession. Chuck

I didn't normally attend patient funerals while at the bedside, but I did attend the funeral of a WW II veteran that I had cared for. He had been a member of my national guard battalion when it was activated for the North Africa, Sicily, and Italian campaigns. He even had a tatoo of the regimental crest on his left deltoid area. That was how I first realized how much he valued his association with the military. I attended his funeral in dress greens and carried the regimental colors under which he had served during the war. His family was very appreciative of my attendance and told me that his room was full of memorabelia from his war years. I didn't attend in a nurse role so much as a representative from his regiment, but his family remembered me from my care in the ER as well and appreciated that too. If you have an attachment to a patient that you've cared for, you should attend their funeral if you want to. Familys do appreciate that someone cared for them and their loved one spiritually as well as physically. Chuck

Thanks for the belly laugh. The chuckle ones are good too, but we need a belly laugh with tears in the eyes once in a while. Chuck

23 out of 25. I never had roller skates or a Packard, but otherwise, yeah I'm older than dirt. Chuck

The surveys are "allegedly" annonymous and confidential. Have you noticed how many of them have a demograhics section to start off with? Questions like what your educational level is, what unit you work on, your sex, your age, length of time on the unit, heck even I could figure out who all of the respondents were with that information. They are generally pretty superficial and seem to focus on your relationship with middle management. Wow, a visit by the CEO himself, that would be a prize. The last time that I recall the DON coming to the ER other than for a disaster drill was when a little girl tipped a coffee pot over on herself in the surgery waiting room. We had beau coups admin types around that day, but they only got in our way of providing care, but then that's a different thread. Sorry, I'm usually not this negative. I didn't fill out the last satisfaction survey a couple of months ago. Chuck

Here's an old story of how upper management interprets the rumblings from the masses. Sad, but there is a lot of wisdom in it, not just for healthcare workers, but across the board. In the beginning was the plan, and then came the assumptions, and the assumptions were without form, and the plan was completely without substance. And a darkness was upon the faces of the workers, and they spoke amongst themselves saying, "It is a crock of sh*t and it stinketh." And the workers went unto their supervisors and sayeth, "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof." And the supervisors went unto their managers and sayeth, "It is a container of excrement so strong that none may abideth its strength." And the managers went unto their directors and sayeth, "It is a vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength." And the directors spoke amongst themselves saying, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and is very strong." And the directors went unto the vice presidents and sayeth, "It promotes growth and is very powerful." And the vice presidents went unto the president and sayeth, "This new plan will actively promote growth and efficiency in the company, and these areas in particular." And the president looked upon the plan and saw that it was good... And the plan became policy. THIS IS HOW SH*T HAPPENS!!!! Chuck

I've got a story from the archives of the ER that I worked in. I knew all of the people involved, except for the perpetrator. One of our pathologists (at least he said he was) called during the night shift and talked with the ER physician. She was a petite and attractive female doctor. He was sending in a patient to get a semen sample. I swear to God that this is a true story. The patient also happened to have an alleged right shoulder injury, complete with the shoulder immobilizer. THe poor guy couldn't collect the sample himself so his "pathologist" sent him to the ER in the middle of the night. To make a long story somewhat shorter, the physician assisted with the collection of the sample and left the room to label it for the lab. Lo and behold, he was gone when they came back to give him his discharge instructions, and his name turned out to be fake. When I heard that I couldn't believe it had actually happened, having the good sense to know that there is no such thing as an emergency semen sample. The nurse involved with the initial assessment, but thankfully not the collection of the specimen verified that it actually had happened. She was a nurse with over ten years of ER experience at the time. So be careful folks, they're out there somewhere!

Back to the maggot experiences. We had a patient arrive in his Caddilac, fairly new, but trashed. The driver had some physical limitations and hadn't been able to get out of his car for some time. He just drove to fast food places when he was hungry and had difficulty with his personal needs if you get my drift. Fortunately, the police dept. gave us a heads up on his condition before they escorted him to our garage. We were all gowned and double-gloved. As soon as I went into the garage, I said out loud, "We've got maggots!" We took him to a room and cleaned him up as best we could. We had caught and killed a few maggots, but as we were rolling him onto his side when another maggot crawled out of his rectum. Woahhhhhh!!! That one got us going. The odor was bad enough, but that maggot crawling out of his rectum really gave us the heebie jeebie. No one ralphed, but there were some full body shivers going on in that little room.

TBone, You've confused me. You were an army medic, but got out of the USMC? We saw some nasty stuff in the pathology lab at Fort WainWright too, so I can see where you're coming from. Nothing as bad as you described though. Mucus is probably the worst thing for me to handle. We had a really dyspneic trach patient in the ER and the nurses and RT people were along each side of the cart. The ER doc was at the foot of the bed observing. When she coughed hard, guess who was in the direct line of fire for the mucus plug volley? She could breathe better, but it was pretty gross hanging on the front of his scrub shirt.

I don't believe that a career in nursing is inherently bad for a marriage. You need to have a relationship that is mutually supportive, and to respect each other for who you are and for who you may become. My wife and I have been married for over 24 years, and started our lives together shortly before we both attended nursing school. It was a bit rough seeing each other all day every day, and then going home with each other at the end of the day. Our first child was born during the summer between our first and second years of school. There was a fair amount of stress on our marriage, but it made us stronger rather than weaker. Your husband sounds supportive by your initial post. It will be difficult for both of you, but if you work at the small things every day, or as often as you can, you'll come through nursing school with a spouse who is not only proud of you, but proud of himself for what he was able to do to help you. My mother-in-law is a recently retired nurse, and my brother and his wife met and maried in nursing school. It does help to have relatives that understand why you aren't there for every other holiday, or why a birthday celebration is two days early or late. I hope that your nursing career will be blessed with a supportive and loving spouse as mine has been. I don't know the statistics on nurse divorces, but I have read the theory that nurturing people are sometimes attracted to people who need to be nurtured, and those people may not be very supportive in return. I have not known a lot of divorced nurses, but I've worked with essentially the same 50 or so people for the past 20 years, and they have been pretty stable in their marriages. Hang in there and don't think that you'll be in trouble with your husband just because you are going to be a nurse. Chuck