JBudd

We ran out of blue top tubes for PT/PTT. Had just a few so had to go justify getting one from the unit clerk. Ran out of vacutainers for pulling blood from saline locks this week, but that is because "central supply forgot to order them".

Can't always hide that you are a nurse when being a patient; especially in a small-ish city with one hospital (at the time) and half your nurses were either on strike with you or former students of yours. I've told the story before, but since I wasn't on the oncology floor, most of the nurses were't sure about getting my morning labs off my central line; I ended up giving inservices on how to do it..... nothing like a bit of sepsis to bring us all together, LOL.

I like Kahn Academy actually; bite size explanations of a lot of things: EKGs, cardiac conditions, etc. Online and free.

I did "teach" online patho for a while, and this was my frustration as well; there was so much information that I thought it was ridiculous to expect students to teach themselves just from the book. I actually withdrew from the class in favor of the 2nd instructor who came after me, (when the school had enough students for 2 sections) (she did it better than I thought I was doing). I am back in the classroom teaching something else now. The basic concepts (little late now as you are almost done ? ); are what Hannabannana said above; get to the cellular level, the electrolytes K+/Na+ gates, ABGs. Look at how each system interacts with others, how does kidney disease affect the heart, which then gets to the lungs.... how the liver can make both cardiovascular and mental functioning go haywire. Every new disease, think about how it affects each major bodily system, and the 1 or 2 unique things, or cluster of things, that make it an individual disease.

I googled ombudsman for elderly: "What Is an Ombudsman for Nursing Home Abuse? When a nursing home resident encounters poor care, abuse, or any other issue, it’s not always apparent who they can contact to get assistance. Luckily, there is a country-wide advocacy program to help residents. This is known as the Long-Term Care (LTC) Ombudsman program." This is from: https://www.nursinghomeabusecenter.com/elder-abuse/ombudsman/ It's a place to start if you want to help the folks that were under your care. Good for you for getting out of there!

Now we need the link to the discussion as to the composition of said big-girl-panties: I believe there was a mention of the problems with rust in the iron ones......

It was fun hitting those mile stone # of posts and likes, and there were a lot of fun threads..... I almost didn't come back after the "big dump" changeover.

Yep ? And to the OP, I just took the age as part of the description. It is what it is. My daughter sent me a Tshirt with "All women are equal, but the best are nurse's in their 60s!".

LOL, this is a old catch phrase from years ago in AN: there were a lot of snowflakes coming in to complain about the older nurses they worked with, up to and including "they should just retire and make space for the younger nurses". They didn't want to hear any rationales behind what they were complaining about, since they obviously knew better than an old experienced Crusty (as in there long enough to grow barnacles) Old Bat (bats in the belfry! go retire!). One called us "old Biter nurses" as in unable to spell or check their own grammar...... and all of us Old COBs kind of ran with it. Hadn't seen it much for a while, but lately it is popping up in a few threads.

I applied to foster older teens in my city; and half way through the home study, was told by the local branch of the children's state agency, that as a single woman who works two nights a week I would not be allowed to foster. Why? I quote "you'd be asleep all the time, so you couldn't get them to therapy or (have time to) bond with them". A social worker my chaplain daughter knows in another city absolutely blew up when she heard that, especially since I wanted those older, really hard to place teens, and wanted them to have a place to come back to forever, even after aging out. This after raising my 3 after their father died, including therapy, homeschooling, leader of all their Scout troops, band & music lessons, mult friends of my kids calling me "Mama __". Two of my children foster, and one has adopted two.

Assisting an ENT treating a lady with sinus infections, admitted to a med-surg bed. He simply took an 18 gauge needle, went up the nare and just pushed it through the nasal bones and drained the left maxiallary sinus into an emesis basin. The crunch of the bones still makes me shiver, while watching a river of green pus pour out. Lady felt much better.

LOL! I certainly did! will change it ?

sorry! wrong thread!

I'm 61, cancer survivor so a few disability type problems (crummy knee, SOB with exertion, pain). Been in the ER 25 years, 40 in nursing. I like it. I do two 12 hour nights a week. I avoid politics, management, etc. although I have been a union rep for a long time. I have worked eves or nights for almost all of it. As said above, I can't afford to retire just yet. I find more ways to use nursing than just bedside ER (did the whole charge routine for many years, back at bedside and appreciate it. ) Did Scout camp nursing a couple of times, first aider for events. I also teach, travel every few years to a foreign SON and guest lecture there (usually 6 weeks worth, includes touristy time). Family, hobbies, dogs, martial arts; there is far more to life than just work.

I spent my 23rd year (of life, not nursing, ? ) volunteering in orphanages in Bangladesh and India. Didn't spend a lot of money on myself, lived cheap, and had enough in savings to go. Have you thought about school nursing? there is a section under specialties that is school nurses.

If you have the time to do it one class at a time, I would recommend that. Not because of an A vs a C, but because that knowledge is really valuable for understanding all the stuff that comes next. Much better to understand thoroughly 90% of the concepts, than just enough to get by. (Ahh, can you tell I'm an instructor? LOL) I seriously want my students to do well and really get what is being taught. I took 5 years to do a Masters, because I didn't have time to devote to more than one class at a time. It meant I paid a whole lot of extra fees because of how many semesters I was enrolled, but I aced just about everything. I too juggled being a widowed mom, 3 kids, homeschool, working nights, scouts/band/youth groups/music lessons/therapist appts in another city for them/church and month long car trips all over the US. One class at a time was much less stressful.

Davey, it would seem you have found a cracked egg....

also guilty, it just slips out. I use "friend" instead, as in "how are you today, my friend?". Nothing demeaning in that I would hope. (Kipling's "Little Friend of All the World" comes to mind)

Here's hoping!

This. I'm sorry you got stuck in this position, but getting your doctor to clear you, and for you to state you don't and haven't objected to being floated seems reasonable. Get the managers that asked you for a note to put in writing they were trying to protect you and asked for the PCP letter, that you did not initiate it. (check with your lawyer!) That stuff about only having 5 days to respond seems pretty iffy to me.

The other question is, how easy is it to get accepted? My CC has far more applications than slots. Way less expensive though, and we have both Assoc. and BSN programs. How is the private one faster? everyone has to have a certain minimum number of classroom and clinical hours. Is it accredited?

I am the most senior one in my department, which means I have tons of PTO hours banked. We all get called off, or sent home early these days, and other nights are swamped because the house is full and our ED admits aren't going anywhere. We are supposed to rotate who gets called off or sent home, but doesn't always happen that way. The midshifters tend to lose hours at the end of their shift, as we who overlap are coming in (rather than being told to come in later). I tend to get called off more because I can cover my hours more easily, than some of the younger ones who don't have much chance to accumulate PTO hours (the amount we accrue goes up every 5 years until 15 years of employment). I don't like it, but I do see the financial strain it puts on others that it doesn't on me..... so, I take the time off.

There are nasty people everywhere, and you happened to get one as a patient. Again, you are not a terrible nurse, you did the right thing, and if it hadn't been you it would simply have been a different nurse he was nasty to.

So, when he was awake again he said no pain and refused the morphine? It means he just wanted a percocet, not that he was in pain. Yes sleep is an escape, but not a peaceful one. If he was resting quietly, just chart that. If they change the order without telling him, that's on them. Next time just say "you need to discuss that with your doctor, the oncall MD wasn't willing to change the order". Don't put yourself in the middle. YOU DID NOTHING WRONG, and you certainly did not "fail" this patient.

South India. I have a base in Banglore where I guest lecture, and travel from there. My mom took me a cruise through the Mediterranean Sea, so only a day in each port/country; but I was fascinated by Lisbon. Also a city on 7 hills. Would love to go back and really explore it, but.... I spend all my time going to back to India LOL.