boobaby42

When you draw blood, don't go for what you see, go for what you can feel. I know this sounds like a karate lesson, but close your eyes and feel for one. You know where they are supposed to be and you can see them sometimes. But, if you can't feel it, don't try it unless it is the last resort. I would rather use butterflies, but they hurt much more than other types. I don't have that much experience in elderly sticks, except for my mom. I have to stick my mom and send the blood to her doctor. I use a butterfly and I draw from the veins in her hand. The other options are not good choices because I can't feel or see anything. I feel like I am in control better with the butterfly. With the needle and tube holder, I had trouble at first because I introduced the needle as if starting an IV rather than a blood draw. Remember to go at an angle greater than the angel for IV insertion. As soon as you see the blood coming into the tube, release the tourniquet, take the tube from the holder and quickly remove needle, apply pressure, and dispose of needle. Well, dispose of the needle safely and as soon as feasible. Like the post before me, do not bend the arm if you use the site mentioned before. I have had to practice many times, and I still have bad days. If you can, make sure you're patient has had fluids. If you can, warm the sight you're going to stick. Make sure the tourniquet is tight. Have the patient make a fist or hang his arm/hand below the level of his heart. When all else fails, look at the thumb. I've had to infuse fluids through an IV I started in a thumb. No other choices. No one to turn to for help. Practice and time. It will be second nature to you soon. Good Luck

One day, a patient came in with her hair fixed funny. Her bangs were standing straight up above her head, kind of looked like a chicken or something. Well, I was awarded the duty of calling this woman back to a room. I tried so hard to stop laughing a be a professional. I did pretty good until another nurse knocked on the door to ask me a question. I said come in as I continued taking v/s. I turned around to see what nurse2 wanted. There she stood, with her bangs sprayed stiff standing on top of her head, like a chicken. Oh my God! I just about messed on myself holding back a burst of laughter. My face was so red by the time I came out of the room. Whe I looked up after opening the door to escape, everybody was waiting on me, with their hair sprayed stiff standing tall above their heads, kind of like a chicken.

I wrote our newspaper to mention maybe they should give nurses the same amount of exposure as teachers, for instance. Well, I noticed a small article about a nurse/felon in a day or two after that. Wow.

I have a bad habit of spelling pus or puss, oh heck, which ever, wrong. Everybody gets quite a jolt reading my notes decribing an infection. Pus filled or puss filled. You decide.

There was a guy in high school named Hymen.

I knew a Dr. Gober and the operator would announce, "paging dr. goober stat, dr goober call the labor room, stat!" and i knew a dr. koch (cook) and the same operator would announce, "Dr cock, call ext. 4000 stat, dr cock 4000 stat" the koch is still around. dr gober was fired for doing a bad circumcision.

I know I talk about my dad alot, but anyway. After he died, I felt his presence all of the time. Not a scarey feeling, but a comfort. I got a little crazy, ok? I got a witch board, and guess what... I asked the questions only my dad would know the answers. The board spelled out the answers. It scared my sister so, she wouldn't play again. But I did, and it continued to move in the direction of right answers. Some say it is evil. I don't know. It hasn't worked in a year. I guess my dad was satisfied the last time we talked. I reassured him (dad) that I was going to be ok, that I would see him one day soon. I believe in spirits and I believe we have a guardian angel to help us. I believe. dob: 10-31-1959 boobaby

Don't think I could kill somebody. I have tried very hard NOT to kill people when I give injections! I have a reccurring nightmare about hitting that nerve so close to the target in the gluteal muscle. I would never sleep again if I did that. So, no not me. Unless, the individual on death row had hurt my child. Ok, I'm a hypocrit.

Treat all blood as if it is HIV positive blood. Using the same universal precautions with all patients, as if everybody is positive for HIV.

You know, I guess that cruton (sp?) that was pulled out of a patient's nose was the worst. It had been up there a few weeks. Began to smell. That's why they came in. Or The tampon that had been lodged up inside this patient for 2 months. Again, the horrible smell prompted an office visit. Her husband didn't think that his semen was that foul. heehee

The one's I've worked with haven't been easy to manage as they get older. One of my Down's children tossed me around like a rag doll when I attempted to give him an injection on day. His mom and I are both small and therefore couldn't restrain him long enough for me to safely insert the needle. I felt so awful afterwards. I should have thought it through a little longer instead of thinking it would be like any other child vs shot scene! But, I was the only one working and I was doing patient work ups, medication delivery, laboratory work, phone triage, triage, filing, patient teaching, and covering for thereceptionist. I just wanted to quickly do the procedure so I could go pee. If I had just... Well, you know.

When a child loves you even after you've caused pain and made him cry, you understand why people say that they are God's most precious gift. You also realize why you became a nurse. The children are honest. They have no hidden agendas. When you've earned their trust and their love, you will have that love for as long as they live. Believe me, the rewards out weigh the bad stuff. I hope you go into peds.

The idea of letting a non licensed person phone in prescriptions is a very dangerous thing. We had a situation at my former job. Initially, the doc would write down the rx after talking to the patient, give to the RN to phone in. ONLY AFTER talking to the patient would this take place. Eventually, some non-nurse personnel decided to call in medications to "help us out." Right before I left this job, she had been arrested for calling in narcotics to her friends. Back at work and on probation, never to call in meds again, she started pretending to be me when she called in her medications. There should be strict protocol in place and only Docs and nurses should be allowed to phone in rx, even then. Just an opinion.

I've just started working in public health for my state. It is so different! The pay is less than other areas, but the benefits are wonderful! They provide an excellent orientation and RN's are "expanded roll RN's" and I love it. I have more opportunities to educate my client's and I feel as though I really am making a major difference to some of these folks.

I agree that the pvt. office pay is less to begin with. It also depends on the individual doctor. With managed care, the salaries have suffered for the office staff. The physicians, however, will never settle for a cut in THEIR income because of managed care or anything else. You see more patients to bring in more money. You are assigned more duties, but receive less income in comparison. Also, as somebody already indicated, the cut in pay is directly effected by the hours you work for the private physician. ( or clinic). Another point to bring up is benefits. A lot of pvt offices have little or no benefits, except maybe discounted medical tx for the staff by the docs. During the time I worked for a pediatrician, my son received free office visits, free vaccines, and sometimes free medication samples. Unfortnately for my son, however, the doc always made him wait until the very end and he demanded that I continue working until it was my child's turn. There he would be, drooping, febrile, and on the verge of collapsing while I ran up and down the halls, assisting the great healer. Now, my child is 16 and in the care of a wonderful doctor somewhere else. The last time he saw my former employer and his former physician, my son got real upset because he couldn't figure out why doc didn't like him. "Why is he so mad at me Mom," he said. He never went back. Sorry I've gone on and on. I can't get over the hurt I felt for my son. Or myself.