spiceyqueen

we have room 12 that always seems to get brain deaths ( young females).... and we have room 7.. its an exceptionallly cold room no matter what they do to adjust the aircon.Patients seem to last not more than 3 days there( most die, or are palliated adn sent of to the pall ward), and if they stay they end up being VERY LOOOOOOng admissions with multiple issues, i have always wondered about that room.I mean we still end up having possitive outcome patients butits a creepy room....

worked during nursing school ( full fee paying student) so really i had no option. worked two jobs through all my uni years, and studied full time. worked even through my clinical placements,came out of it still sane. Its not the best life but assess your needs first, and your how you can cope

we discharge a few cases directly home, first they have to be " non-complex" patients i.e patients who have been mostly well before admission, and will return to normal funcntion after discharge, have to be very stable while in ICU and also in the same instance as Sicushells mentioned,

not funny, but a wake up call.... been pretty run down at work of late, and havent had leave in 14 months( manager keeps giving excuses about training etc, notenoughregular staff in the unit and all that crap, and studying n workign full time etc...... last week i dreamt that one of our patients( a vent dependent Quad) who has been with us for months on end tried to strangle me using IV tubing, but was i panicking that someone is trying to kill me, hell nooo, i was so excited that all i could say was " yes yes finally i go on workers compensation, stress leave, " needless to say i spoke to the unit manager and explained to her that i really need time off before i lose my mind... got two weeks off coming n am going to Vietnam...

that funny, i can just picture it

out of curiosity,( i have n oidea about O& G nursing) what causes women who are not lactating/pregnant to have breast milk..... and is in normal though? coz am just thinking of those days when people had wet nurses yet some would have fairly grown up children!!! what of young girls who have like milk production etc,,,, we were having this discussion @work, and none of us had a clue what the story is with that

THANK YOU SO MUCH ICUFAQ.ORG :heartbeat( its in caps, not becaue i lack "netiquette" but just to show much ho w much i appreciate the site) Its funny how its has helped me and a few other collegues...... having a pleasant nigth shift so far

GEEZ, this got me laughing!! am going to have a very good shift tonight!!!!:yeah:

we got lots of pretty stickers ( well actually just standard labels) its not policy, but its definitely practice, i do it at the distal end as well, and always trace back at least twise a shift just to be sure,

and children are not allowed in only a few cases where wife gives birth while hubby is in ICU,

we have NO VISITING between 9am-11am and 1pm-3pm ( and those are the only four hours that are visit free. an not begging or pleading will let anyone in AT ALL anyone can visit anytime in otherwise, HOWEVER its locked door facility and we generaly try to minimise visitors as much as possible so that we can get to do our work( it works well though) coz we have locked doors as well. we do not let visitors in during change over either then again depends on the case if we have say under 18's parents can stay in all through, or if we have paliated patient family can stay in,

when i do arvo shifts, ending at 10pm,Computer, a glass of wine,and if am not overly tired and feeling adventurous, i hit the town ( mostly fridays, if am off saturday). read a book, have bath, blast some music, but in winter i just sleep.....

take naps and stretch before rising.......ooooh!!!!! and the pics are just beautiful

we use the bristol stool chart, i must say its not too bad!!!!! AIM for a 4 is like our motto...

3 things have actually made my week really special. 1)a patient who has been in our ward for like 4 weeks with receptive/expressive dysphasia has called me by my name for two days in a row!!!!!! i feel goood!!!!!!! 2)one of our patients(when admitted looked like the definition of death), has stepped up to a rehabilitation ward.....one of our greater success stories 3) had my first In Charge shift (well out of circumstance more than chioce) with two new graduates and an Agency nurse(she was pretty good!!!!). and my N.U.M. told me that she didnt think i would be that good, handled admissions, transffers, problems, delegating work with no probz, and had my own patient load as well....geez, didnt even know i had it in me to do that!!!i must admit i was a bit overwhelmed at first but i told myself, if it went well, i think coz the other three are very good in their work too...