interleukin

I need some Zofran.

"I am so sorry I cannot share that link." Rather convenient.

"I am very curious over the amount of spirituality on display on this Web site, and I mean all over. I've never seen anything like it among any group of professionals, much less, among those practicing a science-based, evidence-based profession. Is it a function of the personality types attracted to the profession, or to helping professions involving personal care? Is it a function of gender?" With some unease I, too, have wondered about that.

At risk of being barraged with hate mail, I offer the following; First , if prayer makes you, or someone else, feel better then by all means do it. After all, prayers can't hurt. But suggesting that praying for someone's recovery, from a remote location, can actually contribute to that recovery is magical thinking that undermines the integrity of the Western nursing profession. I wonder how many doctors maintain such beliefs? Prayer is hope, and hope is a good thing...as long as there's a reasonable chance. Otherwise, we end up prolonging suffering "waiting for miracles." People pray everyday for recoveries that never happen. Was it, then, just a matter of too few people praying or not praying loud enough? I will quickly be labeled a "nonbeliever" so that my perspective can be rendered irrelevant...just someone who either "doesn't get it" or is "a lost soul." You can be be either scientists or a witch doctors...but not both.

"Studies have actually shown that those who pray are physically and emotionally healthier than those who do not" Studies? I think you meant to say, "Some people believe that those who pray..." There are no evidence-based studies that could make such a claim. And believing something is true is mere opinion, not fact.

INRs take time to crest and fall even when a patient has stopped taking coumadin. It can also be affected by liver or clearance issues.

Check it, flush it, then get a bladder scan...if there ain't no urine, you ain't gonna get none. Stop messin' with it.

"Nursing just happens to be the largest work force in a hospital." Really? How about nursing just happens to be the department that allows the hospital to be, well, a hospital. It provides the actual services, without which, the hospital simply ceases to exist. And, yes, they happen to be the largest workforce..........but if CEOs could figure out how to allow patients to get sicker without risking all the nasty publicity, they'd change that fact in a heartbeat.

Nursing will be "revamped" when nurses regularly, and firmly, learn to say "no."

"Conscientious Professionals" do not tolerate such catch-22 conditions. They ask: "Which do you prefer....all charting done or no overtime?" These days, they are often incompatible scenarios. If you, indeed, allow yourself to be turned into a long-term task monkey, then don't complain about it. As a professional, you need to at least apprise them of their impossible mandates. And, if they won't address or resolve the issues then, as a professional, pack up your dignity and leave. Continuing to patch poor management behavior only guarantees its perpetuation.

I believe the new nurses are transferring the anger they've developed when they suddenly realize their wonderful nursing school never really told them how tough things are for new nurses. You see, nursing school are businesses...in the business to make money, not necessarily apprise students of current trends, especially if it will affect their bottom line Schools hope nurses believe faux media reports of shortages...perhaps for seasoned nurses, but no shortage of new ones. For some careers, new people mean more energy and lower costs. For nursing, there's the higher potential cost of patient safety issues and high upfront cost of training. Hold the schools accountable....like the online schools who prowl for GIs(and their benefits) who end up with worthless degrees and exhausted educational funding.

"As for those overpaid nurses, I can assure you that CEO probably makes triple of what a senior nurse makes." Are you kidding....the CEO in my place makes approximately 20 times what the most senior FT nurse makes. And there is no justifiable rationale for that discrepancy considering what nurses daily contribute and risk. Nurses make the CEO look good and yet he is far removed from our efforts...actually viewing us as financial burdens rather than key contributors to overall success.

Nothing trumps experience. While you cannot teach at a university without a PhD, all you need is an associates degree to get in the nursing door. Nursing schools that hand out rose-colored glasses during orientations need a good dope slap. Hospitals are businesses and nurses are commodities. If they can find someone less costly and more safe, they will. Were I king, I would not allow a student to go from BA to MA or PhD , regardless of the branch of nursing , without at least 5 years actual experience. Students simply do not know what they do not know. And handing out degrees without broad fundamental base of knowledge and experience only dilutes the entire profession. I hate diploma mills. OK...I'm done.

Where's the docs responsibility in this. Doesn't he have ensure that the paperwork is complete"? He may be as culpable as you are. Does he sign it before any injection are administered?

If you do not learn to say "no" you will slowly be eaten alive. And if you do internalize that your health and well being is more important(yes, that's right) than the of the residents you care for, the place in which you work, and the management that views you as a warm expendable body, then you will have a short career in nursing and you will end up hating everything.