scooby72

Thanks for reading about my crazy morning! I really could not believe that the nurses were so hesitant to call security and put themselves and the patients in danger because a supervisor told them to. I guess my short stint in ER cured me of that. Maybe because rehab nurses are not used to seeing crazy people throwing flower pots? Don't know. Me and sis will be patrolling the halls tomorrow morning - if crazy lady is there - we will be watching her. If she gets out of line? I'm thinking 911..... Scooby

I could not believe it! Kinda long but bear with me..... My Mom had a stroke on May 1. She is currently on the rehab floor. If any of you have rehab experience I could sure use your insight - the thread is in the Rehab Nursing section of the site. Anyway - there are four girls in my family - one EMT, an LPN, me the RN, and the oldest - has a coshy job with the government - who is the smartest of us all! We try to be GOOD family members. We totally appreciate the staff and let them know it - because we "get it." So me and my LPN sis are hanging out with Mom at PT today. Pretty slow day being that it's Sunday before the holiday. An aide comes running in and says "There's a crazy lady at the nurse's station - she's screaming at the nurse and she's throwing things!" PT hesitates while me and sis instantly go into "nurse" mode. No one messes with nurses! We tell PT to stay with Mom and tell the aide to call security. We get out to the station and this lady was crazy!!! Yelling, throwing anything within reach. Nurses ducking behind the counter in bunker mode. One nurse trying to defuse her. Still no security. My sis is a toughie who wades right in. She had grabbed a patient belonging bag from somewhere and made a BIG production of picking up things that went sailing, plants, charts, pens, etc. Tsk, tsking loudly the whole time saying "Oh, gosh - someone could trip on this, etc." Now crazy lady is confused. Should she listen to this lady who is picking up her mess or keep yelling at the nurse? Meanwhile I am standing ready to grab her if she suddenly decides to launch herself over the counter. Still no security. Crazy lady loses some steam but at least she is only yelling - not lobbing objects. Floor Supervisor shows up. Does the whole yada yada thing - you know how it goes. "Let me know what those nurses did to make you angry crap." Takes her to an empty room to talk. Still no Security!!!!! Come to find out - she was upset because Dad was not up and showered by 8:00 am. It was today - Sunday. She was also upset because her Dad could not get a good night's sleep because of the other patients on the floor and that "that nurse" kept waking him up ALL NIGHT!! Hey lady - it's a hospital - your Dad is ill - DEAL! What makes me the most angry is that after the ordeal sis and I asked why security didn't show up. Nurses said that they were told that they always had to call the floor super before bringing in security. That's CRAP! Now we have crazy lady roaming the floor that Mom is on. And the staff has to continue to deal with her as well. IMHO she should have been banned from the floor. Too bad if she gave them an "F" on their survey. BTW - Mom was mad that she missed all of the "action." That tells us that her cognition is fine. Bless her! Scooby

Thanks for the reply - positive thoughts are the greatest! Mom "graduated" from speech yesterday. She talks with a slight slur and and has a little trouble with word recall at times. She thought the "games" they were playing with her were silly so she really wasn't putting forth her best effort. We just try to keep her talking - making her answer more than yes/no and she is coming along well. Swallowing was fine thank goodness. They have her up walking a few steps in PT w/brace. She has minimal movement in the right hip/shoulder which the therapists think is promising. The staff is great! One of my sisters is an LPN who worked LTC before she opted to stay home with her kids and I worked as a CNA in LTC/DD before I got my RN so the nurses/aides/therapists are giving us a refresher course on gait belts, transfers, etc. The skills are coming back - just wish it wasn't Mom that we have to use them on. A rep came in a couple of days ago and used Mom as a guinea pig - her words - not mine, to try out a relatively new prothesis. It's called a Bioness L300 Foot Drop System. It's a device that uses electrical stim to help ambulation. I wasn't there to see it - darn - but Mom gave it rave reviews. Have you or anyone else on the board seen it in use? From what I have been told it is pretty pricey - around $6000.00. Mom is on Medicare and I did some research and found that they will cover it only for spinal cord injuries at this point. BUT - if it is what would help her gain function than that is what she needs. My credit card company would love me! Scooby

Thanks for the reply. I think the loading dose...again showing my practice limits :) was 7.5 mg. I think we are all thinking "Should we have done this?" "What caused this?", etc. One sister who ironically has no medical training -stated it pretty well today by saying "I guess someone has to make up the 1-5% bad outcome for any procedure - it stinks that it had to be Mom." That definitely made me think.....I think it's hard to be an RN when your loved one is the patient - a little knowledge can drive you crazy. I promise that we are not being "those family members" though. I have been very impressed with the care that Mom has gotten from the rehab staff and the incredible team approach that you have in this area with the different therapies and medical staff (and we let them know). Now what are your suggestions on helping Mom on this journey?

I hope you rehab nurses can give me some direction. Mom went to her PCP for her regular 3 mo. check for hypertension (medicated). He found her in A-Fib. EKG verification and off to the Cardiolgist. He recommends a TEE and electrocardioversion. Doesn't work so he goes the chemical route and she is in sinus until the next morning then converts back to A-Fib. BTW - she got a challenging dose of Coumadin before the procedure but did not recieve any Coumadin the night of, nor the next day following the procedure. They told us to be prepared "in case" she had to spend the night after the procedure so we had packed her "home meds." The Cardio had a "ckeck list" of meds in the chart, including Coumadin that were to be given that night. I reviewed the checklist with the RN (being one myself I am the medical "spokesperson" for the group). She said the they were not "written" orders but assured me that she would contact said doc for them. I left the floor thinking that I had all bases covered. The next morning I call my dear sister that had stayed with Mom to see how things were progressing. She tells me that Mom had no meds the night before and that none were ordered for her this morning - the nurse actually said - I'm not REALLY telling you this - but take your meds that you brought from home." I was very cranky to say the least but showed up during discharge - just wanted to get her out of there. We took her home that night and the next morning she fell to the ground with a stroke. She can no longer move her right side. No arm or leg. Was it the lack of Coumadin after the procedure? Her carotids were fine. I am just very angry at this point. I'm a peds nurse so not used to this adult thing. Especially not having to transfer my Mom (who two weeks ago could make a family dinnner) to the potty. I am hoping for progress but I am totally out of my element and still angry that if maybe she would have had the meds LIKE THE DOCTOR WROTE we could have avoided this outcome/ Plus - I am clueless to rehab.....how can I make my Mom better?

Thanks for the info. My post does probably sound silly to you you guys and gals that see this every day but I'm used to dealing with the "little people" so this situation is out of my comfort zone. I will definitely brush up on the suggested topics. Last I heard - Mom is progressing quite nicely and will probably deliver tonight. When she comes back to work she can bring on all the baby questions - I've got that down pat

First - let me thank you all in advance for allowing me to jump on your board. Need some advice. I had an interesting day today! I'm a School Nurse and my day went from strep to lice (always fun) to various psych meds to "I just started my period"" to possible wrist fx from skating in gym to "I think my water broke!!" Yikes!! This is the first time this has happened to me in my 12 yrs. Young teacher G2 P1 (See - I did pay attention in that OB rotation years ago) toddles into my office. I saw that she was "leaking." I am trying to wrack my brain for what scant OB knowledge I have. So this is what I did: Contractions? "No - just some general tightening across belly." How many weeks? - "37.5 (whew) VS stable. No - don't finish your lunch. Called her OB (come to the office) and her hubby (Guess you won't finishing those errands today) and basically just kept her calm and kept the "Looky-loos" out of the area. It did get me thinking though - Is ther anything else I should have done? I have two more teachers due within a few weeks. The only interaction I usually have with the pregnant staff is to let them know what's going around that could harm them and baby, occasional BP checks, and answer "normal" pregnancy questions. This obviously wasn't "boil the water - I'm gonna birth a baby" but what if it was or if she wasn't so close to term? At what point or under which circumstances should I activate EMS?

I've had a few wild ones over the years.... Hysterical third grade girl, "Mrs. __!!!! I swallowed a pig!!" Turns out she was chewing on her necklace at lunch and the charm on it - yes a it had a pink, plastic pig, and now it was missing. "Do you think you swallowed it?" I ask. Had her stand up so I could peer in her throat with a flashlight - hoping I wouldn't find a pig in her airway. Plop - it falls out of the bottom of her shirt. Whew! TEACHER comes in. "I have something in my ear and it is driving me nuts!" Get out the flashlight (couldn't live without that tool) to peek - didn't want to use the otoscope for fear of pushing anything deeper into the ear. I see what looks like a hair spanning the ear canal - very shallow. Tell her to hold still and snag it with the tweezers. It is a very stiff - white hair - not attached to the skin - just lying across the canal. "Oh - that looks like it came from my beagle!" Or the teacher that I accompanied to the ER who was c/o chest pain. She checked out fine Thank Goodness - but the ER doc had a snicker when he brought out the chest X-ray out for us to see. It showed a perfect visual of the house key she had tucked in her bra. Then there was the time when I had a student sent to me because she had a live kitten in her backpack....had no idea how it got there...seems we get sent all of the things noone has any idea what to do with!

I am now in my 12th year of School Nursing and I LOVE it. I started out on the adventure (after 6 mos. in the hospital setting Med/Surg). Silly principal hired me (a nurse is a nurse, right?). I was suddenly in charge of the health and well-being of a Pre-K to 12th grade population, and the staff that worked there. My only saving grace was a great relationship with the county health department and a great mentor (my OWN School Nurse who had went to the Health Department after retiring from the school system). I started as an RN but have since went back to get my BSN, and certification in my state (IL). School Nurses have a great schedule and summers off but you have to (often times) weigh that against the ability to be able to go to another nurse in the unit to ask a second opinion. I think that most nurses out of our scope of practice don't realize is that you don't just do "bandainds." I have Trachs, Insulin Pumps, Caths, and tons of meds given each day (some I agree with - some I get angry with and try to discuss with Doc with no avail). Another point - as a School Nurse you have to know your stuff in peds, OB (teens, and pregnant staff), adults (had a teacher have an MI in class). I am not trying to scare you off of School Nursing but I want you to aware that if you are a School Nurse you will not be waiting in your office to give a child a bandaid. Plus = you have to deal with state regulations, educational regs, documentation (to CYA) ect. I am by no means trying to scare you off of School Nursing - it is the greatest!!