VivaLasViejas ASN, RN

LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych

Once a nurse, always a nurse!

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide

All Content by VivaLasViejas

  1. VivaLasViejas

    state is coming to ltc facility, what do i do!?

    VivaLasViejas replied to mrsevans9310's topic in LPN, LVN Corner

    What LPNBearColumbus said. Truly, if you do your job the way you learned in school, you'll be fine. Surveys are a walk in the park for floor staff as a general rule; if they ask you questions, answer...
  2. VivaLasViejas

    Is Med-Surg really a dead end?

    VivaLasViejas replied to JustWannaWork,RN's topic in General Nursing

    I was certified in M/S for five years. It was truly the gateway to the rest of my career and gave me the ability to sample other specialties, such as Mother/Baby and ICU, before settling into...
  3. VivaLasViejas

    Parish Nursing being offered as elective course in nursing schools

    VivaLasViejas replied to tnbutterfly - Mary's topic in Parish

    I took a "Spirituality in Nursing" course in my last semester of nursing school. It was an elective that even today continues to pack more of a bang for the tuition buck than all of the other...
  4. VivaLasViejas

    I'm Freaking Out and Frantic! Please, Help Me!

    VivaLasViejas replied to rn/writer's topic in General Nursing

    Good grief...........where was advice like this when I was starting out??!! As always, Miranda nails it---cuts right through the BS and tells it exactly the way it is. Great work!!!
  5. VivaLasViejas

    Hygiene disaster areas

    VivaLasViejas replied to canoehead's topic in General Nursing

    When I worked acute care, we got a patient from ER with only one thing written on the admission orders: "Give this man a BATH." He was an elderly gentleman who had not taken a shower or changed his...
  6. VivaLasViejas

    Are shy and quiet people not allowed to be nurses?

    VivaLasViejas replied to sunnyskies2's topic in Patient, Colleague Relations

    That makes two of us I'm a flaming extrovert and can't figure out for the life of me how "shy" and "quiet" people can handle being nurses, but guess what---nursing is chock FULL of introverts, and...
  7. VivaLasViejas

    How UTIs affect older patients

    VivaLasViejas replied to seashells2011's topic in General Nursing

    UTI is also my first suspicion when an elderly person falls for no obvious reason. A urine dip is always part of my fall investigation
  8. VivaLasViejas

    You know it's gonna be a bad day at the home when

    VivaLasViejas replied to DixieRedHead's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    Yep. I've had more than a few of those. How about when you walk onto the unit and the charge nurse tells you to "git while the gittin's good"---it's been a zoo all day, there've been three falls and...
  9. VivaLasViejas

    Ever accepted a position knowing it was a mistake?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Gratefulprn's topic in General Nursing

    I've been there, done that. I once took a DON position that paid $12K/yr. more than the perfectly good position that I was in at the time, and I hated it from the get-go. I lasted a whole three...
  10. VivaLasViejas

    What is "Assisted" about Assisted Living

    VivaLasViejas replied to lovinme43's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    I've worked in assisted living on and off during the past decade, and I can tell you that the acuity in AL---like everywhere else---is going nowhere but up. Ten years ago I wouldn't even think of...
  11. VivaLasViejas

    ALF

    VivaLasViejas replied to Vtachy1's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    Not a problem in my ALF. All the caregivers know how to empty a Foley and change from leg bag to bedside drainage bag, and we have home health manage both routine catheter changes and emergencies...
  12. VivaLasViejas

    How Do I Toughen Up At Work? Part 1

    VivaLasViejas replied to rn/writer's topic in General Nursing

    Count me as one who grew up with a mercilessly critical parent who destroyed any budding self-esteem I might have ever hoped to have in my youth. I've never been much for tears, but I did have a...
  13. VivaLasViejas

    Help!! Balloon Assisted Enteroscopy

    VivaLasViejas replied to AndyMan's topic in Gastroenterology

    Hi~I'm sorry, but we cannot offer medical advice of any kind, as it's beyond our scope of practice as nurses, students, and pre-nursing students to do so. Please see your gastroenterology doctor and...
  14. VivaLasViejas

    I hate my boss!

    VivaLasViejas replied to madwife2002's topic in General Nursing

    I'm lucky to have a good manager. It's taken fifteen years, but I've finally landed in a good place with an administrator who cares about more than the bottom line and "doesn't believe in treating...
  15. VivaLasViejas

    Vodka tampons?!?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Christy1019's topic in Emergency

    :barf01::barf01::barf01:
  16. VivaLasViejas

    facility responsibility to the obese

    VivaLasViejas replied to onthemark's topic in General Nursing

    Medicare doesn't pay for ICF (long-term) care, which is where most of these patients eventually wind up when they don't participate in therapies. That's when private long-term care insurance or...
  17. VivaLasViejas

    OB--When it's good it's good and when it's not...it's heartbreaking.

    VivaLasViejas replied to linzjane88's topic in Ob/Gyn

    I'm a geriatric nurse who managed to sneak in an amazing amount of postpartum/OB while I was in acute care, and I honestly do NOT know how y'all do it day in and day out. It's normally the happiest...
  18. VivaLasViejas

    I'm grateful for you crusty old bats

    VivaLasViejas replied to SuesquatchRN's topic in General Nursing

    I love crusty old bats. I love BEING a crusty old bat. Because when you're a crusty old bat, very little fazes you or makes you afraid. Thanks for recognizing the crusty old bat
  19. VivaLasViejas

    In Survey - facing G tag!

    VivaLasViejas replied to txdon's topic in LTC: Directors, Assistant

    You can PM me too. I was just recently helping out a facility that got several G's and might have a few ideas for your
  20. VivaLasViejas

    No one will hire a nurse with only a Associates???

    VivaLasViejas replied to CNA1991's topic in General Nursing

    I live near, and work in, my state's capital, and I'm both an ADN and a director of nursing who was recently offered a promotion to regional director of nursing. (I turned it down because I don't want...
  21. VivaLasViejas

    Agitated terminal agitation or a hospice nurse's worst nightmare

    VivaLasViejas replied to laynicrn's topic in Hospice, Palliative

    Phew! Wears me out just imagining it........I've seen plenty of terminal agitation, but nothing I couldn't handle with an aggressive medication schedule using the normal dosages and calling hospice...
  22. VivaLasViejas

    Not a waitress or barista

    VivaLasViejas replied to noyesno's topic in General Nursing

    If patients are fussing over mochas and cappuchinos in the hospital, they aren't sick enough to be
  23. VivaLasViejas

    Do I have a sign over my head?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Roy Fokker's topic in Emergency

    Me, I tend to be flypaper for freaks.......they all just seem to gravitate to me and then proceed to tell me their entire life stories. I've called for so many psych consults over the years that I...
  24. VivaLasViejas

    I need some insight from allnurses.....

    VivaLasViejas replied to Kashia's topic in Patient, Colleague Relations

    No......you're fine.:) I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but I don't......just maybe don't try so hard? Your skills and good work habits will speak for you; you don't have to make friends...
  25. VivaLasViejas

    ER Abuse

    VivaLasViejas replied to Guest219794's topic in Emergency

    And don't you just love it when the paramedics give you attitude, like the ER nurse you just called report to while you were waiting for them? Some of them treat us like they think we're stupid, when...