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

    Any Diabetic nurses out there?

    VivaLasViejas replied to turtletyme's topic in Nurse Disabilities

    My A1C was 8 when I was diagnosed with Type II last spring. It's now 5.8 and I got to come off Metformin at my last visit. With me, diet is everything---I feel lousy if I eat sweets (good-bye...
  2. VivaLasViejas

    how to deal with the funky smell?

    VivaLasViejas replied to orangepink's topic in Wound, Ostomy, Continence

    A little Mentholatum or peppermint oil dabbed under your nostrils helps immensely, and is pretty much unnoticed by the
  3. VivaLasViejas

    Dx Non healing wound

    VivaLasViejas replied to americanTrain's topic in Wound, Ostomy, Continence

    Two words: Hospice consult. You can't fix this patient. I've had more than my share of them too, and I have seen only one heal up well enough to discontinue skilled services......and that was a 50ish...
  4. VivaLasViejas

    ER Abuse

    VivaLasViejas replied to Guest219794's topic in Emergency

    I like the focus of this thread---instead of blaming the victims of our healthcare "system", we're pointing a finger at the actual perpetrators which created them in the first place. We are all...
  5. VivaLasViejas

    Lost it tonight when granddaughter choked on candy

    VivaLasViejas replied to Isabelle49's topic in Pediatric

    I hear ya, Isabelle......The night my second grandson was born, we almost lost the first. We'd just lost his uncle to esophageal CA only the day before, so the celebration of birth was somewhat...
  6. VivaLasViejas

    Assited Living: The new skilled care

    VivaLasViejas replied to NJayne17's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    It happens in my building. But that's because my ED is a former paramedic who understands the medical side of things almost as well as I do, and he trusts my judgment even more than he does his own....
  7. VivaLasViejas

    No, I am not going to do that

    VivaLasViejas replied to ShayRN's topic in General Nursing

    In the SNF where I worked prior to my current position, I was met at the door by our new admit, a 50-something who showed me a very edematous set of huevos and a bottle of lotion and told me, "I want...
  8. VivaLasViejas

    Chronic Illness

    VivaLasViejas replied to verivici's topic in General Nursing

    I think it's safe to say that most people, especially those of us over the age of 40, live with some form of chronic illness. Hypertension is a chronic illness. Arthritis is a chronic illness....
  9. VivaLasViejas

    Your body did what?!?

    VivaLasViejas replied to pink_shoes99's topic in General Nursing

    I once had to drop a Foley in a patient with anasarca so severe that his entire body had swelled up to almost twice his normal size. Unfortunately, I literally could. not. find. his member. It was...
  10. VivaLasViejas

    Hit rock bottom... ruined nursing career... life is a mess right now...

    VivaLasViejas replied to NurseCard's topic in Health, Stress Management

    You have my sympathies, NurseCard. :hug: I'm in kind of the same boat, although I don't dislike nursing the way you say you do (but I'd retire in a NY minute if I had the means). It sucks to feel like...
  11. VivaLasViejas

    Why do you do what you do and DON'T do what you don't do?

    VivaLasViejas replied to nurseprnRN's topic in General Nursing

    I work with the elderly for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that whatever that generation is made of, I wish I could bottle it. My generation and the generations after it could...
  12. VivaLasViejas

    My patient did not get seen.

    VivaLasViejas replied to Vtachy1's topic in Hospice, Palliative

    Thank you for clarifying this. :) I'm sorry about your patient. FWIW, ALF and hospice usually work very well together for the comfort of residents who are on service, and I've seen some incredible...
  13. VivaLasViejas

    Slow nurse response time is a danger to pt health

    VivaLasViejas replied to SoCalCrafter's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    I wonder how much searching this person had to do in order to find and then resurrect a two-month old thread, just so they can get in a gratuitous
  14. VivaLasViejas

    My patient did not get seen.

    VivaLasViejas replied to Vtachy1's topic in Hospice, Palliative

    I'm curious as to how you came to be involved in this. For one thing, if the patient is in assisted living, they're no longer your patient, but a resident of the ALF. How was your supervisor able to...
  15. VivaLasViejas

    What exactly is "evidence based practice"?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Clovery's topic in Nursing Student Assistance

    The commercial cranberry juice that's found in most grocery stores (and healthcare facilities) doesn't do squat to prevent UTI. It's got too much sugar in it. You'd have to buy the natural version at...
  16. VivaLasViejas

    Assited Living: The new skilled care

    VivaLasViejas replied to NJayne17's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    Thirty residents? I'm sorry, but that would be HEAVEN.......I'm the lone RN for a building that currently houses almost 90. Of course, there are medication aides and resident assistants who do most of...
  17. VivaLasViejas

    My monthly semi-coherent rant on the state of healthcare

    VivaLasViejas replied to rngreenhorn's topic in General Nursing

    Someone else will have to pay the lawyers. I can't disagree with a word you've said here. It's going to take the total collapse of the crazy-quilt we call a healthcare "system" to change things for...
  18. VivaLasViejas

    do you ever get tired of being treated like crap?

    VivaLasViejas replied to EDnursetobe's topic in General Nursing

    Imagine an invisible wall. Imagine that you have built it, brick by brick, so you can see through it and touch through it, but not be touched through it. THAT is your protection from the "crap"...
  19. VivaLasViejas

    What field of Nursing has the least, and most math?

    VivaLasViejas replied to PreStudent101's topic in General Nursing

    Dimensional analysis is just about the only math I've ever used in the course of my career. However, most if not all nursing programs require candidates to be proficient in intermediate-level algebra...
  20. VivaLasViejas

    When nursing gets icky but you still love your job...How to deal?

    VivaLasViejas replied to SweetseRN's topic in General Nursing

    Ah, Sweetse, what you have so eloquently described is called reality. There is a lot of ugliness in human illness and decline, and nurses get to experience emotions, sights, sounds, and especially...
  21. VivaLasViejas

    Salem Hospital is hiring RN's

    VivaLasViejas replied to swooosh's topic in Oregon Nursing

    Trust me, it's not sorry news at all. I have a couple of friends who work there and say the working conditions are not at all what they're cracked up to be. "Magnet" status is a big deal for the...
  22. VivaLasViejas

    straight from the horse's mouth... adn vs bsn

    VivaLasViejas replied to kenyacka's topic in Diploma, ADN, BSN

    I don't know about anyone else---and to be honest, my experience with so-called Magnet hospitals is very limited---but I think the designation is merely window-dressing, a hey-ain't-we-done-good...
  23. VivaLasViejas

    This just gripes the crud out of me...

    VivaLasViejas replied to AngelfireRN's topic in General Nursing

    We have a youngish resident at my ALF who's a lot like the patient in the OP. He finally got caught hiding income and got booted off Medicaid, but while he was on it he loved to remind my staff that...
  24. VivaLasViejas

    Seems a bit excessive to me....

    VivaLasViejas replied to 42pines's topic in General Nursing

    That's it........I am moving back to California and going to work for Governor Moonbeam and the Department of Corrections! I've never even gotten within shouting distance of $100,000 a year, let...
  25. VivaLasViejas

    Weird question about interview (re:overweight/ not needing insurance)

    VivaLasViejas replied to nervousnurse's topic in General Nursing

    I'm the same size as the OP and have rarely, if ever had trouble finding a job because of it. It wasn't even a factor until I hurt my knee and had to leave floor nursing a year and a half ago, and...