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

    Should all nurses have their BSN or higher?

    VivaLasViejas replied to SandraDeeRN's topic in General Nursing

    Hear,
  2. VivaLasViejas

    Could have Lopressor contributed to death?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Anagray's topic in General Nursing

    I agree with Angie. For all anyone knows, the patient may very well have been in the process of throwing a massive clot, bleeding into the brain, having an MI, or stroking out, and no power on earth...
  3. VivaLasViejas

    When did LTC/ALF's administrations start calling the shots?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Antikigirl's topic in General Nursing

    OK, I'm going to play devil's advocate here, because I sit on the other side of that ALF administrator's desk, and there are two very good reasons why I insist on speaking to the discharge planner...
  4. VivaLasViejas

    Vent: I absolutely HATE stupidity! Not ignorance.....STUPIDITY!!

    VivaLasViejas replied to TazziRN's topic in General Nursing

    Didn't that make you just want to pull over, yank her out of the window by the hair, and slap the snot out of her??!!:angryfire If I had my way, stupidity would be made a felony and people like that...
  5. VivaLasViejas

    Vent: I absolutely HATE stupidity! Not ignorance.....STUPIDITY!!

    VivaLasViejas replied to TazziRN's topic in General Nursing

    My grandfather died many, many years ago, but I still remember his words of advice to my sister the day she got her learner's permit: "Drive like everyone else on the road is nuts." They have served...
  6. VivaLasViejas

    avioding criticism in documentation

    VivaLasViejas replied to evans_c1's topic in General Nursing

    All of the above are excellent pieces of advice. Here's one more, straight from a nursing instructor I had many years ago: If you are ever tempted to use negative or judgmental terms in your...
  7. VivaLasViejas

    Meal assists, tips, tricks and howto's.

    VivaLasViejas replied to Levin's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    Feeding was my most disliked LTC task as well. I hated trying to make people eat when the food looked so unappetizing---pureed meats are SO gross---and they didn't want to eat anyway. Their bodies'...
  8. VivaLasViejas

    Vent: I absolutely HATE stupidity! Not ignorance.....STUPIDITY!!

    VivaLasViejas replied to TazziRN's topic in General Nursing

    It amazes me to think of how many ways I could have been killed or mutilated when I was a kid..........people just didn't think much about those things back then. They'd let us sit on the steps of the...
  9. VivaLasViejas

    Who Must "Take the Fall?"

    VivaLasViejas replied to Simplepleasures's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    I'm hearing an incredible amount of frustration here, on both sides of the desk. What I'm NOT hearing is a sense that all of us---managers, nurses, aides, and ancillary staff---are in this together,...
  10. VivaLasViejas

    Generational Gap in nursing?

    VivaLasViejas replied to GardenDove's topic in General Nursing

    Yeah, steph---I don't know about you, but I probably have about three eggs left, and they're as old as the rest of me!! I have to admit, I've been pleasantly surprised by the changes wrought in my...
  11. VivaLasViejas

    Very Upset about THIS!! (Vent)

    VivaLasViejas replied to cretia5080's topic in First Year After Licensure

    Been there, done that, have the scars to prove it. Now, my way of dealing with this "eating-our-young" problem won't work for everybody, but it sure did for me: I took a DON position in an assisted...
  12. VivaLasViejas

    limit to number of csections?

    VivaLasViejas replied to MIA-RN1's topic in Ob/Gyn

    One of the Kennedys---I'm pretty sure it was Ethel---had ELEVEN cesareans. Makes me feel like a whiner having had only
  13. VivaLasViejas

    Highest BP you have ever seen on a pt

    VivaLasViejas replied to nckayaker's topic in Emergency

    The lowest pressure I've ever seen was in an ICU patient I once had, an 80-something man who dropped to 30/17. He
  14. VivaLasViejas

    I had to take care of druggies today, and was disgusted!

    VivaLasViejas replied to RN 4 U's topic in Virginia Nursing

    Well said.:yeahthat:
  15. VivaLasViejas

    Highest BP you have ever seen on a pt

    VivaLasViejas replied to nckayaker's topic in Emergency

    I personally had a BP of 260/130 once. It was about seven or eight years ago, not long after I turned 40. I've had HTN since I was in my 20s, so I've come to recognize the signs that my pressure is...
  16. VivaLasViejas

    A Christmas Tribute to Us

    VivaLasViejas replied to Little Panda RN's topic in General Nursing

    That is PRICELESS!!! Thanks for passing it
  17. VivaLasViejas

    What part of pt care gets overlooked most often

    VivaLasViejas replied to chenoaspirit's topic in General Nursing

    When I worked acute care, oral care and ambulation were the most neglected tasks on our unit. The nurses simply did not have the time to walk around the floor with patients, and the few aides usually...
  18. VivaLasViejas

    EtOH help

    VivaLasViejas replied to larsell303's topic in General Nursing

    As the saying goes, if you think you have an alcohol problem, it already has you. I was like you once, a relatively functional human being who got up every morning, did what needed to be done, and...
  19. VivaLasViejas

    If not bedside, where do you work?

    VivaLasViejas replied to UM Review RN's topic in General Nursing

    Sounds like you're in a similar place where I was a year ago. I was in a lot of physical pain from pushing my forty-something, out-of-condition body through four 8-hour shifts per week on a Med/Surg...
  20. VivaLasViejas

    Gloves Necessary For SQ Injections?

    VivaLasViejas replied to VivaLasViejas's topic in Patient Medications

    Well, it's been several months since I brought this up, and now it's so ingrained that I don't even think about it anymore---I put on gloves even to do PPDs! My staff has taken a little longer to do...
  21. VivaLasViejas

    Why not question pts about their eating habits?

    VivaLasViejas replied to GardenDove's topic in General Nursing

    I can tell you right off what the problem is with "assessing" overweight patients' nutritional status (besides the obvious fact that many people will lie, deny, under-report, or simply refuse to talk...
  22. VivaLasViejas

    co-worker stealing narcotics

    VivaLasViejas replied to starbin's topic in General Nursing

    From a DNS standpoint: Loose lips sink ships. In other words, management CANNOT share confidential information about an employee with other employees, such as what we are doing about someone suspected...
  23. VivaLasViejas

    Happily Addicted to allnurses.com

    VivaLasViejas replied to tnbutterfly - Mary's topic in General Nursing

    I love it!!!
  24. VivaLasViejas

    Write-Ups & Disciplinary Action

    VivaLasViejas replied to TheCommuter's topic in General Nursing

    As an employee, I've been formally written up only once, but have experienced a few verbal 'counseling' sessions that stung worse than anything else. That's probably why, as a supervisor, I use the...
  25. VivaLasViejas

    How are you judgemental?

    VivaLasViejas replied to GardenDove's topic in General Nursing

    I couldn't agree more. Well said! Over the years I've been here at allnurses, I've had quite a bit to say on the subject of prejudice toward certain types of patients, with the general theme being...