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

    Need advice...life threatened by pt's family today

    VivaLasViejas replied to SotaRN's topic in General Nursing

    Wow. Personally, if I were in charge of your facility, I would make sure other dialysis accommodations were made for this family STAT. Nobody should have to put up with death threats, no matter how...
  2. VivaLasViejas

    Still Broke!

    VivaLasViejas replied to Happy-ER-RN's topic in First Year After Licensure

    Hey, I've been out of school for almost a decade and I'M still broke!! As my hubby and I are fond of saying, when we made $13,000 in a 'good' year, we had nothing; now that we're pulling in five times...
  3. VivaLasViejas

    What Oregon towns/cities do you recommend working in and why?

    VivaLasViejas replied to fd5151's topic in Oregon Nursing

    LTCs in my area are ALWAYS hiring. As for psych, the hospitals prefer BSNs or ADNs with psych experience, but may be willing to train someone with Med/Surg, corrections, or youth-detention experience....
  4. VivaLasViejas

    Four stages of life (pic)

    VivaLasViejas replied to Thunderwolf's topic in General Nursing

    Oh, and here I was expecting something mystical and soulful........BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! Good one,
  5. VivaLasViejas

    Bashful Nurses?

    VivaLasViejas replied to moosie's topic in General Nursing

    You all might be interested to know that on the Myers-Briggs personality inventory, most nurses (or would-be nurses) are Introverts! Not sure exactly why that is, since nursing requires putting...
  6. VivaLasViejas

    SAD: Just Wondering........

    VivaLasViejas posted a topic in General Nursing

    Do people who live in sunny parts of the country have fewer problems with seasonal affective disorder than those who live in northern climes? The reason I'm asking is, my family and I are considering...
  7. VivaLasViejas

    Do docs really even care about their patients anymore?

    VivaLasViejas replied to jnette's topic in Home Health

    Know what you mean, Weetz! I have a resident who's been on 40 mg of Lasix daily without any K+ supplementation, and she started c/o leg cramps last Wednesday......well, DUH! So I faxed the MD asking...
  8. VivaLasViejas

    What Oregon towns/cities do you recommend working in and why?

    VivaLasViejas replied to fd5151's topic in Oregon Nursing

    The Albany/Corvallis area fits your specifications, although housing costs are considerably higher in Corvallis than in Albany. Corvallis is bike-friendly to a fault, politically liberal,...
  9. VivaLasViejas

    What needs changing in nursing?

    VivaLasViejas replied to LNDRN19's topic in General Nursing

    Personally, I'd be happy if nursing supervisors and managers would just treat us as adults---not third-graders who need a bunch of stupid rules and busywork to keep us in line. Why do so many seem to...
  10. VivaLasViejas

    I dont want to do this anymore!!!

    VivaLasViejas replied to RNOTODAY's topic in General Nursing

    For goodness sake, DON'T force yourself through a miserable year or two doing floor nursing if you know you're going to hate it! So much is made of 'paying one's dues', as if med/surg nursing is...
  11. VivaLasViejas

    Less stressful than hospital work?

    VivaLasViejas replied to nurscee's topic in Public, Community Health

    Oops, I appear to have misled you........I'm not a public-health nurse, I'm the director of health services for a local assisted living community. I apologize. I would have liked PH nursing, I'm sure,...
  12. VivaLasViejas

    Do docs really even care about their patients anymore?

    VivaLasViejas replied to jnette's topic in Home Health

    And the 'nurse' is usually a medical assistant, not an LPN or RN. I've always been careful not to waste doctors' time, but I also want them to respect MY time in return. Over the years, and at...
  13. VivaLasViejas

    Less stressful than hospital work?

    VivaLasViejas replied to nurscee's topic in Public, Community Health

    Public health generally requires a BSN, so if you hold an ADN or diploma, you may have a tough time getting into it. It also pays rather poorly as compared with acute care or LTC. However, I'm sure...
  14. VivaLasViejas

    Do docs really even care about their patients anymore?

    VivaLasViejas replied to jnette's topic in Home Health

    Welcome to geriatric nursing, netters! This is more common than you'd believe.........I've seen so much of this in long-term care that I just don't even put up with it anymore---the key is to be firm...
  15. VivaLasViejas

    Pet peeves!

    VivaLasViejas replied to ADN 2002's topic in General Nursing

    I hate it when residents or family members, who wouldn't dream of speaking disrespectfully to me, are mean to my staff and treat them like something they found on the bottom of their
  16. VivaLasViejas

    I dont want to do this anymore!!!

    VivaLasViejas replied to RNOTODAY's topic in General Nursing

    To the OP: As you can see, you are SO not alone here. I could have written much of the above post myself; although I've been an RN for 9 years, only now have I found a job I really love. I bounced...
  17. VivaLasViejas

    Dress code...Shorts in summer

    VivaLasViejas replied to ChevRN's topic in General Nursing

    It's not the residents who need A/C. They're always cold, unless it's 95 degrees and even then they still want a sweater. I've found that extra-loose long shorts, which we used to call 'culottes'...
  18. VivaLasViejas

    Has this ever happened to you?

    VivaLasViejas replied to dd_txrn's topic in Geriatric, LTC

    Your DON had no business doing what she did, but I know from experience that complaining family members can drive managers to desperate measures! That said, it doesn't excuse going off on the entire...
  19. VivaLasViejas

    OMG ! The price of gas! No reimbursement...

    VivaLasViejas replied to DutchgirlRN's topic in Home Health

    I wish I could recoup some of my expenses for gas these days, it's 12 miles one way to work, and then sometimes I have to go somewhere else to do an prospective-resident assessment (which I do get...
  20. VivaLasViejas

    Pushing IV Lopressor

    VivaLasViejas replied to burn out's topic in General Nursing

    I've never personally seen it happen, and I've pushed a lot of Lopressor over the years. However, that doesn't mean it can't happen, especially since the drug both slows the heart rate and lowers BP....
  21. VivaLasViejas

    Norm for blood in the urine???

    VivaLasViejas replied to nckdl's topic in General Nursing

    I'm sorry about your mom's friend. Blood in the urine can be a symptom of so many different disorders that it could take literally thousands of dollars' worth of tests to diagnose the problem, which...
  22. VivaLasViejas

    First Year Nursing Student - CNA over the summer?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Terb's topic in Nursing Career

    I started working as a hospital CNA during the summer after my first year in nursing school, and it really gave me a leg up on my clinicals the next fall, as well as practical experience in acute...
  23. VivaLasViejas

    Why do I hate this

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

    What you are experiencing is reality shock---it happens to all new grads when they find that the kind of nursing they learned in school bears absolutely NO resemblance to real life. The first year is...
  24. VivaLasViejas

    Near miss, should I be blamed?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Tony35NYC's topic in General Nursing

    This has to be one of the most egregious cases of hospital understaffing I have ever read. The only thing that you did wrong here was to accept the assignment and take report in the first place. All...
  25. VivaLasViejas

    kicked out of school- failed professionalism!

    VivaLasViejas replied to m_lanham's topic in General Nursing

    :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: (BTW, nice cleanup;)