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

    Anti-Dentites and Anti-Doctor-ites Unite!

    I haven't been to a dentist in over 30 years. :stone I am, however, getting to be pretty good about regular MD visits and the annual GYN stuff........middle age comes with an increasing need for...
  2. VivaLasViejas

    Can someone who hasn't had children become a Doula?

    I've never been a terminal patient, but I'm darned good at caring for people in that condition, as well as their families. You don't have to have "been there, done that" to be a good...
  3. VivaLasViejas

    vancomycin in snfs

    Yes, you should hold Vanco until the trough level is known, as those numbers are essential for the proper dosage to be calculated. I know LTC is notorious for late lab draws (and other...
  4. VivaLasViejas

    State Surveyors....

    Oh, I almost went over to the dark side a few years ago because I hated what I saw when I was working in LTC and wanted to make things better, but the job didn't pay enough to make it worth all the...
  5. You & I must be kindred spirits.....I can't resist doing the sit-n-spin thing either, especially when I'm about ready to tear my hair out at work and I need a stress-buster! :chuckle Glad you...
  6. Hear, hear! I've never seen anything as blatantly inhuman and inhumane as what was witnessed by the OP, but I've gone rounds with docs many times on pain control issues, and the clincher is usually...
  7. You said it, jnette!! :yelclap: Thank you for saying so eloquently what I too feel about nursing, and "NURSING" both. :) Yeah, and the $$ ain't bad
  8. VivaLasViejas

    Ok, so there's this obese patient...

    Does your facility not have a Hoyer lift? I know the older models didn't hold very much weight, at least not by today's standards (I think our old one went up to 350#), but they make lifts now that...
  9. VivaLasViejas

    IN LABOR in fifth month

    Slim to none. It's just way too early, even for the child of a healthy mother, to be born.....I can't even imagine the trouble they'd have with the baby's blood sugars, and that's only one of the many...
  10. I loooove Krispy Kremes........thank the Lord the nearest store is in Portland, an hour-and-a-half away, so I don't get to have them very often. :chuckle Actually, right now I couldn't care less...
  11. Had an interesting experience when I took my sister and BIL to Portland International this morning: as I was pulling into the terminal, we saw a woman lying on the ground with several people standing...
  12. I've been on Paxil and Ativan for years. I'd suffered from bouts with clinical depression since my early teens, but it wasn't until I'd been a nurse for awhile and saw the devastation wrought upon...
  13. We don't consider the use of side rails or gerichairs as a restraint at my hospital (at least, not yet, but give it time ). These are part of our fall prevention protocol, which also calls for close...
  14. VivaLasViejas

    Challenge: 25 Words or Less

    Clock in, run, admit, watch teams for nurses on lunch, new post-op, run, admit--oops, forgot lunch, take team @ 3, discharge, feed, report,
  15. VivaLasViejas

    What style of music do you listen to the most?

    Isn't it funny how we seem to be divided along generational lines only when it comes to rap and heavy metal?? Those two genres are the only ones I personally can NOT stand, and I see a lot of my...
  16. VivaLasViejas

    The Know-It-All nurse

    I work with one who was probably one of the laziest and sloppiest nurses on the floor---she frequently refused admits, missed orders, left paperwork and IV changes for the next shift, gave the wrong...
  17. VivaLasViejas

    What percent of clinicals spent doing gross stuff?

    We nurses probably have the world's biggest and best collection of sh** jokes, descriptions, and true stories. :chuckle Handling anything that's warm, wet, and not yours is certainly not the most...
  18. Sometimes I'd love to be able to remind certain types of patients that a hospital is NOT Burger King---you can't have it your way!! In practice, of course, I always try to accomodate their wants and...
  19. VivaLasViejas

    Snow emergency excuse?

    I live in an area where heavy snow is a rarity, so things pretty much shut down whenever it does happen. However, last winter we did have a good-sized dump, and yep, I had to go to work. I was also...
  20. VivaLasViejas

    Green Light for Admissions

    I've been the ADON/care manager for a couple of facilities like this, and I didn't stay long at either of them.......when it's MY license and MY livelihood at risk because some corporate bean counter...
  21. VivaLasViejas

    Med-Surg Roll Call

    I'm with you, RN-PA.......I never thought I'd stay in M/S for very long, the work is hard and getting harder by the day, but I love it! I'm not as fond of medical---most of our medical pts. are either...
  22. VivaLasViejas

    Work Ethic?

    Work ethic........hmmmmmmm, I didn't even know I had one until I reached my 40s. Now it's so danged strong that I never call in unless I'm half dead, and I take my responsibilities to my workplace and...
  23. VivaLasViejas

    Humor and Nursing

    I'm often told by patients that I have a 'great sense of humor', because I laugh and joke with them, and even tease them when it's appropriate. The way I look at it, you can either laugh in this...
  24. VivaLasViejas

    17 lb baby!

    Oh, I don't know........my first baby, delivered lady partslly, was 9-11, and I had an episiotomy and still tore (OUCH). The pain was a 12/10 on the pain scale, and I received Demerol AND two...
  25. VivaLasViejas

    17 lb baby!

    My last child was 10 lbs. 9 oz., and I thought HE was huge!! I can't imagine carrying around a 17-pounder......oh, his poor