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

    After a few months off on forced medical leave, worried about losing my job after any slip

    VivaLasViejas replied to RNsteve's topic in General Nursing

    It's OK not to be great at acute care nursing. I wasn't either, even though most of my patients loved me and I enjoyed using my skills. I found my love was geriatric nursing and worked in assisted...
  2. VivaLasViejas

    My first job.. :(

    VivaLasViejas replied to cylmara's topic in General Nursing

    Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. You haven't got enough nursing experience to know where your niche is yet. I'm sorry your employer ended your contract but you have to get back in there...
  3. VivaLasViejas

    Do you stalk anyone here?

    VivaLasViejas replied to klone's topic in General Nursing

    Clowns are
  4. VivaLasViejas

    People who don't look before flushing (#2)

    VivaLasViejas replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

    Once I had a resident called Margaret who only pooped once a week, if that, so she had quite large ones when she did. She also had a wicked sense of humor. One night her aide brought me the bucket...
  5. VivaLasViejas

    People who don't look before flushing (#2)

    VivaLasViejas replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

    BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
  6. VivaLasViejas

    Co-workers mad that you're going to school

    VivaLasViejas replied to futurearmynurse25's topic in Patient, Colleague Relations

    My son is in LPN school and went through the same thing with his job. They refused to accept his FOUR WEEK notice and kept scheduling him, and it was like "what part of I QUIT don't you understand?!"...
  7. VivaLasViejas

    Christmas Greeting

    VivaLasViejas replied to FranEMTnurse's topic in General Nursing

    Merry Christmas to you too, Fran.
  8. VivaLasViejas

    Do you stalk anyone here?

    VivaLasViejas replied to klone's topic in General Nursing

    I always enjoy posts by Ruby Vee, Farawyn, Davey Do, and The Commuter, among others. I don't stalk anyone per se, but I do look for their posts.
  9. VivaLasViejas

    Help (state job vs. hospital job)

    VivaLasViejas replied to Nurse_cox's topic in Job Search, Interview, Resume

    I can't speak to the particulars of your state, but I do know that where I live the state benefits are fabulous. I had health insurance which cost all of $70 a month and covered 95% of my medical...
  10. VivaLasViejas

    Don't Be SAD! - Seasonal Affective Disorder

    VivaLasViejas replied to Brenda F. Johnson's topic in General Nursing

    I have SAD along with bipolar disorder, so I have to be careful using a light box lest it throw me into mania. Living in the Pacific NW where it's cloudy and wet all winter (and much of the spring and...
  11. VivaLasViejas

    Welfare Fraud

    VivaLasViejas replied to RNBSN1591's topic in General Nursing

    Yes, report it ASAP. It's people like that family who make it hard for those of us with legitimate needs. Shame on
  12. VivaLasViejas

    What are some of the most ridiculous requests you have heard?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Joe V's topic in General Nursing

    A male patient once walked up to me in the hallway with a bottle of hand lotion and asked me to rub some on his cojones. He then proceeded to show them to me, right there in front of God and everyone....
  13. VivaLasViejas

    Bipolar Type 11 AND Bilateral Cochlear Implants

    VivaLasViejas replied to SasZcats's topic in Nurse Disabilities

    I'm bipolar 1 and for the longest time I blamed my illness for every rotten thing that happened to me. It's easy to do. But ultimately we have more control over our situation than we think, because we...
  14. VivaLasViejas

    Plantar fasciitis, just curious have you had it?

    VivaLasViejas replied to tsm007's topic in General Nursing

    Yep, I've had it twice, when I worked med/surg years ago. Never had it since. The best treatment I found was a boot that kept my foot flexed at night...it was a lifesaver. You can buy them at medical...
  15. VivaLasViejas

    Reporting Asperger's Syndrome to Manager/Preceptors

    VivaLasViejas replied to purplegal's topic in Nurse Disabilities

    I've been burned badly by disclosing mental illness to my employer. I don't recommend it unless one absolutely, positively must have accommodations in order to perform her/his
  16. VivaLasViejas

    Once you work in acute care you can't go back to LTC?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Cola89's topic in General Nursing

    I went back and forth between acute care and LTC several times. The same was true with management and floor nursing. I don't know if it was just the times, but I never had issues with career mobility....
  17. VivaLasViejas

    I'm bipolar, can I be a psychiatric nurse?

    VivaLasViejas replied to Frybot's topic in Psychiatric

    It all depends on whether you can keep your focus on the patient and not over-identify with him/her. It's all too easy to overshare. I have some nurse friends who advised me to go into psych nursing...
  18. VivaLasViejas

    I Don't Get the Anxiety Part of Nursing

    VivaLasViejas replied to missmollie's topic in General Nursing

    I was a nurse for over 17 years and I never lost that slight feeling of trepidation at the beginning of a shift. That was a good thing, because it kept me on my toes and prevented me from becoming...
  19. VivaLasViejas

    A Wardrobe Malfunction, or Why Not to Wear A Halloween Costume to Work

    VivaLasViejas posted a topic in General Nursing

    Take the wearing of Halloween costumes. I've donned all sorts of crazy things in the name of fun, including a streetwalker outfit that almost got me arrested once, and a cowboy's gun belt that some...
  20. VivaLasViejas

    Nurses with asthma

    VivaLasViejas replied to VampyrSlayer's topic in General Nursing

    I was a nurse with asthma. Certain cleaning chemicals triggered episodes and eventually the hospital where I worked had to change to something less offensive to my airways, but other than that, it's...
  21. VivaLasViejas

    Depressed self-referral to ED

    VivaLasViejas replied to jana82's topic in General Nursing

    This is an unfortunate misconception that just won't go away. I take five psychiatric medications every day, some of them twice a day, and they make me neither "happy" nor stoned. They do, however,...
  22. VivaLasViejas

    Depressed self-referral to ED

    VivaLasViejas replied to jana82's topic in General Nursing

    Here's how it went down when I was a suicidal patient exactly one year ago. I had a plan, the only question in my mind was which way to go---the pills or the gun. I called my psychiatrist only because...
  23. VivaLasViejas

    I am the worst person ever.

    VivaLasViejas replied to bicuspidball's topic in Nursing Humor

    Raising four kids, I employed a boatload of different terms for that particular function: air muffins, breeze biscuits, backdoor bouquets, rump burgers, poots, blowing the butt trumpet, putt-putt---at...
  24. VivaLasViejas

    I am the worst person ever.

    VivaLasViejas replied to bicuspidball's topic in Nursing Humor

    I'm a terrible person too. In the months before my gallbladder finally gave up the ghost, I had THE most awful gas problem and it always liked to kick up its heels at the most inopportune times...like...
  25. VivaLasViejas

    Returning to Nursing After Depression

    VivaLasViejas replied to hazyblue's topic in Retired Nurses

    Depression sucks. I've got the battle scars, thme meds, and the diagnosis to prove it (I'm actually bipolar, which means I get to experience both ends of the spectrum). When I'm down, I'm down on...