Fly4Life12

we do lying supine, sitting with feet dangling and standing if able.

I worked 3pm-3am like this- (week 1)-mon, tues, thurs, (week 2)-mon, tues, thurs, (week 3)- mon, saturday, sunday (week 4)- mon, tues. the only hard part was working the 4 12's in a row. i had a deal with another worker and switched to work my sat, and sunday, she'd work that monday so i had a day off, then worked tues, weds, thurs, and i loved it. i wish i could go back but since im still in school, the schedule gets in the way. now i work 7p-7a friday, saturday, sunday. puts a bit of a damper on the social life to say the least, but its alright. i enjoyed the 3-3's though. the best of every shift.

is lithium still the drug of choice for bipolar? i didnt like how lithium worked for me, so now im on 5mg of zyprexa and 225 of effexor XR. seems to be a pretty good combination as my rapid-cycling is not so severe. although i do still think of suicide often, still have my battles with food and eating, and i have to talk to a councelor. i understand that bipolar is a disorder much like any other medical disorder. i really cannot help how i feel and my meds cannot be controlled. im not a bad person for feeling the way i do. some days are just tougher than others.

I've been recently diagnosed with type I bipolar disorder and I seem to work just fine when controlled with meds. I dont know what I would do if i stopped taking them.

I'm good friends with a nurse who has epilepsy. She does just fine at work. Sometimes she will just sense a seizure might come on and has had to go home because of that. and i've witnessed one of many seizures. just as there are other nurses who have heart conditions, lung conditions, even psychological conditions, there will be nurses with neuro conditions as well. Take care of yourself!

I work in the ER and when I work a day shift i usually get a lunch break, when i work evenings i sometimes get a dinner break, and when i work nights, i rarely get a dinner break. and when i do, i usually scarf something down at the nurses station. but i totally hear you about others rolling their eyes at you. people are great about picking up where i left off when my shift ends though. when its busy breaks are rare. but i ALWAYS find time to go to the bathroom and drink some soda- my two musts! i also don't mind taking patients to catscan because i get to SIT DOWN while they go through the scanner! don't compromise for less than you're worth. i understand most nurses must have a break to regroup- esp. in the demanding stressful world of the ER. stand up for yourself, pace yourself, no your limits, and yes, someday you'll get an entire break without feeling guilty about it!

I worked this last fourth of july and helped the PA suture 16 people's lacerations and I was only there for 8 hours!

All these stories just remind me of an experience I had last week. This sweet woman in her 60's came in with difficulty breathing. She was more comfortable in her wheelchair than the cot and hard to get up, so we let her sit in the wheelchair. When she asked for help to go to the bathroom I kindly asked her what was easiest for her to do. She was about 300 pounds and unable to stand. She scooted up to the edge of the wheelchair (I was praying she wouldn't just plop down on the ground!) and asked me to get a cup that was smashed up behind her. She placed it right underneath herself and went! I was amazed that she had such good aime, despite how grossed out I was. But whatever works!

it just depends on what doc is on. usually sux and versed. i've seen etomidate and vecuronium and rocuronium though. never seen ketamine.

While i was working as a tech in a busy ER, one of the nurses asked me to see what her patient was yelling about. I went into the room of a 63- year old woman who spoke very little english. She was there for possible GI bleed and I had a hard time understanding what she wanted me to do for her. She kept yelling "DOUCH, DOUCH ME!" I explained to her that I we dont douch women in the ER and that she could take care of that on her own. She started yelling at me for being a bad person because she couldnt reach. She went on to crawl out of bed and give her husband money to go to the grocery store to buy her a douching kit. That is just one request of many that I hadn't heard before. The scariest was when a van and 10 squad cars pulled up right outside our trauma bay. Not knowing what was going on a nurse and I walked out to see these people and the cops were firing at each other. The people dropped their guns and started screaming at me to get this guy who had been stabbed out of the van. I said "No, not until he's been searched for weapons." My god, I've never been in the middle of a hold-up before!

I agree with 3pm-3am... most of the time I just ran and ran and ran. But that all depends on everything. never can tell in the ER except you just know its going to be bad with certain docs, certain events and, of course, the moon.

When I hear stories like this I always think to myself, "Who are these nurses and where did they come from?" Most ER docs that I've worked with are so good about letting the nurses give pain meds (and not necc. narcs if seeker is a frequent abuser) until they can get in to see them. I know it's not unusual to have a 2+ hr wait for the dr. but goodness sakes?! I try not to go 1/2 hr. checking on my pt's. Sometimes I get wrapped up with a trauma, but I ask SOMEONE to watch over them for me. And don't think for a second that back pain is a silly reason to go to the ER. I'm sorry you had such a poor experience.

I'm sorry you had a sucky shift- I did too! Had a 20-year old girl hit by a car at 40-mph. Definately DOA but they worked her anyway. It was terrible. Family was worse. I hope tomorrow goes better. Hope your resident is okay too. Hang in there.

i use first names more when im working in the ER (except for 40+) then i do when im on the floor. thats probably because there are younger people there, more my age. But always the older adult should be addressed by his/her preference. as stated in all the posts above, i just wanted to add myself as well.

12 hour shifts were my favorites (i do 8's now that i dropped down to PT). It looked like this- week 1: mon, wed, thurs week 2: mon, wed, thurs week 3: mon, fri, sat, sun week 4: mon, wed, thurs it was great i only had to do one weekend a month, but that weekend that i did work i had one day off in between 6 12 hr shifts (wk 3-4). Thats what killed me.

that is the one thing im terrified of. i know when i graduate i will be desperate for any place that will hire me. im already "in" with the department i work for, but there usually arent too many openings in our ER for nurses. they do hire new grads which is awesome, but who knows when they will have an opening. i just will die if i have to be stuck on a floor, esp. ortho at that.

Usually we have a nurse A, a nurse B, a medic/tech/CP1, and a recorder. then the residents, drs, etc. we dont always get a nurse B for Red traumas, and usually never for Yellow traumas, but we are supposed to. we are usually too busy to pull another nurse away from her patients. the pediatric dept. (we have an adult side and peds side) usually sends us one of their nurses to either be B or to record. sometimes the housing superviser comes down to record. Sometimes the LifeFlight nurses come to help us as well.

thank you all for your encouraging, even empowering, words and advice. I know that I will make an excellent nurse when that day comes. I know Im entitled to my fair share of mistakes, and I know that I will make them. How else am I going to learn! Thanks all.

I'm about 10 months away from graduating from nursing school, and ive worked in an emergency room for a couple of years, so i know a thing or two. I dont make mistakes, I dont have room to make mistakes. So last night one of the RN's asked one of our techs to switch this pts iv fluid from potassium to NS and run it in at 800ml/hr. well, he was on his way up to the roof to get a pt coming in from lifeflight and asked me to change the pt in 6's iv pump from 150 to 800/hr. ok- so i ran in there quit while in the middle of doing 50 other things (on a holiday weekend we are swamped with 20 people in the waiting room, rooms and hallways full, and ems coming in with trauma after trauma). i didnt even LOOK at what was hanging. the nurses rarely ever hang K in the ER, it usually waits until they get upstairs for the floor nurses to do. Stupid me. i should have looked and i should have known. Luckily the nurse taking care of that pt. went into the room shortly after and noticed my stupid stupid mistake. I could have easily killed that patient. I am so not worthy to be a nurse now. im afraid that nurse will tell other nurses now and they wont be able to trust me. i am not stupid- and i know that i will make an excellent nurse- but goodness- im feeling pretty worthless right now.

just maggots in ulcers...

just maggots in ulcers...

we just put tv's in our rooms, and at first i thought it was a really bad idea- but it has really worked to our favor. if we need to go in and talk to the pt. or when the dr. goes in, its easy to just turn the tv off. but sometimes the wait is really long and it really helps. except for the fact people have stolen most of our remote controls. i just tell the pts family members to turn the channel for the pt bc we dont have remotes. i havent had to turn the station for anyone yet. however, our trauma rooms dont have tvs. im all about the vcr's, EMTPTORN.

In Nursing school I schedule time to work out. i work nights and go to school full time... its the only thing that works.