ted53

Just to add my little bit to this. I hate the term male nurse. Although married a long time now I never had any trouble getting dates with ladies who were not nurses. As for the masculine thing, I am also an ex- rugby player. Not much tougher than that.

Hi Hollyberry678. First of all let me say I am Scottish so I don't fully understand your drug names or all your abbreviations, I am experienced with cancer patients and very experienced with catheters. Second point, don't apologise for being new, everyone was at some time in their career and survived with the help of others. The fact you spoke to pharmacy and a doctor shows you care and are professionally thinking about your work. Everyone has been flustered by relatives at some point in their career. By being confident in your ability(not arrogant) you will be able to deal with these situations and relatives will relax after hearing confident explanations from you. Catheters; with an indwelling catheter the most common cause of blockage is a bladder infection. Very often small amounts of pus/debris block the eye of the foley preventing drainage. Inserting a new catheter and commencing antibiotics is an acceptable treatment, because if the infection is not treated the catheter will block again. A specimen should be sent to the lad to confirm infection and check the correct antibiotic is being prescribed. The next time you change a catheter keep the old one. Take it to your dirty area and using a scalpel blade slice the catheter down the middle. You will be surprised at the amount of debris that can collect in an indwelling catheter. This a very good teaching exercise. Good luck Edward

Hi NOMORE, what you are voicing has been voiced by every good nurse who ever entered the profession. If you titrate the dose and your patient's pain has been properly assessed then you are not overdosing your patient. We have natural opoid receptors in our body which makes morphine such a good pain killer. If you need more information read up The Gate Control Theory of Pain. Of course at the very end stages you may be slightly overdosing your patient but the goal should be a pain free patient. Remember everyone has the right to die with dignity, to die pain free and not to die alone. Sometimes when patients die the only other people present are nurses. I have never had any problem doing nothing else but sit with a patient breathing their last. regards Edward

I am interested in moving to the states from Scotland. I was advised to try this site for help. It is an excellent site and so large. Does anyone know of any recruiting agencies that specialize in nurse recruiting from abroad. I have gathered that this may take some time as visas are at present limited. Note where I am from, I can assure you guys a state with bad weather is no problem to me or my family. All help gratefully received Edward

Hi new to this website, I joined because I am hoping to move to the states. To answer you question,my daughter has had an egg allergy since the age of 3 months she is now 19. Her first reaction was to vomit when someone placed one drop of raw egg on her tongue which she swallowed. She also developed a very red face. since then she has had several reactions usually when ingesting eggs by accident. the reactions range from urticarial rash to wheezing and numbness on her tongue and lips. She has been tested in hospital 3 times as a child and her reaction was severe. There are varying degrees of sensitivity to all allergens but safety is the best option. As luck would have it my wife has developed a class one latex allergy. Last week she had a very severe reaction, including feeling her throat swell up. At the hospital her SPO2 was normal so she was given a dose of steroids and nil else. We tried to use the adrenalin pen but it failed, it was a cheap version. Anaphylaxis is a rare event, the symptoms can be classified as Itchy(the urticarial rash); wheezy(breathing is affected); leaky(cardiovascular symptoms such as dilation of blood vessels and can lead to loss of consciousness. Hope this helps