RetiredTooSoon

True. Forty-four weeks is much different than 50. I questioned the likelihood of the doctors being accurate, but apparently the one was well known for being able to judge EDC within 3-4 days, a week at most, so at best, I cooked for 43 weeks. I have no clue why they left me in there so long; I really don't. I know Mom resisted being induced and her doctor at the time let it be as long as she felt safe. Had I not arrived on the Saturday, Mom was going to be induced the following Monday and as it was, I had to be taken with forceps. I told Mom that I probably knew exactly what this world held for me and wanted nothing of it.

I managed to get necrotizing fasciitis from a dental visit. I had a drainage tube trying to empty a seroma on my leg and it was time for my annual dental check-up. They'd asked if I'd had surgery, but I said no, since the drainage tube was just done via ultrasound. I'd told the hygienist about it and she said there shouldn't be a problem. A few days later, I started to develop redness and swelling to the leg. They pulled out the tube and put me on abx for cellulitis. Three or four days after that, my shin and calf started turning black. Rush into ER, admitted, sent to the OR, "Multiple necrotic areas along fat and fascia". Causative agent? Strep Viridans-oral bacteria.

My grandmother said it was from peeing on the side of the road, not the middle. And pimples on your tongue were caused by telling a lie.

While oral sex was not required, home care nurses helping para/quad patients here were told that part of their expected duties may be helping their patients with sexual needs, including assisting with masturbation (helping patient place hands correctly) or sex with a partner. That edict didn't last very long.

You know you are a nurse when: -Discussing dismemberment over a gourmet meal seems perfectly acceptable to you. -The phone rings at home and you answer as if you were at work (Operating Room, Retired Too Soon, RN)-I did this to my uncle once; he was completely baffled. -You believe there should be a licencing process that people have to successfully complete in order to be allowed to breed. -You look at people's hands to see what kind of veins they have -Family and friends ask for medical advice, ignore it, then go to the doctor, get the exact same advice and come home, amazed at the brilliance of the doctor.

An ICU nurse I know had a family from China whose wife/mother attempted suicide by hanging and was now brain dead. The doctors talked to them about organ donation, turning of the respirator, etc, but the family declined both, insisting that they had to take her to China for a brain transplant, saying that the Chinese had this technology and her life would be saved if they just could get her back to the Orient and find a suitable donor. What they didn't consider is the 'donor brain' they'd get (if such technology were available) would be full of the other person's memories, not their loved one's.

My mom was pregnant 44 weeks with me. She had two doctors confirm the EDC, based on dates and belly size. I baked for so long, I was dysmature-I'd started to shrink d/t the beginnings of placental insufficiency.

As a first year student, we had to be directly supervised the first three times we gave medications in each form (oral, IV, IM, sc). If all went well, we could give medications without direct supervision, but were always reminded to talk to our instructor or RN if we had questions.

When I was a student in the early 90s, we bagged our deceased patients naked. It was a case of "we've always done it this way"-probably a leftover from when patients were shrouded, not bagged. It always made me uncomfortable to do that; I didn't see the point of stripping them naked and couldn't the funeral home just send the gowns, etc, back to the hospital/nursing home? They're certainly there often enough and all our facilities used the same laundry service. When my grandmother died in 1996, the funeral director told us that the hospital put her in the body bag still in her hospital gown. We didn't view her prior to cremation, so I can't confirm or deny what he said. My dad died in 2009 and when we went to see him in the funeral home before cremation (we didn't have him embalmed or have a formal viewing), he was still in a hospital gown and covered in white blankets, one underneath him, one on top. The funeral director said that the hospice always sent their patients over in gowns and sheets and that he would return the gowns to them. Dad was probably cremated naked, but he went to the funeral home in a gown and sheet.

Agreed. I don't like "passed away" either; I prefer either the reality-'he/she died' or, if a euphemism is required, 'transferred to the Eternal Care Unit'.

I had to leave nursing (and all work) due to illness in 2000, hence "RetiredTooSoon".

You work ICU and there are patients well enough to eat toast, nevermind other foods? I can't think of more than one ICU patient ever that's been able to consume more than clear fluids.

The term 'nurse' is not a protected term, but 'registered nurse' is in many provinces and states. If they call themselves a nurse and you challenge them, "A registered nurse?" and they answer in the affirmative, you may have a legal case in some areas that could land them a fine or up to 6 months in jail.

For regular charting, I would sign RtSoon, RN. On formal correspondence like resume cover letters or other letters where my nursing education was relevant to what I was writing about, I'd sign, RtSoon RN, BScN. I had a third professional designation that I never used, as it was three words long and would just confuse the masses.

They were already clients when I started nursing school in 1991-or at least, that was about when the move started to make the change. My one instructor refused to use the word client, snorting, "Hookers have clients; nurses have patients". If anyone was dozing in class, they were wide awake after she said that.

You're not too old at all. There were men in my nursing program ranging in age from 32-46. As long as you're physically fit and mentally ready for the challenge, go for it.

One time I was visiting my parents. I went to answer the phone and said, "Operating Room, RetiredTooSoon". My poor uncle was completely baffled. It was my name, my voice, but I'd just told him that he'd called the hospital. At least I didn't answer the phone when my work took me into the morgue; that would have really creeped him out.

When I was working, I was in the OR, so puke green was the only colour we wore. I had a few bonnets made up with flowers on them and in one case, a pink bonnet with yellow ducks; I'd wear that on tonsil days. This past spring, I spent a week in hospital with necrotizing fasciitis and another 10 days in hospital a few weeks later to repair the residual damage. I personally liked the bright colours and prints some of the nurses were wearing; it brought a bit of cheer to my day and a boost to my mood. I don't know I'd like Precious Moments or Sesame Street, but Tweety Bird and bears in scrub tops were just fine with me.

We never had to do that. When we learned basic care (Bathing, bed changes with patient in bed, physical exam), we practiced on each other, but wore either shorts and a top or else a swimsuit and shorts and often were also covered by a hospital gown, to better simulate a hospital care environment. We didn't do anything to each other's breast or genital regions-that was either done on models or, in the case of lady partsl exams during labour, were only done on patients by senior students who had chosen to do an OB specialty. Nowadays there are fairly accurate anatomical models for every part of the human body. We used rubber models of the vulva and member to learn peri-care and catheterization and the instructors borrowed rubber breasts to help us learn breast exams, both for cancer checks and for checking lactation in nursing mothers. Apparently in the very old days, the students did lady partsl exams on each other, but I don't know if that's the truth or just an urban legend. In today's nursing schools, anything too intimate is done on models.

Now I know this is a humorous post, but you did ask for an explanation on this one and it is something I've observed before, so you're gonna get it. 1. Depending on the reason for admission, the patient's doctor may have never seen, let alone handled, the patient's breasts or genitals, or if they did, it was an unintentional moment as a drape was lifted or a gown slipped. As a nurse, you may be responsible for bathing, wiping or otherwise viewing/handling those areas as part of your routine care. 2. The patient may have been asleep when the doctor did have to touch or handle their private areas, whereas they are fully awake when you are there caring for them. I have cared for women who see their family doctor for all of their well woman care and only go to an OB/Gyn for tubals or other surgeries. In one or two cases, the male OB had not done a lady partsl exam on the woman (tubal, reproductive anatomy reported normal by GP) until she was asleep. Had she wound up with an anaesthetic reaction and had to be admitted, in her mind, no man had seen or touched her genitals and now you want to be assessing her bleeding and peri-pad? Uh-uh. 3. The patient has taken the time to build trust with their doctor over several visits. They don't know you from Adam, so they can't have assessed you enough to understand that you are a professional. 4. There is still the stereotype that men go into nursing to be able to legally grope at women in vulnerable times, but doctors to go medical school with the true intention of curing and caring. 5. There is still the belief that most men are fixated on women's breasts, butt and what's between their legs, but a pass is often given to physicians. That same level of trust is not given to pretty much any other medical professional. 6. In the case of a woman needing Gyn/Uro/cardiac surgery and the only option being a man, she may feel so vulnerable knowing those parts of her body were seen and handled by men once that she doesn't want any other men to see her there. Those are the things I came up with for why a woman might not want a male nurse, but most are situations assuming you've got to regularly assess or handle those parts of her body. For a routine admission where their own care is largely done by themselves and their more private areas aren't your focus, I can't tell you why. I know I'd have no issue with it; the male nurses I've had up to this point in my life have been wonderful.

My last nursing school rotation in 1996 was Hospice. The manager had me passing meds-20 patients, most on q2h meds, plus meds for BTP. When I said that wasn't exactly how I had envisioned a hospice rotation and had hoped to learn about end-of-life care, hold the patients' hands, get to know them, she snapped at me that there wasn't TIME to get to know the patients or hold their hands. How horrible is it that when someone is coming to the end of their lives that the very people who are charged with the gift of being able to guide them through those last days are supposed to just pass pills, get them dressed and walk away? My friend died on that same unit in 2005 and it was much better then, as it was when my dad died in hospice October of last year, but I still remember telling me I didn't have time to get to know the dying patients I was caring for. That made no sense to me.

Where I did my final rotations, the banana bag was saline with a mix of B vitamins.

I remember reading a book in elementary school about a girl who developed diabetes and had to test her urine twice a day. Insulin was only given morning and night and was not titrated to sugar levels. I remember being taught how to set up croup tents. We used humidified oxygen in the OR for our post-op T&As and jaw cases back in the late 90s and early 2000; not sure what they do now, as Feb. 2000 was when I had to leave nursing due to a medical condition and haven't been able to return.

there is still a product called bag balm; i know a few moms of babies who use it on their nipples and on baby's bottom. this wouldn't have been used in hospital, but watkins has a product that came in a bright pink metal tin that was similar to our polysporin or mecca ointment. it had some fancy name, but we called it cow tit salve-that was apparently its initial use and when farmers saw how it helped the sores on their cows' udders, they tried it on human skin. or so grandma told me, anyway. *shrugs* i do know it had a nice scent and it definitely seemed to help sores heal.

Before I go further: In this post, abortion is defined as the intentional destruction of a live fetus before viability. It does not include procedures done to treat miscarriages (sometimes called spontaneous abortion) or post-partum hemorrhage. Like others have said, it depends on the program. The hospital I trained at was a Catholic hospital and had a policy that no 'destructive procedures on live fetuses' were performed, so abortion (D&C, D&E, D&X) was never a concern. In special cases, if a woman knew her baby was going to die shortly after birth, they may permit labour to be induced prematurely and decline to perform resuscitative measures. Students in their first OB/Gyn rotations were not assigned to these cases; they were left for the RNs, although after the baby had died and the parents had relinquished the body to be taken to the morgue, the students may be allowed to see the body and if cause of death was obvious, be shown what was wrong and discuss how it came to cause the death. The hospital that performs abortions (D&C, D&E, D&X) on viable pregnancies only did so if the mother's life was in clear and present danger, if severe fetal abnormality was found. Students had the option of being present during their OB or OR rotations. That hospital also has the city's fertility program, so before the strict IVF/IVI rules were in place, they may have done selective reductions on high-order multiple pregnancies-and I believe the hospital still will do them on spontaneous higher order (3-5 fetuses) pregnancies. Students were not required to observe those procedures. Elective abortions (not ready to parent, don't want family to know, not willing to consider adoption) are only done in off-site clinics, where nursing students are not placed. Other hospitals in this area may permit labour to be induced before viability with no attempt at resuscitation in the case of anencephaly or other genetic disorders-usually junior students were not given those patients or patients with stillbirths unless they had established a relationship with the parents ahead of time through a clinic or being with the woman in labour with death of the baby coming unexpectedly at birth due to a cord accident during labour or undiagnosed anomaly that would be incompatible with life. When I did my OB rotation, I followed an older mom (44?) through her labour and as the baby was born, he came out blue, limp and flat. My job was to be with the mom and observe the labour, so I just stood by with her as the medical team worked on the baby. He was fine; he just came out too quickly (precipitate delivery) and needed a bit of help to get breathing. In the OR or in OB clinics, you may have a woman come through who has had a miscarriage but her body has been unable to expel the dead fetus or who is bleeding excessively. In those cases, a D&C is performed to clear out the uterus. That usually doesn't look like anything more than blood, although occasionally if the miscarriage happened further along (14-16 weeks), the doctor may try to deliver the dead baby intact-or sometimes identifiable body parts like arms and legs can get caught on the suction apparatus or be pulled out by the curette. That can be unsettling to see. Obviously every nursing program is different, but we had a conscience clause all the way through that if a case came up that could be considered very controversial like abortion, the student had the option of refusing to be part of the procedure *as long as* it was not an immediate life or death situation.