RetiredTooSoon

Several hospitals in this area will no longer reveal who the attending ER doctor is when asked before sign-in, telling the patient that if they're sick enough to be coming to the ER, then they are sick enough to see whoever is working that day/night.

She was inpatient for two nights for a simple lap chole?? That's day surgery here. I'd be going nuts even before she was admitted.

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 ha...

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 do...

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 correct...

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 ...

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...

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.

Amen. I wound up in hospital for 8 days last year with necrotizing fasciitis and 10 more days with complications from surgery to repair the cause of said nec fasc. I knew what was wrong as soon as I saw my leg turning black and I knew what could ha...

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 inst...

My last position was as an organ/tissue surgeon (tissue procurement specialist). When families donated their deceased loved one's tissues (heart valves, skin, eyes, bone, tendons), my job was to go to wherever the person's body was, do the surgery t...

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 se...

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.

I can't decide...these four top the list: 1. A patient's mother wrote a letter to my instructor, praising me up and down for how I cared for her daughter and grandbaby during Grandbaby's birth. She also included a picture of me weighing the baby....

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 are...

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...

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 an...

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 ans...

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 hosp...

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,...

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 han...