zamboni

I've looked back and often asked myself this very question (damn middle age!). I've come to the conclusion that, while I could have made many better choices and not had to deal with so many issues of my own doing, I really dig the person I am now. I may not have become that person, had I not dealt with so many bad times. Sure, I might have had a big house or a nice retirement set aside by now...but that is certainly not a guarantee of being truly happy, which I am now (and totally cool! ) One thing my younger self did tell me, through all the dark times, was "You'll be fine. You deserve better and will get it". I was right. :) I do have one regret though. The day I allowed that damn orthodontist to do a plaster mold of my mouth for braces when I was in 7th grade. I started choking, and he and his staff held me down, forcing my mouth to stay closed (until I punched one square in the face to get free). I never got the braces, obviously. And to this day I'm still terrified of dentists and as a result, have terrible teeth. I don't regret not sucking it up, because what he did was wrong. I don't blame my parents, because it was what they could afford. But I guess I wish I had made myself go find someone else when I got older, and gotten things fixed.

I worked with a wonderful ER doc (who isn't THAT old), and sometimes when she would get tired, she would inadvertently write our nitro orders in grains. Always threw someone for a loop...you could almost guess what it was when you would hear a "*****" coming from the Pyxis room. We had free rein to take it back to her and give her heck about it.

A trick I learned a while back to use as an alternative to the sternal rub, when assessing response to pain....take your pen and place it on top of the pt's fingernail (nail bed), then squeeze down hard. Try it on yourself....hurts, doesn't it? :) I was taught this by a paramedic and he had several rationales. First of all, explaining big bruises on a person's chest sucks. Secondly, I've had plenty of pt's that could stay "unresponsive" during a sternal rub (I guess they were veterans of that particular move). Last, doing a rub puts you in a vulnerable position if the pt decides to react violently, where as squeezing a fingernail can be done with you standing almost out of reach. Besides, family members tend to freak if they see you "punching" their beloved in the chest...squeezing the nailbed can be done with them standing next to you and never seeing it. :) I've done lots of sternal rubs, and was a big fan. Now, I'm more of the covert "fingernail rub" kinda gal. It hasn't failed me yet.

I have just discovered what is my new favorite-of-all-time show..."24". We're watching the back seasons on DVD while keeping up with the current (and sadly, last) season. I am so happy to report that in an older episode, Jack Bauer finds an unconscious person (trying not to spoil here), and performs a picture perfect assessment, followed by proper CPR (proper by AHA standards in the early 2000s). When he's trying to keep someone alive that's been shot or stabbed, he uses direct pressure and pressure points (while screaming at them to give up what they know!). It was hysterical, because when he did the CPR, my boyfriend (who always cringes, waiting on my critique) looked over at me...I simply smiled and nodded. They "worked a code" in a clinic that was fairly spot on, although they gave up kinda quickly (in their defense, if I was working that code on someone with that much trauma, I would have bailed out too). I even predicted the intra-cardiac Epi dose before they did it...and given the situation, it's probably exactly what I would have done in real life (should I ever find myself in that ridiculous a situation...). It makes me happy that a show that uses any reality as a loose definition would go to the trouble to do simple little things like that right. And even though Jack survives being shot, stabbed, tortured, electrocuted, beaten, crashes, radiation exposure and bio-weapon exposure...I believe that would probably happen in real life too. Him doing proper CPR was probably the hottest thing I've ever seen on TV. :redbeathe:D

An A+. Last book I read was "Lance Armstrong-It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life". Fascinating book that I highly recommend to anyone!

In medicine...CT or MRI tech. No muss, no fuss. Get 'em in and out. Outside of medicine...run either a small hotel or a bar in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, or any where along the Mayan Riviera...maybe Tulum or Punta Allen. Live in Pamuul in my palapa, and spend my time living with and meeting interesting and fun people. Help out at the pet shelter in Playa. Maybe learn to weave bracelets and sell them to tourists on the beach for kicks. Guess which one I've put more thought into.

I'm curious as to why no scrubs? I mean, you've already got the job, and the job entails wearing scrubs. I wouldn't wear prints or anything like that...when I get hired I always ask what colour scrubs and go buy some. Maybe it's different in a smaller facility, but in larger places, I'm pretty sure the CEO isn't going to remember me, no matter what I'm wearing. Plus every time afterwards any of those orientation people see me, I will be wearing them. If I have to sit through 8 hours of folks droning on about fire exits and late policies, I'm going to be comfy (but in my professional uniform). Maybe it's just me. Heck, the last two jobs I got, I wore scrubs to the interview (after working 12 hours), and got the jobs.

I was wondering if any one had any knowledge of American nurses working in Mexico, even for short stints (like volunteer work). I know Mexico has some employment laws about foreigners doing their jobs and such, and I wonder what their staffing is. I've never even seen agencies placing nurses in Mexico, although I see ads for other places out of the country. Just asking if anybody has any knowledge of whether or not they ever use American nurses, and what may be involved.

This ^^^^^ is the perfect answer.

We're colour coded by job. RNs- royal blue, techs-tan, resp- green, etc...it is the same for all the floors (although it may be different for OR...I hardly ever see them.) I don't think it helps the patients, but I agree with other posters that it helps me. Heck, I ID myself to the pts as an RN, and some of them still don't get it. But in a large hospital where it takes a while to learn people's faces, I like knowing who is doing what. We buy our own, and I'm very ok with that. I buy scrubs that fit me, without being to short or falling off, and in that new soft material that feels so good (Grey's Anatomy scrubs). I don't mind, because I don't know anybody else who has a job where they're supplied clothes for work. Just seems like a weird concept to me. (Besides, what other profession that makes in the range that nurses do gets away with wearing a $20-$40 outfit to work? Even a pair of Dockers and a decent polo shirt is gonna run around $75-$100). And yeah, we wash our own. Been doing my own laundry my entire adult life, can't imagine letting anyone else do it.

As someone earlier pointed out, the job of a nurse is often to speak up and advocate for the patient...even sometimes putting one's butt on the line for that patient's best interest. It's not like a retail job, where you have to put up with unreasonable customers because "the customer is always right". It's possible (since none of us were there) that they were attempting to lessen their patient's pain and suffering. You don't just shut up and accept that when it's your patient, just to pacify a family member's discomfort with grief. Sure, it can be handled in different ways, some good/some bad. But in an emergent situation, you advocate for your patient. Period. One thing that I can't get out of my head. You say the patient's Living Will wasn't found until after her surgery. Since your brother was her caregiver for so long, surely he knew where the document was kept. It's quite sad that it took that long for the document to be found. I'm sorry also that you have been involved in this situation, and that your brother is grieving for his friend. But I am glad that she is no longer suffering. And make no mistake, she was suffering her last days.

Are there any hospitals that are testing for and refusing to hire persons that drink alcohol during their off time? I don't mean coming to work impaired, obviously. But if it's all about making an employee live a healthy lifestyle for our own good, shouldn't drinking be right there next to it?

This is pure genius! I'm so going to use this next time. Might want to swab off the top of the container a bit...but I love this idea.

Nurses are human beings with emotions, not robots. Emotions are funny things in that we aren't always in control of where they lead our minds. Everyone has "that point" emotionally, and to ignore it or expect that it must NEVER happen is dangerous and neglectful to our coworkers and peers. Hell, the Ft Hood shooter was a caregiver. His peers expected him to be able to "provide care and not let it get to him" (and many other thoughts being tossed around in this thread). That didn't work out so well, did it? I work emergency, with an adult and pedi population. I would be alert if a pedi code came in, and the nurse whose room it was being worked had a child the same age. I wouldn't demand they not treat the patient, but I'm watching them to see if they're coping ok. I once worked with a woman who had lost her mother to a drunk driver, and it was her first week back. A drunk driver was brought in, and no one expected the nurse to care for him that soon after her tragedy...we swapped patients. She soon recovered emotionally and was able to provide care for these frequent patients, but we still provided her with a little TLC when she did. The community around Ft Hood is so closely tied to the base and it's military culture. My heart just ached for the staff that had to care for this patient. Yeah...you provide care, not judgement. But for the staff, if they didn't have someone they cared about on base that day, they were likely close to someone who did. To expect that emotions were forbidden to play a role is wrong. Would you assign the shooter to a nurse who's husband was on the base that day? I suspect that is one reason he was transferred to Brooks....military staff there are familiar with the distinct emotions that go along with "caring for the enemy" (similar to corrections nurses). Even so, the staff (civi and military) that provides care to him has demons to deal with that most of us are, thankfully, unfamiliar with. To ignore those emotions and expect staff to treat a patient such as this one without any aftermath is sad and dangerous. We all have our "breaking point". I have never had a patient that I couldn't care for because of my own personal baggage. But I have always been acutely aware of where my point may be lurking during that particular epoch in my life, and I would hope that should I be forced to face that demon one night, my coworkers would help me...and not simply say, "You are a nurse, get over it and provide care and don't let your feelings play a part."

At one place I worked, I counted what I considered X5 documentation for a med.. 1) scanning in Emar 2) nurses notes (written) 3) signing off on the ER orders 4) signing off on the CP pathway sheet 5) signing off on the admit orders (as "first dose given in ER") All for a dang aspirin....gah! Ironically, it took as long to scan it as it did to write it in the four other places. Total madness.