freefalr

well, his finger might not really count as a foreign object...since it's domestic. poor erik! you lucky dog!!

yuck. it looks like it might be better suited to the stage (i'm thinking teen pop or maybe country-western--"fancy rose" could be her name! :) ). the way it's advertised is interesting. the "nurse" appears to be leaning casually and seductively against a wall, hair all aflowing, makeup perfectly applied, eyes turned dreamily heavenward...yes, that's just how we all look & feel when we're at work. what if they'd put her in that top with white scrub pants, white shoes, hair pulled back, minimal makeup, stethoscope around her neck...? nah, still icky. (it's neat that this thread and the discussion live on!)

my patient passed away today. young man, age 60's, of severe CAD and cardiomyopathy which started in his 40's. his wife was present during the attempted resuscitation. i am just grateful he didn't collapse and code at home, that he made it to the ER before needing intubation. my heart aches for his family. i feel thankful to have known him. another patient was just diagnosed with nonischemic cardiomyopathy, her EF is 20-25%. had been feeling unwell for a few months (cough, fatigue). she's a single mother just a few years younger than i am. had to keep from crying when she did. just needed to share. thanks for listening and understanding, my comrades. you're the only ones who really "get it" from a nurse's perspective. :redbeathe

rubyvee, i have no words of wisdom, i just wanted to offer you support. a nurse coworker of mine just went through a similar experience with her mom. it was a long and difficult road. my mother is refusing to get some further memory testing after doing not very well on the mini mental status exam at her PCP's recently. i guess time will tell w/her, but i'm worried. we are here to listen and be there for you. (((rubyvee)))

i don't know how to do the multiple quoty things, so: @ dolcevita: so true! i'm helping my preteen stepdaughter-to-be learn this (uh uh, no "hiney shorts," missy...as comfy as they may be! the message you are sending to the world is one you don't fully understand yet!). i remember my mom getting after me about some of my clothing choices, too. now i understand what all her fuss was about. my dear mom. @ leslie: dang, i knew it felt awfully breezy today!! seriously, it's not inconceivable! i'm 17.5 weeks pregnant and definitely have pregnancy brain. am calling everything "hooziewhatzer" because of my word-finding inability. yesterday i came to work with antiperspirant under just one armpit. i was singularly sweaty. but i remembered my pants!! @ fribblet: i'm coming as carol burnett as scarlett o'hara, with the curtain rod across my shoulders. i could just turn around & clock an obnoxious someone "accidentally," and then be forgiven since i'm the quintessential southern belle -and- an awesome comedienne. oh! and i could make everyone else do my work, if i felt like it. my brain is mush.

yep, to be honest, my first thought would be, "whoa, nurse! what is going on here?" i'd be more distracted by the tight-fitting leggings than anything. well, maybe the overflowing cleavage too. in reading all these posts, i've realized what pushes my buttons (that's not the phrase i'm looking for, but i can't think of anything else right now!) most is the way someone's clothes fit. overly tight, provocative clothing in a professional setting will give me pause more than any particular pattern (the cleanliness/overall condition of the clothes notwithstanding). i'm typically pretty conservative in dress, especially at work (hair pulled back, mascara only, small earrings, short & unpolished nails). i appreciate those who feel comfortable showing a little more outside of work (that kind of confidence!), but at work is a different story. i remembered that i have a patient who wouldn't go back to a particular doc because she wore fishnet stockings in the office. she's known for her crazy colored hair, too. she's a very sharp, respected physician but/and her physical appearance is pretty racy! he just felt that w/her style of dress, she gave off the vibe that she wasn't serious enough about caring for him. i'm wearing a white scrub jacket & top today, by the way. :) i look very "nurse-y" (i am just kidding, being lighthearted, heehee, haha...). am learning from this thread, as by many others. food for thought!

i've liked hello kitty since elementary school, when my japanese-american friend introduced me to her. i like to say that i liked her before she was "cool" and sold herself out! i have a hello kitty scrub jacket my mom got me (she thinks i'm still 10). i wear it sometimes & my older patients seem to get a kick out of it ("oh, my granddaughter loves her!"). it's the only "cutesy" scrub item i have, and it doesn't make me feel unprofessional. hopefully my patients still take me seriously! ...but i wouldn't be caught dead in chambray scrubs or capris. blech.

my sister was admitted a few months ago with cellulitis. she was the only one in a semi-private room, at the end of the hall (ahh, quieter). they'd even let her significant other stay the night in a bedside chair. she complained to me, "they stuck me on this losers' wing and are ignoring me because i don't have insurance" (she'd recently lost her job & her insurance). i was incensed and set her straight right there. it started with, "are you safe and clean? are you in pain? have you gotten your medications? are your basic needs met?" and ended with, "believe me, your nurses/caregivers have no idea what insurance you have and don't give a darn. it has absolutely no bearing on how they care for you or anyone else." i hope she was sick & not thinking straight. (she does not wear an entitlement crown, but if she did...)

i listen to apical rate w/my stethoscope w/my right hand & palpate radial pulse simultaneously w/my left pointer & third finger (or the other way around, if necessary, which always feels weird!). learned to do this because of afib, ectopy, etc.

oo! this reminded me of a patient who described having "rota-cup" surgery on his shoulder. thought it was cute and it just stuck in my head for some reason. (dolcevita: i'm chicken! don't want to embarrass him and target myself. am worried he already gets my not-a-fan vibe. will you tell him for me? heehee )

our new administrator (of whom i am not a fan), recently put out a memo about customer service, etc. it read something like, "blahblah and blahblah are the basic tenants of our practice." must admit, would love to draw that to his attention, but i don't dare. or do i?

i got a BA in biology at 23, then my BSN at 30 in an accelerated second degree program, while also working full-time doing patient care. nursing school was absolutely dreadful, a nightmare. i still consider making it through at all an accomplishment. when i worked in the hospital, many of the nurses had BSN RN on their badges. some of my mentors had this distinction on their badges, and some of my mentors were kick-a$s ADN's and LPN's! it's a university-affiliated hospital with a nursing school, so i'm wondering if this is why the BSN part was prevalent on badges. the nurses i work with now have made me uncomfortable about having that distinction on my ID, so i don't. it's somewhere along the lines of "she thinks she's so smart," when in reality, i truly don't. there are many holes in my education, starting from elementary school! i am not a super-brain by any means. i don't like to draw attention to myself. it's not like i'm wielding my intellect (ha) around and attempting to make others feel less than. i just leave the BSN off. i am proud to have earned it, but placing it on my badge apparently might make my co-workers feel like i think i'm "better" than they are (when really i'm just kind of showing a battle scar, in my mind). i think a lot of it is about the attitude. someone can be a total snooty pants, regardless of what the badge reads. when i see someone with a baffling number of credentials behind his/her name, i think, wow that person has been fortunate to have gone to school quite a bit! i feel envious that she/he has been able to do so, since i love learning as much as the next nurse. i also think, sheesh, what schools loans there must be! :) (oh, and i don't think going to school equals learning, but you get what i'm saying.)

the needles are out of whack, either left or right of the little neutral circle at "zero." am wondering whether there's a way to get it back to zero/neutral. i can't find much online about how to do it. thank you. :)

l&d, i am so sorry for the loss of your sweet granny. prayers being said for you and your family. (((l&dnurse2be)))

oh leslie, i am so sorry for the loss of your beloved dad. i wish i could say something to comfort you. prayers of peace to you and your family. (((leslie))) love, freefalr

sheesh!! that's awful. thank you for posting this, nurse-lou. i don't facebook or myspace or linkedin or anything, but i do post here. like you said, you never know who could be reading. thank you for the heads-up!!

the lpn's i work with are awesome!! :redbeathe

EMSnut, just wanted to say i'm sorry that happened to you. like many of us, i've had this happen w/patients' families when i've done my absolute best in caring for their family member. still hurts my feelings when it happens, to be honest. when i'm being thrown to the wolves, i try to be comforted by the resonance in my heart & my gut that i've done what was right, followed p&p, etc. to me, what sucks most about it is how you were called out in a public space, and how your in-confidence venting was divulged by your former preceptor. disrespectful, undignifying, unnecessary, but unfortunately not surprising. something similar happened to me a few weeks ago & it burned for days. i almost posted here about it (maybe i still will). it shook me up, gave me food for introspection, and ultimately changed the way i feel about where i work (mostly just feeling less "safe"--safety can be a facade anyway). don't like them bring you down!! you're a dedicated nurse, you've worked so hard for your license & you're still learning, like we all are. allnurses is a safer place to vent. we won't talk behind your back. :redpinkhe

proudpops, i worked as a dialysis tech in my 20's & an emt in college. i loved both! as an rn, i absolutely draw upon skills i learned in both jobs. (just a small word of caution [sorry, i can't help it...& i know you're young, & you know this & it will be reinforced, but...], please protect your back. i strained mine as an emt & it's revisited me.) you sound like you have the work ethic & focus to succeed whereever you end up. best of luck with whatever path you choose! :)

mm, count me among the grammar-grumpy & oldish, too! i think use of textspeak in formal & professional communication is inappropriate, and i hope we don't trend in the direction of it someday becoming acceptable! i hate overuse of textspeak (texttype?) in e-mails. it hurts my brain & i think it makes the author seem a little dim. i don't think text language really has a place in verbal communication (like someone saying, "ell oh ell")...but am wondering if it will one day become the norm. that being said, i do sprinkle a little textspeak throughout my personal text and e-mail conversations, though! it's fun in a limited amount. (also, i am guilty of not using capitals & of loving the ampersand, even when it's not used properly.)

haven't tried it myself, but have heard (maybe on allnurses?) of putting ziploc bag of water in shoe, putting shoe in freezer. when water freezes, shoe expands... sheesh, it sounds really silly as i'm typing it! :) i wear danskos too & for me, they stretch to the comfy point after about 2 weeks of wear. i wear a 39 & have tried 40's, but they're just too big after they've stretched. hope your feet feel good soon!

yes! ^ this! so many of my patients seem overwhelmed with anxiety and stress. sometimes it takes just a little time with them (okay, sometimes more than just a little time) & the "right" questions for it all to come tumbling out. & there's the loneliness aspect, too. it's less scary to divert the attention elsewhere than to admit one is lonely and/or depressed. some people are not aware of these emotions. they are suppressed, then arise & are expressed physically. not conversion disorder-ish, just suppression. our society can be quite focused on the looking-good, the being in control. just my thoughts.

i absolutely believe in using correct grammar and spelling when charting or corresponding professionally. the last thing we nurses need is to seem uneducated or contribute to the "less than" misperception some still hold regarding our profession (relative to MD's, etc.). however, i also believe in speaking to my patient in terms he or she can understand & relate to. i use "y'all" quite a bit and don't feel unprofessional doing so. when i was a dialysis tech in my 20's, a med student (volunteering on the unit) corrected me when i asked one of my patients if he wasn't feeling good. i asked, "you're not feeling good?" "not feeling -well-," the med student said. yah, i know, but that's not how the patient phrased it. she said, "hey freefalr, i don't feel good." & i have a soft spot for the yinzers...my favorite coworker, an elizabeth township girl on our administrative staff, is a diehard steeler fan who yinzes people regularly. she is invaluable. :) but please, no profanity within earshot of patients! tacky.