coogabooga

Now before some may see this thread and think "another nurse, not computer savvy, complaining of computers..." think again. I've worked with computers all my life and charted with computers throughout my experience in the hospitals. Some good, some b...

The program's name is laptor. It was developed by our company (first mistake).

If a patient has only been taking clear liquids for several weeks +, should u still be having bm's?? I have a 74yo ovarian CA that hasn't had a bm in over a week and a half. She's not impacted, stomach concave, soft, and very hypo active bowel sounds...

Yes her bowel habits obviously changed, but most of the time she can't take her meds. Can a body stop making stool of it's only clear liquids they're taking in?

Yikes, with 8 feet of colon it doesn't seem like there really is much to do. I wonder why they just give her a colostomy? What does your medical director suggest? Maybe u just need to play with doses and find a happy medium? Let me know how that wor...

Not a pharmacist or a chemist, but wouldn't the narcs being excreted through the urine be broken down into simpler forms, as though they pretty much no longer take the form of the drugs themselves? I haven't done much to speak of the issue, but I do ...

I'm struggling in general with therapeutic communication... Especially younger patients and their families. I've found myself in those awkward silences where I NEED to tell the families what to expect and those symptoms of dying, but then what?? They...

Eh?...

I've been reading a few posts on iv therapy with patients on hospice and I'm a bit confused.,,,why? Our company considers it "aggressive" but too me it's not so much aggressive as it is another thing for families to focus on aside from just comfort.....

I think it's really dependent on the situation.. Remind yourself what are the goals? In a perfect nurse world, that patient would have been turned q 2 hours BUT this is hospice. The goals are equally as important to the patient as it is to their fam...

Haven't been a hospice nurse very long, but I will say I do MUCH less lifting than in the ICU, for example. I understand, however, that I must be prepared for the occasional 250+lb body that needs post mortem care.... A lot of times it seems appropri...

Funny, I had no idea that I developed such an awesome debate issue ;-) Please, take my title to another thread. I'm sure it would be helpful there too :-D

Hi, I just wanted to see if anyone had a few words of wisdom in regards to glucose control in hospice patients: what's considered appropriate and what's not. I sometimes have a difficult time convincing patient's families that it is unnecessary to st...

"the specter of death has a way of distilling what’s important in life" Wow, couldn't of said it any better

Those are great responses. I often find it isn't the patient obsessing over the sugars, but the caregiver. Teaching (over and over again) about the hospice objective is imperative.

I too have only been in hospice for several months and I like using humor... Very light hearted and even a little goes a long way.

'm totally at a loss with a new hospice patient of mine. Hx: breast CA with mets to bone, lung, liver. She was given the wrong chemo and it messed up her kidneys and hearing. She states she has 20 percent of her kidney function and has 7-8/10 pain to...

Feeling very overwhelmed.. New hospice nurse with about 3 years icu experience and I have 17 patients. I've done 2 admits in the llast two days and take on call once a week. This is my 3rd week on the job, not counting the first week I spent doing co...

Thanks everyone for the input.

She is a new patient to hospice (1 1/2 weeks) and the pain is constant and an achy pain in her hips and down her legs. Strong 7. Increases with mobility... I sincerely appreciate the advice. Going over her goals is a good idea. Small trial, maybe sma...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is not a legislative issue at all. Hospitals run like businesses and the timing of employment is based on a supply/demand. They know that at the end of the semester there will be a surplus of new grads. Or it could be comp...

He must be chronically anemic and lives in a low Hgb state. What is his admitting dx? I guess if they can find no active bleed, the patient is sufficiently oxygenated, and perfusing then there is no need. Sometimes I think doctors jump to blood tr...

Hello, I've been a nurse in the ICU for a couple of years now and I've recently moved from Texas to Maryland. I've noticed quite a difference of atmosphere, however, I've been drawn to the seriousness of documentation. For example, obtaining consen...

I agree with a lot of these posts- you need to take this up with your clinical instructor first to prevent this nurse as a future preceptor to nursing students. To answer your question on if this is the reality of nurses in big hospitals, the answer...

Did NOT take an NCLEX review course, but I did spend the equivalent in review books. I actually thought the NCLEX for dummies was really good. You really need to just be confident in the way the test is set up