klcrn1987

Do/did your children "suffer" from you being in the medical profession??? I met Hubby in Paramedic school and I then went to nursing school... so we both have solid backgrounds in medicine. Our 3 sons could get away with nothing!! Our mantra was.... Unless you have bones at funny angles or missing a part, I can fry an egg on your forehead, you are puking or pooping your guts out or blood is shooting across the room (not oozing) then get dressed and go to school!!! My 3rd son had it the "hardest" because his older brothers had tried just about everything in the book so we were prepared. One morning he gets up for preschool, comes down stairs and he is holding his left side, moaning and looking soooo pitiful. I asked sympathetically (but very skeptically) what's wrong Honey... with an "I'm dying" voice he states.... OH the pain, I can't take it....my gallbladder is killing me!!! (now where did that come from!!) I told him, Well Son--you have 3 problems... #1--5 years old is too young to have gallbladder problems, 2--the gallbladder is on the RIGHT side and #3... get dressed, you're still going to school!! He suddenly was cured, stomped his foot and said "Damn, it sucks then you have medical parents!!!!" #3 again... he was out playing and did a full body "splat" on the sidewalk...scuffed nose, chin, both elbows and both knees!!! He comes into the house half crying and I (really concerned this time) asked Honey what happened??? He sniffed... Why do you ask...I don't have bones at funny angles and I'm not squirting blood... you won't care!!!" I immediately picked him up, sat him on the counter and gave him a big hug and a Mommy kiss and patched up all his scuffs. When I was done, he hugged me and said..."You really do care!!!!" Poor kid!!! How has your children "suffered" from your medical background???

Out of the mouths of "babes" ... I was working night turn as the Supervisor in a nursing home and we had a resident that had passed. I called the local hospital to get the order to release the body to the funeral home and I got the brand new resident on call. It was obviously that this was the first call of this kind he had dealt with so I explained that ... 1-No, he didn't have to come to the facility to pronounce, that I could do it. 2-All I needed was his official order "Yes, you may release the body to the funeral home"...he said, "Can you send it to the morgue?" I just couldn't resist and told him... "Well, I tried that once but the kitchen staff really freaked out the last time they walked into the cooler and found a body there!!" TOTAL silence!!!! I softly said... Doc, I'm kidding! OH!!! Oh!! Yes!!! You may release the body!!! Some days it's so fun to tease the puppies!! :)

Alrighty then........

My 1st clinical day we had a girl that put a woman on the bedpan and when the woman finished and she when to take her off, the smell of BM hit her. She let the woman go, said, and I quote, "This **** ain't for me!!!" and turned on her heels and walked away... never to be seen again! LOL

Just an FYI... (not saying you did but) if you push Morphine too fast it will react with the nausea receptors in the brain and cause almost instantaneous emesis. A doctor told me this and I found out first hand when I received Morphine during a gallbladder attack. The nurse pushed it in the IV and I promptly threw up... luckily I had a basin close!!! So chances are he really didn't do it on purpose... maybe!!!

One of my grossest moments happened 38 years ago when I was a very naive, very new 19 yr old EMT student doing a clinical rotation in the ER... had a gentleman come in with an evolving MI and he vomited lima beans and beer!!! I HATE the smell of beer and I HATE the smell of lima beans.... to this day even thinking about it makes my stomach churn... ANYTHING related to "respiratory secretions" makes me gag.... even my own kids with a snotty nose. I can do great trach care but I literally have a garbage can very close by!! The last hospital I worked had an awesome RT that would have mercy on me and take care of my trach patients' respiratory needs! Had a patient with a very bad bowel blockage (even his breath smelled like feces) code ... as they were doing CPR, the odor of the secretions just can not be described... it was like a combination of the foulest BM mixed with rotting flesh... even the most "seasoned" staff was coming out of the room gagging!!! It permeated the entire unit and into the main corridor of the hospital and even the next day when we came on shift we could smell it. They ended up totally stripping everything out of the room down to repainting the walls and changing out the ceiling tiles!!! Months later you could still faintly smell it and we tried not to admit anyone into that room unless we had no other choice.....

After 30 years of nursing I have earned one thing for sure....FOLLOW YOUR GUT!!! No matter what...if your "gut" is saying question it....then question it!!!! It is your subconscious telling you that somehow you know this isn't right. I have questioned doctors, supervisors, state surveyors and family members. Remember, there are "proper" ways to question... "I just want to clarify with you Dr.---you want XXX for Mr. Smith??" ... many times they will catch themselves and change the order or I will ask the supervisor about it and she/he will contact the Dr..... and I have stood nose to nose with a Dr and fought with him for one of my patients and altho it was VERY begrudgingly given... I did finally get a TY for not giving up until the proper treatment was done. Like others have said...we are all human, we make mistakes....there is nothing wrong with protecting your patient from ANYONE who might be making a error in treatment and no one should shame you for doing so....

I can relate... one of my Hubby's aunts was a RN that became the manager of an ICU unit.... she would always say to me...."You're only a floor nurse??? You could be so much better than that". Well, I happen to like floor nursing, I don't want the hassles and headaches of being in charge...I LIKE spending time with my patients, I don't mind giving bedpans (usually LOL), I LIKE giving bedbaths, I LIKE making my patients feel better. THAT is what I became a nurse for. I get frustrated that many RN positions are mostly paper work....if I wanted to push papers, I would have become a secretary!!! And as far as the "night turn thing"....I have worked nights for most of my career... Yeah, we don't have meals, admin, doctors, families etc but we do have our problems... less staffing, trouble getting a hold of doctors when we need them or getting yelled at when we do, some of our patients can "sundown" and be a handful, and when a patient crashes... we don't have other departments to help. I chuckle on the rare occasions that a "daywalker" walks the "night walk" and they say "Wow I thought they slept all night"...NOPE!!!

I'm not sure in this case but you also have to think of the condition of the body... sometimes it's not "wise" to have family members see the body in the morgue before they can be prepared by a funeral director..

I am not saying that it is acceptable but let's be honest.... EVERY nurse has made some kind of a med error even if it was a tiny one... we are busy, we are frazzled, we can be distracted, we misunderstand, we are human. Thankfully, 1 wrong dose rarely causes permanent harm. We learn from our mistakes and go on. Rather than "slam" an error, it should be made an opportunity to teach and learn. If all nurses who made a mistake stopped nursing, there would be very few left!!

I'm not worried about the nurses as much as the family!!! They are being used and taken advantage of. Not only professionally but morally wrong...

One thing I don't see mentioned is when a nurse "pulls rank" to get an easier assignment. I worked 2 12 hr night shifts with one charge nurse and my 3rd with a different charge nurse. The 1st 2 shifts, the CN tried to make the assignments "even" with everyone having a "heavy" and couple of "light" patients as census would allow...we were also very good at helping each other if need be. The 3rd night, the other CN would make the assignment to where she had most of the lighter patients, completely changing everyone's assignments from the last 2 shifts....not because she was in charge (with 3 RNs we all kinda did our own thing on nights) but because she didn't want to work that hard.... her words!!!

OMGosh!!! Cardboard urinals!!! I'd give them a jar or something first.... How GROSS!!!

I am an RN...and a gun owner and have a concealed carry permit. In fact my Hubby, son and I are working in getting our NRA basic pistol instructorship. I belong to a couple of women's shooting groups and love it. I will defend me and mine (and you if need be) without hesitation....and I figure if, God forbid, I may actually have to use my weapon, IF there is a need, I can treat the one I shoot.....

Many oil rigs use Paramedics as their medical folks.... Paramedics can work on protocols using a land based MD as "command".... they also work "cheaper"....