mama_d

When my then-13 year old received his thank you card, his reaction was along the following: "Thank you for getting appendicitis, have your incompetent ER nurse miss my veins, and getting emergency surgery? What's wrong with you people? I know you've all got a sick sense of humor, but this is bizarre." He did however appreciate the added on message from his nurse that thanked him for being so patient waiting for pain meds and being "more polite than my grown up patients usually are". What I find ridiculously stupid is that my floor sees a lot of oncology patients with poor prognosis who we end pre-printed cards to referencing our sincere desire for an uneventful recovery. Wha??? Those I absolutely refuse to sign.

I love love love my night shifts! I was a wreck when I worked days. Getting up with (or even before) the birds is just not right, I'm sure there's several natural laws that breaks. Plus all the coolest kids work nights on my floor.

I breastfed my oldest until he was 10 months old while doing LPN school full time & working nites. He did fine with formula every once in a while so my supply waxing and waning a little wasn't a big worry for me. My youngest on the other hand was completely breastfed until he was nearly nine months old...he wouldn't eat anything else, even mixing in some baby cereal was a fight. I was working 4-5 12 hr shifts a week at the time; when I weaned him at 15 months I still had a freezer full of milk. I took Fenugreek, ate oatmeal, drank a ton of milk, and pumped between feedings at home. I had awesome co-workers who made sure I could pump twice a shift. It can be done, it just takes some figuring out at first. :)

The only way to know for certain is to ask your HR dept. Be sure that you speak to someone who specifically deals with insurance benefits. I was able to get my hubby and step-kids on my insurance before we were married...he qualified as a LDA (legally domiciled adult) and since he qualified for coverage, his kids did as well. Perhaps if there's a similar clause in your insurance you could get at least one of your parents covered. Other option...talk to a social worker or case manager at your facility for advice on trying to get them Medicare or Medicaid coverage, depending on their age. It may go nowhere, your parents may be stuck between a rock and a hard place, but at least you'll know that all options have been exhausted.

In my neck of the woods, "primary nursing" means no techs...so the nurse does all with no real assistance. ALL of the ADLs, code browns, feeding, blood draws, I & O's etc. on top of nursing duties. No backup when you have multiple patients on bowel preps or an entire team of fall risk patients. And since every nurse is doing everything for their patient without any UAP assistance, it means that everyone is running their butt off and just can't help each other out much. It makes no sense to me...puts the patients at higher risk as well as causing a more rapid burnout.

I don't have anything to offer as far as the camp situation specifically...but I do know a remedy for lice that nearly always clears the nasty buggers the first time. I have no idea if you could use it or not, but wanted to throw it out there. Get a jar of regular mayo, slather it on their head saturating their hair and scalp. Wait about five hours (a disposable shower cap works well to minimize the mess), then comb out like you would after using Rid. Something in the fat of the mayo breaks down the chitin of the adult lice and loosens the nits from the hair shaft. Use dish soap to wash the hair with before shampooing to get the mayo out. It works great, and since there are no chemicals, it can be repeated as soon and as often as needed until no more lice are left.

You're going to need to have a frank discussion with your hubby about expectations. I work full time (3 12's) and am in a bridge program. We're scraping by with hubby being a SAHD. He and the kids (15, 13, 12, and 5) know that when Mommy's in school, all I do is laundry and grocery shopping. I help out with homework and kid control as much as I'm able, but between work and school I have something going on 7 days a week. It's doable, but can be difficult just so far as feeling stretched too thin. Unless your spouse has the patience and understanding of a saint, there's going to be friction from time to time...be sure to make him feel appreciated for all he's doing to support you. I think it's a good idea to get your foot in the door with as difficult as it cn be to find a job after school, so even if you decide not to do so now keep it on the table as an eventual necessity.

As far as the *dramatic* fainting goes.. We had a patient who was apparently the matriarch of her family who was expected to pass any time. While her approximately 40 family members (no exaggeration) were in the waiting room, THREE of them "fell out" and had to be admitted for syncope. One of them had the gall to complain to her nurse that no one was paying any attention to her by coming to visit her...no, they were taking turns visiting the dying patient and waiting for the end.

On my first day of first grade, I fell during recess and split my chin open. Even at that young age I knew my Mom could not handle the sight of blood. We were at the urgent care, and she insisted on going back with me...I had a sterile drape over my face and they were about three stitches in when I heard a thud. The doc chuckled a little when I said "Did she pass out? I told her she would." I was getting a nerve conduction test done on my arm and started feeling woozy. I made the neuro doc doing it stop...I told him I wasn't going to pass out but I was going to puke on him if he didn't. My SBP was in the 50's and my HR was in the 40's. He was all set to wheel me to the ED himself but I refused b/c I had to work that night. I ended up having two of his patients that night, and when he showed up to round on them he asked (and he doesn't speak quietly EVER) if I had told my co-workers what a wuss I was. I told him next time I'd go ahead and vomit on him and see how he liked it.

Because I couldn't support my family at my job at the time and couldn't afford to be in school for that long or wait the yearsit would take to get into the RN program. Also, I've only worked acute care...currently tele with at least two shifts a month on step down. And as far as "not the brightest bunch", I'll refer you to our own TheCommuter as proof otherwise.

For years I've tried to use the mantra "There are others worse off than I" to put things in perspective. My cancer patient's family is being needy and demanding...deep breaths and be glad it's not my mom in that bed. My shift sucks great big smelly donkey parts...at least I have a great tech to help me out. Etc etc

Night shift friendly thing my unit has done.. It used to be that nights was solely responsible for the weekly or semi-weekly stuff..wound measurements and photography & central line dressing changs & port re-accessing. After literally years of crusading, it's now split up...we alternate off. Days stills complains about it. And only a couple of them will actually change outdated IV sites, but that's a couple more than it was a year ago, so at least some of them are becoming aware of it. As far as the management thing goes, I prefer to not have them over my shoulder, but it is a sad reflection on management style when your director is at a meeting and a "new" nurse who has been there for two years has no idea who she is.

A thousand times "Yes!" to the above! Also, nights (at my current place under current management) is expected to run short staffed if days was over to "make up for it" in the budget. Days does not have the same expectation b/c we are NEVER allowed to run over...we're lucky if we meet the grid for "normal". I have seen our director twice in over two years. She regularly sees day staff on the floor just to "see how things are going". A side effect of this is that everything she hears about nights from days is true (to her) b/c she never sees or talks to us (unless you make an appointment to see her during the day; such time available is very limited however due to everything else she is responsible for). The cafeteria hours just suck for nights, on the days it's even open for us.

Long time fan here as well. :) I am especially enjoying the articles about LPNs. Very well written, enough so to give me hope that some minds may be changed by them.

Does your local school district offer math classes for aduts? I don't know what all the TEAS involves, so not sure it would help. My kids' school district offers "brush up" classes for returning adult learners, as does my county's voc ed department. Best of luck to you.

Gotta love those vague doctor orders, don't cha? We have one who's famous for saying "I don't do wound care..do whatever you want." I'm always tempted to put that as an official order, but we all know who that would come back on. I'd probably use telfa or a Mepilex border as well. It's been a LONG time since I've seen gauze and tegaderm used as a dressing. Especially in a population with fragile skin, tegaderm can be a nightmare.

I think because the nursing curriculum is so structured we notice it more as well. I can't think of many otger programs (especially at the associate's level) where classes MUST be taken in a specific order no matter what. That said, we do lose a lot along the way, don't we? My bridge class (all current LPNs) lost 11 out of 24 during our transition semester. It was ridiculously fast paced (we basically reviewed the first two semesters of the RN program with just 5 lecture hours a week). Those who were on the borderline of passing have the option, based on facility judgement, to merge in with the 2nd semester RN students (those of us who made it through merge with 3rd semester). We move into slots from RN students who haven't made it. From talking with other students, it sounds like there's about a 50% attrition rate through the program...and they have all kinds of support systems in place to utilize. I see a lot of people who get into programs not realizing how freaking difficult it is, and get the wake up call too late to do anything about it. And then there are those who just can't hack it for whatever reason, those whose lives get in the way, etc etc etc. All adds up to lower (and more noticeable) retention rates than other programs.

Talk to your OB about how to keep up your suply...mine had me take Fenugreek supplements and eat oatmeal. Not sure if it actually helped, but I managed to exclusively breastfeed for nine months and he didn't wean completely until 15 months. I also pumped while nursing and had suportive co-workers who would shoo me off to pump when I started looking like Pamela Anderson.

We've never had any where I work at either. It might help if you talked to one of your chaplains...they're there for you too if you need them.

I have to second the post a few above mine...she came on here, asking basically if she was right or wrong, was told that she was wrong, thought about it and moderated her response to the situation. How often are we beating our heads on brick walls on here with posters who get irate at the merest suggestion that they need to re-think things? Especially in the midst of such an anxiety producing scenario? I'm on the IV team where I work, and I always come armed with towels...my hope every time is to hit a big juicy vein that will hold up for the full four days before needing to be restarted. And a little blood can look like A LOT of blood when it's on a background of nice bleached white linens. I've told patients before that they simply have the cards stacked against them genetically. I usually lead into it with the fact that I'm going to get skin cancer and be six inches shorter in my 80's b/c I'm a short pale girl so that it comes across in a "we've all got crap to try to deal with" way (at least I hope that's how it sounds). Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your Dad.

Not sure how this would apply to your population, but when we have patients on PCAs that are unable to use them (generally EOL oncology patients), the nurse (never anyone else per policy) titrates to the Ramsey scale. If we're pushing the button regularly, basal rate gets increased.

I'm bridging with a co-worker and we have a deal worked out...I keep us on top of the paperwork end of things and he does the driving. Works out well for both of us.

Last night I had an extremely confused, incontinent LOL. My tech was one of our "baby" staff...he's been qorking with us for a few years now but is in his early 20's, over ten years older than me. He cleaned up said LOL by himself, and I walked in to give her some meds immediately after. She looked at me very indignantly and said "Do you have any idea what your husband just did to me?" Which was followed about fifteen minutes later, as she saw him pass by her room in the hall, with "Who's that good looking young man? Can I meet him?" I swear the entire shift with her was like dealing with Dory from "Finding Nemo". Same patient was thoroughly convinced that we were in her living room, not a patient room at a hospital, and was getting combative trying to get the intruders (us) out of her house. I knew it probably wouldn't help much, but pointed out to her on the wall above her white board where the name of our hospital is as proof that we were not in her home and we were supposed to be helping her get over her illness. Her response: "What ***** put that up in my living room and where the hell is she? I'm gonna beat the crap out of her, putting that ugly ass thing in MY house." It was a LONG night but oddly enough made me miss working geropsych.

My facility got a prestigious award a few years back and we were all wondering how the heck it happened. It's a decent place, don't get me wrong, but we were all sitting around scratching our heads. I still suspect that someone got paid big bucks to make sure that paperwork looked all nice and pretty and that's how it happened.

I'm in Missouri, apparently we've had over 200 cases this year (compared to 99 by the same time last year). Same article (at kmox.com) says that Washington state has declared an epidemic. I know my kids' pediatrician has been pushing for all the parents of her patients to get the Tdap booster for years. Scary that stuff like this is being seen in such large numbers when we've got a vaccine for it readily available.