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May the Lord comfort and strengthen you and your family during this difficult time

I began looking at taking care of the dying person as a blessing when I was working at a convent for retired nuns. When someone was dying there was always other nuns at bedside singing, praying and holding their hand to celebrate the entry into eternal life. I was glad to be a part of those experiences.

I'll second the New Balance crosstrainers. I have a pair for work and a pair for everyday! J.C. Penny Total Support Hose work well too.

What a great idea! I've read about 10 of the "Chicken Soup" books myself and would love to see one for health care workers. If you like reading books like that another series is the "Small Miracle" books.

How about information specialist? Education connoisseur? Developmental consultant? You could just have fun with it!

A visiting psychiatrist from India was at rounds one morning when he wrote the following in the patient's note, "He is clearly psychotic this morning. He states he has a frog in his throat."

I live in an area where you have the choice of a community college or a university. Some choose the community college due to cost. Others choose the university because the percentage of students that finish the course is actually higher. The community college has a reputation for "weeding out" students either from low test scores or in clinical areas. After graduation the percentage of students that pass boards is about the same. I agree with Tim, it's not just HOW the person is educated, but the dedication of the person to the profession that makes the difference.

Try FELS-NAPTHA. It's a heavy duty laundry soap that comes in a bar it gets out almost anything!

jimbob We use BIRP charting in our geropsychiatric unit. In a quick summary. B Behavior. The pts behavior including subjective and objective data, mood and affect. I Intervention. The nurses intervention to the behavior. R Response. The pts response to the intervention. Include progress of lack of tward care plan goals. P Plan. What is the plan to assist pt in progressing tward goals in the care plan. All disiplines use the same progress notes to track progress of lack of twards goals in the care plan. Each problem in the care plan has a number and you refer to that when doing your BIRP documentation. I hope this helps. I have never used SOAP so I can't explain that. This is just a quick overview and probally sounds confusing so if you have more questions let me know.

You didn't say what your current format was. We use B.I.R.P. charting in our progress notes. Behavior. Intervention. Response. Plan. All displines (nsg, phyciatrist, dietary, social worker and therapies) use same notes and this seems to flow well and easy to track progress.

I have worked both 8s and12s. I also prefer the 12 s. I agree with ratchit that it does facilitate continuity between shifts and it also decreases animosity, because there is only two shifts instead of three. You do get to spend more time at the bedside. I also agree that it can get hectic in the morning, but I think I would stick to 7p-7a , I done 11p-11a a couple times on fill in and don't care for that. I've never tried5p-5a but I've heard of hospitals donig that. I also have an off the subject question for ratchit. Have you ever seen the movie "high Anxiety" I loved Nurse Ratchit in that movie. ;]

I pay $5.10 every two weeks for my disability insurance. The hospital I'm employed at pays the rest. Plan will pay 60% of monthly earnins up to %5000.00! (not sure who makes that much). My previous employer paid all the disabililty insurance premiums.

There is an article in Nursing 99 for August that deals with inadequate staffing. I work in long term care on 11-7 shift. Weekends are Fri-Sat. No penelty for calling in. Not a real problem for nurses. But sometimes for CNA's. We have about the same number of nurses on weekends as weekdays minus a float nurse on the day shift.