KY RN

Naked and Afraid

I don't know if she was, but I sure was, walking into that.

The worst patient I ever had was an older woman (50) having sex in a semi-private room. (with her 30 year old son.) Needless to say, everybody got called into that situation, SW, APS, nurse manager, risk management.( The roommate got moved to another room.)

My true calling is laying on my RV couch and travelling the world. Since I do not get paid for this, I am a nurse. I think that most of the people who say they have a true calling, would say something much different, if they weren't getting a pay check for this "true calling.";)

I told my children it had to be blood, bones, and brains before they could wake me up. They burst in because one had fallen on his bike and hit his head. My son said, "Mom, this time it is blood, bones, and I think BRAIN!"

I started HH 3 months ago and I got off Friday, charted 2 hrs., Sat in AM for 2 hrs., and have been charting for 3 hrs. today. It seems never ending. Then , there are the phone calls. I have pts. that have called me at 2 AM. I repeatedly tell them to call the office #, but they call my cell phone. (I don't give them my #, they have called ID which they seem to use very well, when I call to schedule my visit. Ugh! It is definitely an adjustment from hospital work.

Perhaps you could get the Dr. to consider a psych consult, anti-anxiety meds, and/or a sitter? When I have people like this, I usually ask to get another team the next time. Two days in a row of these types of patients really wears me out. At our unit, we prefer to "share the love" and let another nurse take a turn with them.

My hospital used to have set visiting times. Now, the hospital has a new policy that anybody can visit at any time. The hospital cites the new CMS rules for this new policy. Of course, this is so fun when a patient is in a semi-private room and decides to have 20 zillion visitors at 0330. Of course, the other patient in the semi-private room would love to sleep but cannot due to all the noise from the neighboring patient. http://beyondhealthcarereform.com/2011/01/cms-publishes-new-rule-requiring-equal-visitation-rights/

I'm so sorry this happened to you. Did the external applicants,perhaps, know the hiring manager?

You want IV pain meds, you don't go off the floor. If you go off the floor, you will not get IV pain meds because we cannot assure your safety. If you refuse to leave, we have HUGE security guards that will escort you out.

Try having her place a pillow across her incision when she coughs.

Prenatal care is generally a "Westernized" idea. My husband is from a Central American country. Most of his friends who have immigrated here do not know what the idea of prenatal care is and really think it is unneeded. I have had to drive the wives to clinics, seek financial assistance and educate the husbands about the necessity of prenatal care. In some countries, it is rare to find prenatal care. In some cultures, prenatal care is mistrusted due to past histories of abuse by physiscians. Also, there is an issue of cost and insurance. I had no insurance and did not qualify for any type of medical assistance when I was pregnant due to making a whopping $10.00 an hour. I ended up with a 15,000 hospital bill that took ten years to pay off.

You do it for the money. Oh wait, I think I just ate some funny mushrooms on my pizza! Seriously, you do it, because you are superwoman :dancgrp: and you can change some elderly resident's life, one day at a time.

My children are 14(twins), 6, & 2.

Yes, I had an ultrasound. It's definetly in the uterus and looks to be viable. I've had all kinds of tests just to make sure. I'm upset because I like things planned out and want to be able to support my children well. My husband says we'll throw more water in the beans and the kids can go to community college. He is happy. Some posters said they couldn't have children and I understand this from my experience with my sister's infertility. It is devastating emotionally. I love all of my children and provide very well for them financially. I just worry about the expense of a 5th child at my age. I do not want to short change any of my children. I grew up in a family of 8 and we had hand me downs and lived a thread bare existence.