ohgoodnessgracious

NO!! Definitely not!! Goodness forbid something happens, you poke and make the patient bleed, etc. how are you going to explain the 10 ml syringe stuck up there? And what about infections???

I took up playing video games! Recently I've been playing a game called Call of Duty: Black Ops. You can really take a lot of frustration out on that game!!!

ALLEGRIA SHOES!!! I have flat feet and I love my pair of Allegrias. I used Danskos for a while too but they were much too heavy for me and the sizes always ran too small so it'd take some time to break them in. With my Allegrias, they were perfect from the beginning and very lightweight. I can run in them for emergencies and I've never felt my legs/feet aching so far, as I used to when I wore Danskos. They're priced just about the same. The only drawback with Allegrias is the material is not as thick as Danskos so if your feet get wet, you'll feel it! I went to a shoe store and bought this solution to make them water-proof. I sprayed the solution on them, let them air-dry for a day and they were good to go :)

My analytical and critical thinking skills are just fine within my Hello Kitty scrub tops, thank you very much.

Alcohol swab always first and always flush to make sure your IV line is patent. You don't want to just assume a line is good, only to find out later that your patient's hand is swollen like a baseball mitt because of infiltration. Once your secondary bag is primed, clamped and ready to go - pause the IV pump. Our Alaris pumps have a secondary option so I'm not sure if it will be the same for you. But what I do is pause the IV currently running, hit the "secondary" button and put in the appropriate settings. Then make sure you open up the secondary IV line's clamp before you let the IV run. Don't forget to hang the primary IV bag LOWER than your secondary. Think of the secondary medicine as a "piggyback" medicine riding on top of the primary bag. Hope this helps. If there's a lab at your school, you should definitely go and practice.

Hahahahaha good one!! And SHE's the one calling him sick and needing to seek medical attention... tsk tsk tsk!

N95 masks, really? Doesn't that seem a bit much? We're lucky we get N95 masks to last a shift on our unit for our airborne patients!

The way I see it -- be a good nurse but don't let it be your life :) Leave work at work. On your commute home, reflect on your day as a way of release. When you get home, do the things you like, love, and have to do and make sure you leave plenty of hours to get your rest and sleep. On your days off, live it up even more! Go on a trip, do something spontaneous, buy something you've always wanted (I do this rarely... retail therapy's not the best kind but oh does it work wonders!), or just spend some quality time with your family. I love being a nurse, even though I've only been one for about 2 years. Nursing is a big part of me, but it's not all that I am. I make it a priority to remember that always.

I *hate* questions like these - absolutely not practical at all. Like you said, if he's screaming - air's moving in and out of that face. If he's blue, then that's a different story!

Seems a bit dramatic - but, you're right. Someone needs to be assessing him closer, esp. his I/Os and h/l status as a post-op patient. When a family member was sick, the same thing happened to us. I brought in my stethoscope and assessed him myself (fortunately systems checked out ok) and asked my family member to record his I/Os on paper and hand it to the RN or aide. A temp of 99.0 - meh, not something I'd lose my head over just yet. But him not peeing after you pushing so much po fluids? That'd warrant a bit more attention I think. It just seems like everytime there's a family member in the room, staff tends to leave the patient alone (what a shame). Speaking for myself, I feel like I'm being scrutinized up and down for what I'm doing but I buck it up and always think "This person here could be a nurse or doctor!" and just do what I have to do.

Hahahaha great - and frightening - posts, everyone My worst one was when I dreamt I was on my very very last final away from passing nursing school. I was freaking out studying and... I. Slept. Through. The. Final. I was so jolted from it, I woke up panicking and started running to the PC so I could apologize and beg my instructor and dean to let me take the exam! Hahahahaha.. not so funny then but it is now =p

Ugh... Pink's "Just Like a Pill" always reminds me of my obnoxious pain medicine-seeking patients. "I can't stay on your life support, there's a shortage in the switch, I can't stay on your morphine, cuz its making me itch I said I tried to call the nurse again but shes being a little *****, I think I'll get outta here, where I can Run just as fast as I can To the middle of nowhere To the middle of my frustrated fears And I swear you're just like a pill Instead of makin' me better, you keep makin' me ill You keep makin' me ill"

Interesting how things work out sometimes, huh? In any case, I'm glad you were the better person and stuck it out there :)

Had to edit this post because I totally missed the first part of your post....... if you yourself were not there to witness all of this, it wouldn't be wise to go to your supervisor with "he-said/she-said" stories. Speak with the person(s) who witnessed the event(s) and encourage them to do the reporting.

I've had chest tube patients and can't recall seeing vaseline gauze dressing for them. I know some places don't do it because it can cause an increase in infections around the site.