Jay2daq

Wow, that must be a REALLY good hospital. They know BPs without actually doing them and patients only need 10 compressions to come back from coding. Awesome :) No medications, difibrillation, cardioversion....amazing!

Also.... The reason you take Ibuprofen for both (or tylenol) is because of thow they act in the body. Ibuprofen and Tylenol can both reduce a fever and can also act on pain. for example, Ibuprofen acts to inhibit prostaglandins, this will in turn reduce fever and help to reduce pain. So often times you might see an order for "Tylenol for pain or fever"

Your temp. doesnt always rise when you have a headache, unless it is due to an infection or inflammation. a temperature occurs when there is an infection in the body. Your hypothalamus raises your body temp. to fight off the infection. Bacteria normally have a difficult time living in anything above 98 degrees, so its a defense mechanism to kill the infection. a headache is when your head hurts. This can be caused by numerous things..Cluster headache, Migraine, tension headache. The brain itself does not have any pain receptors, so the brain CANNOT feel pain. So when you have pain in your head its due to something outside the brain (such as blood vessles in the head, cranial nerves, meninges etc.) Headache can be caused by stress, medications, increased intracranial pressure...many different things. But a Fever and Headache are two completely different things.

Someone mentioned my answer to her sounded a little "harsh". I dont know...maybe it did reading it. But it was more the way i said it than anything. i am NOT a snobby/mean person. I'm very quiet, soft spoken so it was said in a nicer and caring way. I think alot of the times we have good intentions to say something, but it can come out wrong. I'm young, im new, i had NO clue how to handle that situation. Could i have said or done something better? Probably.... we are taught in nursing school our "utopia patient" who knows what a uterus is and what it does. But not all patients are the "utopia patient" and i'm in the real world, not practicing nursing education on my classmates anymore. My guess is that the patient was made aware, i can't imagine that she wouldnt be. I know which surgeon did the surgery and he has a strong german accent. (Off topic: He one time asked me where my boss was, i thought he asked me where my balls were.) As for grounds for a law-suit?? i have NO idea. I havent been further contacted or anything or asked anymore questions about it. Without postingour entire discussion, i did assess her understanding of pregnancy. Trying hard to make it sound like im talking to an adult and not a child. Much to my surprise she knew more than i thought she did, just information was slightly "discombobulated." She told me she thought pregnancy occured in the ovaries because thats where the eggs are. She was pretty teary eyed and said "How could i have been so stupid?" Handled it much better than i would have.

No, I am aware of that. I didnt want to post my whole conversation with her but she wasnt really wanting to in-vitro. she meant literally carrying her OWN child. I made sure this is what she meant.

The worst part of it was, after i talked with this family i went to the charge nurse and discussed it with her (im VERY VERY new). And this other young nurse hears me asking the charge nurse and starts LAUGHING!!! and was like "Oh, my god. are you serious?." i just looked at her and said "Yea" I kind of just ignored what that nurse siad... im a very quiet and passive person with a big heart, and i really wanted to say something to her. Because to me it was not funny at all. Feels better knowing someone else would have done or said the same thing. i actually got teary eyed telling my manager! (not full out crying haha) but i was mostly upset about the whole situation and how my coworkers handled it when i asked them.

I do want to add, i honestly think this was aged bias. I cannot fatham a nurse or a doctor who would not have this discussion with a woman of someone who is lets say my age (22 yrs old). I mean really...? Even if the patient is aware you need a uterus to concieve, they need to made aware without it they cannot have children. Is it not our job to make sure patients know what they are signing for and going into surgery for? *Jayda*

We all have stories of "funny things" and not so funny things patients say.... i had one about a week ago, that my heart goes out to....i had NO idea how to handle this situation. The general med/surg floor was full so we got this young woman (36 years old) who came to our unit from a lady partsl hysterectomy. We are a med/surg specializing in cardaic and pulmonary, but she was young/healthy and was doing fine. We knew how to do the monitoring for bleeding etc. SUPER nice woman, husband was super sweet/supportive. You could tell they were not of higher education, lower income etc. Keep in mind she is HYSTERECTOMY (Fibroids i believe). Left her ovaries. Anyway...she asks me the question "How long does this usually take to heal before i can be come sexually active again?" Ok, I feel comfortable discussing this with patients. No big deal, common question we get. i went over her patient education on sex with her, addressed her sexual concerns etc. then she says to me "Good. I think we want to start trying for children soon." I said to her...."Do you mean your own children or adoption?" (i wanted to make sure i was hearing her right) she went on to say "We would like our own." At this point she knew something was wrong as i had NO IDEA what to say. She said "Is there something wrong with that?" i asked her what education she had prior to the removal of her uterus, she told me they went over everything with her. I said "Were you made aware that without the uterus you will be unable to have children?" Okay i thought it was like hospital policy to over something like that with a woman!!! i mean i know she is 36, so they cant just assume she doesnt want children....just because she is 36? I dont know call me crazy. I know this was TOTALLY wrong and i reported it to my manager because i felt this was kind of a big issue that i wasnt sure how to handle. She looked into it further, i don't really know what came if it yet but i do know that their ARE hospital policies regarding this discussion no matter patients age. Either noone did it or she didnt understand it..... my heart goes out to this patient,they were the sweetest couple and i can't help but get it off my mind. Did i say the right thing?? Could i have said it better? What should i have done? How would you have handled the situation?

I once was to administer "Rogaine"...yes Rogaine! I was really confused because i knew Rogaine was used for hair growth. instead of looking it up, i gave the patient her Rogaine, without looking at her blood pressure! (which i was 86/40). Gave her a couple of her other medications. Nothing serious came of it, had to give her a bolus. but i did learn from this to look up ALL medications if its one im not used to giving. I think on our units we get so used to certain medications and when we see a new one we just can sometimes go ahead and give it.... Now that i look back on it, What was i thinking?? Hair growth medication in the hospital?!?!? REALLY JAYDA? ... F.Y.I. Rogaine is used to lower BP. Its side effects is hair growth (thats where they got rogaine) We learn from our mistakes and just hope and pray its not a serious one!! Thanks for everyone sharing their stories.

Oh...and thanks for everyones help!!! I a was aware of the NLC but i really wasnt sure what would happen if i wanted to work outside of those states. Now i know.... best of luck to other new grads and job searchers :-) *Jayda*

No my fiance isn't nursing. He is Mechanical Engineering. He landed a job doing something with airplanes and engines or something. It would be right outside of Portland. So pretty much the area you guys have been telling me. Yea, i figured job market would be cruddy!! We have been talking about it and we are both aware of the situation. He did get a job interview in Minnesota so that will be a little easier. He just likes the one in Oregon better! Don't blame him...but in reality i just don't think its going to work for me. I completed my internship already on a critical care unit. got offered a job on a critical care unit when i complete (VERY VERY RARE for a new grad)--i'd really hate to turn that down. it jsut stinks to have to be away from your fiance because of this job market! but i am just so thankful we both were able to attend college and atleast get a job. I'm not leaving oregon out of the picture. Probably be best to wait a year or two??

Im a senior nursing student, my fiance graduates same time i do. and he got a job offer in Oregon....we are from Wisconsin. I got a job offer in Wisconsin already (Sorta, promised the job....but we all know how that goes these days). I did my internship in critical care and was offered a position there when i graduate.... my dream!!! So now my fiance and i are majorly stuck on what to do!!! he's been trying hard to get a job closer to where i got an offer, but it just isnt happening. So now i'm looking out in Oregon (Ugggh). How difficult is it to get a license to practice in another state as a new graduate? How is the job market in Oregon? I'm really stuck on what to do....i dont even know how to go about looking for hospitals in Oregon that are hiring. I'm so at a loss. I had a friend who attempted to get an Illionois license and nothing was workin' out and it took FOREVER.

Im actually a nursing student, but quick question on Lasix. I had a pt. that was clearly in some sort of respiratory distress....respirations 40, loud wheezing, i heard no lung sounds, doctor had ordered a Lasix P.O. Does Lasix help clear up respiratory secretions?? I always thought it was edema, CHF, blood pressure. After his Lasix he was fine!! Thanks!

Ok, so...all you SMART nurses, help me out here and tell me if i'm crazy or not. this really isnt about patient blood sugars, more my own. Im 22 yrs old, work on a med-surg floor. my health is GREAT. im not overweight, i exercise, i have no hx of diabetes in my family. The closest thing to any health issue running in my family is hypertension. Which i do not have. Anyway...ever since i was kid i would just randomly pass out at times. Like just black out and drop to the floor. My doctors were aware, ran some tests and i'm fine. I've had fasting blood sugars done to see if i have issues with blood sugars, but my fasting blood sugar (last time i had it) was i think in the higher 70's...something like that. it was normal! However; ever since i started working AM shifts its been occuring more. i can 99% of the time predict when its going to happen so i can get myself to a safe place. It starts off with me all of a sudden feeling extremley hot, then i get sweaty and pale. I get myself to the break room and sit down. Well this last time it happened (about a week ago) i asked one of the Aides to take my blood sugar...it was 48!!!!!!! So obviously i've concluded my blood sugars were low. I talked to my OBGYN when i had my yearly physical. she just tells me eat a good breakfast, drink plenty of water and get plenty of rest. Heck i go to bed at 8pm on the nights i work and up at 5:30 so im getting...9.5 hours of sleep. How much more do i need?? i drink plenty of water, and eat a great breakfast. it STILL happens. And the odd thing is....its usually around 10 or 10:30 am. my fiance knows about it....it helps to have him around because it happened once when i went to a concert. and everyone was like freaking out and he was like "She is fine, i promise...just watch her, im gonna go get a soda" so he comes back with a mt.dew (which i HATE but it helps in times like this) and minutes later im fine! so what gets me thinking about this more is, today a pt's daughter of mine was 22 yrs old. Visiting her dad and she passes out, i start freaking out cause i dont know anything about her. Her boyfriend tells me she has issues with her blood sugar. So i tell my Aide to take her blood sugar (RNs cant do them in our hospital)...her blood sugar was 47! (SOUND FAMILIAR?) i get her like 3 things of apple juice and she kinda comes to. I asked her about it....she tells me EVERYTHING and its 100% similar to mine. She has seen doctors, more so than i have. They dont know why but have tried everything. She pretty much just stated that they think nothing is wrong but encourage her to carry glucose tabs with her. We are both the exact same build, height, age, everything. it was like i was talking to myself!!! She said it usually occurs late morning to the afternoon why on earth would something like this happen??? im a first yr so i dont know much about ppl just randomly dropping blood sugars like that. I never heard about it in school...like i just dont get how 2 young healthy girls have blood sugars that just DROP. like i will be fine one minute the next im down. im getting frustrated with doctors telling me i need to eat a better breakfast. I mean what the hell??? i know what to stay away from in the AM and what foods to eat. have any of u dealt with this? know what is causing this? im just so frustrated with this.

Thanks! all that really helps....I will be working night shift, so i think that is a couple bucks extra an hour. I'll probably pick up a 2nd job on the side for a while to help with expenses my first year. Im in desprate need of a new car, thats the first thing that is happening! lol.