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Here are a couple of nursing school bloopers that I know of: 1. One of the girls in my nursing class went into a patients room and said," Hello Mr Jones you are my very first shot." He blanched and the nursing instructor whipped the syringe out of her hand and said,'No you're not!!" The patient was much relieved. 2.My med surg instructor told a story of a nursing student who drew up a patients pre op IM and then walked into the resident's room and told him to open his mouth. She then proceeded to stream the contents of the syringe into his mouth before the instructor could do anything. They had to give the patient a ton of water to flush the medication out of his mouth and throat wrecking the NPO status.The student then needed to call the surgeon and explain what had happened and that he would have to cancel his surgery for the day. Needless to say he was not very happy. 3. My DON tells a story of when diploma student nurses were used as cheap labor and would essentially run the floor at night. They had a patient expire on their shift and were getting ready to take him to the morgue. He was already cooling down and strarting to get stiff when they wrestled with him to get his dentures in his mouth but they got them in and took them down to the morgue. Well wouldn't you know the next morning his roommate was looking for his dentures and just couldn't find them. They devised a story about how they were cleaning them and raced down to pull them from the deceased. If it was hard getting them in it was real hard getting them out!!!

You think you'll be homicidal by then.....Just wait until you are mommy to 125 8 year olds with mosquito bites. I was single when I was a camp nurse. My now husband did come up to visit several times during my stint. Just a word to the wise.. Establish clinic hours for non emergency situations i.e. mosquito bites and stick to that. Of course you'll need to be available for true emergency situations 24/7 if you are in a set up like mine. Good luck and prepare for exhaustion.

It's hard telling whether you are dealing with depression or dementia with mom. Sometimes Depression causes something called pseudodementia. I would recommend a visit to your local neuropsychologist to help determine what you are dealing with. based on the info you get from a neuropsych eval or psych eval you'll be able to make some decisions regarding your next step with mom ie medication, extra help at home etc. Your dad is most likely feeling overwhelmed with your mother and may be a bit depressed himself from being in such a negative environment. Once you get mom straightened out it may help dad considerably. If not you can address your concerns with him. Your mom sounds as if she needs help the most out of the 2 of them.

Usually post mortem care is not done alone. Usually another CNA or nurse will assist you. The nurse will usually remove IV's, catheters etc. The deceased is then cleaned up and a clean gown is usually put on them. Sometimes the family will be coming in to see the person so you want them to not be further traumatized by leaving the deceased in a disheveled state. It often is a good thing to participate in to help you, the caregiver say goodbye too.

Just took a position of Rehab nurse at my CCRC after being out of Rehab for 3 years. The previous Rehab RN has been gone for 1 yr! In looking in the chart I was unable to locate any type of restroative assessment and the Med rec guru did not find one in thinned records either. Has the MDS now replaced Restorative Assessment that used to be done on admission, quarterly and with change in condition or are both documents required still. The information is often times duplicated. Could a narrative be used to expound on the responses of the MDS. BTW in Illinois a full MDS is done quarterly and with change in condition. (I understand some states still do quarterly assessments. I appreciate any help I can get.

Oh man, I have walked that mile in your shoes!!! I was going to be a stay at home mom for my baby but because of the economy and my husbands job situation, I had to go back to work to be the bread winner of the family and to get health care benefits. If your husbands job is uncertain and if he is supporting you to pursue your RN, I would go for it just to give your family options. You will never be without a job that is for sure. I know you can't get back the time with your kids- that eats me up everyday but unfortunately the practicalities of providing for your family sometimes have to be your priority ( unless you have an unknown rich uncle somewhere or win the lottery.) Good luck to you and kiss those babies.

"Our" queen has episodes of temper tantrums- stamping feet, yelling to get her way and yes she cries crocodile tears. She persistantly emotionally vomits on her coworkers. Anyone who "calls" her on this gets reported to the unit manager for, "Picking on her." What astounds me is that she has been allowed to get away with this behavior with little intervention. Our manager at one time said, " You have to take it easy on her. She just isn't like the rest of us." I think everyone has drama queen moments but being a true drama queen is a way of life!!!

In my experience working in religious non for profit homes this is NOT the norm. Of course there are so many factors that contribute to bed sores. Immobility, nutritional support, pressure relief, skin care, incontinence issues etc that even in the best of situations decubiti are unavoidable. However, that being said, to allow the ulcer to progress to such a horrific stage involving bones and internal organs without any intervention at all is unbelievable. Had it been my LTC SNF we would document improvement or lack of improvement of the wound weekly as evidenced by decreased circumfrence and depth of wound and notify the MD of any lack of progress in healing, worsening or signs and symptoms of infection. Prevention is the key because once you have breakdown it can be a slippery slope indeed to stem the tide. Hope this helps.