Nurseik

Hi tesouthern, I hear you but.... as noted by others that have responded. Statistics is everywhere. We live and breathe stats.... Simple things such as: what are the chances that your major high way say 95 W will be packed or traffic jammed at 6pm Friday? The answer is in statistics: we know by record that HWY 95 is always packed at this time because it has been that way for the past 2 years.....what I'm saying in essence is that what you are learning now will absolutely be of use even as a bedside nurse. A good example is you notice that every time residents from a particular nursing home are admitted to you acute care facility; there is an outbreak of noro virus. The only way you can proof this is by going back to the charts of patients/residents that has been admitted from that facility and reading their charts to see if they had symptoms of noro virus (diarrhea, vommitting, fever) while admitted and you find out that 9 out of 11 pt. (81%) actually tested positive to noro virus while at your acute care facility. These are just basic ways that Stats is used in our day to day life. The following are tips to help. 1. have an open mind. 2. Complete assigned readings. 3. Seek instructors assistance; as soon as needed DO NOT WAIT TILL THE END OF THE SEMESTER. 4. Practice! Practice! Practice! Best wishes!

Good Job! It must really be hard not to rely on the patient's hx. Very Interesting and funny to read. I was laughing all thru while reading. Keep Up the Good Work!!!!

Inflating the balloon in the urethra will cause pain. what I called a clamp is actually a (on/off) knob. It is found on the collection bag. when u turn it up ...it's open and when down it's close. I'm assuming the nurse just forgot to turn it open after she connected the cather to the bag. And the patient was not educated on how to care for the Foley.

It was the end of the week and almost about ten minutes to the end of the day; when the door closes; my office (outpatient clinic) got a call inquiring about the possible removal of a Foley catheter. The caller must have relayed her message with urgency that the front desk person said she will allowed in despite the fact that the doors will be closed by the time she arrives. "All she needs is to see the nurse, at least take a look at the catheter for her". :rolleyes:The case did not sound serious enough to be sent to an ER and of course no Primary care Office was open at that hour. It sounded fine to me, I was still busy cleaning up, and hopefully she gets here before I'm all set to go home. I had a busy day and was ready to jet out of the doors. The caller arrived about 15mins after she called; middle age and very pleasant lady. She was really anxious; She had an abdominal surgery done; was discharged home and then discovered she was unable to urinate spontaneously; she said it was probably related to some of the medications she got while in surgery (my question was why would they d/c a patient that has not voided or cannot void spontaneously.) According to her story, she had gone back and they placed a Foley a day before she came to our office. Her CC: No urine in the collection bag since insertion (now over 24 hrs) but she has been leaking urine from her bladder with the Foley still intact in her. She was requesting to have the Foley removed. My first thought was that the balloon was not well secured but the collection bag was really dry, no evidence of any urine being in the bag. I decided to take a look at the leg bag. Alas! The entry where the urine was supposed to pass through was turned off. Of course, how can the urine get into the bag if it's clamped off! It was simple, BUT it could have cost her a lot. Let's think about it..., the bladder gets full, and then it backs up into the kidney leading to an infection (pyelonephritis, UTI etc). Patient is fresh post op, this will surely lead to a cascade of events. BIG LESSON: Your task might appear simple but please take time to reassess and make sure you are doing the right thing. One tiny omission might cost someone else their life. This is a lesson for us (as Clinicians) to learn. MY GAIN: Self satisfaction that I could solve the problem (it was an easy one). Also seeing the joy and relieve it brought to her. And the endless thank you hugs and kisses. :)

If you are in Northern Virginia area, you have the option of working in DC as well. Try Inova or PWH. My 2c.

Hmm. Food for thot! i've been thinking of travelling for some time now. But it never crossed my mind that travellers might be viewed as ppl/nurses who cannot hold down a "real job". That is so SAD!