hypnotic_nurse

I have a second job doing psych. We can wear scrubs or street clothes (no jeans). Mostly I wear scrubs, but then again, I work nights. I'd go with plain generic clothing or scrubs (color doesn't matter, really). Boring clothes means it's less likely someone with a psychosis will fixate on something you are wearing and connect you to one of their delusions (you should realize that at some point, someone will be delusional about you for some reason or another, but I always figured, why add any additional reasons?). I spent 10 years doing in-depth interviews with psychotic patients and I learned a lot (I also learned that I could not display my young child's scribble drawings without someone figuring out some hidden "meaning" to them). I don't like wearing lab coats unless the patient makes me uncomfortable (and I do use a lab coat when that happens). I find it distancing, but that's just me. I'm more comfortable on the unit without it. Plus I get too hot in a lab coat.

I absolutely was not going to be a nurse (too many family members in it already). I refused to even consider it for many, many years. So no, I have no calling. But I did become at nurse at 44 for a number of reasons. Doesn't make me less good at what I do.

First name basis if the pt calls me by my first name. Otherwise we're all on a Mr/Ms basis. Docs who use my first name (but don't give me permission to use theirs) get the first name of "Doc".

I graduated in 2000 at age 44. I already had a previous degree. Nursing school was difficult, but more because I had so many other responsibilities in addition to school (I worked fulltime and was divorced with two preteen kids). I felt crazed by stress by the time I was done, actually. I studied far less for nursing school than I did for my previous degree in French. French was more difficult academically for me than nursing school was, partly because by the time I got to nursing school, I'd dealt with my children's illnesses (so had a start on Peds), my parents' illnesses (had a start on geriatrics), had given birth twice plus had some gyn problems (had a start on ob/gyn), had worked as a psych interviewer & researcher (was almost to the finish line on psych), had taught a year of school (was already good at educating), and my first degree was all about communication so I had that covered as well. French I had to learn from the bottom up, so had to memorize an entire new language, pronunciation, spelling, words, meanings, without many English cognates to tie French words to. If you are very young and haven't been exposed to a lot of the medical stuff that goes along with modern life, then you have a smaller knowledge base to build on, so you have to study more and it's academically harder (like French was for me). Nursing school tends to be more stressful for many people because of the way classes and clinicals are set up (in many schools, it's long blocks of time, and then you must produce what you learned when you're in clinical). Plus there's the fact that while you are in clinical, some of your patients are very ill or scared (or both).

I've been in your shoes. Some people are very intimidated by knowledge display and this is exacerbated if the knowledge displayer is younger, better looking, of a different gender, or is perceived to have been given better life opportunities. It gets easier as you get older; people seem to accept my intelligence more now that I'm an old(er) lady, or maybe it's just that I've developed Mom Wisdom. It is important to remember that you can learn from those around you, just as those others will learn from you if they choose to do so. You can learn to adjust your vocabulary and speech style to your audience; you'll want to do this anyway if you intend to be a nurse, because most of your patients will have no medical background, will come from varied educational backgrounds and most will need explanations of even simple processes without the use of jargon.

Talk to a lawyer or a judge and get a valid opinion on this -- you might even call the BON and see what they say. This is what I know: My daughter was in a similar situation when she was 12. I made her go through all the probation, etc. When she was done, the judge told me that "her slate would be wiped clean" and as long as she didn't get into any other trouble as a minor, she would have no record.

I've had two colpos, and the pain level depends a lot on the skill of the MD and the sharpness of the instrument (btw, the snips they take for a colpo are teeny, and most docs will only do one or two -- the resident who did my first one took 7). But even the one done by the inexperienced resident I'd only put at a 5 (of 10). And afterwards you can do whatever; I went back to work. Oh, and both mine turned out to be no big deal.

I worked for KUMC when I lived in Kansas (research nurse) and I loved it. Great benefits and great working conditions.

Er, I mean, having been a breastfeeding mother....

In that case, so are tears, and sweat, and spit and airborne sneeze particles...I just don't understand why we let any people out in public AT ALL. Maybe we should just stay home unless we leave in biohazard suits because, gee, we might get some body fluid from someone else on us!!! Having breastfed myself, I can tell you that the only place the milk went was into the baby's mouth or onto my breast pads. Anyone sitting right next to me would not have been in any danger of having any "unhygienic breast milk" spilled on them. You're much more likely to have your food sneezed in by the waiter, the cook, or the people you're eating with than to actually touch a particle of breastmilk from a nursing mother. Plus there's the whole handwashing thing...I'm certain you've been exposed to far, far more urine (or worse) from unwashed hands while eating out than you have ever been exposed to some stranger's breast milk. And if you've ever played sports or gone to the gym, gosh, all that sweat that someone else might have gotten on you or left on the sports equipment or in the locker room! We should just dispense with all sports immediately AND close down all the gyms!

Ah! So if they're cute it's more OK than if they're ugly. So it's back to breastfeeding being more about sex than about nourishment for children.

Actually, yes, it was intended (and a little humor never hurts!)

First of all, I have to get this off my chest: Discreet: marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint Discrete: separate and distinct There are at least two DISCRETE factions here on allnurses in the discussion of DISCREET breastfeeding. :chuckle My opinion, babies need to be fed, and they don't need to be fed in the restroom. My 16-year-old son understands breastfeeding and doesn't stare, so other boys can learn if you teach them. Breastfeeding is not Mediaography. Thank God I breastfeed my kids 15 years ago when people were much less judgemental about this. If anyone said anything about me breastfeeding, it was to tell me how delightful it was to see a mom doing that (mostly I heard this from elderly men and women). I never heard a single word against it, nor saw any disapproving looks. It's FOOD. It's necessary for human life.

If you don't want to learn a spoken language, you can take Latin instead -- most schools will accept it for your foreign language credits. I took it in two correspondence courses over a summer. It was a lot of written work but I didn't have to go anywhere or listen to anyone and I did it at my own pace. It's more complicated than Spanish because there are so many word endings. But you don't have to speak it. My son enjoyed Latin far more than he ever liked Spanish.

I wear scrubs sometimes because they are inexpensive and comfortable, and they are allowed at this job (research nursing). But there are days (sometimes weeks) when I don't even SEE a patient. And when I DO see a patient, they are outpatient cancer patients and I don't touch them, I TALK to them. So yeah, report me to the "Hospital Authority". Some administrator will laugh her head off after she's hung up the phone. And here I thought Ms. vos Savant was sooo smart.