ICor9:24

Hi Everyone! I just started Phram and we need to make our drug cards like I am sure many of you may have already done. I have seen a couple "templates" and samples, and made a few myself, but I just wanted to get feedback from everyone.. What tips or tricks did you find for making yours in a way that was helpful for studying & memorization? Formatting, highlighting, color coding, anything... ?? Justing copying all that info in pencil just isn't getting it for me. I finish, then I go back and look at it to study and my eyes blur and cross and my brain shuts down like "Oh too much info... :(" LOL :chuckle I have the 5x7 index cards, biggest I can find. They should do the trick cuz the smaller ones don't cut it. Thanks for any ideas!

You consider just going to buy new socks & underwear rather than search through the five baskets of piled up laundry that you have no time to sort through and put away. It would be so much easier to just buy some new stuff! But, then again, I am in nursing school which also means.. I'm broke! LOL

I was wondering if anyone else had this problem... I pre ordered the Taber's 21st Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, and received it. I was so excited to activate my "included" 1 yr online access and PDA/Mobile access... only to find that my book was printed without the promotion code and serial number that is supposed to be printed on the inside cover of the book. Customer service with FA Davis has been a nightmare.... They said 80,000+ copies of this book went out, and I am "the only one to report this problem"..???? Really????? They are acting like I am trying to scam them over or something to get some free promotion codes when I already paid close to $50 for the book. I even emailed them pictures of the book and the inside pages showing where the codes were missing. Then they wanted me to send the book back to them so they could investigate it, and then they would send me a new one?? Uhhh hello I sorta need this thing for school. Ughh what a nightmare. Not a fan of FA Davis and I can say from experience customer service is not their top priority.

:pumpiron: I am in my 2nd quarter of my LPN program, and even though I am doing fairly well at balancing everything - homelife, kids, hubby, pets, chores, working part time, homework, grades, etc.., I am finding ZERO time or motivation for exercising!!! Anyone else managing to squeeze this oh so important quality of life in??? Or anyone else just totally given up on it??? Also, I manage to cook some nights and its pretty healthy for the most part. But I gotta tell ya'll - there are a lot of nights I am too tired, both mentally and physically, to even consider cooking or laundry, etc... so I am like "screw it" lets order pizza, or if I only have to worry about me, I am perfectly fine not eating, or who knows maybe I'll eat a whole box of mac & cheese! LOL... I know, it's horrible. I sometimes wonder if maybe I just MADE the time for exercising, if it would help with my energy (ok, I KNOW exercising as a rule does that anyway, but we are dealing with a different set of circumstances here aren't we??) But I honestly don't know HOW IN THE WORLD I could squeeze out any more time in the days! I mean, my hubby & daughter already feel like I have abandoned them for my new lover NURSING SCHOOL!!! LOL! I can't hardly see telling them "Sorry, but I will be gone/busy/occupied with something else for another hour or so each day!" Yeah right :icon_roll, that would go over just dandy! I know it is so important to take care of yourself, even if it's something as small as a quiet bubble bath, but I just never seem to have the time or make the time since I have been in nursing school. I just wanted to hear from other people who feel that same, and for the people who are making the time - suggestions please! Share the wealth of knowledge! I am hoping maybe once spring breaks that even if I take a few minutes walking outside around the block in some sunshine that will do me good. I feel like I have the winter time blues sorta! :urgycld: Thanks for listening to my rant!

Have you considered re taking the nurse aide training? I was in a situation similar to you - in the fact that I had taken the aide training around 4 yrs ago, and the subsequently had to withdraw from the nursing program after that. I never tested or worked as an aide as I had a really good paying office job at the time. Well, things changed and I was blessed with a new wonderful husband and the opportunity to leave the sucky office job and finish nursing school. I decided to work part time as an aide to supplement (some) income... Not only did I have to re take the aide class (because in OH if you don't get certified within 2 years of the class you have to retake it), but I am glad I re-took it because it "reacquainted" me with patient care and like you said, I would have never remembered everything I had learned 4 yrs ago. The down side is paying again to take the class, but IMO, it was definitely worth it. I know hands down I am ahead of the curve in nursing school compared to other students who have never touched a patient. HTH!

I am curious about your orientation, and why you felt like you "couldn't do it". How long was your orientation? When you say you were supposed to have your first day yesterday, was it your first day on your own, or shadowing someone? Could you have asked for more orienting time? I know I certainly did as a brand new aide. I had 3 days orientation which was shadowing another aide, and I still didn't feel quite comfortable going it alone, I talked to the DON and she gladly hooked me up with another day to shadow. It made all the difference in the world. It IS very overwhelming the amount of pt's you are assigned and all the tasks that come with it, but you CAN do it. I am not being judgmental, I would suggest though that next time, stick it out, and try your best!!! You are venturing into a brand new world of nursing care, and it is scary at first, but you can do it if your heart and mind is in it! You say you would like to do Home Health care, but that will be scary and overwhelming too. You will be all alone, with no supervision or nurse there to guide you or go to with questions. Each situation has its own pro's and cons, but I have been told if you "can make it in LTC - you can make it anywhere", and I do believe there is some truth in that. Good luck in your future endeavors!

But then you do get a little irritated when you realize YOU will be the one unpacking all their belongings and putting them away again! LOL

I think that you have to walk the line of being partially "desensitized" to it, but yet still having empathy for your pts. It's not being cold, it's just doing your job. I mean I have sometimes that I catch myself being totally cold about it all, getting frustrated or just cold about the daily activities. But you will also have those moments that make you go "Ahhhh, this is why I am doing this!" and you will be touched and satisfied, and you will have impacted someone else's life for the better. Just the other day, I rushed in to hurry through getting one of my residents dressed, thinking in my head things like; oh I hope she doesn't whine, I hope she doesn't give me problems, I hope she doesn't hit/scratch/punch me, I hope she stands good so I don't break my back, I hope she ....blah blah blah you get the point. Well while I was dressing her she was abnormally talkative, she's normally pretty difficult to understand and doesn't speak much. But out of the blue, she says "give me a hug"! :redbeathe Now, admittedly, I did a mental rundown - hands clean and free of poo? Check. Clean shirt - no potential food or unknown bodily substances - check. Face clean - check. Yes!!! Of course you can have a hug! LOL So I hugged her, you know the sort of hug you would give a long lost distant cousin you haven't seen in a few years, and she REALLY embraced me and gave me a huge hug! :redbeathe In that moment, my heart melted and I forgot all about the ewwy gross things and I thought "I wonder how long it's been since she's been hugged" And I really, really hugged her back, and it was a sweet experience that I am thankful for. I needed it as much as she did to remind me that this job isn't only about the cleaning & dressing & feeding & changing & wiping & lifting & poo & ick & mess, ... sometimes its just about being there for them! Sorry for the novel... lol Point is, look for the little moments that you can tuck inside your heart and carry with you forever! :heartbeat

To my coworkers who ask me to hold the elevator open for them so they can go clock out to go on break: No!!!!!!! :angryfire No I will not hold the elevator for you so that you can have every last second of your precious break to yourself! (gawd forbid you spend 1 whole minute of your break waiting on the elevator!!!!) No I will especially not hold the elevator for you to take your damned break because I NEVER EVER GET A BREAK! Yes, I am due a break, but out of the love/obligation/frustration for my job - I don't take a break because I know if I do I will never get everything done in the time that I need it done! I think you are selfish for always taking a break when half your coworkers don't get one. I think you are selfish for leaving the floor with call lights buzzing, and forcing your coworkers who already aren't getting a break to pick up your slack!!!! :angryfire Hold the EFFIN elevator yourself!!!!!! I've got WORK TO DO! Wow that felt good!

:yeahthat: in my first few days as a new cna, one of my residents said "now make sure you rub the cream on my scrotum" i wanted to say - uh, i am pretty sure if you can ask me to put cream on your scrotum, you are good to do it yourself buddy!

When that "special" family member stops me and asks "are you the nurse?", I sooooo wanna say "Nope and THANK GOD!" :bowingpur LOL (Even tho in 14 months I will be the nurse!) :w00t:

You just reminded me of another one.. Son of above mentioned obnoxious pt, as he's leaving stops me to say: "There is something really foul smelling back there" Gee... ya think? You are in a nursing home and you did just breeze down the corridor after lunch and after we changed about 24 residents. There could possibly be some odor associated with that.

Ok, so I know I can't be the only one who dreams about just for ONCE saying what's really going through her mind! I love my job, and I do it for the love of my residents, and I always give 100% to make sure they are safe, happy, and cared for. However, I am also extremely sarcastic by nature - and sometimes, well lots of times, I think one thing - but of course say and act completely polite and professional! Let's see what we all are really thinking in those times of complete stress and chaos we all know too well! I'll start.... To the A&Ax3 perfectly coherent pt who is mean and obnoxious and thinks that he is at the Ritz not a nursing home, and thinks every CNA is his personal assistant / slave::angryfire DO NOT under any circumstances hit your call light for me to come and pick up your breakfast/lunch/dinner tray - the NANOsecond you finish eating!!!! REALLY! You KNOW that at some point during the 20 other times you call me in there, that I will pick it up on my way out!!!! This drives me absolutely up the wall. Same goes for your urinal (with all 5 cc's of output)! Stop calling the poor confused residents filthy names. Just because you choose to sit in the hallway all day long doesn't make you the hall monitor! Just because they aimlessly walk or wheel around doesn't mean they are stupid. They are confused. Telling them to get the hell away from you and go back to where "they belong" is nasty and uncalled for. I sometimes secretly hope you will become exactly like them. Soon. When you ask for an appointment at the barbershop at 8:50 am and they don't open until 9 am, don't hit your call button at 8:55 and ask if I got you a 9 am appointment! I know this may come as a shock to you - but you are not the center of the universe!! You will probably get scheduled sometime later that day, or - GASP - maybe even the next day! To those wonderful family members we all love so much: Just because you have an internet connection and access to WebMD, doesn't make you a medical professional. Why the Docs and DON's entertain your completely idiotic and unfounded requests - I will never know. Do you know how hard it is to keep residents properly hydrated? Yet you insist your loved one is over hydrated, and insist he only have one glass of water at every meal. AND you come in during meals and pull a bottle of sea salt out of your purse and dump handfuls onto his food. Hmmmm. OK! You haven't been to visit grandma in over a year. Grandma is completely contracted, hoyer lift, check and change, with aphasia. When you come and tell me that she told you she has to go to the bathroom and you want me to "take her to the restroom", I am not sure whether I want to giggle or slap you. ... Keep em coming! Just some healthy venting! Thanks a ton!

Is anyone else ever complexed as to why this is an issue? I mean, I totally understand patient rights and yes on the rare occasion I can understand certain situations why a female may refuse a male aide, but seriously, has anyone ever had a male pt refuse a female aide? I haven't. If they did - given that male aides are most often fewer in numbers - there would be a real problem. I am just puzzled by this I guess. We do have 1 resident with phych issues in our LTC that won't allow a male aide, but again I can understand that due to her condition. I am just throwing it out there for debate I guess and what your opinions are. I know that in the end its all about pt rights, but we still can have an opinion on it. I have even had certain residents refuse care from an aide of a different race - which REALLY frustrates me - geez. :madface:Here is someone who is caring for you out of the goodness of their heart and you can't get past the color of their skin to allow them to help you ????? Just furthering the topic of converstation .. :wink2: ya'll have a great day!

You spend 30 minutes cleaning up a pt over and over and over again because she is having explosive diarrhea and you aren't at all upset, you just wish she would hurry and get it over with already because you are so starving and you are vividly imagining yourself eating your lunch with out even being the slightest bit grossed out at the mess in front of you...:roll l