JenTheRN

Actually upon further thought I would choose three. I hate getting up at the crack of dawn and then driving a while to get to work. :)

I guess I would choose number two. Driving an hour to get home after a 12 hour shift can be awful! Even if it is only two days a week.

You win, hands down!

"why you do drugs when pregnant"? Insert funny-looking why-you meme here.

What we really need is a FCS. Fecal Containment Specialist. That would be a specific healthcare personel to take care of all the *gasp* poo that we would otherwise come in contact with.

oh my dear lord! i almost snorted out my coffee. weenrhelpr.com

Like many previous posters, please students, do not take up the valuable space at the nurses station by the computers! I need to chart and put orders in. It is difficult when you are there checking your email (I know not everyone does this but it has happened!) Please offer your chair to the weary nurses during report. I also love having students that are willing to learn! But I have encountered some who don't seem to realize or aren't aware that the computer / space at the nurses station is a valuable comodity for us.

Personally, I don't like working 12's. One would think that if I only work three days a week I would have more time to do other things. That's just not true. My 12 hour days are totally shot...meaning all I do is work, come home, and go to sleep. If I worked 8 hour shifts, I would be able to do something after work. Plus, on my days off I am so tired I can hardly function. Also, when I have to work overtime it usually ends up being 13, 14, or 15 hours. Personally, I don't think the human body is designed to work for 12 hours straight. Not mine anyway. But, I have a good paying job, so I put up with the 12 hour shifts.

Ok...I know my hospital provides it. Just a thought.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't your hospital cover liability for all its nurses? Unless you are a travel nurse, I would think what the hospital supplies would be sufficient and supplimental insurance would be a waste of money. Your situation may be different tho.

We are required to take symptoms when the person calls to track any infection control problems. Usually I just ask if it's GI or Flu like symptoms or "other". The weirdest call-off I ever witnessed: A woman's daughter called and said to call her mother off sick for the next day as they were "kipnapping her" and "making" her stay at the water park hotel they were at. Nothing said about a sickness. I never talked to the employee. She got fired for that one. It could have been solved so easily if she would have called in herself and said she had the flu or something!

Occasionally it is necessary. The other day I had to run to the cafeteria, grab a tray, run back (well, maybe walk briskly) and try to inhale it at the nurses station before all craziness breaks loose. I managed to eat some cookies and part of my soup. But that's what you get on a unit manned only by two RNs and no ancillary staff.

Sometimes those 37 week babies need a bit more time to transition. Sounds like this one had some TTN (transitional tachypnea of the newborn). 92% on a newborn is not really that low, with some grunting and retractions it bears watching. I would have let the charge nurse know, and asked her what she thought. IMO, sometimes babies just need some time to transition, and unless they are in obvious distress, need to be left alone (so to speak) to do what nature has intended.

The important thing is to get her bleeding under control. 1st thing to do is massage the heck out of her uterus. By two weeks pp the uterus should be quite far under the umbilicus. Yes, she will need some pitocin, methergine, or another drug to make her uterus contract, but if she has bleeding that far after delivery I would think she would need a D&C as the most likely culprit would be retained placenta. I don't see that many cases of this, so maybe someone else could share some thoughts, but I think they were trying to stablize her so that she could go into surgery.

I was going to say a big spider I had to squish the other day... Not on my floor but when I was working as a nurse extern in the ED after graduation two little boys came in DOA after they set their grandparents house on fire from playing with matches. The grandfather died as well.

The woman had a history of drug abuse. Her baby was eventually transfered to the NICU. Also, she had a PPH with this delivery, and had a white count of 27. She left so she could smoke and because her mother couldn't stay the night with her. No FOB involved.

Nope, baby is still a patient. She did visit him for 4 hours today, how nice. Also, she asked what time she could 'pick him up' tomorrow. I must be the highest paid babysitter ever!

So, I had a patient sign herself out AMA yesterday 4 HOURS after delivery! She was strongly encouraged to stay, but nothing I did short of putting handcuffs on her would make her stay. What is the shortest time after delivery you have seen a patient sign out? Oh, and I could rant and rave about this person, but I'm sure it would be breaking HIPAA laws.

PS-As long as she acheived a successful lady partsl delivery and there was no fetal distress, I would say things were managed just fine. Sometimes the docs are the onces making us feel pressured to get those contractions going!

I'm just wondering how someone went 50 hours with PROM?! Did she come in with ROM and not realize? Anyway, there are specific guidelines on uterine hyperstimulation put in place by NICHD which defines Tachysystole (formerly known as tetatic contractions) as more than 5 contractions in a 10 min period (averaged). If you are seeing more than 5 in ten mins you probably need to back down on the pit. Oops, forgot to add that any contraction two or more mins long is also considered tachysystole.

Turd, you made me lol.

Oh, and I routinely see dbp of 40-45. But that's in a newborn!

Personally, my norm runs in the 90's/50's. I think it would depend upon the patient. If a patient has been running high, they would certainly get symptomatic with that kind of a blood pressure. Also, you need to look at the big picture. Is this a person with a risk for bleeding of any kind? Is this person experiencing dizziness or nausea? Is this person in the end-stages of the dying process? All those will play a factor.

Open? No, that would be a waste as the sterile field would be compromised. We would have an OR team in house and ready to go when/if needed tho.

How about "All of a sudden" vs "All of the sudden"? Which one do you say? I've always said all of a sudden. (I'm from Michigan) My boyfriend, who is from Texas says all of the sudden.