jl_nurse

LOL. My son says, "mom, you are silly for setting that alarm for 6:04, etc.." Glad there are other kindred spirits out there!

Always remember, each person is born with a heart and a brain and needed to be treated as whole real people.You must have compassion, a listening ear, and caring heart to truly succeed in this profession. REmember this, a patient may not remember or even mentioned the nurse that started his iv without difficulty, the nurse that gave him his medications, however, he will remember the one that sat down next to him and listened with a open ear and heart and earned his trust. If your heart is not in it, try something else. Yes, knowledge is needed, however compassion, thoughtfulness, and true patient advocacy is what the best nurses care about and follow through on.

I have never ever wanted to be anything other than a nurse. My great aunt told me that when I was 3 , I told her I was going to be a nurse. I started nursing school when i was 18, met a guy, dropped a guy, ruined my life or so it seemed. I continued working as a cna since age of 18. At the age of 27 it was time to become a nurse, I was getting sick and tired of telling some nurses things were wrong with their patients and them not doing anything about it. I wanted to be able to do something.I graduated with my RN when I was 30, after starting school with a son in a spica cast, working full time in the hospital, going to school every day, and my husband working out of state. I still don't know how I did it, but I wouldn't change a thing. I ahve been an RN for 4 years and its been awesome!All that I went through in my life, made me a better nurse. I love it!!! Being there for a patient is more than just drawing blood, take someone to the bathroom, it is about listening, being compassionate, and following through with what you hear.!!!! Nursing is an art, and don't leave your canvas blank!

Oh boy, the memories!!! We were practicing code blues one day and I was the "IV/med nurse." We wereusing fake arms down by the legs just for practice, well I am so OCD, I was on the right side of the body,during the mock code, I lifted the arm and said " This is a left arm, I need a right."My favorite teacher smacked mein the head with the fake arm and said ," just try not to be so obsessive, pretend its a right and start the IV."It was priceless. Hmmm. Another one, we were doing our first psych rotation. I was in the rotation with my 2 best friends well we were each assigned a patient, we have to talk with. There were two female houses and two male houses. I had a male patient. I forgot my nametag,so i stuck a piece of tape with my name on it on my shirt, we were wearing street clothes. I went into the male house and was sittingtalking, the aide looks at me and says "you have to leave, females are not allowed in the male house." I said , it is okay I am a student. So I went to another room and then was walking around the house with my patient, that same aide said " I thought I already told you, you are not allowed in here." I said, "and I told you I am a nursing student and you are interferring with my progress."Then she couldn't apologize enough.LOL. Those were my two favorites!!!

No,that is in no way a proper orientation, no matter how long you have been a nurse and where you have worked prior.If you are new to home health, you needa proper length orientation, there is so much to learn. I was a supervisor over the local hospital and charge nurse on med-surg, and home health is a whole new world. Of course, the more of a knowledge and skill base you have, the faster it will come to you. I would definitely talk to the DON about a more detailed orientation. Good luck to you!

Wow, to be able to have such a choice of what to wear. We HAVE to wear all white and the uniform tops have to be button down not the v-neck preferably. I have begged to wear a colored uniform just one day a week, but no luck!!! Wear the colors for me !

Hi there, and Picc lines, oh I just love them and central lines and ports. Procedure as I was taught, flush your red line with Ns 5 ml, then aspirate 5-10 mls then discard. then draw 10 ml syringe or can be 5ml depending on how many tubes you need and what labs are ordered. then flush with normal saline 10 ml. if heplocked, flush with 500 units/5 ml after ns and lock. transfer blood into tubes using 20g needle or larger and you are good!!! Hope that helps. Take care and happy new year!

I have been in the nursing field for almost 14 years. The last 2 years I spent as a RN, for the last year and a half I have been the charge nurse on the Med-Surg unit. I went where my heart and mind wanted to go. I wouldn't give it up. Go where you feel you will be the best nurse you can be. While plenty of people, say that med-surg isn't specialized, well in a way it is. I have to know everything from CHF, to menigitis, broken bones, age 0- 110. It is rough. Med- Surg usually gets most of the slack too. I think we all need to stand up and give each other a hand no matter where we work. We are all nurses and need to stick together. Good luck in the ER, its all about you and where you want to be!!!

Just to refresh everyone's mind: Right patient Right medication Right dosage Right route Right time/date and Right to know and Right to refuse! There you go all seven. hope that helps!

I am currenylt packing and moving this weekend, and taking care of my five year old pretty much had my days full when I am not working. I usually am on here after my little one is off to bed.

It is something you will never ever forget, but you did SAVE him. Remember that is why we became nurses...to help people!!! Congrats on graduating. I called my first code before my patient actually coded, she was intubated and put on the vent. Two days later, the ICU nurse called me and said you need to come down here. I ran downstairs where my patient was sitting up in bed. She said, thank you, I will always call you my angel, you saved my life. Then she hugged me....now its moments like that that make you cry, smile and have goose bumps!! Keep up the great work!!!

Don't doubt yourself- you DID the RIGHT thing. You are there for your patients, they are our priority.I had a md yell at me this weekend, and then come in and apolgize. He was upset because he is always on call when his partner's patients are crashing. He hugged me and said sorry. But when he yelled at me over the phone, I hung up crying. Then I received a STAR for a fellow coworker for doing the right thing. That other nurse doesn't know what she is talking about and obviously is more worried about upsetting the md's then taking good care of her patient.

Med-Surg 6a-6p 4-6 pts, g is our max on days. I usually have 3 and am charge nurse. When our census is high, I sometimes have 5-6. Say there are 21 patients on the floor, there will be 5 licensed (3 rn's, 2 lpns or vice versa) , two techs, and a unit secretary. 6p-6a 5-8 pts, 8 is max. Usually one or two techs from 6p-10p and unt secretary. One tech from 10p-6a. It works well usually. Thank goodness we haven't been short lately. We also have one or two nurses on call everyday.

We have five wonderful, caring, intelligent, dedicated hospitalists. Its nice to know that all I have to do is pick up the phone ans say I am very concerned due to my patient's respiratory status, etc and the hospitalist is there in 1 minute, sometimes even helping me wheel the patient in the bed to the ICU. I work in med-surg. One day one of the hospitalist's was so happy with my assessment of one of his patient's, that he bought me lunch. Wasn't expecting that . They are a great asset in our hospital.

Foley and straight catheter insertions have always been my most difficult skill and I am not afraid to admit it. One helpful hint is to inflate the balloon and turn the patient or ask the patient to roll, almost always you will get urine. If you leave it in place and have not noticed urine within the next 2 hours, renal ultrasound needs to be done. Good luck.