Ann4

Every time I think about that whole nurse as sexual object persona I get so pissed off. I have never gotten sexually aroused at work caring for patients and I doubt anyone else has either. Where do they get these crazy ideas?? I'll tell you why this guy's nurse-wife wrote the book with him - $$$$$$$$$$$$$. All this stupid book is going to do is further perpetuate the fantasy idea of nurse as slut/hooker or whatever. Give me a break.

When I was in nursing school, I did my senior paper and presentation on a similar subject. Mine was more about living wills and people's right to decide whether or not to have life support and/or nutrition removed. I took care of a patient during my rotation in Neuro ICU who was brain dead from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Her family had a living will from the state of New York stating her wishes and they wanted her removed from the vent immediately. The doctor had some objections (I forget all the deatils) and the case was taken before the hospital's ethics committee. In the end, the vent was d/c'd. I got to pull out her ET tube and be with her and her family while she took her final breaths. It was interesting to note that her husband had been one of my English professors in college, so I think that helped them to open up to me and trust me more. One of the staff nurses in the unit did definitely have a problem with stopping this patient's ventilator, so I volunteered to do it. It turned out to be one of the most formative experiences I had in school. Good luck with your paper!! Hope it goes well.

Sorry about all the edits to the last post - I was playing with the smilies.

The one procedure that really freaked me out and almost made me pass out was watching a neurosurgeon insert a ventriculostomy drain at the bedside. The patient was fully awake (think "Hannibal"). The doctor was standing at the head of the bed, drilling away with the hand drill and cracking jokes about the man not having osteoporosis because his skull was so hard. The worst part was when he threaded this long needle into the guy's head and out the second hole. I felt my knees about to give out. (This happened during my orientation in Neuro ICU.) [This message has been edited by Ann4 (edited March 23, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Ann4 (edited March 23, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Ann4 (edited March 23, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Ann4 (edited March 23, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Ann4 (edited March 23, 2001).]

This doesn't really have to do with alternative meds but more with patients from way out in the country. I had lady once ask me to unplug her IV pump during a thunderstorm. She was afraid she'd get shocked from an electrical surge!!!

Yeah, we had a woman in our ER one night who had also swallowed a quarter. She and her husband were celebrating their anniversary (without the kids around) and were playing the drinking game Quarters. She slammed the drink AND the quarter. Her husband couldn't quit laughing at her while she was being examined. You could even see the eagle emblem on the back of the quarter on her chest x-ray. It was pretty funny, but I felt sorry for her. She finally passed the coin past her cardiac sphincter and felt much better. I'd hate to see how passing it the rest of the way went!!

You just have to go with your gut feeling. I started out in oncology due to a wonderful nursing instructor whose specialty was oncology. But there are many fields that are good for new grads - pediatrics, telemetry, etc... You really can't go wrong. And if you find you're not happy with the specialty you've chosen, you can always switch to another.

How about a patient in neuro ICU who was "brain dead" for days, finally extubated and allowed to die, and upon taking her last few breaths raised both arms straight up and out from under the blankets?? That was pretty creepy. On another occasion I briefly saw the ghost of a patient that I had taken care of for weeks. He was wandering around in the hospital room where he'd died about 8 hours after his death. I wasn't shaken at all by it, but my coworkers ran back there to check after I told them what I'd seen. I don't think they believed me.