EDNewbie

For all the patients that continually cough - "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by the Police

Thanks everyone for posting all these replies! I don't know, I just had one of those days... Despite my screen name, I am no longer an "EDNewbie" - made that name up when I first started ED. I have worked at several different hospitals in two different states and the one I currently work at has the worst offenders. Maybe it has something to do with being in the 'burbs with all the pampered people. The wimpiness didn't seem so prevalent at the county hospital where I started out or the urban hospital in the ghetto that I left about 6 months ago. I just needed to vent.. But I do sometimes worry about the "younger" generation. They truly do not know how good they have it these days. Back in MY day.. oh no, now I sound like my parents!!:lol2:

Is is just me, or is anyone else seeing more and more patients in their late teens to early 30's that are a bunch of wusses? I mean relatively minor ailments (nausea/vomiting for 1 day, headache, cough/congestion, back pain) and these pts act like they are at death's door! Enough drama for a year's worth of Broadway shows. I'm not referring to any pt with serious or chronic illnesses. I mean stuff that is really minor, that should be addressed with a routine PCP visit, but instead they end up in the ER. Inevitably they get the million $ workup (labs, Xray, CT, etc.) only to be discharged with DX of "gastritis" or "muscle strain." I just worked a 4 day stretch and easily half of my pts fit this category. What's going on?!

I worked Baylor for 2 years and was only expected to work holidays if they fell on the weekend. BTW, I am in AZ.

freakin' hilarious!!:lol2:

:YES!: I was thinking the same thing the other day- it seems like more and more family members are just rude or plain obnoxious! In one shift, I had several different family members question me and the other nurses, "well, you haven't done this, what about that.. blah blah blah" so I finally said to one "All the nurses here are highly educated professionals and we know what we're doing so why don't you just let us do it." I really wanted to say KISS my *** we're not servants or waitresses! I have had to leave pt's rooms so I my smart mouth won't get me in trouble:angryfire:angryfire

Well said!

Now that is just ghetto!

I once worked with a cardiologist that wrote in a progress note, "This lady had A-fib that has unfortunately resolved." I think he meant that because it resolved he could not determine the etiology, but I laughed out loud when I read it.

Dude, where do I get one of these buttons?!! LOVE IT!!:lol2:

I always ask patients, "What has the docotor told you?" to gauge what their concern may be. If I can answer their questions I usually try to do it in a general way; then I let the doc know - "Hey, Mr. Smith is confused/concerned about whatever, could you please talk to him when you get a chance." Seems to work pretty well.

YEAH, if I had a dollar for everytime I heard the "it slipped" story.. I might put that money up my... JUST KIDDING:lol2:

:lol2: Too funny! I think most of us have involuntarily embraced the poo at one point or another. :lol2:

"Rights" vs responsibilities- in many cases, pts want the former but not the latter

When I was a PICC nurse, there was one room in the Xray dept (where we checked for line placement) that ALWAYS had mosquitoes. I even had one land on a sterile field once (thank goodness I hadn't started yet and just trashed the whole thing). We reported it repeatedly but nothing seemed to be done about it; as a joke we photocopied a picture of a mosquito and hung it up as our mascot. The bad thing was at this time West Nile virus was being reported in the community and we had mosquitoes flying around our facility.

My supervisor once threatened to write me up because I said, "Frick," (as in "What the frick") according to a coworker. He asked did you say that and I said yes, so what.. he said I won't write you up, consider this a warning. I nearly laughed in his face- write me up for not using profanity?! What an idiot he was.

I completed my RN-BSN @ UOP in June 2006. I did well with the program, and I am currently looking @ their MSN options. One thing I can say is you must be very disciplined and motivated. 5 week classes can be intense, and you absolutely must be an excellent writer! In my experience, the "advisors" @ UOP are pretty worthless. That being said, I have no major complaints about the program. Heavy on nursing theory (yuk) but otherwise okay. :studyowl:

What do we do? A little bit of everything and then some! Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

We had a 60ish female in ER with a rectal prolapse secondary to long-term laxative abuse. This thing was HUGE- I'm talking softball-sized. Evidently her sphincter had no tone; every time the ER doc reduced it, it popped back out and swelled up more. ER doc consults with surgeon, who says, you have to shrink it before you push it back in. How do we do that? Pack it with SUGAR...yes, that's right plain old granulated sugar (the theory being that the osmotic action will draw out the edema). Well, needless to say, I had never done this before (by accident or on purpose) and for a while I thought the ER doc was trying to pull one over one me (he's a known jokester). But no, another RN and I spent the next 2 hours opening those tiny sugar packets (of course, that's the only sugar we could find), pouring them into styrofoam cups and alternately sprinkling, sifting and packing this poor lady's rectum with sugar. Of course this pt is also diabetic, so we have to do Accucheck's q 30 mins (rectal mucosa absorbs the sugar, evidently). Finally, the prolapse shrinks enough, the doc decides to reduce it again. So myself, the other RN and the doc go in, and each time the doc tries to fix it, the pt bears against it and pushes it back out. So I grab the silk tape and tell the doc, on the count of 3... He pushes it back in, the other nurse clamps the cheeks together, and I wrap her butt in silk tape. Without a doubt, this was the most BIZARRE thing I had ever witnessed or done. I swear, this is true, I couldn't make this up! Oh, BTW, pt was admitted for surgery the next morning. Called report to the floor, told the entire story then the nurse asks, Do you have an order to tape her butt cheeks? What the ?????? :chuckle

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: I stayed up WAY too late last night reading this entire thread and I swear I was crying! These are great! Keep 'em coming!

Oh yeah, it's truly AMAZING what objects people "fall on." We had a pt with part of a broom handle wedged where the sun don't shine and he adamantly insisted that he FELL on it! I HATE it when that happens! :rotfl:

21- yr old M c/o nausea and vomiting X 1 day. Stated he was out late Friday night at a bar, drinking with his friends, then woke up Sat. morning with HA, nausea and vomiting, feels like room is spinning. Says, "I think there was something in my drink." Yeah, Einstein, it's called ALCOHOL! :rotfl:

My hubby's active duty army (special forces) and yes, it does seem like there is an unusually large proportion of nurse/military marriages. We've been married 15 yrs, all of them military. I'm so proud of him :)