Kizomo

Well this one goes back to my training days as a student nurse at a large, inner city hospital in Sydney, Australia about 20 years ago. Many stories to tell from those days, but this is perhaps the yukkiest. I had a female patient who weighed in over 700 lbs - her husband weighed about 100lbs soaking wet. Anyway, this lady was admitted for treatment of her 'pressure ulcers'. She had ulcers under her breasts that you could lose your fists in. The same with her groin folds. These were nothing - her sacral area had a huge crater that could hide a basketball. All of these areas contained necrotic tissue, as well as maggots- ugghh! Just try and imagine the smell, and then triple your imagination. It took 2 nurses 1 1/2 hrs to change her dressings, which needed to changed q4h. And the dr. had decided to leave the maggots institu to help get rid of the necrotic areas. I have to say, I turned vegetarian for a long time after that experience. Oh, and the ending of the tale - I'm not actually sure how true this is, as it happened after I left the ward - this lady finally died (that part is definitely true). They placed her body in the freezer at the morgue. When they tried to remove her body from the freezer for autopsy, well.... you know how things expand when frozen... the body wouldn't budge, and they had to use a chainsaw to remove her piece by piece... eeeek! Hospital gossip or fact....?? .... I'll let you be the judge

I will never, EVER, go back to the ER. I spent my last 3 months of training at a large, inner city hospital, in the ER. I didn't really like it too much, then, on my last night there, we had the first rains of the season, and multiple MVAs. At one point during the night, we had 4 young men (under age 35) arresting at the same time, and only 2 defibrillators (this was over 20yrs ago, when defibs were quite new). We lost 3 of those 4. Then, to top off the night, as we were leaving, the police accompany an ambulance carrying another body... that of their co-worker they had just said good bye to at the start of their shift... he was in an accident on his way home from work. Nope... I will never go back to ER as a nurse, and hopefully not as a pt either. Tracy!

The facility where I've worked for the last 3 years has whole heartedly embraced the Eden concept with minimal problems. We are an 84 bed facility with dementia unit on the top floor, and lower maintenance residents on the ground floor. We have numerous plants throughout the building, as well as a green house for those residents who are cognitively able, to play around in. The plants are first verified to be non toxic in case they get eaten. We have a house cat who wanders the building looking for love. We have singing canaries on each floor. We also have a couple of guinea pigs and an aquarium. If staff wish, they are welcome to bring their 'well behaved' dogs to work for the residents to enjoy. Care of the facility animals is done mostly by the residents. In fact, they argue over doing the care because they all want to do it. There is always a staff member ready to pitch in and help when needed... for instance, a visit to the vets. This is paid for from the residents comfort funds. We have used this concept for many years now, and have never had a major problem. The residents love the animals and plants, and it makes them feel useful to be able to care for them. Allergies have not been an issue thus far. Even those residents who don't like cats, seem to like our house cat, who has brought comfort to many. Feel free to email me with any further questions. Tracy.

I was out of the hospital system for 16 years while travelling and then raising my family. I completed an RN refresher course 2 years ago, and have been working LTC since that time. I found the course really helped me to remember some of the old basics, and I also found many of my previous skills, such as dressing changes, injections etc, had not disappeared at all. I had to complete a clinical assignment which really helped to learn about all the new equipment such as IV pumps etc. It also brought me up to date on new dressing change techniques and medications, to name a few. Although the course was more oriented towards acute care, all this information was helpful in getting back to life in nursing. I think I would have been overwhelmed to step back into nursing without having completed it. I hope this helps... if you have any further questions, please feel free to email me. Regards - Tracy!

Irish... congratulations on finding your first nursing job... you are wise to query this situation. I don't believe that as a new grad, working alone is in the best interests of your residents, or yourself. Nightshifts can be relatively easy, but when an emergency does crop up, as so often it does with the elderly, it is hard to know the best course of action to take without some prior experience. I would suggest 6-12 months of working days or evenings with other experienced nurses will give you the experience you need to work nights. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask the board or myself. Regards - Tracy!