ails

One time in the OR, I scrubbed for an Ex-Lap case. The patient is a young male in his early 20s and has been suffering stomach pains since he was a child (so long, imagine that pain...). When the patient was opened up, the surgeons found out that the patient has adhesive band formations on his intestines. So they had to bring out the whole intestine. After doing adhesiolysis, they were returning the whole intestine back. Unfortunately, it won't fit (as opposed to what our teacher said that it would easily coil back after stretching and would fit easily when returned). So they had to milk the feces out of the intestine starting from the ascending tract (where as we all know the feces ain't in its solid form yet). While milking, there were loud farting sounds. After the incision has been closed and the linens were removed, a pool of liquid stool was there. Erm...I think it was green...

Hmmm...could that dead kitty be her pet she forgot she had?

So true! Thanks for posting, made me laugh a lot!

Need help with loculated pleural effusion. How do you describe it? The Brunner (and some other) books describe it as being "walled-off". Sorry if I don't get what it means but it's one of the things that make it a bit harder for us foreign students when it comes to understanding the textbooks. Though we understand English, we don't usually use some common words like walled-off and others because it's not taught at school and we don't use them (currently looking for dunce smilie but can't find one ) :smackingf I've searched the net and browsed books but only a few contain it and with the definitions I get, I'm still dumbfounded :uhoh21: About the NCP, my instructor suggested/told me that another appropriate NCP for my patient is "Altered comfort" (to closed thoracostomy tube?). It's not found in the Nanda. The patient is a 5-month old baby so I can't do some distractions like magazine-reading. There're also no toys there because it's a Pulmonary CCU. Are there any other ways to provide comfort to the baby? Aside from giving pain relievers as ordered, what are the appropriate non-pharmacologic interventions I can do? Thanks a million in advance! :)

Thanks very much for your help for the third time :)

Hi everyone! My groupmates and I are currently working on a case study about a patient diagnosed with Acute Renal Failure secondary to Acute Gastroenteritis. For the pathophysiology part, how can AGE lead to ARF? Our patient has hemorrhage. From the Brunner Med-Surg book by Smeltzer [et al.], it said that hemorrhage is one of the causes of Prerenal ARF. How exactly does it happen? My presumptions are the gastrointestinal inflammation + hemorrhage compresses the kidneys and therefore causes poor GFR. Our patient's urinalysis shows increased BUN & Crea levels in the urine. If this is the case, can this still be elaborated? Thanks a million in advance! Ails

What is the relation of inguinal hernia to high risk pregnancy? All I know is that when the intestine gets incarcerated in the inguinal canal, it carries with it a uterine ligament. Which is it? And how is it detrimental to pregnancy? Thanks a million! By the way, here's a copy of the paper I submitted to our instructor. I'm going to do an oral report next week about it, hope you could give me additional inputs: :) Thanks very much to Daytonite's previous reply. Unfortunately, my first post was removed due to some reasons. Here's an edited post. Thanks again! :imbar

Can anyone help me with my case report? My case is a high risk pregnant woman with inguinal hernia. I'm going to have my oral report to my clinical instructor next week and I still haven't figured out how inguinal hernia can be detrimental to pregnancy. By the way, we are asked to do our own written reports ovenight and submit them the next day. That's why I wasn't able to really find out exactly how it goes. I was only able to find out that when the intestine gets incarcerated in the inguinal canal, it carries with it a uterine ligament. Which uterine ligament is it? And if you happen to know anything helpful related to my report, kindly teach me. Thank you very much! I really put my heart in doing my reports...unlike my classmates who just "copy then paste". I really hate that. Again, thanks a million!

I do have one tiny floater which I got last April or May. It shrunk but it did not completely go away. I can't imagine how other people with severe floaters feel. I found this online petition for cure on floaters. Maybe some of you who would like to support the petition make an entry there: http://www.petitiononline.com/qd2584/petition.html There are videos and photos of how a person with floaters see. This site has good visuals: http://www.eyefic.com

Just this April/May, our teachers (all nurses) were having heat between them. It was like a previous faculty member vs. the new faculty. Because of this fight, the new faculty had intentions of resigning. The result, that previous faculty member resigned. One of the previous faculty members (not a nurse) was so disappointed with our teachers having the fact that they're all nurses, yet they fight each other. Speaking of negativity, one of our new teachers has a very strong personality and is one of them annoying "know-it-alls". Yes, she has experience but no need to make students feel inferior, DUH :angryfire

Our teacher always tells us that in writing nurse's notes, it should include the whereabouts and activities of the patient. Here's something my teacher told us. It's not exactly the same but it goes like this: [...assisted Patient X in standing up from bed, walked three steps toward the door. Then, turned the knob and opened the door. Walked 10 steps...] Hahaha...too specific!

Nurse 1: Hey, why do you have a thermometer on your year? Nurse 2: Oh my, which ass did I put my pen into? ================== :lol_hitti ================== In the mental institution, one of the patients is singing while in bed (in supine position). Later on, the patient turned into prone. The nurse asked, "Why did you turn?" The patient replied, "Are you nuts? It's side B already!" ================== :lol_hitti ================== Hope I find more

I'm still a student but here're what I think: - Nursing is service, as symbolized by the cap, and the "reward" one gets from serving people and taking care of the sick feels so great. I think no other profession can feel that happiness. - On the salary thing, I think an increase would be better since nurses are the medical field's "frontline members". We risk our own health (some have risked the career they've worked for in years, some even risked their lives) everyday when we render care to our patients.

Haha, I finally found a way to get away with it. Our professors said wear make up, they did not specify which. Since I sweat like hell, I don't wear powder. I also don't wear mascara or lipstick because they're sticky and do not make me feel comfortable. So, I just wear a blush on that lasts a whole day, even if I sweat so much. It's not sticky and I even forget that I'm wearing it.

I am not hearing impaired but I've hearing problems. My ENT told me that when I clean my ear with ear buds, it pushes the ear wax farther into the ear canal. And so, I used to feel how it is to be deaf, sort of... I'm all right now but sometimes, I misunderstand what others say to me and that makes me nervous. What if I misunderstood the doctor? What if I didn't hear my superior correctly and then I did something wrong? :uhoh21: I need to go back to my ENT again... There are times that I get tinnitus or the high-pitched sound in the ear. It's not always but maybe five times a year I suppose.

I just came accross this thread. Thank you very much for posting this. I'm about to be exposed to OR for the first time sometime in August. This is really of big help

It's really tough but it's fun, right? Or is it just me? Just yesterday, I had to go to a diagnostic center to have a throat swab (we are going have our duty at an ICU). The person asked me, will this be gram-stain or culture? At least I know what those two are. Anyhow, my midterm grade is 83 (B- I think). I didn't take it seriously when our professor told us that "You have to memorize in this subject". Man, she wasn't kidding :stone When I was taking the midtem examination, I was like "Whoa, what are these? I should have studied better..." In the finals, I memorized names and started to enjoy the subject. Later on, I got better grades in our quizzes and I know on the finals exam too. But I think I flunked on the practical examination with the microscope because when we were studying the slides, many of my classmates kept on hogging the miscroscopes :angryfire To veneecia, sometimes it's nice to try and use the scientific names in everyday life. Make funny jokes, or give comments to others (hehe, make sure you're doing this for fun ONLY with your friends) in certain situations like: cover your mouth when you cough, I don't want to catch your Streptococci; if you see a dog: Do you think that dog has Toxocara canis?; if someone says they feel they've got worms in them: You mean Nematodes?, and many more. Try to connect Microbiology with everyday life and you're learning while having fun all the way :roll

Thanks for the replies and opinions, appreciate them :) About the demerit logbook, it will contain all the (minor) violations a student nurse makes like being late (Oh man, my classmates are VEEEERRRY tardy. Some would go to a 7am class at 9am. If it was an emergency situation, I guess the patient had already died and been given post-mortem care. They couldn't care less...), incomplete/improper uniform, misbehaving, etc. If they put someone on that logbook for not wearing make up then they've crossed the line. I tried to bring it up last time but the professor asked someone to stand in front as model (she had make up on. yup, she did look presentable to the patient. Nonetheless, I don't think nurses can't work without make up). Some of my classmates have allergies. I don't know about me but I think my mom's make up are okay but still, it's irritating and will surely distract me in my work. nursesarah's correct, it's not the make up, it's how well you present yourself with the tidy uniform and neat hair. I had to grow my hair so that I will be able to tie it. I do my part in these things but make up is different. Our teachers say "nurses, obey first before you complain". I did wear make up on our capping ceremony (I had to and wanted to on that day only, it's a special day ) and I had to wipe my face because of the sweat. After a while, I think the make up thickened and my face made me look like a ghost :chuckle I think patients wouldn't want ghosts to take care of them.

I just took Microbiology last semester here and I used these websites. They do not have notes (some have a few but in Spanish) but they have good photos of microorganisms. I had to find these when I was still taking up the subject because my classmates were hogging the microscope as if there was no tomorrow. Hope these helps Entamoeba histolytica: http://medstat.med.utah.edu/parasitology/ehistim.html Protozoa: http://www.biof.ufrj.br/laminario.html Protozoa: Ciliates (Balantidium coli) http://www.telmeds.org/AVIM/Apara/ciliado/ciliado.htm Nematodes: http://www.paru.cas.cz/helminti/Nematoda.html I'm not an expert on Microbiology (my grade, I think, is along the B level. We do not use letters in grading but numbers. In numbers, my grade is only 85 out of 100. The subject' really tough :smiley_ab) but if you have any questions on the subject, feel free to ask me. It'll refresh my memory and I might learn many more

Thanks very much for the remider, I've edited my post already. ^_^'

Nope, the guys are not required to put on make up. I really do not like being forced to put on make up. It's because what's the use of beauty without the brains and the skills to do what a nurse does, right? I admit that I'm not that good looking as my classmates, and I'm kind of tomboyish (NOT lesbian), but some people just think of making themselves look beautiful and are not serious with learning the nursing skills and concepts. Heheh, I really don't know. On the first day of our duty, I'm thinking not putting make up on. If they put me on the demerit logbook, then they've crossed the line.

Thanks very much for your replies. At least I fell assured that I don't have to work with make up on me at the hospital :) Our teachers make us wear only light make up but still, it irritates me. I also easily perspire. The make up will just wear out. I do understand that they want us to look presentable to the patient and for us not to look like patients :chuckle But I wouldn't want to be thinking about my make up instead of taking care of the patient. :smiley_ab This smilie is not related, it just makes me laugh

Hi everyone! I know this would be silly but I would like to hear your opinion about make up Nurses should look good and are well groomed right? But is make up really a necessary part of good grooming? It's because our clinical instructors require us to wear make up but I do not wear make up. If I do, I'll just get irritated and may not be able to work well. What do you think? :icon_roll

Article from Medscape: The Impostor Phenomenon in New Nurse Practitioner Graduates Posted 06/07/2006 Shelley Yerger Huffstutler, DSN, APRN-BC, FNP, GNP; Gayle Varnell, PhD, MSN, BSN, CPNP http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/533648?src=mp Hope this article will help many of us :selfbonk:

Thank you very much for the links, really appreciate it I now understand her theory better and I'll my report will either be tomorrow or the day after. Thanks again :)