ByTheLake

Let me share with you some of the most common responses I get to "When was the first day of your last period?" ... I'm on it now. ... It just finished. ... I haven't start yet this month. ... It just ended yesterday. It's actually one of the things t...

Yes. I wouldn't dare go to any other ER in town. Here, I know the nurses and doctors, I know there are just a couple of each I need to avoid, and the rest are going to take great care of me. I've brought in my son for stitches, daughter for stitches ...

Agreed. SSRIs are very slow-acting medications (they literally take MONTHS to reach full efficacy). Benzos are highly addictive medications to which a patient can develop high tolerance. (Needing Ativan on top of 3mg Klonopin and claiming no sedation...

Do you not even see the hypocrisy of this statement?? Do you really assume that there are no whites who live in areas where whites are the minority? Do you really think no whites have ever experience racism or discrimination based on the color of the...

This one is also relevant: xkcd: Spinal Tap Amps

**snicker** Going to have to steal this line. As to ER nurses "lying" to get a patient up, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I don't think it's a fair characteristic of ER nurses, and I don't think it is *exclusive* to ER nurses. For instance, we...

Okay, so I've been bugging the powers that be at my hospital for weeks now to find out what I need to do, but so far they have done zip. I found this file: http://www.thyca.org/ataradiation.pdf but their guidelines for returning to work if you work w...

"But at skills check, they were definitely available and willing to answer any lingering questions." Yeah, but at skills check, you're pretty much done, and only have to demonstrate the ability to do rapid, high-quality compressions, and adequately ...

But did your increased understanding and empathy have anything like a desired outcome--like your patients (if you still care for them directly) actually damaging themselves less and taking care of themselves more? If not, then all the empathy in the ...

PA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! No. Their point is not to be useful in the real world. Their purpose is to justify their paychecks (or create them) by getting grant funding for the next study. Most of the questions asked by these studies could be answe...

Every time someone tells me that I grin REALLY big and say "Oh, I just LOVE a challenge! Woot!" and dig in. I did that once to a young man "hard stick" and afterwards getting an 18g on the first try, I stood up, held out a flush straight ahead of me,...

That's all we have available to us. I think it's fine for renewals, but I desperately wish I could have taken a live, in-person class for my initial ACLS cert because then I could have asked questions. I also absolutely LOATHE the fact that I can't P...

It's not just about the ability to stick a trumpet in someone's nose, or an oral airway in place, it's about the ability to be able to rescue a patient if something goes wrong, and even to recognize when it's really the best course of action. Even if...

[" how long is the wait?". Do we look like a freakin' Olive Garden?] EGADS YES!!! We've had crazy long waits recently, and I can't STAND to have people up at the window every flipping 20 minutes wanting to know how long the wait is, even though Every...

The ones who shouldn't be there. Ear ache since.... this morning. Sniffles for 2 days, hasn't taken any cold medicine. Headache since last night, hoped it would go away but it didn't, now it's an emergency even though they didn't even try taking Tyle...

I'm still reading the newest posts on this thread. So good! So here's a couple: - Guy comes in, said he'd heard on the news that some people were getting sick because of the Red Tide, and he wanted to get checked out. Was he having any symptoms? "Wel...

Giving nebs Sometimes Drawing own labs Sometimes Starting your own iv's Always. Who else would do that for me? Running own blood gasses Never unless it's vbg Cleaning own rooms Sometimes Walking pt to radiology, CT etc Sometimes Testing urine Huh? Li...

Yes, unfortunately. For renewals, it's no big deal. The online format is easy enough to use, and it tests whether or not you know your stuff. However, for a first-time certification, a live class with a living, breathing instructor who can answer que...

Yes! Think about all the ICU/CCU pts we hold and take care of for HOURS in the ED when the units are full/staffing isn't available.

I see people come in with them fairly often. I would guess it averages to one person per day? In our area, we usually only see this after people say they have stayed at a homeless shelter or at one of those weekly rate motels. When they mention havin...

"pain my badder" Thought she had a UTI. Nice lady. Wish I could remember more because we get some REALLY funny ones! It's one of my favorite things to look for when I'm in need of a laugh at work. There's at least one good one every day!

@mwboswell thanks so much for this breakdown. Hoping to test VERY soon but testing before July would require a looong trip for me, so glad to see that I can still use my current materials and simply change my focus. That was very helpful info!!

I love our Residents. I love getting to be a part of their training, and watching them grow over the years they're with us. We have a great bunch who are mostly a blast to work with. But there seems to be a worm in many of their brains. That worm cau...

I will tell you that we have three former nurses who are now ER Attendings where I work. All of them state that yes, they feel their career as a nurse added something to their knowledge and practice as a doctor that medical school didn't and couldn't...

You know what I mean... you're just trying to hand them a Hydrocodone when you see three weeks of funk all over their nails, and you say a quick, silent prayer that you can make a clean hand-off... after all, who wears gloves to hand out pills??? Wel...