brianbooth RN

I refer you to a thread elsewhere here, where you can see my comments on this idiocy. Feel free to stomp on me. But in the case of an emergency - and I speak from experience - give me the smoker over the calorifically challenged any time.

There's a standard joke in Brith nursing - no doubt you have equivalents - 'I know how I want to die. At the age of 90, shot in bed by a jealous husband'. We have family in Texas; they also spent three years in Oklahoma. I have learned a lot about cu...

Take a moment to award yourself a common sense award

Thank you, MSOforu. I am going to reiterate my comments so far, so we don't stray off track. My entry into nursing was strongly contested because on the form, under 'religion', I entered 'none'. Yet my worst experiences, and my wife's, have been unde...

Some fascinating information here for Brit nurses. On age as an employment bar: a major UK company chain called B&Q, which sells hardware, decorating materials, fitted kitchens and bathrooms, gardening stuff - and more beside - tried an experime...

I can't comment on US nursing working pactices; I can only say how I worked it the UK, and believe, on the whole, my way worked. Others may disagree. As the nurse in charge, if I couldn't leave the ward, then hard luck. In my absence, staff seemed to...

I completely agree, but it seems once again I have failed to make my point clearly. Smoking breaks are not a right ; they could be construed as fraud. However, having run a ward or two, I believe that there are times when nurses should be allowed to ...

Considering that I have some experience of writing about nursing, and encouraging others to do so - feel free to check me on CINAHL, Medscape and other sources - I seem to be doing a pretty poor job at deposition. I ask your forgiveness for repeating...

Thank you. I can only add to this that in my opinion, BMI is a largely useless measure of anything. I once nursed a super fit boxer whose BMI made him out to be obese. You could have used his abdomen as a carving board.

I think I have failed to make my point about this thread, which comes down to me not explaining myself well. 1. The debate about nicotine and its effects is separate, I believe. 2. If employers wish to refuse hiring nurses on the grounds of lifestyle...

To follow this thread: I wish to make a plea. Every contributor has made pertinent comments, and I especially like the demands for evidence. But it has become split; the question about nicotine is one thing. My son, a passionate anti-smoker, bought m...

Testing for chemicals: I have had bit of experience dealing with people working on building sites in the UK. Employers conduct random tests which can detect a rather large selection of drug use, and over the years, they can date traces back to 90 day...

Please bear in mind that our UK 'free at the point of delivery' healthcare service does not mean we are a Communist state. It is about looking out for each other.

I think it might be worth thinking about how much smokers contribute to society. We pay tobacco duty and die young.

dear Jakehose - No, I am not in favour of a nicotine ban . Any initiative which helps smokers to quit - fine by me. But so long as nurses aren't breathing cigarette smells onto patients, a non-hiring smoking ban seems silly.

From the UK: There is a rather large gap between 'what should be' and 'what really happens'. Where do we start? I suppose it must begin with: I don't really understand the niceties of North American nursing, even after spending many hours discussing ...

In the UK, we have been following the US model of nurse 'education', and having read everything posted above, it saddens but confirms me in my belief that there is a fundamental flaw in the reasoning behind it. If a nurse wants to pursue higher educa...

I'm an old codger (aged 57), nursing as an RN in a different country - and continent - to those who have put up such thoughtful and meaningful comments as those above. But, as Chris Griffin asked, 'what is this chase, and how do I cut to it?' The exp...

In the big shake-up of UK nurse training in 1986, the reckless idiots in charge of it said that nursing was about promoting health, not dealing with sickness. As a result, 'stuff' like A&P was relegated in favour of sociology and similar drivel. ...

"ummm... Who are those two old people in her bedroom, with feeding instructions pinned to their nightclothes?"

How well I know what you're talking about... patients asking 'why aren't you a doctor?', and not having a snappy comeback, even all these decades later, is irritating, to say the least. If anyone supplies one here, I will be eternally in their debt. ...

In the UK, A&P has been relegated by some universities to a later place in the curriculum, which I believe to be a serious mistake. (It was the first thing we did when I trained, and we would continue to learn about it, in increasing depth, as we...

Now that patients in the UK can ask to see their medical records, a lot of acronyms have had to go. Some examples: The Isle of Sheppey, near where I live, was once relatively inaccessible, with the result that the gene pool was, shall we say, a bit s...

I understand, and sympathize with, contributors who see nurses who smoke as being hypocritical when it comes to patient education. May I suggest that there is another side to this? As a nurse who smokes, when I talk to patients who would really benef...

It's taken me a long time to realise it - apologies to all those nurses who cottoned on earlier than I did, yes. perhaps I'm a slow learner - but having spent the last nine years back working at the bedside, I've come up with an idea. Bear with me fo...