Oh'Ello

Look up your local Catholic Charities chapter. https://cflcc.org/healthcare/ I was in a bad situation when I started nursing school. I had no insurance, I had absolutely no money, my dad had just died and my student loan distribution didn't happen until AFTER the semester started and I had to prove I was vaccinated prior to the start of school. I actually had met all of the vaccination requirements over the years but could not prove it (I had many done prior to or in undergrad out of state.). Catholic Charities was (no pun intended) a god send. The free health clinic, which is is designed to provide services to the working poor (which is probably you in this case), gave me the vaccines and documentation I needed. For vaccines and titers they could not provide, they gave me a voucher to have them done at the local hospital at reduced cost. Honestly I was embarrassed about using charity services because I wasn't exactly what you'd call an impoverished person, but everyone at the clinic reassured me that that's what the services are for, to help when you are in whatever situation you're in that is limiting your access to healthcare. Its worth a shot (pun intended)

I didn't know this was a thing? Our patients and family members buy us gifts all the time.

How flexible is your living situation. The other side of the state has TONS of acute care opportunities, and I personally know of several practitioners that were hired as RN's (most of them as Casuals and PRNs for supplemental income) because our acute care nurse situation over here is so dire.

A Minnesota tube is a device used for upper GI bleeds. It's a long tube with 2 balloons and 2 drains. The gastric balloon inflates in the stomach to tamponade the bleeding there, and the esophageal balloon can be inflated likewise. The drains connect to suction to remove the blood from the GI tract. And the tube is set up to traction to maintain it's position. That night we transfused 27 units of blood (amongst other fluids)....And the patient had 30 liters of blood/fluid loss. If you do the math on that, you get a fluid balance that's not consistent with life.

RN's change central line dressings where I work. A select group who've received training change PICC's (simply because of the displacement risk). I'm not sure who else is expected to change them.... Physicians? LOL

I'll tell ya this right freakin now. Yellow wristbands DO NOT HELP.

Not required to double check insulin here. Level 1 Trauma, Teaching, Magnet, Pennsylvania.

i was always under the impression that it was a matter of maintaining the catheter. Some JP catheters are kinda teensie and can clog if you don't strip out the clots. I've never had to or even thought about stripping a chest tube... I just don't even know how that would work. The tubing (at least that we use) is fairly large bore and isn't really very flexible or strechy, so I don't even know what stripping would achieve.

Whether or not someone needs and interpreter is like the 4th question on our admission assessment, lol. I promise you, that nurse probably didn't give any kind of ****. She's just asking the questions that the computer prompts her to.

Which is why sometimes (at least on our monitors) you can have a crappy wave form and -/- for sys/dia but still have a map in parentheses that makes sense

Minnesota tube, 27 units in and 30 LITERS out. I think that pretty much sums it all up.

I also reconstitute In flushes. We don't stock saline vials....Because it's stupid. The ISMP assertion is stupid too. If I drew up 10ml of nimbex, and 10 ml diltiazem, how on earth would I know which one is which????? Labels that's freaking how (which is also an ISMP recommendation)

I've been a nurse for about 4 years now. My husband was shocked/irate/confused/disturbed/befuddled/concerned when he recently found out that I frequently encounter male genitalia at work. I don't think it's uncommon for "the others" not to know what we go through at work let alone what we actually even DO. With that said, I don't really have any advice to offer you other than, he'll figure out it eventually....in my experience at least.

There sure as **** is never any toilet paper

Are they all in the same health system? Maybe it's just bad culture. I've worked in places (not in nursing) where all of the management were jerks. And then when I transitioned into a management position, I realized why.