Thought

During my teenage years, I went rockfish fishing with my father, two brothers, and three of our father's coworkers. Some time after the boat took us into the water, everyone opened their grocery bags that contained snacks. One of my father's coworkers was from Poland and brought bananas. Immediately after he showed the bananas, the first mate grabbed the bananas and tossed it overboard. Apparently, bananas on boats results in bad luck. The superstition rang true, as the other charter boats were consistently catching fish around us, while we only got one.

Something I found very helpful when I first started driving in the snow was to slow down. Leave early and drive 10-15mph below the speed limit. Give extra wiggle room for the car in front of you and start slowing your vehicle early. Sudden stops, especially with AWD, would not bode well. Use your turn signals so others can slow down appropriately. It's pretty much the same "driving rule" as with rain.

OR nurses aren't "real" nurses.

So, if hundreds of thousands of people jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge, too?

When I worked 10's and 12's, I got up a little over an hour early. It would give me time to take a shower afterwards, fill my lunch box, and head out the door. At first, it was difficult. After a couple of weeks, it became a habit and stuck!

FullGlass, I feel a couple should communicate his and her wants (marriage, kids, etc) with each other early on. If the two of them are not on the same page, it wouldn't be fair to stay and attempt to change the other's mind. Why waste each other's time? Those individuals can find someone who shares the same wants, elsewhere. Men can very easily leave when a woman gets pregnant; a woman cannot. Forcing her to remain pregnant will cause nothing but issues. What if the husband in question is abusive towards his wife and commits spousal rape knowing she's trying to get away? A forced pregnancy would be one of his many ways to keep her under control. Now, I'm not saying this happens in ALL marriages. There's a plethora of healthy, loving marriages. However, there's also abusive marriages and relationships aplenty. If the woman's life is threatened by continuing the pregnancy, should the husband be allowed to choose to forcibly keep her pregnant? Just another thing to think about. Edited to add: Men might be mandated to pay child support, but that doesn't necessarily happen in all situations. My best friend, for example, is a single mother of autistic twins. Her abusive ex refuses to pay child support saying he "doesn't make mistakes" in reference to the kids having autism.

"It's ok to cry." ~This was said in response to a patient not making it.

Back when I worked as a CNA at a LTC/rehab center, I was talking to an alert resident. He always joked with the staff. As he and I talked, two elderly female residents (one confused) walked by and we asked how they were doing. Confused resident: "I'm going out with my Mother for lunch. Doesn't my Mother look great?" Alert resident: "Yeah...for 160."

Surgeon was placing an elderly woman's leg in a Hana traction boot before surgery and noticed the periwick catheter. Surgeon: "What the hell is that? I've never had a patient so bold as to bring their vibrator with them to surgery." Me: "This is our external female catheter that uses a wall suction. I heard it is quite...stimulating."

Hey there, MgoBlue37! I work in the OR as a circulating nurse. Circulating is very physically demanding. Different cases require different amount of heavy surgical instrument trays and items to be opened. Patients are pushed to the operating room suite while they’re inside their stretcher (or hospital bed). Sometimes the wheels on those don’t work correctly. Depending upon the case, my patients either moves onto the operating room table themselves, needs help moving over, or are flipped prone after being put to sleep. Under anesthesia, patients are completely deadweight. They cannot help you move them, and this can be very challenging physically when caring for larger patients. It’s easier to flip a patient when you have extra hands available, but sometimes those extra hands are tied with another case. You may have an easy-going surgeon who understands, or one who starts yelling and hollering for the patient to be moved right then at that very moment. During the case, I circulate. Anything my operating field (or anesthesia) needs, I run for. Circulating nurses are sometimes called “gophers.” “Go for this, go for that.” It sounds cute, but oftentimes I’m so busy running in a case that I don’t even get a chance to sit. Many variables factor in regarding how much running you’ll be doing in a certain day. Also- breaks? What’s that? Thought

My coworkers are great; we're like a family and help each other out. We don't let each other sink. My charge nurses and manager are absolutely fantastic and go out of their way to help everyone. As a nurse, I'm there for a patient during one of the scariest moments of his or her life. It's a huge responsibility having someone entrust his or her life in your hands that can be off-putting to some, but it's also rewarding. My patients and family members won't remember the operating room team, but we make a huge difference in people's lives. The biggest issue for us is staffing. We might have 65 surgical cases on the board, but will never turn a surgeon's requests down to add on more cases...despite not having the staff for it. The operating room is full of strong personalities. Sometimes we work with new surgeons who don't know what they want (i.e. asking for everything plus the kitchen sink), so you're constantly running. Having multiple people in the room yelling for you to get them things can be draining. However, I can't imagine myself in a different area.

Does it include fancy soaps in the bathroom?

I used to work night shift, and would meal prep to save time (and mindless snacking). Before work, I would make my superfood shake and drink it on the way. A couple of my meals included baked chicken with veggies and quinoa, chicken parmesan spaghetti squash, fish with rice and veggies, or a grilled chicken salad. My snacks normally included hard boiled eggs, a piece of fruit, or one cup of greek yogurt with fresh fruit and slivered almonds. Since I bought greek yogurt that was lower in sugar content, I'd add a little sweetener. You could also add some unsweet cocoa powder to the greek yogurt, peanut butter, etc. Another healthy snack is veggies or pita chips with hummus.

I recently asked a patient in the holding area to rate her pain. Her eyes were closed, and as soon as I asked, she opened them, gave me this look like I was disturbing her and rated it a 10 before closing her eyes again. Yeah, okay then...

I worked night shift for 1+ years in the OR. Just like working on a floor or nursing home, the OR, ED, etc, all have slow and crazy times. If the OR was crazy, the time flew and my shift was over before I knew it. My patient laying on the table was more important than getting some shut-eye. My patients' are putting their life and trust in my hands. It's a HUGE responsibility and not something to take lightly. When I had slow nights, I stayed active on my feet and did everything (in addition to my regular duties) from cleaning, organizing, stocking, and even exercising. I brought my tablet with workouts I could stream. I drank more water (more water= more bathroom breaks) when I saw my coworkers scarfing down sugar-laced foods and coffee to stay awake. My rooms were checked and double checked to make sure my day-time coworkers had everything needed for that case. I got any certifications/continuing hour educations worked on when the opportunity rose. Was it easy? No. I was lucky if I even got 4 hours of sleep before my shift showed up. Come morning, I was dragging, but I never fell asleep. The facilities I've worked at (like most others) have a no-tolerance policy for sleeping on the job. By doing so, you put your patients' safety at a huge risk. If there's an emergency, your co-workers will not have the time to find you and joustle you awake. If one of your patients' fell and broke a bone or got a subdural hemorrhage that requires an emergency craniotomy, how would you explain not answering the bed alarm? "Oh, I was asleep and didn't hear it go off?" Another example...your patient has an emergent GI bleed that requires stat treatment, but declined due to not being treated quickly enough. Falling asleep will not hold up in a court of law. Night shift has less resources due to decreased staffing. It is imperative to be awake should an emergency rise. OP, you may need to take a look at your schedule to see how to organize things to get some sleep. Plenty of people I know also take sleep aids (prescribed or OTC like melatonin). It is worth a try. Good luck.