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dthfytr

dthfytr ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I

ER, Trauma
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dthfytr has 30 years experience as a ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I and specializes in ER, Trauma.

Received a certificate of appreciation from the New Mexico Primary care bureau. Received "The Presidents Volunteer Action Award" from President George Bush Senior. I took the name "DTHFYTR" as a medic when at so many scenes there would be "Crime Fighters" and "Fire Fighters."

dthfytr's Latest Activity

  1. dthfytr

    Funny Things Patients Say Contest | Nurses Week

    dthfytr replied to Brian S.'s topic in Announcements

    "Oh, those boys! We thought they were crazy!" A new RN in the late 1980's, I was caring for a pt who was 8 years old when the Wright Brothers first flew an airplane. I asked if she remembered them, above was her reply.
  2. dthfytr

    How to retain nurses?

    dthfytr replied to old&improved's topic in Nursing

    The beatings shall continue until morals improves! Seriously, if your management doesn't know how to retain nurses, the first change must be to change management from the top down!
  3. dthfytr

    Trigger Warning!

    dthfytr replied to hppygr8ful's topic in Nursing

    Nope, nope, nope. I have declared by virtue of the powers vested in me by Bart and Homer Simpson that the "Political Correctness" fad has run it's course and has become farcical. Spread the word near and far that, from this day forward, we are all responsible for our own emotions!
  4. dthfytr

    Threatened by employer

    dthfytr replied to wengee's topic in Nursing

    It comes up on every site. Buy and keep your own malpractice insurance. The following should be written in stone and posted at the front of every nursing class. 1. You don't need to make a mistake to be sued. 2. Your employer will protect itself, first and foremost. The annual cost of malpractice insurance is about the cost of talking to a lawyer for 1 hour. If you can find a lawyer that will listen to you! When the lawyers circle your employer, you can count on some nurse spending a lot of time looking up at the bottom of a bus.
  5. dthfytr

    Is It Possible to Never Make an Error? The Perfect Nurse Fallacy

    dthfytr replied to SafetyNurse1968's topic in Nursing

    Often we learn more from errors. We already knew how to do it right. We thought.
  6. dthfytr
    Studying early retirement NOT for financial reasons, RN's and heavy equipment operators topped the list. A rehab specialist told me they present to him with the same injuries! I'll provide a link to the study but defy anybody to get through the 60 mind numbing pages. Will mercifully provide the summary below. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/117396/wp331.pdf Just hit 66 myself. Been sidelined by back problems for 10 years. Would dearly love to return to work, but now just the cost to get re-edumacated to activate my license is prohibitive. My "Plan A" was to work in the ER till the day when they had a coffin waiting for me at the time clock.
  7. dthfytr

    PAs Do Not Like Us

    dthfytr replied to Dodongo's topic in NP

    I've been impressed by less than 50% of the PA's who've treated me. Only once has a NP disappointed me. When my parents were alive they raved about NP's. NP's have more autonomy, too. Of course the PA's are jealous!
  8. dthfytr

    Gloves? Is this acceptable?

    dthfytr replied to medsurgRNCali's topic in Nursing

    Talk to a NICU nurse. Babies die if they don't get human touching. All people need the occasional human contact. Anybody that is afraid to touch a pt without gloves might benefit from therapy. In the mean time, beware of door knobs! IMHO.
  9. dthfytr

    Having issues with being a "babyfaced" nurse.

    dthfytr replied to Ash2016's topic in Nursing

    Ash, how are you doing? Been wondering. Paul.
  10. dthfytr

    Know what works for YOU.

    dthfytr posted a topic in Study Tips

    Know what works for YOU. How did you study in high school. There are many types of learners. Some will need to write every word the instructor says, some get by just highlighting in the text. Some people just need to sit and listen. This last one sounds good, but these people will lack study skills when they count. Study groups can be helpful if they don't turn into socializing. If you got this far, relax a little. Somebody thought you had the brains and determination to be a nurse.
  11. dthfytr

    Having issues with being a "babyfaced" nurse.

    dthfytr replied to Ash2016's topic in Nursing

    Learning opportunites come in strange shapes and forms. In your shoes (I wish) I would turn to humor. When someone throws you a challenge about your age, run with it. "Yeah, due to the nursing shortage they're now giving candy stripers nursing licenses! A little poke here. # tubes of blood and you're out of here. I'm over 6 feet tall, male. I went into the lobby looking for a patient. As I passed one of the street people waiting he loudly said "everyone knows all the male nurses here are gay." I replied just as loud "that's true! And yet, here you are." This will get easier for you with experience. If you're losing sleep or having nightmares it may be time for a job change. No job is worth that. You didn't get this far without being strong. You can let people put weight on your shoulders, or you can find another way to handle it. After all you are a fully competent nurse, and that doesn't change because some people are rude. Find ways to manage it. In nursing like in life, there's always a new challenge. Challenges seem really huge till you come up with a solution, then they seem so small. Wishing you a long happy career. Paul.
  12. dthfytr
    Oh yeah? Well, have you ever considered nose reduction surgery?
  13. dthfytr
    Excuse me sir. I'm a nurse, not a cartoonist. Can you think of a funny caption for this?
  14. dthfytr

    Can lungs be clear AND diminished?

    dthfytr replied to Cvepo's topic in Critical

    Answer to your question is yes. I worked with a doc who insisted that there must be wheezing for a person to be having an asthma attack. I got him to listen to a patient in triage who had no wheezing. He failed to notice that the patient was barely moving air at all. After the first neb treatment, the patient was able to move enough air to wheeze. The doc conceded he was wrong. Anyway, the moral of the story is whatever you hear is what you chart. I'd charted breath sounds absent initially on the above patient.
  15. dthfytr

    Who/what am I? Wordy, sorry.

    dthfytr replied to dthfytr's topic in Retired

    Diagnosis changed from polymyositis to rheumatoid arthritis. I'd been taking motrin, Tylenol and ultram every 8 hours to keep working that finally my body had had enough. To paraphrase a sign I saw; once a nurse always a nurse. It's like being in the mafia. You can never quit because you know too much!
  16. dthfytr

    Older nurses

    dthfytr replied to poopylala's topic in Nursing

    The University of Michigan did a study to identify the occupations with the highest rate of non financial retirement. Registered Nurses was number one, Heavy Machine Operators was second, and transportation (truck drivers) was third. The study is 60 pages long and very dry reading, but can be found on the university's web site. A rehab doctor told me that he sees many nurses and construction workers, and they have similar injuries and needs! Where have all the old nurses gone? They're disabled from the strenuous work they did. By my mid 50's my back was shot from arthritis. I loved ER nursing and always thought I'd work till the day I went to punch out and a coffin was waiting for me.