dian57

Our facility is trying to develop a system for adequate MDS documentation. We have tried posting diagnosis driven cheat sheets (document on at least 2 of these items/shift) posted on the chart and a check-off flowsheet with lines on the back for narr...

Risk for falls with injury will be reduced. Then list all the interventions you have in place to reduce the risk.

A 20-something woman and her mother came in looking very, very concerned. Problem? Daughter swallowed her gum. Therapeutic wait? You betcha.

First, I am NOT saying the facility was not at fault in this case. But a word of caution must be spoken. We (the public, not just nurses) really need to keep in mind that this story was printed in the media. The media, in my experience, is not always...

Since we initiated the supervised activity program the only falls we've had are rolls out of bed (onto bedside mattresses) and late night wandering out into the bathroom (although staff was alerted by bed alarm, couldn't get there in time to prevent ...

We have the same issue (doesn't everyone in LTC?). We instituted 1/2 hour activity "bursts," as we've determined our population doesn't have much more than 30 minutes worth of attention span to devote to any given thing. We started with the evening s...

First, let me apologize if I repeat something already posted. I have not read all the previous posts. Palliative Care is a relatively new concept in our country; a country that is accustomed to fixing everything. We tend to white-wash illness and dea...

Quite a few of the nurses I've worked with have gotten their BSN from St. Joseph's College in Maine. It's a "real" school and the classes are done via home study, proctored tests and email correspondance with the professor for assignments. It's $290/...

As far as visitors and excessive use of callbells and visits to the nurses station with questions: I've often considered posting a sign that says: If you have run out of conversation with your loved one, GO HOME. Do not entertain yourself by request...

I remember another student nurse experience and hope this doesn't offend anyone here. I was all of 19, a student LPN. My instructor, a student friend and I stood at the bedside of a 30ish man as I prepared to do my first male catheterization. I had t...

Recent policy change here: PICCs are placed by surgeons in the OR of our community hospital. Can be removed only by IV certified RN at bedside.

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/aplab/Table_of_Contents/table_of_contents.html

There was a little boy down the street and his parents wanted to name him Harley with Davidson as his middle name. They settled on Dallas. The little brother was Austin. Were they from Texas? Nope, just thought it would be "a hoot." Yep, that's just...

Always do the right thing. This means different things to different people. I always take it as Let your conscience be your moral compass.

I had the hardest time with Maternal/Child nursing. And, like HarleyGirl, I can tell you why--I had absolutely NO INTEREST in Maternal/Child nursing. As one of the oldest students in the class, I got along well with the infamously difficult instruct...

I was an LPN for 17 years. I had this one nutty RN supervisor for awhile who relieved an even nuttier day supervisor on my unit (LTC). One evening the other LPN on the unit looked at me and said, "What are we doing? Let's go back to school. Look, if ...

JBudd reminded me of a silly thing *I* did on the job recently. The DOH was in for the annual survey. I was 6 weeks into my new position as DON and feeling more than a little stressed with their barage of questions, requests for records, "quizzes," e...

My guess would be that was on a very, very, very bad day.

Want to read a hilarious essay from an ER nurse? Check this Best of Craigslist entry out. It had me howling! http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/por/67309047.html

That's where the Medical Director comes in. It's up to the M.D. to rein in the rouge docs who think their time is worth more than anyone elses. If a doctor ever hung up on one of my nurses, the next phone call they would get would be from me. I have ...

I think a "Continue Home Meds" order can be dangerous and leave the doc open to problems with misunderstandings, especially in my geriatric setting. Maybe it's okay for younger hospital patients with short stays. I'm in LTC facility and we (nurses) p...

I agree with Bird2. As a floor nurse, duplicate documentation made me crazy. As a Clinical Care Coordinator I recognized the danger of duplication--the more places the same information was written, the greater the chance of a discrepancy in the patie...

The only time I've ever used controlled isolation with a resident was a lady with a stroke that left her with incessant chanting. With assessment and observation, we saw that her chanting escalated to almost fever-pitch when she was stimulated, wheth...

Working in a nursing home is different than working in a supermarket. When you're short-staffed, the cereal boxes don't know any better. Our business is human life and unfortunately, mandatory overtime is sometimes required in order to ensure safety ...

On admission, we SUGGEST to the doc our normal bowel protocol: 2 days no BM--warm prune juice 3 days no BM--30 ml MOM no BM in the following 16 hours--Fleet enema If we use MOM twice in a month, we suggest the doc order a standing Senokot or Colace. ...