Wouldn't it have been great if they told us this stuff in nursing school?
NOTE: A LOT OF MINE WERE MEANT FOR LTC NURSES
The human body is capable of holding 200 cups of H2O/coffee in your bladder....literally.
We were always instructed "Your body needs sleep to heal, rest, ect...",yeah that's funny.
Practicing sterile procedures for EVERYTHING is a waste of time(except catheters).
Of the 40 pts I have, I know what all the side effects of their meds are(yeah, all 50 meds per pt!!!). Oh yeah, and I know the GENERIC-TRADE names too.
Remember calcuating drip rates for G-tubes??? I don't.
They won't tell you what a med-cocktail is in school.
For me, in LTC (as a CMA, Im still in school), people failed to tell me that I would come to love these residents as my own flesh and blood, and that sometimes I would feel like I know them better then I know my own family since a good majority of my time is spent with them. :redbeathe
I have to second the poster that mentioned how cut throat nurses are to one another. Sheesh! Wanna know what happens when the same 12 women (potentially PMSing) spend 10-14 hours a day together? Ask a nurse!
Honey, I just finished my third year of my BScN. I am here to tell you that poop is everywhere all the time so hold your breath and get used to it.
For instance, I worked in a LTC in between 2nd and 3rd year. One guy had to be supped every 3 days cause he didn't go on his own. Well I have him on the sit-to-stand and am just pulling down his brief when he starts to go. Had poop down my arms, legs and shoes - cleaned up as best I could and finished my shift that way.
What is really funny is that you get used to it, not to long ago I was having a quick snack and a friend needed help. Here I was washing an enormous amount of poop off of this little old lady and realized that I was still chewing the last bite I had taken - and I wasn't grossed out :rotfl:
Now, even when family has complaints, one of my first questions is "When was your last BM and what was it like - hard, soft, colour?
It was maybe my fourth week of clinicals in a LTC facility and within an hour I was spit on, **** on, bled on, and vomitied on. Not to mention I was almost hit and punched, and I was kicked.
A couple of my sisters have bowel issues, and when the complain of stomach problems, I tell them they need to have a BM, and they roll their eyes at me, but the few times that they actually listen to me, they feel better.:rolleyes:
That as a dialysis nurse I would have know more about plumbing - and I mean the kind that has to do with pipes and showers and water, not the human kind - than I ever imagined.
That I would need to carry around a kit of 20 or so special adapters to fit whatever plumbing fixture I would encounter.
That, for the most part, people suck.
That everything you have ever jury-rigged in your life will become a valuable skill to draw on later.
That the stuff they make the noise about in nursing school will matter least at the bedside.
that a simple " I am so glad you came. Thank you so much for being here and supporting me. I was lonely." statement from a pt in L&D could make your day worthwhile. :)
That even though all nursing care is "up close and personal," its not always a good idea to get up close and personal. :wink2:
you don't always know how clean their kitchen is . . . and once a whole shift of nurses got some sort of intestinal problem from goodies a family brought in. the whole shift of ccu nurses -- nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. not pretty!
very true, who really knows how a person lives and what lives in the kitchen. some people are just crazy, plus we all wonder about the patients' family members anyway. i wouldn't trust a stranger, sort of the same as accepting candy from a stranger, not a wise decision.
many times patients will be discharged with goodies brought in by visitors and the discharged patient offer it to the nursing staff, the stuff is obviously old or uncovered. that is just gross.
No matter how much technology, scientific fact, and research anyone can do, NURSES ARE SUPERSTITIOUS!
Never utter the words Quiet or Slow or Steady. Never think that you'll actually get to eat something that was just delivered after someone says "It's quiet tonight, let's order out!"
And what I learned in the operating room...Never take a patient who reports to you they just don't have a good feeling about this surgery, or they feel like they're going to die today. The surgeon and anesthesiologist will most likely cancel surgery due to those comments.
Specializes in Med/Surg, IMC, ICU, Pedi, Hospice, LTC,.
In nursing school, they don't tell you that you have just signed up for a 24/7 position because as soon as family members, friends, neighbors and church members find out your are a nurse, you start getting phone calls of all hours of the day and night requesting you come "take a look" at something.
They don't tell you that if you want to attend your child's ball games, Christmas parties, etc. you'll need to take a job that only pays a little more than what you were making at Wal-mart.
They don't tell you that even though employers offer vacation and sick pay, they will go on and on about what a bind you are putting them in by attempting to actually use it, lol.
They don't tell you that the "lunch break" is really a myth.
They don't tell you to be sure to keep your mouth CLOSED while attempting to unclog a g-tube because when it finally blows, it will inevitably go right in your mouth, YUK, it happened to me. LMAO
They don't tell you to always carry a jar of vapor rub in your nursing bag so you can rub some in your nose to keep you from smelling unpleasant things. This one you have to learn from a seasoned nurse, lol.
They dont teach you how to keep from bursting out in laughter when a patient tells you not to file down her "booger picker" finger nail.
:rolleyes:
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:)
SavingSage211
15 Posts
For me, in LTC (as a CMA, Im still in school), people failed to tell me that I would come to love these residents as my own flesh and blood, and that sometimes I would feel like I know them better then I know my own family since a good majority of my time is spent with them. :redbeathe
I have to second the poster that mentioned how cut throat nurses are to one another. Sheesh! Wanna know what happens when the same 12 women (potentially PMSing) spend 10-14 hours a day together? Ask a nurse!