This week, I have learned..... (6/13)

1. That I can get sucked into this place for entire days at a time when I'm sick, off, and in an empty, quiet house.

2. When I have an electrolyte imbalance, my heart goes into trigeminy and I have seizures (not scary tonic clonic ones, so not as scary as that sounds).

3. Throwing up a potato when you are dehydrated is seriously horrible.

4. Wounds can smell THAT bad.

5. Then the next day they can smell worse.

You?

[ixchel]

I almost forgot!!!! Crack is a hell of a drug! (especially when your grandma smokes it.)

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

This week I learned that just because your newly repaired heart is external pacemaker dependent for 13 days, doesn't mean that on day #14 it won't reset and not need that pacemaker you were scheduled to have implanted in another hour.

*and the potato part of the OP is seriously wigging me out.......

[ixchel]

*and the potato part of the OP is seriously wigging me out.......

It wigged me out, too! Made me realize how much we depend on fluids to successfully vomit. It was straight up STUCK.

Btw, I hope the patient made it the extra hour!

Made me realize how much we depend on fluids to successfully vomit. It was straight up STUCK.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

It wigged me out, too! Made me realize how much we depend on fluids to successfully vomit. It was straight up STUCK.

Btw, I hope the patient made it the extra hour!

She did - happily ever after!

I learned that there are few things that rival the utter soul-sucking nature of CALL BELL abusers. !

*ding. ding!*

"Yes, Mrs. H?"

"I need my nerve pill."

"Let's see.. it looks like your Ativan is due in an hour."

"Oh, okay"

3.5 seconds later...

*ding. ding*

"Can I help you?"

"Pleeeease can I have my nerve pill?"

"I can't give it to you for an hour, I have to follow the doctor's order, and he already said he's not going to order it more often."

"::sigh:: ok."

2.3 seconds later.

*ding. ding*

"Yyyyesss?"

"How about a pain pill?"

that when the doc wants to go home for the night and you page him it is apparently ok to call an RRT

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I learned that one of our intensivists blushes very easily when we show him our crude humor! He is too precious.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

About wellen's syndrome. Rare, but i now know what that ekg looks like.

That HIPAA is challenging when your patients are your neighbors and your kids' friends and you've had rum punch with your patients and your kids' friends parents.

[LadyFree28, BSN, RN]

Wrestling with special needs pts is FUN!

Documenting on a trauma sheet can be arduous, but a great learning tool for self studying;

Disappearing pts are fun-making it easier to clear the decks and reassuring that they will live another day;

That people trust your judgement, especially about co workers who come to interview and can be nasty and have been nasty in the past; or a great team player and deserves a position.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

There really is some pure evil in the world, and that some families are never going to be the same again. Some horrific traumas this week, only one made it to the ER and then the OR.

Learned this week:

1. My 22 yo daughter has Marfan Syndrome.

2. That sometimes it is necessary to turn off your nurse brain in order to stay (somewhat) sane. (See #1)

[klone, MSN, RN]

More about urine specimens and cultures than I ever thought I would want to know.

Learned this week:

1. My 22 yo daughter has Marfan Syndrome.

2. That sometimes it is necessary to turn off your nurse brain in order to stay (somewhat) sane. (See #1)

Oof.

[Littleguccipiggy]

I learned that you shouldn't have diarrhea for a week before coming into the ER...surprise! Your electrolytes are all wackadoo.

-Don't eat hamburgers that sit out overnight unrefridgerated...hence said diarrhea.

-I will not stop getting paranoid everytime my assignment changes on the third day of the week. Did the patient fire me? Is it because Patient X. is now neutropenic? Do they think I can't hack it anymore? It is because patient A is super crazy?

-Finding a per diem job was relatively easy, rearranging your work schedule for a week long hospital orientation is hard. Especially when you work nights.

-When you tell a recruiter you're available for part-time oncology night positions, she should probably tell you the position she's referring you to is outpatient infusion, before said interview.

-Sometimes its ok to bail out on a in person interview and do it over the phone because of "car trouble" because you'll find out at the end of the interview, said job is for an outpatient infusion center.

I learned that I can get called names/get screamed at by my dementia patients all day, but as soon as my alert and oriented resident decides to rip me a new one, I'll cry a little in the supply closet.

Also, "off-roading" in an ambulance on a mutual aid call, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service/gps, at 1am, in the middle of giant thunder storm.... is actually kind of fun and memorable.