Toaster troubles...

OBNURSEHEATHER · Mar 15, 2003

There is a different soup every day of the week.

Beef Noodle

Chicken Noodle

Chicken Dumpling

Vegetable

Beef Vegetable

Tomato Rice

Some sausage concoction....

Potato

They may have a couple more kinds... they just rotate.

baseline · Mar 15, 2003

All our nursing units have coffee pots, hot pots, and microwaves, toasters. We have a crock pot in our office and we have Soup Thursdays....

layna · Mar 15, 2003

HI Everyone,

Thanks for letting me know what you all have out there! We really miss having toast in the unit for the patients. It is a real pain to have to leave the unit and go downstairs to the cafeteria to make it. I love the idea of having a sign "personnell MUST remain in attendance at all times when appliance is in use! "Maybe our risk manager would let us have a toaster again with that sign? I will ask her on Monday...wish me luck!

The crockpot idea is awesome! Does the dietary department provide the soup or do nurses bring it from home?

Thanks again!

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Mar 15, 2003

We had a toaster, and a coffeepot, but they took it away when the maintenance guys said we needed an "industrial grade" one and it cost $300. Eventually the NM sprang for it, and frankly I don't see any extra safety features. What a waste.

OBNURSEHEATHER · Mar 16, 2003

Originally posted by layna
The crockpot idea is awesome! Does the dietary department provide the soup or do nurses bring it from home?

Dietary provides it! It's really more than a crock pot, it's a comercial looking thing that holds probably 2-3 gallons of soup. They bring us up a second pot at dinner time.

Heather

layna · Mar 16, 2003

Thanks, Heather!

I will have to find out if our dietary department would do that for us!

cpgrn · Mar 16, 2003

What a great idea! Soup, available anytime!

Mimi2RN, ASN, RN · Mar 16, 2003

We have microwaves on all the units, toasters or toaster ovens in some places. Popcorn can only be made in the cafeteria, r/t overcooked popcorn that burned a microwave and caused a real code red!

Heather, a crockpot of soup is a wonderful idea. I'm sure some of our moms would love it.

mimi

layna · Mar 19, 2003

I want you all to know that I made some homemade soup and brought it to work in a crockpot when I worked nights last night. What an awesome concept! I loved the smell of the soup as it simmered...made nights easier to work! :-)...not to mention that dayshift appreciated it and the leftovers! Too bad that bread makers have an open element inside. Wouldn't it be nice to run a loaf of homemade bread on the unit each day? MMMMMM!!!

Dayray, RN · Mar 19, 2003

We have toasters but both the hospitals I work in have banned heating blankets in the microwave. Both because of some comical incidents perpetrated by some Darwin award worthy individuals.

Hosp 1

Nurse places blanket in microwave...

Nurse sets timer for 20 min

Nurse goes to the potty forgetting all about the blanket.

Nurse #2 smells something (no not the other nurse the blanket, silly)

Nurse #2 sees smoke coming from the microwave and in a stroke of genius opens the door feeding oxygen to the blanket, which bursts into flame.

Nurse #2 utilizing her critical thinking and ability to make decisions under pressure throws the flaming blanket out a window onto the roof where it catches dry leaves and then the roof on fire.

The fire department was called and the next day there were sighs banning the warming of blankets in microwaves.

Hosp 2

Nurse warms blanket in microwave.

Nurse removes blanket from microwave and notices one side is now black and ashy.

Not wanting to get her patient full of the yucky black ash she disposes of the blanket in the dirty linen basket (which was in a dirty utility full of other linen and of course all sorts of flammable chemicals and oxygen tanks)

A few hours later patients all over the hospital were complaining of a bad smell which I'm sure you can guess was coming from the now blazing linen basket full of Bm and urine covered bedding.

I have this neat invention. you wet a towel warm it for 1 and a half minutes wrap it in 2 trash bags and then in a thick draw sheet. It makes the best warm moist compress I have ever seen.

It amazes me that because of these idiots my patients have to go without warm packs. Yes we have blanket warmers but they don't do much good for a patient that really needs a warm compress. Our distribution department has warming pads but they take hours to get to the floor and many doctors' wont order them because insurance doesn't like to pay the $100 dollars a day we charge for them.

Isn't it Ironic that as nurses we administer drugs and perform procedures that place peoples lives in our hands? Yet we are not allowed to manage a blankets and microwaves.

RN2B2005 · Mar 19, 2003

I worked at a clinic with a no-popcorn policy. Not sure why, it was in place before anyone I worked with worked there.

The hospital I delivered at had a no-microwave/no-toaster policy AND the coffee maker was not operational. Adding insult to injury, the vending machine coffee cost $2.00 per cup (a vending machine Pepsi was $1.25 for a can). Not sure if this was a cost-saving measure or what, but it sure was irritating.

I'm delivering at OBNurseHeather's hospital next time.

OBNURSEHEATHER · Mar 19, 2003

Originally posted by RN2B2005
I'm delivering at OBNurseHeather's hospital next time.

C'mon over! I plan on bathing my first allnurse baby in a month or so!

Heather