The thing that has me the most wound up this week? Polio. I may be the last idiot to learn this, but our CIA used a vaccination campaign in Pakistan to collect DNA from Pakistani children, trying to find the children of bin Laden. Vaccination rates there have plummeted as a result, making a nearly eradicated disease remain a current threat.
I've been totally over this Christmas since last Christmas.
It sucks when you have an elderly, full blown dementia patient who is both violent and a screamer, and your hands are tied to say what's going on when one of your other patients is deeply bothered by it, saying, "why can't they just leave that poor man alone?"
A man who wants to die will not tell you when his chest pain is 10/10. He's only there because his daughters made him come.
Never remove an African American woman's wig.
Even nurses might not realize ischemic strokes don't kill you. Skipping anticoagulants might have worse outcomes than death.
Ensuring long blocks of days off on a regular basis seriously is crucial to recharging batteries.
I am still very much baffled by the fact that some respiratory therapists choose to smoke. Nurses, too. Look, I love you all, but if you've worked on a unit that gets bipap dependent or vented patients, surely you have some inspiration to quit? I'm not judging, as a former smoker myself, and I know how hard it is to stop. I just don't understand.
I really hate having to adjust to being awake in the AM after working nights, and I am so incredibly glad my husband is switching his hours to daylight so I don't HAVE to adjust my hours by much.
Hospitals are being fined millions because multiple patients were admitted for what Medicare feels should have been outpatient procedures. I'm annoyed by this. Perhaps they didn't require admission. Or, perhaps they were high risk for complications. I really don't know and wouldn't fault a legitimately applied fine. The problem is these massive sweeping fines make our MDs hesitate when they shouldn't.
Obama is a lefty.
The problem with being open minded is struggling to have actual opinions.
In spite of the night shift hangover, it feels so good to be back on night shift.
A video -
(And for those of you who do not get offended by pretty much anything, get on YouTube and check out the new Macaulay Culkin dryvrs video.)
