Alright, friends. I'm keeping this one short and sweet because my brain is sore and my dog is annoying.
This week, I have learned....
1. There should be a time limit hospitals should have to fix a problem. If things aren't better after, say, 15 days, let someone else try.
2. I'm in the mid Atlantic of the US with spring travel plans to Florida, and I'm actually feeling nervous about Zika. I had a guillian barre syndrome patient in nursing school. On his way driving home from work, his chest felt off, so he course corrected to the ED. When he pulled up and walked to the doors, he struggled with leg weakness. After he was done in triage, he couldn't stand. He was intubated, and completely paralyzed, before he left the ED for ICU.
3. A patient on neuroleptics will still have detectable epileptiform patterns on an EEG.
4. A good neurologist knows no matter how crazy the patient sounds describing symptoms, what they say is legit and will stay the course for diagnosis.
5. My favorite doctors to work with are the ones who will sit and talk patho with a nurse and enjoy that the nurse legitimately loves to learn.
6. Sliding scale coverage alone for inpatient management is not currently supported by research.
7. If working day shift doesn't eventually make me check into a psych ward, nothing will.
8. The GI doc who left me scrambling to save a guy's life (what felt like) single-handedly by doing no intervention before he got dumped on us (actively bleeding out 2 points of hemoglobin over 8 hours and maintaining a BP that won't leave 70s-80s) has suddenly become cautious enough to send a perfectly stable (hemodynamically, symptomatically, and on CBC) rectal bleed to ICU before meeting or scoping her after I've literally done all the work needed on her for the shift. And of course, I was rewarded with an end of the shift admission.
9. The Florida Man Collective has evolved to include its latest - Wrinkles the Clown. He is a scary-looking clown who is for hire to scare anyone you want, for any reason.
10. The more you annoy the doctor about the same thing, over and over and over, the more likely it is they will listen and maybe put in an order.
I have nothing else right now. My broken brain is feeble!
Are they hoping that the missing money goes unnoticed? What's their angle? I would think that continuously messing up paychecks would take more work than getting it right the first time.
I really think they're just incompetent. Mistakes happen a lot. Our timekeeper takes care of all the ICU and stepdown units, too, so I think the fact that she is doing payroll for 300+ people doesn't help.
Not something I learned, but a memorable moment from my first semester of nursing school that popped into my head.
During my Med-Surg I clinical, our day consisted of mostly answering call lights and doing total care for 1 pt. Well, I somehow ended up in a older gent's room (not my pt) and helped him to the BSC. He would feel the urge to urinate but, when he was actually on the BSC, he wouldn't be able to go. Then, when we would try to get him back to bed after waiting, he would urinate while ambulating.
He did this while I was in there, and a PCT was with me. She sighed and thanked me for helping her ambulate, saying that she would clean it up. I declined and offered to help change the pt into a new gown (he had got urine on his), wipe him up, and help clean the floor.
After we did all this, she teared up and thanked me while hugging me. She said that I would make a great nurse, and she would love to work with me one day. Although nurses may impact their pts, it also reminded me that pts aren't the only people you influence. It was a humbling, touching moment that I will remember.
My loves, I need someone to make the 2/13 OP. Only rules - keep it mostly nursing, and make a unique title relating to your OP (as you've probably noticed, no holds barred on the title as long as it doesn't violate TOS).
OrganizedChaos, LVN
1 Article; 6,883 Posts
Thank you!!!