What I Learned This Week: Retired Nurses-Where Two Or More Are Gathered...

Nurses General Nursing

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Since ixchel is taking a much deserved break, she was gracious enough to allow me to fill in for her. Here's hoping I don't blow up her thread.

My next door neighbor is a retired nurse. She frequently comes over to visit me, which leads me to the title of the thread: where two or more retired nurses are gathered, the talk eventually turns to nursing.

Sharon (not her real name) has a son who works at a local hospital. He frequently fills his mother in with his experiences. She'll often share them with me, and many times the two of us end up shaking our heads in disbelief at how nursing has changed, sometimes for the good, often for the bad.

So what did I learn? I know that now, with greater certainty than before, that I dearly miss nursing, but not what it has become.

I've also learned that I must have some sort of invisible "Welcome, Free Lodging" sign over my head that only respiratory bugs can see. Every year like clockwork these invaders turn me into a coughing, sneezing, snotting host for them. It will get better, but by Oct/Nov. it will happen again.

And when a doctor gives you abx. for a sinus infection from Hades and tells you to make sure you take it with a probiotic, believe. him/her.

So, what have you learned this week? Hope you had a good one!

Specializes in ED,Ambulatory.

We 're disposable. Nurses are supposed to be the "most respected" profession but pay and treatment by employers suggest otherwise. I'm VERY close to leaving, Thank the Goddess!!

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
:blink:

I opened the door for that one.

Yes, yes you did. And I ran with it. :sneaky:

-Some patients have zero boundaries. Zero. Nada. None. I was asked this week to "help finish pulling out a poop" by a patient :eek: In a million years I swear I could not make this stuff up...

This.... this surprises you? :rolleyes:

We 're disposable. Nurses are supposed to be the "most respected" profession but pay and treatment by employers suggest otherwise. I'm VERY close to leaving, Thank the Goddess!!

Hear, hear!

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
I am 54. I get more immature with each passing year. My mother cannot bring herself to say my age. Guess she thinks I'm old.

I get that. When I turned 30 [20 some years ago] my Dad was was more freaked out by it than I was. He decided he was not old enough to have a 30 year old kid.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
May I present...

A cold roll of linoleum

hahaha! I missed that one, thanks!

Specializes in OB.
I get that. When I turned 30 [20 some years ago] my Dad was was more freaked out by it than I was. He decided he was not old enough to have a 30 year old kid.

I remarked to my mother that I couldn't believe I have a 37 year old son. Her reply "How do you think I feel? I've got a daughter who's a senior citizen!"

Thanks a lot mom!

Specializes in Med-Surg/Telemetry.

-Some patients have zero boundaries. Zero. Nada. None. I was asked this week to "help finish pulling out a poop" by a patient :eek: In a million years I swear I could not make this ...

It's been an interesting week!!

I get this invasive request on a weekly basis!

Specializes in LTC, Assisted Living, Surgical Clinic.

I too had a raging case of sinusitis this week and was prescribed Augmentin. The NP said to take it with a probiotic and I thought, "I've never had a problem with abx...why should I start taking probiotics now?" Whereupon I was promptly hit in the gut with the answer to that question, meekly went to the drugstore and bought the pills (hey, at least they were cheaper with my rewards!). Lesson learned! :snurse:

Specializes in ICU,ER,med-Surg,Geri,Correctional.

You can be in a crowd and everyone can be talking with about hundred different conversations and regardless how much you try to ignore all the talk. If there is just a faint smidge of a conversation related around healthcare or illness you unconsciously zoom in on it. Be it Starbucks, or a train station...

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