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 Oncology; medical specialty website.
1) I must be the Black Cloud this week. 3 patients bounced to ICU (2 later intubated), 1 in Afib/RVR, 1 in SVT this week. I suppose RRTs no longer make me nervous.
2) Working night shift understaffed totally sucks. Having 1 aide on the floor with insulin drips, post-surg patients that have to be toileted RIGHT NOW due to Lasix, etc. isn't safe for anyone. We had our first fall on day shift in months because a sitter wasn't provided when we asked for one. We're agitating for better staffing. This isn't my first rodeo; don't feed me malarkey about not "having the budget" when you just hired multiple nurses to get another aide. Our aides keep quitting because they're so overworked.
3) I no longer trust any type of report from nurses from smaller hospital hospitals and/or the transporters. I've had patients show up in absolutely ridiculous conditions that I'm surprised didn't die in the ambulance. Two of those aforementioned patients ended up going straight to our Level 1 CTICU.
I worked for many years in small hospitals in a variety of departments. Large hospitals are by no means perfect, and I have plenty of stories about giving report to larger facilities. It really chaps my hide to hear people trash talk smaller hospitals; we help keep people alive too.
And don't blow off your transporters. They're not just a taxi service for hospitals.
Found out that the IHSAA will not allow NPs to perform athletic physicals anymore which sucks for a lot of parents and kiddos who will have to sit out, because their PCP is booked up 6 months in advance. IHSAA athletic physicals are the only exams where an MD co-signature is required and Indiana is the only state that requires a MD co-signature on athletic physicals in general. Very frustrating for everyone involved.
I learned that 500 gtt/min can be administered as a bolus for a hypovolemic pt.
R-sided stroke tend to be at higher risk for injury while L-sided stroke pts are at a risk for aspiration.
TIAs are like the anginas of the brain.
I stil am confused on the difference between apraxia and ataxia. So apraxia is a lack of coordination in purposeful mvmts while ataxia is a general loss of coordination?
I am fascinated by the brain, but I don't think I could handle the behavioral and motor issues that come with it.
I learned that I will be able to swing a part-time schedule this summer financially and my boss has given me the OK. I will also not be taking any summer classes. I have made plans to travel overseas with my girls during the summer. I am excited.
I learned that some co-workers will straight up lie doing something when they didn't. I mean, why tell me you were able to straight cath a resident and collect a urine sample when you did not? Or that a particular order you received from the MD has been carried out and ordered from pharmacy when it has not?? Or claim that you don't know how to do something because you were not trained on how to do it which is clearly a lie because I was one of the nurses who trained you? And even if that were the case, there is always at least one other nurse in the building so why didn't you ask them? Or read the facility manual? I don't get it. So frustrating.
I learned that I am very protective of my specialty, LTC, and I need to skip some of the posts about it here for my sanity. It is not a crime to hate LTC but my goodness I get overwhelmed with all the negativity about it. Oh well.
I learned that I will be able to swing a part-time schedule this summer financially and my boss has given me the OK. I will also not be taking any summer classes. I have made plans to travel overseas with my girls during the summer. I am excited.
I learned that some co-workers will straight up lie doing something when they didn't. I mean, why tell me you were able to straight cath a resident and collect a urine sample when you did not? Or that a particular order you received from the MD has been carried out and ordered from pharmacy when it has not?? Or claim that you don't know how to do something because you were not trained on how to do it which is clearly a lie because I was one of the nurses who trained you? And even if that were the case, there is always at least one other nurse in the building so why didn't you ask them? Or read the facility manual? I don't get it. So frustrating.
I learned that I am very protective of my specialty, LTC, and I need to skip some of the posts about it here for my sanity. It is not a crime to hate LTC but my goodness I get overwhelmed with all the negativity about it. Oh well.
I started a thread about it, since I got fed up, too.
OCNRN63, RN
5,979 Posts
I worked for many years in small hospitals in a variety of departments. Large hospitals are by no means perfect, and I have plenty of stories about giving report to larger facilities. It really chaps my hide to hear people trash talk smaller hospitals; we help keep people alive too.
And don't blow off your transporters. They're not just a taxi service for hospitals.