What do I mean obsession? Well, the stuff that interests you the most with nursing, the stuff that you are compulsive about, etc.
My nursing obsession are bowel movements. My patients better be gettin' rid of the brown stuff or I will be questioning it all day! During patient teaching, regardless of the subject, I ALWAYS talk about the importance of fibre.
Side note: the inspiration of this thread stems from this big bowl of strawberry All-Bran I'm eating.
#3 oh...you mean like clinical stuff? I'm really interested in the immune system and the immune cells, phagocites, basophiles, eosinophiles, neutrophils...all that stuff.
I am a very old fashioned nurse and now I am a Matron (yeah yeah I know it's a british thing) nurses who do not look professional make me mad.
I like my patients to look tidy too, with the sheets of the bed made properly with nice tight hospital corners and pillow cases openings pointing away from the door. THe wheels on the bed need to be pointing inthe same direction too
.........................................................just kidding , it's just the hair thing that I'm obsessed with
I know it's weird, but I like hypotensive patients. I like watching fluid balance, love the pharmacology of pressors. The times when I can watch a patient's color, BP and urine output improve ... make up for the times that I lose a sepsis or trauma patient.
I'm also famous for hiking patients up in bed. Makes me crazy to walk through a unit of folks all scrunched down in the bed.
Another repositioner here. I cannot count the times that a patient c/o pain, dyspnea, or just plain crankiness will get complete relief with a little repositioning.
Also, I love to start IV's. Had one patient that was stuck 38 times by EMS and ER and came to me without an IV site, and (I still think it was blind luck) I got her on the first try. What a rush.
I love rescuing crumpy respiratory kids. Along those lines I love sroting out ABGs Love cardiology and EKGs, too.
I love scrubbing a big belly or gynie case. I love being in on the reconstructive plastic cases- big or small- they are just so cool and I love making that physical and emotional difference in someone's life. Free flaps, TRAMs, or post facial CA or burns...
I'm OCD about IV bags in sinks. Drives me insane. They can be left there all shift and never truly empty anyway and if it's hanging from the faucet... how are we washing our hands?? I take 4 seconds to pull out scissors, snip, and dump. (Of course there are those exceptional OR or ICU pts where you're just tossing bags in a corner as you hang the next... I'm not picking on those)
I have to set up my ICU room for the day... tidy counters and tables, then I can deal with any trouble heading my way. I also need to find an empty bag and set it up as my counter top trash bin for needle wrappers, caps, etc... none of this drop them on the table to pick up and toss later.
I suppose I am a bit obsessed with surfaces being clean, if there is anything out of place then it has to be tidies away, I have even been known to take away a set of notes and put them back because the doc has turned his back for a minute to check a result. They looked abandoned and where not being used so they got tidied. Pens and pencils in the holders please and not cluttering up the desk. Bedside lockers should be tidy and clear with surfaces easy to wipe down
White boards with writing on, messages that don't need to be there get cleaned - if they are there for patient info then that's all that should be there not ordering that needs doing or tidy up messages for staff and if they are there for teaching then clean them after yourself and don't leave black streaks either.
, it's just the hair thing that I'm obsessed with
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:down:both of them--all the time!
SaderNurse05, BSN, RN
293 Posts
Hand washing. So simple , so important and so negelcted.