Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I woke up to the sound of the camera and flash going off this morning. Thought maybe it was Christmas 1985, when my father used to wake us up the same way. It was my mom. Ahhhh, I'm just so damn cute when I sleep. If I ever find that picture floating around in a family album someone is going to die.

I haven't started cooking yet. I don't want to have dinner at 2 or 3 like we usually do, I would actually like to have dinner at dinnertime. I got lots of yummy stuff for this year, I'm all exicited to get started! There will be no pumpkin pie this year. Instead we have Cherry or Pecan. I don't like pumpkin pie. When you eat at my house, you eat what I like.

Last night Christine and I were going to go out, take Wy with us. Turns out there is no place in Cleveland you can take a 19 year old. Instead I stayed home and taught her (or tried anyways) to knit. She needs some more practice...lots more practice.

I have to work tomorrow. I may get up at 5 and shop till 9, but I really don't need anything. If I go, I will inevitably find something I can't live without. Probably best that I just stay in bed and digest. The Outlet mall opens at midnight tonight with 1/2 off the entire store, so Wy and I are deciding if we want to go.

I hope everyone has a great Thanskgiving and good luck on Black Friday with the crowds!

Two Down...Three To Go

Day two on the floor. I must say this Sunday went better than last Sunday. Still very unorganized and crazy, but I guess that's to be expected. I feel like I didn't learn much today. I was busy most of the day, but didn't actually remember anything I was supposed to from class.

Today my friend Chante and I shared a patient. She was a very friendly woman in her mid 80's. She had Parkinson's and a little dementia, but just she was very pleasant and was a good sport letting us poke at her all day and asking her lots of questions. I think she enjoyed the company.

So we gave a bedbath (another one, how many of these do I need to do before I can say I know how and stop!?), changed the bedsheets, gave her meds, and that was about it. Funny how that can keep you busy all day. I spent a lot of time talking to her about her family and her life. I really like being a busybody and nursing gives me a reason to do it!

Another day down and I haven't made any life-threatening mistakes! The nurse's aid did ask me if we bathed her, watched her eat, and DOH! did any mouth care - which I totally forgot! I felt like an idiot, but I won't forget that again. She had a catheter and I had to empty it and YEAH I didn't get urine all over! (Hey, its a big deal the first few times!).

Overall, a decent day. The charting mixes me up...the "correct" way to note things, the medical jargon, etc. We had a box that said "Breath Sounds best heard at..." Um, what? All of the sudden all of my anatomy slipped away...so we wrote "chest". I'm sure that's not what they were looking for! And I'm sure there will be a lot of red pen on my paper when I get it back next week.

There was an interesting little old lady next door calling us all kinds of nasty names...she actually used the N-word a few times. I couldn't believe it. I guess that's what we have to look forward to in psych next semester. It was pretty bad. When she started calling poeple "Fatso" I decided that was my cue to exit before she picked me out of the crowd of nurses.

The nurses today were actually very nice and helpful. Which was a nice change from last week. The aids were great too. They know a lot.

My legs and feet are killing me. I'm off to eat something finally. Heck, I didn't even get a bathroom break today!

My New Outlet

Well I've decided this new blog is a great outlet for me to let off steam and keep my thoughts in order. Its also a great way to keep up with my family and friends. Its convenient that you can check in when you feel like it and if you're actually interested instead of me just sending random emails to everyone.

We had a really interesting lecture tonight. (And quite fitting after Sunday's charades). It was on legal and ethical issues. We didn't do too much talking about ethics since we've already taken classes on that, but we did delve a little deeper into the legal aspect. I really love the legal part of it. And, as most of you know, I like to be heard (must get it from my dad!).

Everything this lawyer/nurse/professor said confirmed my stand on last week's experience on the floor. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. My fellow clinical students and I decided that if it wasn't any better this weekened that I would have to go talk to this lawyer/nurse/professor to see what her take was on it. (How was I nominated to do the talking again? Oh yea, cause I'm so good at talking...that I get from my mom)! Also, I want to talk to her about future possibilities once I'm done with school and get my license. Which opens up a whole new can of worms...

Now, I know I'm only a couple of months into nursing school, but I know this much: I definitely don't want to do geriatrics. I THINK I will like OB and psych, but who can tell without doing it? I do find the legal aspect very interesting and I'd like to look into consulting maybe. Looks like I just signed up for another 6 years of school, huh? Ah well, at least this way if I'm in school, I'm not paying my loans!

I'm off to knit for a few minutes (my other outlet) and then to sleep. Speaking of knitting, does anyone need a new scarf? These things are piling up and I only know how to knit in a straight line, so that's all I can make! Hope everyone is well! * Hugs *

Just Cause I Liked It!!!

Oh funny, funny instructors

Stupidest Things I've Heard At School Lately...

"Don't take a blood pressure on an arm with a full-arm cast"
Um, ok really? Question: how in the HELL would I even attempt to do that!?!?

"Use your nursing judgment"
Really? What nursing judgment? I've been in school for 5 weeks now and you're just NOW teaching us how to take a blood pressure…and you want me to use my nursing judgment on other things? I don't have any nursing judgment, you're supposed to be giving me that!

"When rounding a number, you take anything under 5 and round down…yadda yadda…"
Yes, seriously, we had this lecture. I could've sworn that was 2nd grade math. How the hell did you get into my school if you don't know how to round?!?!

First Day on the Floor

7am and I'm up, dressed all in white, and wiping some ass!!! WHY do they insist that we have to wear all white if we're working with blood and other nasty body fluids all day?

My first day on the floor was yesterday. It started off bad and just got worse from there. The wonderful stark white wardrobe that they gave us is designed to fit a 5'9" 110 lb. female. Needless to say everyone was having issues. God forbid any of us have to bend over at any point during the day cause those poor patients are going to be seeing a lot of crack (and I mean a LOT), these stupid scrub pants going running for your knees anytime you bend over...or sit...or walk quickly...or cross your legs. If was very funny to see 8 nursing students running around all day holding their pants up in the back. Does anyone have a pair of suspenders that I can borrow? We are REQUIRED to wear the uniforms they give us, so its not like I can go buy some pants that fit! Seriously, suspenders anyone - give me a call!!!

So we finally get up to the floor. My hospital is in the ghetto, and you can definitely tell from this floor of the hospital. Now, ICU is beautiful - clean floors and rooms, well lit, sliding glass doors, colorful. The floor I'm on is the floor they send the DNR's. Its OLD, nasty, cracked floors and walls, old yellowing paint, EWE. It makes you want to die its so depressing.

My instructor informs us that we're going to start off giving bedbaths and changing beds. I think ok, how hard is that...onward! My friend Marie and I are assigned to this 86 year old man, can't move, can't speak. My instructor introduces us and disappears. So we start with the bath...simple enough...or so we thought. As I'm washing I find he has a PEG tube (tube coming out of his stomach), so I say "Oh, Marie, be careful, he has a peg and I'm not sure if its tender or painful and he can't tell us". Then I say, "hmmmm, I wonder if he has any bedsores before we start rolling this poor guy around". Would have been nice if the instructor or nurse would have been in the room to supervise. Can you say L A W S U I T ??? So we continue on carefully.

Then we get to the diaper and its a MESS. And we can't figure out how to get it out from underneath him. Ok, with a baby you just lift the legs and pull...but this is a 150 lb. fragile old man, so we're pulling and rolling him and we can't get it out. Marie goes looking for someone to help us...no one is around...everyone is on the other side of the floor. Hmmmm, NOW WHAT?!!?!? So we roll him over again (not knowing if the poor guy is in pain). Marie looks like she's gonna hurl so all I'm thinking in the back of my head is "if Marie hurls, I'm gonna have twice the mess to clean up all by myself". So I get on in there and clean everything out and get a new diaper on him. Ok done right!?!

Um NO you idiots you haven't changed the bed yet! So now we're trying to change the bed with him in it. Now we've seen a video on this...4 weeks ago, and evidently to our instructor that means we know how to do it. Watching and doing are two VERY different things, let me tell you. Marie and I are big girls and at this point Marie's found a very nice nurse to come and assist us. So the three of us roll him and change his bed. It is HARD to roll a small man like that even with three of us! I can't imagine doing all this by myself.

After that we made two more beds, thankfully the patients were able to move into chairs while we did it. Then we did some vitals on some very scared-looking patients since we couldn't get the machine to work right and my friend Chante put the thermometer in this patient's mouth and the cover fell off. We were laughing most of the day, hopefully the patients were laughing with us. I couldn't even get this poor man's TV to work correctly... what good am I!?!? I did however, use my 7 years as an Executive Assistant to un-jam the copier for a doctor (brownie points!!!).

I feel like an idiot! My instructor asked me if I was coming back from lunch and I told her I wasn't sure at this point. I guess it wasn't the nursing that I was upset about, that didn't even bother me, it was the lack of supervision and direction. And the saying "Nurses Eat Their Young" is totally true...there were a few nice ones, but the majority were awfully nasty to us!

On the upside, at lunch none of us could eat...so I've found my miracle diet. 5 hours of body fluids and old nasty hospital makes you feel like you can't get it off you no matter how many times you wash your hands. I think I downed a diet coke and 3 fries...that was about all I could handle.

We have 4 more Sundays on this DNR floor. I can't wait to go to psych and OB next. I will definitely not be working in a nursing home. Those nurses are amazing and I give them a lot of credit!

The only thing that got me through the day was that poor old man smiling at us when we were done. (Or maybe he was smiling because he knew we'd be leaving soon!).