when things go wrong

okay so being a nurse your going to encounter days when things go wrong. Like for instance an admission that alot of medications were missed. Aggravated because it was because someone didn’t complete it correctly. Some nurses jump the gun and start placing the blame. Just fix it. I would still report it. Why? Maybe the nurse was short handed or maybe the orders were a mess. Believe me i have seen some orders from other hospitals that it make me want to scream what the hell? I almost wished for a standardized form so that it would make it easier. You know here is the list of discharge meds, activity, DNR status, diet etc etc. Instead we have to rewrite it if they don’t come from one of our hospitals. And like I said before trying to find all the information can lead to meds being missed. Being shorthanded doesn’t help. If your trying to be the telephone operator,CNA,med nurse, skilled nurse, mother, teacher, and many other jobs rolled into one. Mistakes can happen. In the state of Il they are prosecuting nurses that make med errors. Do you know how easy it is to mess up? I know one day i was passing out meds and was interrupted at least 10 times. That is no exaggeration…between family members asking questions, answering the phone, helping CNA, getting call lights, or many other distractions. You can find yourself thinking where was I now? All it takes is to think I was on this patient..when you weren’t.

But the sad part is most times things go wrong because its just a lazy nurse that didn’t want to do her job. Which in itself is another rant all together. GRRRRR!

Plastic patients

So on Monday my teacher sent our Simulation via email. So at 9am I found out I had 2 simulation patients. One that was in labor and one that was postpartum. Considering I hadn’t had OB since..oooooh…3yrs ago. I had to cram. But we didn’t do to bad. And the instructor knew how much time we had to study up on it and how long it had been. It was amazing just how realistic the SIM’s patients are. You can actually check the cervix on it. I didn’t do that great with checking. But since I have never done it before…i was okay with it. This wasn’t a grade. Its use to teach you. The instructors are great. They don’t make you feel like an idiot. They actually teach you. I thought the plastic pt. was 5cm dilated only…that was the baby’s head..not the cervix…hehe o-well. Oh yes our patient was a drug seeker to top it off and that she drank and used drugs the entire pregnancy…glad it was fake…though i know there are patients like that. I did an INT on the Sims and did just fine. YEA for me The next patient I had to take lead nurse. That sucked…i kept stumbling over my words and my dag gone patient. Wouldn’t let me to my assessment. She kept detouring to more patient teaching subjects. I am use to patients that pretty much when I say hey I am going to assess you then we will go over any questions that you have..they listen. So I missed something important on my assessment because of it. Another learning lesson. The other student with us did a med error…and a couple of us couldn’t help but laugh at some of the things the dummy (SIMS) would say or come up with…I think some of it was a little of the wall. Which really reminds me of Grey’s Anatomy…SIM Man episode…hehe check it out...click here

2 year of nursing

So this is 2nd year of nursing. With only 2 semesters left until graduation. I spent today in orientation wondering how the hell any normal person gets thru this. Finding out that I have Class Monday afternoons followed by 2 hour of being at the hospital (6 to 8pm) to get assignments and going thru the patient’s chart. Then put together a worksheet about them and turn it in the am. Yea a whole lot of time there. I didn’t need sleep. Then clinicals on Tuesday at the hospital. (630-330pm) We are in charge of one patient, which we do everything for, meds, bed baths, bed changes, vital signs. I have pages and pages of crap that has to be done for clinicals. Like every cotton pickin medication the patient is on. Which is usually around 16. So i have to make a drug card for each, what it is, side effects, dosage and many other facts. I have to fill out a paper on each and that’s not including the many hours of homework from my actual classes.Wednesday class again. Found out that most Thursday's will consist of make up clinicals for the LPN’s or other clincals for the fall class. Which each have worksheets that have to be completed and turned in. I have 2 care plans this semester. And if any of you were following me before you know that the one I had over the summer…i invested 33 hours into it. So my books are about 30lbs all together…yes i weighed them, being tugged 14 directions, the teachers are constantly changing clinical dates, not to mention not telling us half the crap we need till the last minute, I am schooling it 4 days a week, working 2 days a week and somewhere in there i have 2 kids and a bigger kid (hubby), a household to run…so do I have enough to keep me busy? What do you think

Mental hospital: nursing school

Okay so we did our orientation at the mental hospital. It was a bit boring…HIPPA this HIPPA that…I found out that I will be doing my clinicals in September. I will either been in one of the Wards or I will get to be in one of the group therapy sessions. Worst would be going to court and having to listen and find out if they can go home or not. Not real interesting to me. I would rather be on the ward. Some would rather do the court. Why? Because they don’t like being in the mental hospital. They don’t like the locked in feeling. Give me a break. Or one…(giggling) actually back up against the wall every time a patient walked by…hmm do they think they will never encounter a mental patient? First of all if your in ER you are really going to see the crazies. I work long term and we get alot of the psychotic patients that don’t get committed. So believe me they are everywhere. We actually have on patient that when I give her meds you actually leave the pills on the bedside table (don’t worry i watch from the door frame) because she will just look at you and you have that feeling like she would grab anything sharp just to stab you with it. Or how about the patient when she over hears you laughing she thinks your plotting something against her and she goes ape crazy. So yes its in most lines of nursing. Time to get over your fears…cause hell aren’t we all just a bit insane?

Conversations: What dat?

So I walked down to my mother in laws to pick up a “mess of corn” (not my wording) anyway the clan of redneck children were there munching on frozen ice pops. Problem was no one got one for my niece. Who was politely longing at everyone's icey. So I got one out for her from the freezer. I tried to let her choose… what i got was a parrot…do you want Blue? bue or do you want red…red and we have yellow…ewwo and she sticks her 2 yr old fingers out…so i said blue it is…excited we went outside…where as to avoid dripping on mammy’s carpet. I figured by the time we were done she would be blue. I preceded to show her how to eat the popsicle which she would lick and it would fall back down in the plastic sheath. Finally she gave up trying to understand how to push it up and turned it up and drank the juice out. The tried to pull out the pop but it must have been really cold. Because she dropped it. And of course…phobe got it. No bebe…I told her it was dirty. Because she was going to reach down and grab it from the grouchy dog….hmmm lets keep the fingers kid. Phobe must have gotten brain freeze from trying to eat it. And step back from it. Beebee eattttt…and she pointed at it…LOL Now she was commanding the little grouchy blk dog. Who was looking at her like who is this little shit and who is she to tell me what to do!
The gang of kids left to bike ride and we made ourselves comfortable on the 2 seater swing. I was watching my little blk dog as we were swing. who dat? phoebe…i said coco no phoebe. Then she started her roll call as her mother calls it. where papaw…i don’t know…home she said. No we are at papaw. were coco? at Trish's i said. what dat? pointing at Dr. pepper…drrpep she said. what dat?…and while we swung she continued to absorb all the answers that i was giving her to her numerous amount of questioning of what dat? All I needed was a giant light and I would feel like I was being grilled. Then she jumped down and commanded becca come on…and we went toward the house. She threw away her trash!!! She definitely doesn’t get that from my brother in laws side of the family…lol then she commanded becca come on…bebe come on…we were on our way back outside. Course It was time to leave…sad part is I think that was the longest conversation that I have had today…Sad isn’t it?

It’s official

Okay so i have officially passed my LPN to RN transition class. Which means that I am officially a 2nd year RN nursing student. Yea! So I thought I was going to have the next 2 weeks to enjoy while my kids and in-laws leave for the beach. Imagine it no one on this redneck hill. Peace and quiet…nope I have to make up 45 hours of clinical time since the stupid nursing board said that we don’t have enough hours. So of course the crazy advisor is throwing things at us that we can do to make it up. So I have to go to the mental hospital on the 18th and OB Sims lab on the 11th. Trying to do 16 hours at the free clinic. So cram cram cram before the fall classes. I wish i was rich and could stay home instead of work. lol We were also informed that we have to be flexible. Which means I have a feeling that our clinicals are going to be throw at us at the last moment. Meaning my boss isn’t going to be thrilled. I wished they would have everything down on paper. My work makes the schedule out 2 months in advance. So trying to get off cause of conflicts is hard. I am spending today to myself…well except for the stupid hour and 5 mins I had to spend at one of those annual update meeting for work…whoo hee. Got a free towel. wow…So that is what is up with me.

Jealous patients

Learning how to deal with a difficult family member for the first time by my instructor was quite entertaining.

I had this male pt in his early 20's with cellulitus of the leg.

Problem was his girlfriend

She would stand in the way of me trying to assess my pt or give me dirty looks...and i need to assess his leg plum up to his crotch...because that is how far up the swelling was...i was so nervous that i couldn't finish my assessment.

My instructor asked me if i completed my assessment and i had to say no...i explained the situation...that i felt to nervous with his girlfriend hanging over my shoulder making sure i didn't molest her man...so my instructor said come with me...and we stormed in together...and she took the curtain and swung it quickly in front of the girlfriends face before she could even have time to jump up close to the bed..."we'll be done shortly" was all my instructor said...they she pointed have at it...i finished my assessment trying not to snicker behind the curtain.

Free clinic

Okay so I am finding myself way behind and trying to catch up on blogs. So you may have to look back on a few. Anyway my first clinical was to the free clinic. These are my make up hours. So I got to take vital signs and weights. I also got to ask what their chief complaint was. Nothing I hadn’t done before. In fact I kinda of felt sorry for the LPN that worked there. She was the only one. I don’t think that I would like a job like that. She really loses her nursing skills. She does get to do EKG’s and breathing Tx’s but that's about it. The doctor was nice and did take us in with the patients that would let us in. She let us look into ears and see and infected ear. She also did alot of things that most nurses or students would think is unprofessional. She included her experiences and religion into alot of her talks. She had suffered from depression and uses her experience to get her patients to open up. Which surprisingly worked. She was able to convince them to start on depression/anxiety meds. I know that some of them are depressed but I am one of those nurses that doesn’t believe that every patient needs to be on medication. I am not knocking depression. That’s not it. I just think that some stress molds us into the people we are today. It makes us stronger and able to handle situations when they get out of control. There are some that a chemical imbalance makes it impossible to handle daily living. Then those need the meds. But don’t try digging for issues just to prescribe them 4 different drugs…here is one for sleep, one for depression, one for anxiety and and extra just in case? good grief…how about counseling? Plus I wasn’t impressed with her shoving God this and that. I love GOD and want people to love him. But there is a time and place for that. Shoving it at people that you don’t know their beliefs is a problem just waiting to happen. I do love the fact that she sits down and takes the time to talk to the patients. She doesn’t cram in appointments just to get more money. She listens to them and tries to encourage conversation. She doesn’t just assume and she actually reviews the chart before she goes in. She even asks hey how’s your arm or leg whatever they were there the last time. My doctor makes me feel like I am in a rush and never gives me time to ask questions…So that was my first clinical and I go back 2 more times next week. Then that part is done. I also go to the mental hospital next week.

??????

Free Clinic

Okay so I am finding myself way behind and trying to catch up on blogs. So you may have to look back on a few. Anyway my first clinical was to the free clinic. These are my make up hours. So I got to take vital signs and weights. I also got to ask what their chief complaint was. Nothing I hadn’t done before. In fact I kinda of felt sorry for the LPN that worked there. She was the only one. I don’t think that I would like a job like that. She really loses her nursing skills. She does get to do EKG’s and breathing Tx’s but that's about it. The doctor was nice and did take us in with the patients that would let us in. She let us look into ears and see and infected ear. She also did alot of things that most nurses or students would think is unprofessional. She included her experiences and religion into alot of her talks. She had suffered from depression and uses her experience to get her patients to open up. Which surprisingly worked. She was able to convince them to start on depression/anxiety meds. I know that some of them are depressed but I am one of those nurses that doesn’t believe that every patient needs to be on medication. I am not knocking depression. That’s not it. I just think that some stress molds us into the people we are today. It makes us stronger and able to handle situations when they get out of control. There are some that a chemical imbalance makes it impossible to handle daily living. Then those need the meds. But don’t try digging for issues just to prescribe them 4 different drugs…here is one for sleep, one for depression, one for anxiety and and extra just in case? good grief…how about counseling? Plus I wasn’t impressed with her shoving God this and that. I love GOD and want people to love him. But there is a time and place for that. Shoving it at people that you don’t know their beliefs is a problem just waiting to happen. I do love the fact that she sits down and takes the time to talk to the patients. She doesn’t cram in appointments just to get more money. She listens to them and tries to encourage conversation. She doesn’t just assume and she actually reviews the chart before she goes in. She even asks hey how’s your arm or leg whatever they were there the last time. My doctor makes me feel like I am in a rush and never gives me time to ask questions…So that was my first clinical and I go back 2 more times next week. Then that part is done. I also go to the mental hospital next week.

As the redneck world turns: Square Pants?

Okay have your all see that annoying Burger King commercial? The one with Sir mix alots… music except instead of big butts its square butts?

sponge bob?
Well my Redneck hubby took a box of Whitman's chocolate and put it down his pants and call the kids in the room while he did the square butts dance…i wish i had my camcorder or camera…some days he is such a hoot

Cutting the child in half

King Solomon once was in a predicament of having to cut a child in half because two woman were arguing over a child. What do you do when the parents that were never married fight over one? Who should get the child? Why is it the woman should get the child when I have seen just as many men raising kids? We have a black president now…so things are changing…so why can’t guys get full custody just as easy as woman? Just because she went thru labor that makes it her right?
Being on the other fence of this makes it difficult to support that fathers should have that equal right. My kids don’t see their sperm donor cause he is a low life. Its not that I don’t let him. Because no matter how much i loathe him I would never stand between him and his kids. Why would I want my kids growing up and realizing that I kept them from him. Because usually kids become the wiser and realize the one bad mouthing the parent and not letting them see them was being selfish. Which means they might have the kid for the first 18yrs but after than they may not want anything to do with the mom that shut the dad out.
So what do you tell the dad that wants custody? I don’t think he wants to take away her custody. Just switch week to week or just be allowed to see his kid without all the childish games. The biggest thing is he is tired of this bitch, because she has him jumping through all these hoops. He can’t date anyone or she won’t let him see his child. He isn’t allowed to have his kid over night because he might not hear her cry? Give me a brake. I like to choke the crap out of her.
I don’t understand. He works, doesn’t drink or smoke and wants to be in his kids life. He is a good dad and has never been arrested or in trouble. I think she just enjoys making his life miserable….when it was her that didn’t take the birth control pill in order to try to trap him. So apparently she wanted him in her life…grrr
The sad part is she is in her 20’s and still living with mommy? He at least has his own place…grr
So I am open to all advice..besides beating the crap out of her myself.

Cause I know I would go to jail…and I didn’t go thru all this hell of nursing school to blow it on one stupid little girl