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

Sims?

Think I am going to talk about that highly addicting game? NOPE

Sorry to disappoint. Tomorrow at the ass crack of dawn I get to travel about 2-3 hours to Radford U and get trained on the Sims patients. What is that? Well if your a fan if Grey’s Anatomy you have already seen something like it. Its a mannequin that looks real, talks and has medical symptoms and issues. In fact you pretty much treat it like a real patient. It can even die on you and you have to perform CPR on it. Fun right? My luck I will be doing CPR tomorrow…lol I guess it can tell me it has chest pain and I have to demonstrate what actions, questions and assessment techniques to use. It sounds interesting…but it still gives me butterflies in my stomach. I hope I remember what the hell I am suppose to do. I know the knowledge is in my head somewhere. So I have to be there at 830am which means I have to be up at the crack of dawn. After 3 hours there I have to go back to college and take my test. Fun fun. This ones is on med administration (not to worried) Legal issues ( not too worried) Ethics, (not too worried) and last Nutrition (extremely worried) I mean hey while she was teaching it I was eating chocolate cookies and Mickey D tea …healthy? So not really sure if I will do well in that department. So I better get back to studying…nite

Narcotic use and diversion

okay i had to do a discussion paper for class on a nursing legal issue. This blog is for my nursey buddies that are already nurses or those that are just starting. I don’t think enough people are informed on this so here goes…my paper

Narcotic use and diversion in nursing is growing and is becoming even harder to identify. More training for nurses is needed to teach the signs and symptoms of nursing diversions. Drug abuse is the number on reason named by state boards of nursing for discipline action against nurses. Not only is this abuse but it’s also neglect on the patients behalf. Some nurses pretend to give the drug to a patient, preferably one that cannot speak for themselves, and take the drug themselves. I had wished that my facility had been more proactive on teaching us the warning signs of diversion and also the signs of nursing drug abuse, even if they are hard to spot. Stricter rules and regulations on accessing medications should be enforced. Unfortunately most places like long term care facilities do not have the newer equipment to avoid easy access. Being at one of those facilities I learned that my med cart was easily accessed and that was a hard lesson to learn. 32 Lortab were missing at the end of my shift. It was my cart and I was supposed to be the only one that had accessed it. The culprit was caught but only after drug testing, having my rites read to me by the police and 3 weeks of investigation, crying, sleepless nights and a full investigation from the nursing board. A fellow nurse while talking to me had stolen the narcotics from the backside of my cart, which opened from both sides. I never even knew she had had gotten them. I had to Protest against the old med carts and requested that they be replaced with better locking and one sided accessible carts, which we now have today. Reading other articles has helped me identify some of the diversion signs: Volunteering to administer medications for others, noticing that patients are not receiving relief from administered narcotics, frequent reports of waste, re-taped packets. Not to mention the physical signs: agitation, sedation, hand tremors and headaches. This nurse may offer to work overtime, but takes many breaks, tardiness, or many miss days of work. Most nurses are users not sellers and will use at work. They may inject the drug and administer the rest so that the patient shows some relief to keep down suspicion. The nurses need to be educated about narcotics use and diversion in order to report to the manager with their concerns. If they lack the education they may be helping the abusing nurse and are unaware. Narcotics need to be monitor and discrepancies should be reported. Don’t assume that the liquid narcotic is just off it could be diversion. This is your license on the line are you going to protect it?

Riddle me this

Okay so my first day of clinical went well. The hard part was trying to figure out how to do this care plan. Now don’t get me wrong I have done care plans for work, but this is no ordinary care plan. Its for the riddler or Nazi care plan lady.

Why do I address her as the riddler now? Cause she never answers your questions. I know this thing is going to be time consuming but if I don’t know how to do it how can one finish it? So when I ask specific questions you would think that I would get a direct answer but instead I get some sort of a riddle and I am suppose to try to figure out what the hell that means? Just tell me damn it! Grr… So all 8 of us in class are trying to meddle thru this. I am hoping to find someone that has had this class to direct me in the right direction. Its not like I am wanting the answers or a short cut just tell me how to do this so I can get it done.

Death

Being a nurse you are a custom to death. Especially when you work long term care where most of your pts have come here to die. What makes it hard as a nurse is when you work home health care and have one pt. that your work is centered around. Especially when they are a kid. Taking care of a pt since they were a baby and having them die at the age of 15 makes it feel like you have lost your own child. Even though your not suppose to cross that line of nurse/pt relationship. But spending 40-50hrs a week for 15 yrs makes it hard not to think of them as family. Your suppose to move on to the next case and act like they were never part of your life. How does one do that? Should you go to the families house? Or is that past the nursing relationship? These are the question a relative of mine is facing. How do I help her put the pieces back together?