Thanksgiving is time for football!!

There's always one family member who tries to get away to watch some football. Do you have any in your family? Any football fans out there? Share your stories! Read

My new favorite doctor! Read this

Yesterday was a busy day and I had two patients who took a lot of my time and I needed a lot of orders for both of them. A young doctor I didn't know well was covering for one of the docs, and after he listened to me describe each problem, ask for orders, and then put in the orders, he walked away down the hall and I called out "thank you!" because he had been very helpful to me. He turned around in the middle of the hall and called back (in front of a lot of other nurses) "No, thank YOU because I know that you nurses are the ones WHO DO ALL OF THE WORK. I come in for 5 minutes a day, but you are here all day. So thank YOU!" Read

Anyone working BUT dosen't have to?

I was so impressed by this nurse I met, she works at the hospital next door to the clinic I work at. I recently found out shes married to an NBA player, I asked her why shes working if shes married to money? (i didnt say it like that) She says she loves nursing and will always keep a nursing job. Does anyone else love nursing enough to do it if they didnt have to? Read

Do Nurses Earn Big Money? You Decide.

Am I the only one who becomes at least mildly irritated whenever a random individual finds out that someone is a nurse and proceeds to say, “You’re rolling in the big bucks!”

To keep things honest, I’ll recall a few observations about the people who generally do (and don’t) broadcast their feelings about nursing pay. In my personal experience, no doctor has ever told me to my face that I’m earning ’big money.’ No engineers, attorneys, pharmacists, speech language pathologists, or other highly educated professionals have hooted and hollered about the supposedly ‘good money’ that nurses make once they discover that I am one. On the other hand, bank tellers, call center workers, clerks, and others who work at entry-level types of jobs have loudly made their feelings known about the incomes that nurses earn. Read.

Leaking blood during transfusion

So the other day I hung blood for the first time ever, and the charge nurse was in the room with me to walk me through it. Very time consuming but she assured me that it gets easier the more you do it. Anyway, the pt had an 18 gauge iv and my charge nurse told me that they need at least a 20 gauge, but she had given blood through an 18 and that it should be fine. So we started the blood at 90ml/hr and the pt complained of itching at the site. Called the MD and she said to keep it going and see how she does. After about 30mins, blood starts seeping out all around the iv site and around the tape. Stopped the infusion and the charge came in to see it, said it had infiltrated. Is this because of the 18gauge?? Or did some kind of reaction happen? Read

Has this happened to you

I had an incident happen with one of my patients, and looking back on her stay on my floor - I feel like I could have done more... but not sure how.

I had been taking care of a little old lady who was receiving Lovenox 50mg injections 2x daily and Coumadin, with the intent to bridge after an INR was reached. She reached her intended INR but she continued to receive the injections about a week after though. It had not been written clearly in the orders until after - when she was discharged home and was discovered to have a peritoneal bleed. Looking back... Read

Cost Cutting/Budgeting --- the patients suffer the most

In an effort to "control costs" the hospital has taken DRASTIC and UNSAFE steps to save money. Honest to God ( NO JOKE) a partial list of the new policies are listed below. There are three 20-bed units on my floor (all general Med/Surg) keep that in mind... Read

Barriers to the Launch of Accountable Care Identified

Health care reform presents a unique opportunity for medical health centers to integrate systems of care, such as accountable care organizations (ACOs), but not without facing several barriers to implementation, according to an academic health center profile published in the November issue of Health Affairs. Read

Intraosseous Access - Have You Used It?

I'm currently studying for my first ACLS course in preparation for my preceptorship during my last quarter of nursing school. I'm reading up and saw the term IO/IV access ... as I continued reading, I thought about how often IO is really used in the emergency field .... I think it's absolutely fascinating and such a awesome non-collapsible route for rapid fluid infusion! I searched and did find a few topics started a year ago and older, and just wanted an updated, current tally of how often ER, or other nurses see this route utilized... Read

Do CNA's in a union ever get fired?

I work at a place where the CNA's are in a union. I was shocked at the behavior of one of the CNA's. She was rude to her patients and to the RN supervisor on duty. She is super aggressive and really needs an "attitude adjustment" that's for sure. My patient said he doesn't want her to take care of him anymore. I told the RN supervisor about my patient's request and she said she would take care of it. Read