And another thing that gets my goat (or would if I had one I guess). People using the bedpan for no other reason than that they don't wanna get out of bed at two in the morning. I will not be a willing participant in you getting pneumonia this stay. If you can get up on your own lets do it. The more you do for yourself now the better off you will be later. Trust me I have seen it happen. If you can get outta that bed and wipe your own bottom, it is actually HEALTHY for you to do so.

Ok, so I knew that eventually I would get around to this point in my blogging life.  I have a REALLY hard time with the fact that we seem to be in a customer service industry.  Now I totally agree that we should treat our patients as best as we can, but the whole 'The customer is always right' mentality that I left behind when I walked out of the fast food industry and entered the nursing field cannot hold true.  While the customer is always right, the patient may not be.  There are times when the nurse does know best.  The patient is given a say but sometimes the nurse has to  make the final decision.  We have the education, experience, and judgement to make desicions based on the information we have access to (namely labs, imaging reports, and consult notes).
AND we may have spoken with the physician.

Another thing that bothers me is how we are expected to cater to patients and families.  When the patient (or the family that is visiting) asks for a soda or a cracker we are expected to drop what we are doing and retrieve this item.  Now if I am not busy and am just doing a patient check round I have no problem with this and am happy to do it. My problem comes in when I am dealing with an emergency in another room and am expected to cater to every whim and wish.  Now some patients are understanding and will patiently wait for a non-essential item.  However there are a select group that will burn the call light up in impatience for their ice cream or graham cracker. I love giving my patients that extra little TLC but there are just times it CANNOT be done.  ( Note the word EXTRA) Nothing irritates me more than when a well meaning family member arrives at the desk demanding this or that happens right this second.  This family may have NO earthly clue what else their loved one's nurse is dealing with that evening.  They simply want their priorities on top and sometimes, there is a life-and-fastly-approaching-death situation going on two doors down.

Bottom line is that I have a real problem with the whole customer service aspect of the job.  I agree that we should (and I think for the most part that we do) treat our patients as best as we can.  And part of that is prioritizing appropriately.  And I have a blood sugar of 45 or a blood pressure that has skyrocketed or someone isn't breathing, that coke or ice cream is not high on my list.

It starts......

Ok I am officially enrolled in ADN classes!! Loooong story, lost checks and slight headache but it is done. Or started. Whatever. I start classes Thurs. Finally. Hell begins. (Never thought I would be so excited to see hell did ya?) Please pray for me and I apologize now for any temperaments during the coming year (and to my family let the countdown to Lambert's begin!)

Leave it ALONE!!!!!

Had a patient the other night who had a wound on her arm. She was worried about it getting infected, so she took the dressing OFF!!!  This is a young woman who shows no sign of dementia.  She was just concerned about it so she opened the site to air and called me to come look at it a little later. 
Last week we had a gentleman with a wound that he was very proud of.  I am not sure of the story but I did get to see the area in close detail.  He showed it to anyone who had eyes to see it. Nurse and visitor alike.
I was working on another unit one evening and a patients family came to visit, with their three kids.  The yound girl was sitting on the patients bed and the toddler was crawling around on the floor.  And playing with the soiled linen bag holder.  ( There was an empty, clean bag hanging but still.)

I want to have pictures on the wall of all the bugs you can obtain in the hospital. Maybe then my patients will leave their dressings on.  I know that the confused ones will still take them off but it is the alert/young ones that get on my nerves.

Grrr

Ok so I was on this RT's  blog saw this video and laughed my head off. Enjoy.

Friends at work...

Ok I know I have had a rather long post on friends, and I said then that I wouldn't mention everyone for fear of leaving someone out.  However, I do want to mention one more general group of friends.

These are the work friends.  Sometimes these friends become friends in the real world too.  This sometimes happens at the first shift worked together and sometimes it happens gradually over time.  At the HH ranch we have seen many great (and some not so great) nurses come and go.  There are some that I hope to never see again, but there are a great many that I miss dearly.  I don't know where I  would be without my work buddies.  I float to many different depts within my hospital. And I float often.  So much in fact that I will have worked with some nurses seveeral times and they can not accurately state which department I was hired for.  As a result of this I have made friends on several different units.  I treasure these friends.  Often no matter what unit I am working, I will take a walk and travel around the hospital visiting all the various characters I am privileged to know. Again, I won't mention the specific people but I do love them all and it seems that I really do miss them when I don't see them!
Who woulda thunk it?

I'm in!!!

I was accetpted into a local nursing school this spring.  Then I find out that I have to take a PN predicter test.  I have to prove that I am smart enough to be an LPN!  Well, I was nervous for sure.  I have been an LPN for over six years, but I have had NO experience in OB or Peds or mental health.  Our facility doesn't offer these departments.  I obtained an NCLEX-PN study book and studied a little bit but it wasn't easy to do.  I was a little unsure going in to it, and after I still wasn't very comfortable.  But I thought, hey I have done all I can, if I don't get in now then it wasn't meant to be this year.
But I PASSED!!!!!!!  I felt very relieved when I found out.  It only follows that I would  pass but I was just unsettled about it.  But I am ok now.

So LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!!!1

Annoyances of working

Why does work have to call on the days that I am already working. I mean they have the schedule, can't they see that I am already on it? I don't envy the one who does our schedules at all. Not one bit. Keeping this many women happy every month is an insurmountable job, but some things just don't make sense. Like calling those who are already scheduled to work. To say nothing of when they call my cell while I am on the floor working! Oh well, I wouldn't want the job so mayhap I should just leave well enough alone.

just a follow up

Do you remember when I wouldn't take notes?  Well, just to prove my point I want to announce to all that I did indeed pass the class and with a B to boot.  Thank you very much.  I hate people telling me how I have to study, if I am failing and/or ask for your help than feel free to tell me how it should be. Till then remember "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."