Even though, I will be busy doing homework this weekend, I am looking forward to it. My day was a lot of heavy lifting today. Thankfully, I used a technique one of our newer nurses pointed out to us the other day, and I still can't recall why we hadn't thought of it in the first place. (We have used it before!) Life is so much easier, when you can get people in and out of their wheelchairs simply.
Mr. X., our patient from a recent post has gotten more not so good news. His surgery has become more complicated. He's got a lot more thinking to do, because it will be life-altering.
I have a moderate to large manual I have to read by the weekend.
Stay tuned for more updates....
Showing posts with label lift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lift. Show all posts
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Splat! Gold!
I love watching the Olympics on TV. Swoosh! Bam! Slide!
One of my patients who's a big WWF wrestling kind of guy is just enamored of curling. I can barely pry him from the TVs when it's on.
A whole lot of hoisting, lifting and swinging people around. One of these days rehab nursing will be equated to Olympic sports, because somedays, you need that Herculean strength to manipulate the poses, lifts and cushions to get people going.
More to come...
One of my patients who's a big WWF wrestling kind of guy is just enamored of curling. I can barely pry him from the TVs when it's on.
A whole lot of hoisting, lifting and swinging people around. One of these days rehab nursing will be equated to Olympic sports, because somedays, you need that Herculean strength to manipulate the poses, lifts and cushions to get people going.
More to come...
Friday, September 18, 2009
Decompress
Ah, it's so nice to be done for the weekend...and able to look forward to a week in which I don't have to go to work.
There have been a few surprises. The trainwreck elderly patient I ended up with on my assignment really wasn't bad at all. For a man of few words (can't speak due to a trach issue), he's pretty funny. Lots of flailing gestures and an animated face make it pretty interesting.
My other patient was grounded, too, due to some other health issues, but surprisingly, I found stuff to keep him busy and he was relaxed and happy. I was worried he was going to get wigged out about staying in bed.
Most of the people I work with were pretty good, too. We have a lot of new people floating around the unit, so maybe people were just on their best behavior. The Slug, of course, was not. He/she literally tied up every phone at the nurses' station (with personal calls) and even the boss thought it was funny. It just goes to show you what leadership (or lack thereof) we have. Someone else will have to fight that fight...I just don't care. Put me as far away from that phone as possible, so I don't have to answer it!
We got some new toys on the unit--lifts, stretchers and a new computer. I didn't have anyone to heave around or take anywhere, so I played with the computer. I like working with new stuff, even if some of my collegues recoil around anything new. I'd rather just play with it when things are slow and figure out how it works. We had another department come around with new snappy accessories for the computers, so we had fun with those.
While they won't be doing what they do in Europe, we will be getting tested for MRSA in the nares one of these days. One of my coworkers asked to have her MRSA scheduled for when her kids are out of school if she would have to stay home. Me, too! It would be the only way I'll ever get the summer off without having to go back to school to become a teacher.
Speaking of school, it will keep me busy this weekend. I have to work on several projects and write a paper for my class. When I get done with that, I'll be tackling the house the rest of the week. It should be fun.
More to come...stay tuned!
There have been a few surprises. The trainwreck elderly patient I ended up with on my assignment really wasn't bad at all. For a man of few words (can't speak due to a trach issue), he's pretty funny. Lots of flailing gestures and an animated face make it pretty interesting.
My other patient was grounded, too, due to some other health issues, but surprisingly, I found stuff to keep him busy and he was relaxed and happy. I was worried he was going to get wigged out about staying in bed.
Most of the people I work with were pretty good, too. We have a lot of new people floating around the unit, so maybe people were just on their best behavior. The Slug, of course, was not. He/she literally tied up every phone at the nurses' station (with personal calls) and even the boss thought it was funny. It just goes to show you what leadership (or lack thereof) we have. Someone else will have to fight that fight...I just don't care. Put me as far away from that phone as possible, so I don't have to answer it!
We got some new toys on the unit--lifts, stretchers and a new computer. I didn't have anyone to heave around or take anywhere, so I played with the computer. I like working with new stuff, even if some of my collegues recoil around anything new. I'd rather just play with it when things are slow and figure out how it works. We had another department come around with new snappy accessories for the computers, so we had fun with those.
While they won't be doing what they do in Europe, we will be getting tested for MRSA in the nares one of these days. One of my coworkers asked to have her MRSA scheduled for when her kids are out of school if she would have to stay home. Me, too! It would be the only way I'll ever get the summer off without having to go back to school to become a teacher.
Speaking of school, it will keep me busy this weekend. I have to work on several projects and write a paper for my class. When I get done with that, I'll be tackling the house the rest of the week. It should be fun.
More to come...stay tuned!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Other random weirdness
Today passed reasonably quickly. I had only one patient and the med wagon again today. Things were pretty good. A few people didn't feel well, so things were quieter than normal. The Slug was still her lazy old self, taking an almost two hour lunch so we got to deal with the doc admitting her patient, but nothing new about that.
My patient was a riot. Instead of complaining to my boss the first thing this morning, as he's been doing for the last few days that I've worked, he sits up and tells me, after I get him a pan of water to wash up with, "Maybe I can get in the shower." "Sure you can," I say, "that's why the bathroom's attached to your room." This works out well, especially with rehab patients, since we can get them to do things on their own when everything is nearby in your own bathroom. (We're an old unit, so each room does not have a private bath attached.)
I go down to pick up a shower chair, which is basically a wheelchair with a padded seat with a hole in the middle. Said patient, who did a wonderful sit-pivot transfer for me yesterday, refused to do it today. I had to go roll out the old, reliable hoyer lift and deposit him on the shower chair. I ran the water, got it the right temp, and rolled him into the bathroom. Once he was in there, he was oohing and aahing to no end. He washed himself from top to bottom pretty well and all I had to do was wash his back. It's amazing how much work it is to get clean from top to bottom, but he did it. I even got the unit blow dryer and he dried his hair to finish up. It wore him out, so he skipped his AM therapies.
He ate lunch in bed and then just before he's supposed to get up and go back down to therapy he says, "I have to take a dump." Yes, the docs call him a simpleton, and yes, he's got those earthy quips to prove it. After about half and hour waiting for the farts to become feces, I convinced him to give up until his bowel program in the evening.
Again, I hoisted him out of bed and into the wheelchair, got him all situated and escorted him down to therapy (the docs want to make sure he actually goes). He goes and hangs out with the rest of the guys and all was well.
I would have put him back in bed, but one of the nurse assistants told him the store was going to be open until 5PM tonight. He got his money and was off to do some Christmas shopping. I made sure he was ready and wished him well.
Finally, I finished up my med wagon paperwork. It is always so much fun. I save some of the work until the end so I can get things squared away when things aren't so crazy. I finished everything and walked out of work to a stiff breeze and light snow. Things should be interesting tomorrow. I just hope I don't freeze my toes in the snow!
More later...
My patient was a riot. Instead of complaining to my boss the first thing this morning, as he's been doing for the last few days that I've worked, he sits up and tells me, after I get him a pan of water to wash up with, "Maybe I can get in the shower." "Sure you can," I say, "that's why the bathroom's attached to your room." This works out well, especially with rehab patients, since we can get them to do things on their own when everything is nearby in your own bathroom. (We're an old unit, so each room does not have a private bath attached.)
I go down to pick up a shower chair, which is basically a wheelchair with a padded seat with a hole in the middle. Said patient, who did a wonderful sit-pivot transfer for me yesterday, refused to do it today. I had to go roll out the old, reliable hoyer lift and deposit him on the shower chair. I ran the water, got it the right temp, and rolled him into the bathroom. Once he was in there, he was oohing and aahing to no end. He washed himself from top to bottom pretty well and all I had to do was wash his back. It's amazing how much work it is to get clean from top to bottom, but he did it. I even got the unit blow dryer and he dried his hair to finish up. It wore him out, so he skipped his AM therapies.
He ate lunch in bed and then just before he's supposed to get up and go back down to therapy he says, "I have to take a dump." Yes, the docs call him a simpleton, and yes, he's got those earthy quips to prove it. After about half and hour waiting for the farts to become feces, I convinced him to give up until his bowel program in the evening.
Again, I hoisted him out of bed and into the wheelchair, got him all situated and escorted him down to therapy (the docs want to make sure he actually goes). He goes and hangs out with the rest of the guys and all was well.
I would have put him back in bed, but one of the nurse assistants told him the store was going to be open until 5PM tonight. He got his money and was off to do some Christmas shopping. I made sure he was ready and wished him well.
Finally, I finished up my med wagon paperwork. It is always so much fun. I save some of the work until the end so I can get things squared away when things aren't so crazy. I finished everything and walked out of work to a stiff breeze and light snow. Things should be interesting tomorrow. I just hope I don't freeze my toes in the snow!
More later...
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