Ahh...sweetness!

The tang of the wheat beer and those darned barbecue potato chips...ahh!

I'm so glad it's Friday, I'm so glad it's Friday, I kept saying to myself today. I felt like I was constantly behind, even when I wasn't. Nevertheless, I made it through the day.

Lately, I've seen and felt a lot of emotions, as I've been running around the unit. Anger...that patient who just won't cooperate with his/her rehab goals. I finally capitulated to the coordinator, since the patient is stalling and just taking out frustrations on yours truly. The psych people took another tack...put the ball in his/her court and bring up discharge. Yes, this changed things some, but I still elected to work with another patient. It was hard to give up, but I felt in the interest of everyone, it made sense. So did the coordinator, which worked for me.

Anticipation...I'm getting ready for upcoming conferences and vacations. It's such a pleasant thought to think that in mere weeks, I'll be having fun outside the Hotel Rehab. I also got out of the GRE when I found out my grad program no longer requires it. I got my application in to the program just in the nick of time, so we'll see if I get accepted.

Excitement...Yesterday, I went to a training session on using our medication administration system. No one else showed up when I went, so basically, I had the person in charge all to myself for about an hour. It was great. I hope to someday end up in that department, and I got a whole lot of face time and plenty of information to boot...and a reference.

Outside of the emotions, there's always the physical aspect of the job. A whole lot of heaving and ho-ing. I had two patients that got up all three days. Neither of these two patients are lightweights (180+ lbs.). I did get both of them to help me. Almost all of our lifts have buttons on cords, so I could give them the cords to put themselves down in the chair as I pulled them into place with the handles on the sling. This was wonderful...and kept them busy. They got a charge out of having some control on how they transferred from their bed to the wheelchair.

I could kvetch and moan about the craziness some of the night folks left me with...full hampers, full urine bags and totally fsked up IVs, but I won't. I am celebrating the weekend. It won't be here forever, so I'm going to enjoy it, snow or no snow. I hope you do, too, wherever you are.

More to come...

Nuggets for March 11

Since I'm a rehab nurse, we do a lot of work with other disciplines (the vaunted "interdisciplinary team"). Here are a few resources I've found about some of the other areas we work with on a regular basis. Enjoy!

The OTs (Occupational Therapists)

The OTs work with patients on ADLs, or Activities of Daily Living, such as dressing, bathing and transferring, among other things. They also work with cool technology such as ECU (Environmental Control Units) units, which help patients turn on lights, answer phones and do other tasks.

Wanna be an OT? The American Occupational Therapy Association has lots of information, for potential students, current therapists, and the general public.

RESNA is an organization of interest to OTs (and lots of other rehab folks) since they deal with adaptive technology.

OTResources at tripod is run by an OT with links to various sites and definitions. It's an oldie, but goodie.

VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) Library also has a great general links page about occupational therapy items.

The PTs (Physical Therapists)

The PTs work with patients on ambulation, stretching and strength training, among other things, including getting you a wheelchair or cane if you need it. In other words, they work you out. If after all that work you need something else for that balky shoulder, the PTs are the folks to talk to first for a heat pack or some ROM.

The American Physical Therapy Association has lots of information for current and potential physical therapists.

PT Central has a great collection of links on things such as PT programs, news and events.

The University of Maryland Health Sciences library also has a good, brief listing of PT resources.

The RTs (Recreation Therapists)

The fun people! Recreation therapists don't always get their due, because some people think what they do is just fun and games. Yes, recreation is fun, but it's a vital part of a rehab program, especially when your patients stay with you for a long time. It's also another sneaky way to get patients to use those skills from other disciplines, such as OT and PT.

NCTRC is the national certifying body for Recreation Therapists.

Charles Dixon has a great Therapeutic Recreation Directory with lots of links regarding this area.
Another great, quick access site is http://iamarecreationaltherapist.com/ which has great photo montages of recreation therapists in a variety of settings.

Speech!

No, they won't give one, but we call speech therapy whenever we have someone who needs a swallow evaluation. It takes an order most of the time, but the good folks from speech therapy can help you out with patients with not only dysphagia, but other issues such as speaking difficulties.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is one organization dedicated to the issues encountered by speech therapists, including swallow disorders.

This Speech Therapy resources site has lots and lots of links to topics related to speech therapy.