Except it was Tuesday. Surprise! Ah, the fun you can have at work when you forget what day it is because you were sick the day before.
At least I didn't need the seasickness pills.
The relative with the oddball unknown disease called today. Turns out it may be an even more oddball family thing. They will find out soon and let me know. (What a plus to being a nurse...knowing about every medically related thing). I get asked about just about everything: bowels, bladder, forgetfulness.
Sometimes I think I'm back at work!
Nevertheless, I am so happy I don't have to tell EVERYONE about this at the Christmas party this year. Hallmark just doesn't make a good card for it.
More later...
Showing posts with label pills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pills. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
Sometimes Google sleuthing pays off
When you run into an article like this that helps solve your problems. Thanks Dr. Foster!
That and an order for some seasickness pills cured most everything.
More to come...
That and an order for some seasickness pills cured most everything.
More to come...
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Too ironic
Scenario 1 - Pills, pins and needles.
Today was an interesting day. The specialists are busy at the Hotel and you would have thought it was a full moon.
One patient called into the SU stating, "I need more pain meds and to fix my record. I am not a drug seeker." Also, the patient mentioned that he/she had a numb leg for the entire weekend ("all pins and needles"), telling me how many falls, etc., and how terrible it was, so couldn't we just fill the script.
I mentioned to said patient that it might be prudent to go straight to the ER. "Naw, I can't do that, my leg is numb."
"So how will you get to the drug store to get your script?" I ask.
"Aw," says patient, "I'll just get a ride. Or I'll wait until my appointment tomorrow up at Washington (our main hospital)"
Well, HELLOOO in there! If you can get a ride, you surely can get to the ER, can't you? What made you wait three whole days to call?
Scenario 2 - My nurse is with me today
We had a couple of patients lately in the sister unit who came in with family members. We don't allow them in the room for procedures, but we allow them to talk to the doc and consent and ask as many questions as they desire.
One patient came in with his healthcare professional sibling (supposedly a nurse--no idea what kind). Patient stated in his/her last consult that they had issues and needed x,y,z intervention, all of which we do not do here. Patient still wanted to come. This seemed odd, but we do lots of odd stuff here.
Patient arrives at appointment happy and with sibling and all looks good, except patient has some doubts. This is where Dr. X shines. Dr. X was an internist in another life and he loves talking to people. If he wouldn't have been a doc he probably could have been a wonderful minister. He's folksy and honest and people just genuinely like to talk to him.
Doc excuses me and the trainer from the room and he and his resident talk to this patient and sibling. While we were away, sibling argued with Dr. X and made it sound like Dr. X was the world's biggest jerk. Dr. X. was very exasperated. Patient and sibling actually stormed off out of the room.
Weird thing...same patient called back breathlessly and wanted to talk to us while we were restocking. When I called him/her back, I got voice mail.
To be continued....more to come.
Today was an interesting day. The specialists are busy at the Hotel and you would have thought it was a full moon.
One patient called into the SU stating, "I need more pain meds and to fix my record. I am not a drug seeker." Also, the patient mentioned that he/she had a numb leg for the entire weekend ("all pins and needles"), telling me how many falls, etc., and how terrible it was, so couldn't we just fill the script.
I mentioned to said patient that it might be prudent to go straight to the ER. "Naw, I can't do that, my leg is numb."
"So how will you get to the drug store to get your script?" I ask.
"Aw," says patient, "I'll just get a ride. Or I'll wait until my appointment tomorrow up at Washington (our main hospital)"
Well, HELLOOO in there! If you can get a ride, you surely can get to the ER, can't you? What made you wait three whole days to call?
Scenario 2 - My nurse is with me today
We had a couple of patients lately in the sister unit who came in with family members. We don't allow them in the room for procedures, but we allow them to talk to the doc and consent and ask as many questions as they desire.
One patient came in with his healthcare professional sibling (supposedly a nurse--no idea what kind). Patient stated in his/her last consult that they had issues and needed x,y,z intervention, all of which we do not do here. Patient still wanted to come. This seemed odd, but we do lots of odd stuff here.
Patient arrives at appointment happy and with sibling and all looks good, except patient has some doubts. This is where Dr. X shines. Dr. X was an internist in another life and he loves talking to people. If he wouldn't have been a doc he probably could have been a wonderful minister. He's folksy and honest and people just genuinely like to talk to him.
Doc excuses me and the trainer from the room and he and his resident talk to this patient and sibling. While we were away, sibling argued with Dr. X and made it sound like Dr. X was the world's biggest jerk. Dr. X. was very exasperated. Patient and sibling actually stormed off out of the room.
Weird thing...same patient called back breathlessly and wanted to talk to us while we were restocking. When I called him/her back, I got voice mail.
To be continued....more to come.
Friday, July 31, 2009
The story of my day
I have always liked words. The dictionary was my friend as a kid. I always liked to look up obscure words so I could use them in my spelling sentences....when I had to do them (I got out of this homework frequently through some other endeavors...)
As I finally got a minute last shift to start documenting, I thought about what was really happening and a couple of words came to mind.
While I ran myself hither and yon the first four hours, I really wasn't idle (my first word), but I'd suspect some of the chitchat here and there was. As I'm running around, I don't mind speed chatting or bantering with the patients as I hang all of my patients IVs for the shift. My night--come in, run an IV, stop, flush, run another IV of Vancomycin, stop, flush, hold and run another IV, and so on, like a bad TV commercial. I can't get too in-depth.
Unfortunately, sometimes oncoming report is a little too idle. We have some nurses who will give you the new orders list (we write one as we take things off) and your report the same way every time and it's complete. A couple of our people are new and they still haven't learned how to give report, so they tend to engage in idle chatter and miss the big stuff. Like the blood cultures ordered three hours before end-of-shift that have to be done today or the 102 temp that the patient getting blood just spiked near the end of his transfusion, or the report on the patient who returned from acute. It wasn't a big deal for anyone else, but it was for me, since I was his nurse.
Eventually, the last four hours drifted into the idyll category. Our neighborhood isn't exactly pastoral, but sometimes, it is pretty, just before dark, and this night, it was exceptional. The sky was a pinkish-red that glowed as the sun set. I only noticed it because I had a minute to look out the window when I called my husband. It made me think of that old saying, "Red at night, sailor's delight." My patients, including the returning one, were quiet and happy. They got all their nightly pills and drifted off to sleep. The only thing that broke the idyll was a fever in another patient, which required an all-hands fire drill to get all the labs pulled before the oncoming shift came.
So we left our coworkers with an idle, idyllic moment of their own, with sleeping patients, as we walked out the door into the cool of midnight.
More later...
As I finally got a minute last shift to start documenting, I thought about what was really happening and a couple of words came to mind.
While I ran myself hither and yon the first four hours, I really wasn't idle (my first word), but I'd suspect some of the chitchat here and there was. As I'm running around, I don't mind speed chatting or bantering with the patients as I hang all of my patients IVs for the shift. My night--come in, run an IV, stop, flush, run another IV of Vancomycin, stop, flush, hold and run another IV, and so on, like a bad TV commercial. I can't get too in-depth.
Unfortunately, sometimes oncoming report is a little too idle. We have some nurses who will give you the new orders list (we write one as we take things off) and your report the same way every time and it's complete. A couple of our people are new and they still haven't learned how to give report, so they tend to engage in idle chatter and miss the big stuff. Like the blood cultures ordered three hours before end-of-shift that have to be done today or the 102 temp that the patient getting blood just spiked near the end of his transfusion, or the report on the patient who returned from acute. It wasn't a big deal for anyone else, but it was for me, since I was his nurse.
Eventually, the last four hours drifted into the idyll category. Our neighborhood isn't exactly pastoral, but sometimes, it is pretty, just before dark, and this night, it was exceptional. The sky was a pinkish-red that glowed as the sun set. I only noticed it because I had a minute to look out the window when I called my husband. It made me think of that old saying, "Red at night, sailor's delight." My patients, including the returning one, were quiet and happy. They got all their nightly pills and drifted off to sleep. The only thing that broke the idyll was a fever in another patient, which required an all-hands fire drill to get all the labs pulled before the oncoming shift came.
So we left our coworkers with an idle, idyllic moment of their own, with sleeping patients, as we walked out the door into the cool of midnight.
More later...
Monday, March 9, 2009
Welcome week
Yes, that's what they should be calling this week. People who were gone are returning and people we haven't seen in a while have come back. If only the Hotel wasn't such a great place to stay!
My day went well. I had the choice of assignment, so in the interest of simplicity for me today and the next time I work, I asked for my two characters from last week back. Yes, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, or I've finally got them working with me. All went well, so that was nice.
I found I learned a few new things today. The docs are impressed that I read notes. I talked to one of the residents running around with the doc there and they were talking about someone's recent surgery. I told them what I knew about it, asked a couple of questions and got a quick 101 from the specialist. They seemed impressed that I knew what type of surgery it was.
After that, I was rooting around in some lab results and ran into this new bug: Providencia stuartii. eMedicine has a great overview of this family of enterobacter-type infections, which is really interesting.
The rest of my day was taking care of my people, admitting one of the regulars, troubleshooting some tech issues for some other staff, and passing pills for our nurse who was getting a little hypoglycemic from not eating. Ahh, what fun!
The folks on this end were getting restless looking for pills (since they were a few minutes late) until they found out I was delivering them. I've pushed pills down there for so long, I can almost read their minds...and they know I'll bring them what they want. (After the first 100 times, it's pretty easy to remember...I just look and bring the stuff along).
Finally, I passed all the meds, finished my paperwork, helped another person with theirs, and escaped on my merry way.
More to come...stay tuned!
My day went well. I had the choice of assignment, so in the interest of simplicity for me today and the next time I work, I asked for my two characters from last week back. Yes, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, or I've finally got them working with me. All went well, so that was nice.
I found I learned a few new things today. The docs are impressed that I read notes. I talked to one of the residents running around with the doc there and they were talking about someone's recent surgery. I told them what I knew about it, asked a couple of questions and got a quick 101 from the specialist. They seemed impressed that I knew what type of surgery it was.
After that, I was rooting around in some lab results and ran into this new bug: Providencia stuartii. eMedicine has a great overview of this family of enterobacter-type infections, which is really interesting.
The rest of my day was taking care of my people, admitting one of the regulars, troubleshooting some tech issues for some other staff, and passing pills for our nurse who was getting a little hypoglycemic from not eating. Ahh, what fun!
The folks on this end were getting restless looking for pills (since they were a few minutes late) until they found out I was delivering them. I've pushed pills down there for so long, I can almost read their minds...and they know I'll bring them what they want. (After the first 100 times, it's pretty easy to remember...I just look and bring the stuff along).
Finally, I passed all the meds, finished my paperwork, helped another person with theirs, and escaped on my merry way.
More to come...stay tuned!
Friday, January 2, 2009
The evenings of 2009
Last night wasn't terrible, but when you have a whole lot of demented people on your unit, it can get interesting! I had one of the hootin' and hollerin' characters (I say this since mine looks like a skinny, white-haired version of Yosemite Sam) who threatened to hit me if I did his bowel routine. Happy New Year to you, too, Buddy!
Sammy did let me do his dressings and turn him and by the end of the night, he was nice, sweet and replying "yes, ma'am" to everything I asked.
The rest of the cast of characters:
1. The man who wanted President-elect Obama to be his power of attorney, and then, he wanted screenshots of his TV as "proof" of neglect. It's starting to look like the Baclofen is messing him up, since his order just got changed. Thanks, docs, we need a little more excitement on evenings and nights.
2. His roommate wasn't seeing anything last night, but he wasn't believing much, either, especially when I politely asked him to check his med cup before he tossed it. He had pills in it that I did not want to go get again from the Pyxis when he could just take them as they are.
3. The nice, sweet man down the hall with the massive dressing changes is now refusing them. Not sure if he's PO'd at the staff, or if they told him he may have to leave. Sometimes, people like to take it out on the nurses when the docs aren't available. We're just handy targets.
Thankfully, the staffing was great. We had a lot of people on evenings who I don't normally get to work with and that was nice. Everyone was helping each other out a lot, which makes the load lighter.
I'm not sure how tonight will turn out, but the first evening of the year went pretty well. One down and four to go!
Sammy did let me do his dressings and turn him and by the end of the night, he was nice, sweet and replying "yes, ma'am" to everything I asked.
The rest of the cast of characters:
1. The man who wanted President-elect Obama to be his power of attorney, and then, he wanted screenshots of his TV as "proof" of neglect. It's starting to look like the Baclofen is messing him up, since his order just got changed. Thanks, docs, we need a little more excitement on evenings and nights.
2. His roommate wasn't seeing anything last night, but he wasn't believing much, either, especially when I politely asked him to check his med cup before he tossed it. He had pills in it that I did not want to go get again from the Pyxis when he could just take them as they are.
3. The nice, sweet man down the hall with the massive dressing changes is now refusing them. Not sure if he's PO'd at the staff, or if they told him he may have to leave. Sometimes, people like to take it out on the nurses when the docs aren't available. We're just handy targets.
Thankfully, the staffing was great. We had a lot of people on evenings who I don't normally get to work with and that was nice. Everyone was helping each other out a lot, which makes the load lighter.
I'm not sure how tonight will turn out, but the first evening of the year went pretty well. One down and four to go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)