I had to take a break recently on a shift, because I got so tired of hearing everything second hand. Reading charts is a very important thing, especially, for all you new nurses, so you can really find out what's going on. Sometimes it doesn't matter if your facility uses SBAR, recorded, or in-person report, you just don't always get all the information, or you miss out on some interesting consults. Reading the chart will give you a glimpse into these items you missed.
One of our people had a CT scan recently that mentioned fungi balls. This page from an online medical dictionary tells you basics about fungi balls, and this one from the American Rhinological Society talks about sinus ones. (Warning: there are photos).
Another person had a PET scan. We don't have too many of those normally, but since a number of our patients have had cancer diagnosed while they're staying with us, we're seeing more of them done. I felt pretty confused reading the note on the procedure until I read this page (patient education from Cedars-Sinai) on PET scans.
While the material was not always the most comfortable to read, learning more about my patients helps me to take better care of them.
Showing posts with label scan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scan. Show all posts
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ahh...the weekend!
Just what I needed! It's been a thrilling week and I was glad to be spending my weekend at home, thank you very much. The full moon and the crazy people at work were enough for me! I'm feeling better, since those meds kicked in my doc finally sent me. Hooray!
I left late Friday because I volunteered to take a patient to Washington for a scan. The tech left early, so when we got there, we had to wait for the on-call to show up. "He'll be here in 15 minutes" actually took over an hour. Thankfully, this was not an emergent scan, although it was ordered stat. The scan took 5 minutes and I got a whole lot more OT. Said patient wasn't too crazy except for when the "people" came back on the ride back to Madison. Oh, hooray! More documentation for the boss for me.
My days were pretty decent, even though I ran and ran and ran. My day seemed like this for a while: Do AM care, dressings, etc., get patient in chair. Feed or set up for lunch, let patient sit in chair some more (or go to therapy) then put to bed before end of shift. Heaving three guys around (even not big ones) with a lift, still is taxing. I did not have to do meds at all on day shift, which was a welcome change.
One of our long-time people decided to become a DNR this week after much discussion with the medical staff. We'll see what happens next.
An observation: all of our rooms, except one, are isolation now. You name the isolation, we've got it: MRSA, MRSA/VRE, MRSA/AB, and MRSA/VRE/AB. MRSA's just so popular in our neck of the woods that we have multiple rooms with people on this isolation. One coherent patient was so funny. He was calling MRSA "Mercedes", as in, "I've heard a lot about that Mercedes bug on TV."
The temps have been ricocheting around (one day 10 degrees, the next 50) so it makes you really sweat with the isolation gown and gloves on. I was in the non-isolation room one day with just gloves on for five minutes and my hands looked as if I had had them in water for 10-15 minutes straight. Ahh, you just gotta love the heating and cooling system when the weather does gymnastics.
More goodies to come...I went to some great CE seminars last week, so I'll post a little bit about what I learned in some Nuggets.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, wherever you are!
I left late Friday because I volunteered to take a patient to Washington for a scan. The tech left early, so when we got there, we had to wait for the on-call to show up. "He'll be here in 15 minutes" actually took over an hour. Thankfully, this was not an emergent scan, although it was ordered stat. The scan took 5 minutes and I got a whole lot more OT. Said patient wasn't too crazy except for when the "people" came back on the ride back to Madison. Oh, hooray! More documentation for the boss for me.
My days were pretty decent, even though I ran and ran and ran. My day seemed like this for a while: Do AM care, dressings, etc., get patient in chair. Feed or set up for lunch, let patient sit in chair some more (or go to therapy) then put to bed before end of shift. Heaving three guys around (even not big ones) with a lift, still is taxing. I did not have to do meds at all on day shift, which was a welcome change.
One of our long-time people decided to become a DNR this week after much discussion with the medical staff. We'll see what happens next.
An observation: all of our rooms, except one, are isolation now. You name the isolation, we've got it: MRSA, MRSA/VRE, MRSA/AB, and MRSA/VRE/AB. MRSA's just so popular in our neck of the woods that we have multiple rooms with people on this isolation. One coherent patient was so funny. He was calling MRSA "Mercedes", as in, "I've heard a lot about that Mercedes bug on TV."
The temps have been ricocheting around (one day 10 degrees, the next 50) so it makes you really sweat with the isolation gown and gloves on. I was in the non-isolation room one day with just gloves on for five minutes and my hands looked as if I had had them in water for 10-15 minutes straight. Ahh, you just gotta love the heating and cooling system when the weather does gymnastics.
More goodies to come...I went to some great CE seminars last week, so I'll post a little bit about what I learned in some Nuggets.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, wherever you are!
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