What I’ve been up to…

 

image source:exhausted

My internal medicine clinical rotations started this week.

Long hours.

And apparently my immune system didn’t like the lack of sleep. I have that ‘runny nose’ feelin’.

Only three more weeks of this. I can do it, I can do it.

Forward thinking health care professionals??

Sometimes it’s very hard to teach an old dog a new trick.

Today I was told by a physician that NPs are simply hired to do all the “scut-work” that physicians don’t want or like to do. In the physician’s words, “You guys do all the crap/garbage stuff we don’t like or have time for. Is that what you really want to do?”

via The role of nurse practitioners in healthcare | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles.

Follow the link and read the whole post. What do you think?

I’m quite the visual learner

12 lead EKG’s and axis deviations.
Gewwd times.

Tube Feeding folklore

So my classmates and I were in class yesterday. The lecture topic was Nutrition for the Acute and Critically Ill patient. We as future nurse practitioners need to understand nutritional needs as well as calculate those needs on a per patient basis. That’s not what I’m blogging about though.

My classmates and I were curious. How many nurses out there have ‘initiated’ or managed a patient on tube feeds… and they DID NOT have some sort of diarrhea??

I think most nurses think :
tube feeds = diarrhea

Whaddya think?

Visiting hours?

Should there be visiting hours in the ICU? Or should it be open with no restrictions?

A recent article at Nurse.com sparked my interest. Limited (or scheduled) visitation versus unlimited visitation hours?

As a nurse, the reflex answer should be: Whatever is better for the patient.

I honestly feel anything that can improve the delivery of care is a good thing, but you’ll be hard pressed to find many nurses who are advocates of unlimited visiting hours.

It’s a touchy subject, isn’t it? I don’t think anyone is completely for or against either choice.

The article (AACN calls for expanding visitation rights in ICU) says:

Hospitals may limit visiting hours under the assumption that family visitation causes stress for the patient, interferes with the provision of care, is mentally exhausting to patients and families or contributes to increased infections.

Other than the increased infections, I’d agree with that statement…….

via Visitation in the ICU | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles.

A recent blog I posted over at Scrubs. Go clickety-click and read the original post.

Need Surgery : Is a more experienced surgeon better?

Once again, this was a weak study design. But, it sure does raise some eyebrows doesn’t it?

I think having the experience is paramount, but does the experienced surgeon grow with the changing face of medicine? Experience can be a tricky thing.

Previous studies have shown doctors reach their peak performance levels after about 10 years of experience in their specialty. Few studies have looked at the association between experience and performance in an objective manner. The intent of this study was to model the associations between experience and outcomes among surgeons performing thyroid procedures.

Read the entire story here: via Medical News: Older Surgeons May Not Be Better Surgeons – in Surgery, General Surgery from MedPage Today.

Date Disarray

Who was the one who wrote today’s date as the year 2011?

Yep, that would be me.

via Date Disarray – Blynk.

Your career. Six words. Go

It’s an interesting question: If you had to sum up your career thus far in just one brief sentence, what would those words be?

My answer was almost immediate. I remember reading something about “gut” reactions–usually your immediate answer is the most honest. The lack of time to ponder removes any false motivation or external validation. (FYI, that immediate answer is almost always the correct answer to a multiple choice question on an exam.)

What’s even more interesting is my answer has remained the same throughout my ENTIRE career, from start to present. That’s six years and counting!

My sentence apply to all of the following …

…

via My nursing career in six words | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles.

This was a post over at scrubs that succinctly defines my career in just 6 words. Hop on over and read the entire post.

The holidays and nurses…

We nurses sometimes forget to separate our personal lives from our work ones.

For some reason, we tend to socialize with the very same people we work with (or used to work with), or we socialize with fellow healthcare professionals (Docs, EMTs, Medics, RTs, etc.).

It’s neither good nor bad–until we’re not around them but continue to act like we are.

Here are some tips to keep in mind this holiday season:

Refrain from talking about work at the dinner table

Yes, contrary to what you may believe, there actually are people out there who cannot talk about bodily fluids, blood, and drainage while shoving food in their mouths. Call me crazy, but slurping down cranberry sauce while discussing bloody wounds is not what most people call normal. Besides, you’d rather be enjoying your time off from work than resuscitating a family member who fainted.

Try actually tasting the food

Try not to eat your meal with the same “hot-rod racing style” that you do when you’re at work. Most of us don’t get a full-fledged traditional meal break, so we eat on the go, on the fly, or while we are still moving. Some of us inhale our food so fast, we forget what the heck we ate. I’ve uttered the phrase, “I’ll taste it later.” This is that rare occasion when you can eat at a normal pace, so give a try!

Cutlery improvisation

Whatever you do, I mean, whatever you do–if the supply of utensils is low, please do not break out the tongue blades, urimeters and other equipment to aid in your feast. Once again, it’s not normal to eat your food with a piece of equipment used to examine the back of the throat, or drink from something that normally collects a bodily fluid. Please refer back to family members fainting.

Native tongue

This goes right along with the bodily fluids topic. The minute you start speaking in medical mnemonics, you’re more than likely going to get that glazed over stare and be asked to explain yourself. Play it safe and avoid them altogether.

Maybe I’m the only one who has had to follow these tips? One thing’s for sure, the holidays are always entertaining when there’s a nurse around.

via What NOT to do this holiday season | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles.

A post from over at Scrubs taking a humorous look at nurses and the holidays.

ANA & Medicare participation terms | RNs & APRNs

The ANA also expressed support for the following CMS proposals that directly affect nursing practice and patient care for the roughly 60% of U.S. RNs who work in hospitals:

• Allowing the nursing care plan to be part of the interdisciplinary care plan.

• Expanding the use of standing orders and protocols for nurses to give medications.

• Permitting patients to take their own medications under certain circumstances.

• Deleting the requirement for verbal orders to be signed within 48 hours.

• Allowing flexibility for infection control programs, which nurses often lead.

To see the current CMS Conditions of Participation for hospitals, visit http://go.cms.gov/uKSLVy.

via ANA supports changes to Medicare participation terms | National Nursing News.

It’s a slow, long hard battle, but it seems to  be happening one piece at a time. Read the entire post over at National Nursing News.