tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6999311733173559742024-03-15T21:09:36.791-04:00A Writer in a Nurse's Body10 + Years in Nursing In Medical Surgical, Women's Health, Telemetry and Informatics.A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.comBlogger496125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-18407786704110260282020-05-19T20:10:00.000-04:002020-05-19T20:25:39.029-04:00The Coronavirus Chronicles: Nurses on the FrontlinesThis post has been a long time coming, and has been one of the hardest to write. A month or so ago, I had the idea to interview local nurses that I know about their experiences with COVID. We all hear about hero or tragic stories on the news but I wanted to be able to hear how local, real, close to home nurses were experiencing the same battle. I interviewed 6 different nurses, all from different backgrounds and roles to give you unique perspectives. I will also throw in my 2 cents where I see fit, coming from a nursing informatics background.<br />
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These 6 nurses are all from North-East Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey. I have chosen to keep their identity and the organization they work for anonymous, because I wanted them to feel as if they could truly be honest with me and my audience. I have changed their names to something not their own, and any details that make you think you know this person are purely coincidental.<br />
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All of these magnificent nurses are ones that I know personally. Some have trained me in my practice. Some I have worked side by side with. Some I have trained. Some have been my mentor. All bring a different perspective to the table here.<br />
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Miranda is a Medical Surgical Nurse in Allentown, PA with over 6 years bedside experience.<br />
Chris has a Doctorate of Nursing Practice and practices in a PA ICU with over 20 years experience.<br />
Reagan is a newer Emergency Department Nurse in Stroudsburg, PA with under 5 years experience.<br />
Nicolette is a Medical Surgical Nurse in Hackensack, NJ with over 10 years of bedside experience.<br />
Kayla is a nurse in the ICU in Easton, PA with over 6 years bedside experience.<br />
Tyler is a nurse manager in charge of 20-30 nurses on an inpatient Medical Surgical Unit in Pennsylvania, and has over 10 years of bedside experience.<br />
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Okay well that was the easy part. Introducing them. The hardest part is going to be what comes next. Taking their honest, heartbreaking, gut wrenching words and doing them justice. Presenting them in a way that will never be forgotten. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Not in ten years. Not when this goes away. Never. So here goes.<br />
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This virus has come in like a tidal wave no one saw coming. All agreed that when training to be a nurse or before they decided to be a nurse, no one saw this coming in our future. No one. No one predicted we would have a world-wide pandemic and shutdown. No one saw coming how hospitals would be right up there with the rest of the world, losing millions and millions of dollars and cutting staff left and right during a<i> health crisis</i>. No one saw a three month quarantine coming away from their loved ones, their own children. No one saw the stable ground being ripped up from under them but still showed up to work every day, ready to fight. THAT is what has inspired me the most about this group. All agreed that if they knew this global pandemic was coming back when they decided to become a nurse, would they still do it? They ALL agreed <b><i>YES</i></b>. They would still become a nurse. Miranda stated, "We are making history right now. This has made me honored to become a nurse." Kayla from the ICU shared, "I would still become a nurse because even feeling fearful, frustrated at times, and dispensable, I know I am saving lives that no one else could. If I wasn't watching over their loved ones as they struggle to breath, these patients would not have made it out of the unit. I am making a difference and that is empowering."<br />
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But despite always choosing nursing no matter what, this time certainly has been anything but easy. It has taken a toll on some of their emotional health, physical health and their families. When I asked what is their biggest fear right now, every single one of them said something regarding "fear of a loved one getting the virus", whether that was their child, spouse, or a parent. They didn't even mention fear of themselves getting it, only their loved ones. I too, can agree that is my biggest fear. In order to protect their own loved ones, they've each had to go through intense measures. Reagan shared, "I have a little girl at home and my husband and I are both ER nurses. It's tough for us because we can't just stay at home to keep ourselves and little one safe." So, appreciate that <i>you can</i> out there. Kayla shared that she hasn't seen her family, including mother, stepchildren and Nana since the beginning of the quarantine as she has been self isolating in between shifts. She shared that no matter the wait, when she gets to hug her family again for the first time, she will never let go. Nicolette actually acquired the virus herself which took a significant toll on her, her young son and husband, "My husband is an engineer that works for a company that makes ventilators. We were both much needed at work and at home with no alternative child support. Things only got worse once I got sick with COVID and had to isolate from my family. My husband became the only caregiver to our son, in addition to intensely working."<br />
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This has changed each and every one of them as a nurse and in how they approach their view of nursing, in some good ways and in some negative ways. Miranda shared, "Every day is uncertain and because of that I am anxious. I have been heartbroken many times when I see patients uncomfortable and fighting for their life...alone." As a nightshift nurse, Miranda shared that she was never personally a fan of family members lingering at the bedside but now sees the vital role and importance of family members being able to be present at their loved ones side- having that critical support system is key to recovery. She stated that is something in her nursing career she will never take for granted again. Reagan agreed from the Emergency Department sharing, "I have seen more people die in the past few months than I have in the past year. I've watched as someone cried at their diagnosis knowing they were likely never going to see family and grandkids ever again. We deal with tricky diagnoses every day, but this is just so heartbreaking." Christopher from the ICU shared that this pandemic has made nursing the dominant bedside force. Others felt differently in how they experienced this pandemic, sharing "This pandemic has strained my love for bedside nursing. Its not the sick patients or numerous deaths, its the political and poor administration support that we have at the bedside that I have never felt so dispensable", shared Kayla from the ICU. Nicolette agreed, stating "I lost trust in organizations and felt abandoned to drown more times than I can count". On the shift before she got sick herself, she had all 8 COVID patients, all in need of frequent and intense care. Tyler as a nurse manager shared how positive it has been seeing all of the love and the support (donations, food, cards, letters) outpouring from the local community. But as a nurse manager in a leadership position, he states "Its a difficult time to manage staff. They are scared and there is a lot of unknown. I feel like information is always evolving and changing and it's difficult to maintain trust amongst staff."<br />
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A common theme from the group was a newfound sense of anxiety but also calm and a mixture of both, for some. Everyone thinks nurses are immune, that they've seen it all so they can't be affected. But they certainly can. They too are so human and take in everything that is happening directly to their soul. Miranda shared that "this pandemic has brought out the cranky part of me. I've been on edge at work. We are all working so hard and stressed out. It's very exhausting at times. I've recognized this flaw and am working on channeling my inner peace." Reagan shared that "I am typically a very calm person but I struggled with a lot of anxiety in the beginning because there is so much unknown with the virus." But they all shared something positive that is keeping them sane during this tough time. Christopher goes out running between shifts. Reagan has picked up a new hobby to stay busy and tries to get outside with her family during the nice weather. Nicolette is looking into counseling services. Tyler disconnects from work when he goes home and plays games with his children and works on house projects. Kayla is working on her degree as a nurse practitioner. Kayla writes, "If I could give any advice, always keep your body and mind busy and the stress is easier to handle." I challenged them all to share a positive thing this crisis has brought them, and they shared many. Extubations and discharges home, seeing a newfound kindness and humanity in strangers, seeing themselves grow with new skills and hobbies, seeing a decline in COVID cases (thank you social distancing!) and seeing their own loved ones get better. Miranda shares from her organization "Every time a COVID patient is discharged from the hospital they play a song for the patient and we all line up at the door to cheer them on as they exit the building. The patients love it and we get to celebrate with them. This proves that there is hope out there. We can always turn negatives into positives." That was beautifully said by Miranda and I can attest with my own experience, after strenuous bedside work- having those positive moments where you can cheer a patient on together as one big community is something she will likely remember forever from her nursing practice.<br />
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American Healthcare will change, we have no way around changing at this point. We have already changed drastically and will continue to do so. Things we didn't think were possible "yet" or were on the backburner, now suddenly are the top priorities. As an informatics nurse, I've seen first hand a huge shift in the way patients are seeing their doctors. What once was a "once in awhile thing" that was originally advertised as an option a patient could do if they had the flu and just wanted to connect with a doctor via Facetime, is now a common occurrence. Most of our well visits and sick visits have been converted to "telehealth" visits. Doctors and nurses are also using I-pads to be able to round with their patients electronically from outside the room without having to enter into a COVID room multiple times. This prepares nurses to assemble themselves and get what they truly need to be able to "bundle their care" and handle multiple tasks for the patient at once. Patients are using I-pads to communicate with family members and to connect with specialist providers that may be home, in the office or another hospital. These are all things we were "slowly working on" that launched into all-hands on deck to make happen in a matter of weeks. But it truly all has made a difference and will permanently shift how we provide American healthcare. Miranda experienced that exact shift in technology, sharing "I have adapted to using more technology and allowing patients and family to see each other on Facetime on Ipads."<br />
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There are other shifts happening in healthcare, non-technology related also. Nurses are seeing a new sense of community, within and outside the hospital. "A lot of flaws in the system were exposed and with every tragic event we learn from that experience. I have seen great teamwork, also. What once used to be a battle of the departments has become a unity of the hospital. We are all in this together." Shared Miranda from the Medical Surgical floor. The Emergency department is also seeing a shift in care, Reagan states "the ER has been filled with true emergencies and less non emergency cases"- like the ER was always meant to be. This has shifted peoples train of thought to, "do I really need to go to the ER for this sore throat or can it wait until Monday when my doctor is open?" It has opened up more avenues for urgent cares and other forms of healthcare delivery with a primary care provider. The ER was always meant to be there only for true emergencies, as if you must be close to dying in order to come in (heart attacks, strokes, loss of some sort of function, a broken limb, a missing limb, trauma, etc.), but has evolved over the years into being that level of trauma but also bogged down with the "my leg has been sore for 2 years" and "i have a runny nose" cases. I too hope that the ER can see a permanent shift in care delivery mindset. The ultimate goal is to keep people out of the hospital that don't need to be there, and shifting as much care as possible to be in peoples homes.<br />
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These six nurses are some of the strongest people I know. They are exhausted. They are suffering. But they are showing up every day. For you. So YOU can stay home. They are working beyond their normal job roles to make sure you stay safe. Their hearts break a thousand times over each shift they endure. They are crying for and WITH your family members that they care for. They are scared. They need a little bit of extra love right now. So if you know a nurse in your life, give them some extra (non-physical) love right now. Kayla from the ICU asks of everyone in the community, "Don't call me a hero. Just say thank you, practice social distancing, and follow the recommendations of the department of health. Remember, practicing social distancing and wearing a mask is not about you, it is about the people you come in contact with. The world is smaller than you think. Don't think your actions do not have consequences, they can kill someone. It's also not just nursing that needs extra love and kindness right now, remember food services, grocery store workers, truck drivers, warehouse workers, police, firemen, and others in public service. Without them, we would be in true chaos." I couldn't have said it better myself, Kayla!<br />
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Thank you to my audience for reading and for listening to these six nurses stories. I am so thankful they all agreed to participate in my idea and to share their feelings, emotions, honest thoughts and stories. This is no where near over but we are adapting, we are getting stronger, we are learning. Healthcare is changing. We will come out stronger from this. Our nurses will come out stronger than they ever were before when this is over.<br />
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Thank you for reading. Thank a nurse.<br />
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Below is a picture that I saw from another local nurse. This is not one of the nurses that wrote in, but when I saw the picture, it composed every single emotion and honesty that every nurse out there understands, so with her permission I wanted to share.<br />
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Photo credit: Miguel Farias<br />
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Love,<br />
A Writer in Nurse's BodyA Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-41173346962795139632020-04-24T07:07:00.000-04:002020-05-19T20:42:20.982-04:00Predictive Analytics: Breaking it Down<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: white;">Hi There! I am BACK. And I wanted to share what my main focus in life right now is. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">But first, a little background on where I've been for the past 4 years....</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">I am a Registered Nurse, and have been for 8 years. I have been in healthcare for 13 1/2 years. About 4 years ago I took a position that actually removed me from the bedside but instead I got to be a part of helping to design and change our electronic health record in a way that improved patient safety and made more sense for nurses and physicians to use.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">I remember within my first month on the job, I was quickly drawn to the fact that we could use this electronic health record to capture data and summarize data on hundreds of patients. Better yet, in this new electronic health record, we had abilities to build our own reports! Someone very influential to me, someone I think was placed temporarily in my life for the sole purpose of steering me in my life's direction, sat with me or initially two hours and gave me my first high level crash course in reporting. I-was-hooked!</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">From there, I continued to grow and expand the use of reporting and my passion for it became apparent. I became the person on my team that was known for being able to whip up new reports and to also be a whiz in Microsoft Excel. These skills allowed me to not only create and put together data from within the system, but to also summarize and track that data.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">About a year or so into the job, I knew I had to advance my degree. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing, but I needed more. I've always loved school and am a total school nerd. I enrolled into my local college for a Masters in Nursing with a clinical nurse leader track. I was doing well, about 2-3 courses in- but......I hated it. Guys, nothing felt more nauseating and not right to me in my entire life. It was all research papers and evidenced based practice and blah. Not for me. I didn't really know what else to do, so I switched to a Masters in Nursing Administration. In this track I started to see how cool the whole business aspect of the degree was, but again felt nauseated in what I was learning with regards to how broken our healthcare system is. I spent years on the floor doing my best and it was never enough to the same people that I was in a degree trying to become. Again, it didn't feel right. I took a break from school when I was pregnant with my daughter and in the post partum period as well. I thought long and hard about returning and what felt right.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Then I saw it: A new program at the same college- It was a sign! A Masters in Science in Predictive Analytics. Technically this isn't a healthcare degree, its a business degree. I always had felt that I had to stay in nursing because that's what my background was, even if I hated the pursuit of anything further in it. But this degree.... it felt right in my bones. Multiple people have told me that when I start talking about data analytics/predictive analytics, they can visibly see the light in my eyes go on fire, the rise in pitch and rate of speed in my voice increase, and I could talk about it forever. That right there everyone, is passion. And I knew I had to pursue it. I always joked in the last 4 years in my job that if I could wake up and spend all day in an Excel spreadsheet, I would love-my-job. Data to me makes sense. Its tangible but also infinite. It's like a math equation. There's an answer at the end but also infinite answers! It makes me jump up and down inside, can you tell?</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">So I started this program in January of 2019, when my daughter was ~ 5 months, leaving my husband to watch Abby for the 3 hours a week I spent in class. It sure has been a whirlwind ever since, and I still am spending 12-15 hours a week involved in the program with homework, reading and in class time. But, what's difference in this is that those 12-15 hours don't even feel like "homework" or "work". Sure I need to make sure I get it done within the deadlines, but its FUN! When I make a dashboard or create a model I get a sense of immense joy and celebrate in my newfound abilities. It kind of feels like what I imagine it felt like for Spiderman to suddenly wake up and realize he has superpowers. This is my superpower.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">But, as I started meeting other moms and introduced myself and what I do or mentioned my degree, or talked with friends and family about it, I started noticing a frustrating pattern: No matter who it was, within a minute of talking about it, people's eyes started glazing over and they'd switch the topic. I told new people that I was getting my degree in Predictive Analytics and they acted as if I said I was getting the degree in astrophysical quantum mechanical engineering (if that's even a thing?).</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">It was sad for me because this was my passion and I wanted to tell the world about it. To me, at work or in school, it was all common talk and people understood it, but I wanted to be able to share it with more than that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">So, I'm here to break it down as best I can.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">I don't want to give any fancy definitions of what it is, because even I don't understand those. Lots of statistics and blahblahblah.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">To me, predictive analytics is as simple as using and understanding data from the past to predict future events. That's it!</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Ok so let me break it down into a real elementary example, then I will advance a little from there.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">This example brings in my love of epidemiology also, so its fun. Let's say there was a big gala held last weekend celebrating something. 100 people were in attendance. There was a lot of food served, but lets focus on 5 foods: They served chicken, salmon, filet mignon, and ham as the meat choices. They had a big salad on the side for vegetarians. However, unfortunately, a few days later the party hosts found out that 20 of their guests got really sick! They called and blamed the food they ate. So the hosts had to find out, what was it that made everyone sick? So they interviewed each of the sick to find out what they ate. But what is important here, is where predictive analytics comes into play is not just interviewing what the sick ate, but what the non-sick ate too. For example, if the 20 sick people all had the ham, but so did 70 non-sick people, it's probably not the ham that made everyone sick. But how could we really say for sure? Well, nothing is ever really sure in data analytics. Data analytics treats words like "always" and "never" like the black plague.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">So what we do here is treat each one of those food items as variables. (I'll explain that more). Each variable would be "Did this person eat the ham, yes or no?" or "Did this person eat the turkey, yes or no?" By then viewing the list of the 20 people and what they ate, we could likely identify a pattern of the common thing(s) that the people ate that got sick. OK now stay with me- we can use that knowledge of understanding what we THINK got sick and assign them values. So perhaps those that ate the turkey were 80% more likely to have gotten sick and assign it a value of 0.8. We now PREDICT, will the rest of our guests get sick? So we take that list we have of our 80 non-sick people, and essentially run it through a model to determine a prediction of how likely that person is to be sick. If we found out that ham and turkey were the culprits that made everyone sick, if we took one of the non-sick people and found out he too had ham and turkey, we could give him a pretty accurate high prediction that he may end up also getting sick. However, if one of the non-sick people say they only had the salad, and non of the sick people ate the salad, we can give that person a pretty accurate prediction that they won't join their friends in the quarantine.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">This sounds like a silly example, but its how these predictions work. In examples I am involved with at work, the "20 sick people" that are used to learn and understand the variables, is actually 500,000+ people (perhaps more likely in the millions). Taking data from only 20 people can lead to a lot of inaccurate predictions. Maybe they were lying or forgot details. But if we are seeing common patterns on half a million people, we can gain better accuracy in applying what we learn to future predictions. Instead of the "variables" being 5 food groups, we instead look at hundreds of variables to better understand everything we can about these instances. In this way, we actually can learn new things that may be correlated to a disease or effect.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Some examples I am working with in healthcare now are predictive models that can predict how likely a patient is to have a cardiac arrest event, or code blue. We use close to a hundred variables that were studied on thousands of patients that DID have a cardiac arrest (think back to the gala example-the people that DID get sick). By learning what was unique about those patients that did have a cardiac arrest, we can then match that set of variables up to a new patient that walks in the door, to see how closely they align to those variables. Perfect match? Yikes, lets get the code cart ready! Hardly a match at all? Pretty good chance they aren't coding on our watch (Again, nothing is certain).</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">But think of how useful these models are to us, in healthcare and around the world (I'll get to that). By having a prediction like how likely a patient is to have a code blue, we can better prepare as healthcare workers to make sure that doesn't happen. We can better plan staffing ratios, adjust the treatment plan, get other specialists on board, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">I'm working on a few other models in healthcare right now, but there are more than I can even count that are actually out there. We are gathering the ability to predict who will experience a fall, who will contract sepsis, who will come to the emergency department, who will not show up for their appointment, who will come back to the hospital, etc. In each of these cases, these accurate predictions allows us to prepare.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">But think of it more globally. These same concepts can and are applied to other "predictable" events. We could essentially predict tidal waves, hurricanes, tornadoes by understanding what variables or conditions were in place before those events happened in the PAST to help us predict the FUTURE. We could predict mass shootings by understanding conditions and variables that were attributed to past mass shootings. We could predict train delays or breakdowns, airport delays, stock markets, retail surges, etc. With the growing amount of data being made available to all of us, even you, we will have more and more ability to predict almost any event that can have attributable data to it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Anyway, I hope I didn't lose you all! If you can't tell, this stuff is my life's passion and I can't wait to see where it takes me. This is really just the beginning. There is so much more involved to it all than what I wrote about in this blog, hence the need to get an entire degree in it (and even that will barely scratch the surface), but I wanted to at least get the concept out there as easily understood. Maybe I'll even inspire someone to go chase the dream for themselves, too!</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Thank you for reading.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Toodles!</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">_ A Writer in an Informatics Nurse's Body</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="color: white;"></span><br />A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-6640502894195009772016-02-29T15:18:00.001-05:002016-02-29T15:19:25.864-05:00What's NextHey everyone! Welcome back. <div><br></div><div>So, the past couple months have been a whirlwind of excitement, turmoil, and an incredible learning experience. Let me recap. </div><div><br></div><div>I spent the entire fall not only learning my hospital networks newly adapted Electronic Health Record system, but then teaching it in segmented classes to all of my networks nurses and nurse managers, supervisors and executives. I loved it so much. I never thought I'd make a good teacher, but once I got up there I had the incredible need to share as much information with everyone that I could. I wanted them to know as much as I did, I wanted them to get as <i>excited</i> as I was. I saw how much better this would make our healthcare for patients and I wanted them to see it too. Being a nurse, I was able to bring the information to the nurses and make it relatable. I was able to give them scenarios on why this was helpful for them, a good change. I got great reviews <i>because</i> I was so relatable. I loved it and I wanted more. More teaching, more IT, more knowledge. But then we went live with our software change and unfortunately I was faced with the challenge of my temporary assignment being over and I was then assigned to go back to my nursing unit to work as a nurse until further notice. At first I was terrified, and disappointed. I was terrified because I had been off of the unit for about 5 months and I wasn't sure how well I'd do being submersed back in at full force. I was disappointed because part of the reason I took the temporary assignment in the first place because I was feeling burnt out and run down from Med Surg Nursing. Don't let anyone tell you differently, whether you love it or not, Med Surg Nursing after a few years will take a toll on anyone. So going back was terrifying for me. During my absence many new people were hired, some thought <i>I </i>was the new person since they hadn't met me yet. Every turn I made I met someone new! (And 2 months later, I still am!)</div><div><br></div><div>Luckily, like a lot of my friends & family figured, jumping back into bedside nursing truly was like riding a bike. Besides a few minor hospital policy changes, or minor unit workflow changes, or a change in where something is located, I picked up everything within a shift or two. </div><div><br></div><div>Our new software change, in my opinion, has made wondrous incredible changes on the nursing frontline. This makes the geek in me extremely excited. The system prompts you to complete all your necessary work that you still have left to complete for a patient, and it is patient individualized, which means not every patient has the same "To-Do" list! We also get alerted if our patient is deteriorating by the system actually watching our patient's vital signs and observing trends. Not just that but there are may workflow changes that have been improved that are now much more efficient. No more double-charting. No more losing charting. No more downtime. There are so many analytics and reports viewable for our patients that it is incredible, it really makes looking at the patients "whole picture" much easier and user-friendly. Communicating with doctors is more efficient, nurse friendly and faster. Reading progress notes from clinicians is no longer a chore or a handwriting-analysis exercise. All notes from every health care clinician or provider including Doctors, Nurses, Therapists, Case Management, etc., are all typed into this software, and of course readable! This way nurses can better understand (and read) the patients actual plan of care and case. There is nothing I don't like about it! I can confidently say that it has made me a better nurse 100%. Also, with this new change we also were able to adapt devices that have this software loaded onto a small device very similar to an i-phone where nurses and aides can take this from to room to room and have all of their patients information loaded in, and they can chart intakes & outputs, vital signs, complete blood work AND even document medications right from this little device. This also makes the nursing workflow incredibly easier and more efficient. This device uploads in real time and no docking required, unless to charge! </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>But even though I find myself becoming a better nurse, I find myself feeling burnt out still from the politics of healthcare and Med Surg nursing. I am ready to move on and am so happy to accept a new position of a Clinical Informatics Analyst starting in 2 weeks! In this job I will be on a small team that analyzes how clinicians and IT work together to improve healthcare and technology. We will improve documentation, fix issues or build workflows, innovate new ideas, make new processes, etc. We are the bridge between IT (non healthcare personnel and nursing). This is super exciting for me because I have been raised on computers. My father comes from a long career history of working intensely with computers and has taught his daughter well. I also probably inherited some genes of being very interested in technology. I am always interested in the newest gadgets, how they work and more importantly, how they can improve human life. So now I will be looking at and working with healthcare gadgets, how they work and how they can improve <i>patient's </i>lives! </div><div><br></div><div>So, as you can see- many changes coming in my life & career. So I want to take a moment to reflect back on my bedside nursing experiences and what I expect for the future. </div><div><br></div><div>As a new graduate, I started on a women's health specialty oncology unit. Having only 11 beds and working nightshift with only 1 other nurse, I had to pick up the skill of autonomy very quickly. With high acuity patients, it was a crash course in nursing. I then transferred to a bigger hospital in my network where they I worked on a Med Surg Telemetry unit where I am now. A lot of things changed when I came here, because not only was I transferring campuses, but my old hospital had just been bought out by the hospital network I transferred to but hadn't quite completely integrated all of their changes into my old hospital by the time I left. So even though I was transferring within my network, It felt like I was transferring to a whole different world. I was also crossing state lines, where there was different healthcare rules. In my new hospital, now nurses and aides were responsible for all blood work.The laboratory only ran tests, no more on the floor phlebotomists. Nursing and aides were also responsible for EKGs, which actually used to be done by <i>respiratory therapists </i>back in the day at my hospital. I also had to quickly adapt to a sicker patient and higher acuity workload on a telemetry unit. At my old hospital, I had the pleasure of having "telemetry techs" that sat in a room and watched every single heart monitor rhythm in the hospital. They simply called me if there were an issue. I am ashamed to say that within my first few months, the tech called me and told me my patient had a few beat run in Vtach, and I remember replying..."oh. Thats bad, right?" Sigh. Whereas in my new hospital there was no tech and I was responsible for not only caring for 7 patients but also keeping an eye on their telemetry heart monitor rhythms too. 0_0 </div><div><br></div><div>Needless to say, I survived but not a day went by where I felt like it was easy. It was always challenging and kept me intrigued. But my home life started to wear away as this increased stress load starting eating away at me. I would lie awake at night and wonder if I did something wrong, if I charted everything okay, did I waste every med? Could I have saved that patient? Did I miss something? I started dreading going in to work and my headaches and nausea incidences picked up immensely. I can't even count the amount of times I have been in a shift and thought, "If I can make it through this shift, It will be a miracle. I will be so thankful to be back home and hide under my covers." </div><div><br></div><div>Yes, Its true. And I'm sure every single nurse that you know or that reads this knows exactly what I'm talking about. </div><div><br></div><div>Over the past 4.5 years of nursing, I picked up a lot of skills and I consider myself a mixture of Proficiency and Expert in Patricia Benner's Novice to Expert Nursing Model. However I always was self conscious and thought it to be a weakness of mine that I never really developed a <i>special skill</i>. I was never the "best IV stick" on the floor. Or the "best charge nurse". Or the "best wound care person" ( i never really grasped wound care), or the best person to know X, Y, Z. I rather considered myself a jack of all trades. Or should I say a Jack of all nurses? I felt like even though I never really mastered one skill to its maximum, my "skill" was that I knew a little bit about everything. I had gotten myself involved in a lot of different committees and PI projects and let me tell you, network is KEY to strengthening your career AND your knowledge base. I was always interested in learning and would read nursing books galore and take CE credit courses on my own time or attend nursing conferences. So i knew a lot but mastered none. I always considered this to be a weakness. I always thought to myself, how can I have been through almost 5 years of nursing and I'm still not absolutely great at putting in IVs? How come I never memorize what ABG results mean?? And more. But then I realized that my skill in having multiple trade skills was my super skill! I had the uncanny ability to remember patients information, to organize their care and to stand up for my patient. I had good judgement. I studied their plan of care by reading doctors note after doctors note until I understood everything about the patient. I was able to look at the patient's whole picture and situation and I would honestly take that learned skill over putting in the world's best IV any day. I think this skill has gotten me to exactly where I am today, as I have always had the passion to <i>improve</i> care for patients. Ever since my first day in nursing, I have always thought, "Why are we doing it this way?" I have always thought of imaginary new devices that could be invented to make nurses jobs easier, or new workflows. I have always been able to think out of the box. I know enough to understand the "textbook rules", but have enough judgement to throw most of that away and do whats actually right for the individual patient. When A, B, and C don't work, lets figure out what else will work for the patient. That was my super skill and thats why I think I will do well in informatics. </div><div><br></div><div>Part of me is also terrified to leave the bedside. This time its not temporary, its permanent. I scare myself that I'm only 27 and I'm stepping away from the bedside, something a lot of nurses don't do until they are a lot older or have more experience. I want to stay current in what is going on in nursing and want to maintain my clinical skills. I don't want to get so involved in the IT world that I don't feel like a nurse anymore. I don't want to forget what it was like, so that I can remember how to make it <i>better. </i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>I don't predict however that this will be the end of my bedside career. If I ever do return, I don't think I can ever realistically return to bedside Med Surg Nursing. It's simply not an option for my soul & heart anymore. If I do return, I am interested in three pathways that actually have nothing to do with each other. Either the NICU, Hospice Nursing, or Emergency or ICU nursing. So maybe that will be where I end up one day. I am not the type of person to stay in one position for forever, I am adaptable, a hard worker and always intend to move up or change positions to learn more or to try something new. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Whew! I talked about a lot. Sorry. My brain had a lot to say. I am very excited. If you read that all, you are a true fan and a friend of mine. Like I said when I "came back" recently to blogging, I am mostly writing for me. I want to document my endeavors in nursing so I can look back on this in 20 years and see where I was in my career. If you like it and get something out of it, then that is absolutely fabulous! I want to help as many nurses succeed in their career as I can. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>With love, </div><div><br></div><div>A Writer in a Nurses Body </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><3 </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-6512652062467154052016-02-24T13:09:00.000-05:002016-02-24T13:09:43.363-05:00To Code or Not to CodeHello readers!<br />
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So I have a ton of homework to do, which makes me that much better of a blog writer! Hah. No really though, I write better when I'm avoiding doing something else. And I have a good excuse anyway, because this topic has been on my mind for about a month, clawing to get out.<br />
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Actually this may even count towards homework because I'm doing research on this for school, so boo yah!<br />
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Let me give you the first scenario I have, to slowly dip ya'll into my mindset here.<br />
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One month ago, I was assisting/as needed/general help down in our ICU department. After being there for a few, I quickly learned about a case down there. He was an 84 year old gentleman, who had been a code blue (he stopped breathing and no pulse) while on a Med/Surg Floor. He was a "Full Code" at the time, which means we do <i>everything</i> in our possible power to bring a patient back to the living world. We had brought him back to life, and any patient that goes through this automatically gets transferred to the ICU afterwards, no questions asked. There is never a case where we thump on someones chest and shock them and bring them back to life, and then are like, hey- want some apple juice? You seem fine to me! No.<br />
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So on he transferred to the ICU, hence where I met up with his case. I heard the ICU nurses talking, their "nursing spidey sense" that I know all too well was all in effect, as they all had a feeling this man was going to die that night again. However, this time his family had decided that this time he would not be a "Full Code". What happens if you aren't a Full Code? You have other options. But in my opinion (and I'll explain this more later) the best option is to pass away peacefully with lots of morphine and silence, and someone holding my hand so I know I'm not alone.<br />
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When the ICU nurses noticed his heart rate start to slow down, we knew impending death was soon. Our patient was trying to cross that line and was getting closer. We all agreed to go be with him, as his family had left for the night thinking he would make it overnight and they would say goodbye in the morning. Obviously that wasn't the case. We all stood by him, holding his hand, as we watched at his bedside his alarms going off, his heart rate slowing down dramatically, his breathing erratic. Me, being non-immune to all the alarms in the ICU, only heard the sound of the ventilator (breathing machine) pumping artificial breaths into this man, trying to keep him alive despite higher powers at play.<br />
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As sad as this case may seem (if you think that was sad, get your tissues out now), it actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. The reason this man's family didn't want him to be a "full code" in case he passed away again was because <i>they had already seen him code the first time.</i> The general public (hence his family) don't actually know what we mean when we say "Full Code". Doctors ask when you get admitted, usually regardless of your condition, "In the event of your pulse stops or your lungs stop breathing, do you want us to do everything in our power to bring you back?" Given that sentence, that sounds lovely, why yes! Bring me back! At the snap of your finger, or with your magical powerful wand. Bring my loved one back! However, what most doctors fail to mention is what a Full code really entails. It's not quick. It's not quiet. It's not painless. And its certainly not magical.<br />
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For my non-medical readers, let me give you a quick low-down on what happens during a full code on a typical case. Please don't read this paragraph if you get queasy! But I do intend to paint an accurate picture. We automatically begin CPR. You all have seen CPR on TV at some point I'm sure, and the patient always wakes back up within a minute or two. But have you ever seen CPR in real life? If so, you know that the <i>recommended </i>depth of compressions is 2-2.4" into your chest. Imagine someone right now pushing your ribs in 2", without you backing up. Pushing in 2" while you are laying down, helpless. Yes, ribs are usually broken. We also are doing this at 100 pumps per minute, no less. And we don't stop until the patient does return to life or a family member calls this effort off, or the doctor deems it medically impossible if the code has gone on too long. And that's not all. When we start doing compressions, someone is operating an external airway with whats called an "Ambu" bag, to deliver you 100% oxygen. This is only until we can complete something called "Intubation" where we insert a tube through your mouth and down your throat and into your lungs so that we can hook you up to a ventilator to do the breathing for you. Oh and that's not all. If you have had anything to eat or drink within the last couple hours, what do you think is going to happen when we are jumping up and down on your chest? Yeah, it's going to come back up! When you're lying on your back unconscious! And we will suction as much out as possible, but it still will be everywhere.<br />
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So, that all being said, do you think if Doctors really painted <i>that</i> picture when we asked patients if they want to be a full code, do you think as many patients or patients family members would still want to be a full code? I don't think so. Now I've witnessed hundreds of doctors have this very conversation, and some paint a pretty picture and some don't. However, very very few actually go into detail about what really happens. Why not? Because it seems harsh! It is harsh! That paragraph above is horrible if you imagine it happening to you or your family member. If you get admitted with a broken arm, we still ask you if you want to be a full code. We ask <i>everybody</i>, because you never know what could happen. Life works in mysterious ways. Just a few months ago I remember a case of a man admitted with a UTI (urinary tract infection) but otherwise completely OK. Then BAM, had a massive heart attack while on our floor and coded. You never know.<br />
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So if you get admitted with a broken arm or a UTI, and here comes the doctor asking if you want us to save your life if you die? You're automatically going to be like WTF, I have a broken bone- are you not telling me something? Am I dying? If I'm not, why are you asking me this?<br />
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Or if the patient does understand the fact that this question is asked of everyone regardless of diagnosis or age, then many patients think that we are "giving up" or "won't treat" the patients condition if they agree to <i>not</i> be a full code. Their logic may be, "well if they aren't going to save my life then whats the point of even being here, or being treated?" Well that simply is completely logical. It is a reasonable way of thinking, but I assure you it is not true. I can say with complete and utter 100% confidence that I have witnessed on so many cases, where the doctors and nurses do <i>so much </i>to help a patient feel better or improve their condition, even if the case is eventually terminal. I promise you, healthcare will never ignore you or not treat you for your current condition as much as possible just because you agree not to be a Full Code if death occurs.<br />
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Now don't get me wrong at all, some people should be a Full Code! Absolutely! Let's say you do come in with that broken arm, or are having a heart attack, or a UTI, or whatever- but you are otherwise healthy- You live a happy, meaningful life- You should be a Full Code! You also have the best chance to also <i>survive</i> a full code as your body is healthy besides what is going on now. If we catch your heart stop beating immediately, chances are we will definitely get it back to beating within a very short time frame, especially if your body is remotely healthy. What irks me however is when doctors are unrealistic with those that <i>aren't </i>healthy. Those that come in with terminal cancer. Or have advanced Alzheimer's disease or dementia, or have any end-stage disease (heart disease, kidney disease, lung disease, etc.) Doctor's hit you with what I call a "Double-Positive Whammy", they make you think that death isn't impending soon from your disease, but just in case it is- If you are a full code, we will do everything in our power to bring you back and it will probably be successful! No.<br />
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I have been doing a lot of thinking on this and a lot of reflection within myself, my beliefs, my patients, my nursing practice.... and I still firmly believe in what I'm what about to say. I know a lot of people may disagree with me, and I encourage that- Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, especially with ethically situations such as these. I'm entitled to your opinion as are you.<br />
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I don't care if you are 18, or if you are 30, 40, 60 or 100. If you have a disease that is slowly killing you, I see no reason to hold off the inevitable. Now that is a FINE LINE. For example, let's say a healthy person gets diagnosed with cancer. I completely support the notion of undergoing treatment (surgery, chemo, radiation, etc.) I mean, you were healthy before! But what about after 10 years of treatment after treatment? How is your quality of life doing? Chances are, the patient themself already has a different opinion about their own end-of-life than their family or loved ones do. What I intend to make a point of here, is that regardless of age, if an individual either has a terminal disease, more than three major comorbidities (any major chronic disease that takes a significant toll on your quality of life), or are experiencing a poor quality of life (not eating, not happy, unable to do favorite activities, hobbies, cognitively impaired, etc) then in my honest opinion, they at least deserve the honest picture of what a full code truly means, and then they can decide. I'm not saying it should be mandated that these cases should automatically be a no-code based on an algorithm, that would be unethical. But they at least deserve the honest truth about the decision. The rest is up to them. <br />
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The last scenario I would like to share with you (if you are still reading) is a case that really pushed my feelings over the edge. Recently my unit took care of a very sweet elderly lady of the age of 96. She had multiple medical problems and was admitted with anemia (low blood count) due to gastrointestinal bleeding. She was with us for awhile with no events. Sent home. Family brought her right back due to intense abdominal pain. Again she stayed with us for awhile. Her blood counts kept dropping, there was no way to keep up with it. Her internal bleeding was too severe. Meanwhile, she was absolutely miserable- She couldn't urinate on her own- leading to us straight-cathing her every couple of hours- she was in immeasurable amounts of abdominal pain, and she had a very poor appetite. And yet her daughter was her POA (Power of Attorney) and watched over everything regarding her moms care. And yep, You guessed it! This patient was made a Full Code. Decided by whom? You guessed it! The daughter.<br />
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One night, her vital signs started significantly dropping. The bleeding too severe for her body to compensate with. It came time that using our own nursing judgement, being that she was a Full Code, with the vital signs the way they were- she was quickly knocking down deaths door. If she was going to remain a Full code, we needed to treat her like a Full Code and get her to the ICU before she codes, that way she gets more intensive treatment to prevent that from happening. So we called what is known is as an RRT (Rapid Response Team) which is sort of like a pre-code. The patient isn't coding yet, but could be on their way soon if we don't fix the problem now. So of course during a RRT, a lot of healthcare personnel show up. Multiple RNs, Med Surg and ICU, 1-2 Respiratory therapists, a doctor or PA/NP, nursing supervisor, etc. We always draw bloodwork, usually put in a new IV. There's people everywhere and the bright lights are on in your face. Its like a code except you are awake and aware for it all. Well, this sweet lady is terrified and is screaming in pain. She's also crying, "Please, no." "Don't do this to me." "Let me die." "I want to die." "Don't do this." "stop this". And yet, because her daughter has the POA (who happened to be in the room watching this whole scenario unfold), the daughter has the decision on the code status. And despite her mom crying in pain and agony, the daughter demanded we do everything possible to save her. Maybe, maybe not- but if the daughter really knew what a code really meant, would she come to her senses and not want that for her mom?<br />
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If a loved one of mine were in the situation, don't get me wrong- Its awful. It's incredibly sad & frightening. But If i knew that my loved ones medical condition had made their life quality so horrible and they didn't want to live anymore, or they were in immense amounts of pain, I would never prolong the inevitable. I would of course want to treat them and care for them, but if the higher powers decide its their turn to go, then all I want for them is to not be alone and to not be in pain as they make that journey. I think that's the best gift I can give them as their own loved one.<br />
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Thank you for reading. I know its a hard topic, and a never-ending one. A very ethical one, and I know a lot of people will disagree with me. Chances are, not a lot of nurses will disagree with me, however. Because we see this every day. We see cases like these two every day. We are immune to the sadness, the awfulness of it all. We are trained to do what we have to do. If someone wants to be a full code, then so be it, we <i>will </i> do everything we can to save your life. Just be sure its really what you want for yourself or your family member.<br />
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With love and passion for humanity,<br />
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A writer in a nurses body <3 nbsp="" p=""><br />
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.</3>A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-77900084729775262212016-01-13T09:53:00.000-05:002016-01-13T09:53:32.197-05:00Go-Live SuccessWell, as promised- I have returned for a second time in under a week! That's already an accomplishment! Also, as promised- I want to tell you all about how our Go-Live went. Now remember I'm not naming my hospital network or the system we went live with, but refer to my last post for a clue... Now anyway, the system is amazing, just like I knew it would be. It is fascinating having had the privilege of learning the system since September and teaching it to others, but so far only having seen it with fake patients. I was so eager just to get to see it work for real! As we drew closer and closer to the Go-Live Flipswitch, my coworkers fear and anxiety levels rose but my excitement drew higher.<br />
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Getting to work with it all weekend after that moment has been fantastic and very eye-opening. I remember having had "play time" on one of my last days of my own training where we were allowed to just play around and practice anything so that we felt completely ready to help once we went-live. I practiced and practiced and I thought surely, I know everything know- What other situation could arise that I don't know how to do?<br />
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Well, I should have slapped myself right there because the rest of the weekend I was "go-Live support" which entailed me running around the hospital ( I literally ran up and down some stairs a few occasions) in order to help all three of our units and the ICU, and handle any problems that were arising. Needless to say, my "to-do" list was about 20 items long and it kept me busy all 12 hours of my shift. I would cross one thing off and be on my way to handle another and then on that route another problem would occur. So, point of the story is I thought I knew how to handle everything but then when real patients are in with unique individual situations and the patients aren't fake, certain charting queries come up and there needs to be a firm solution on how to handle that. I was put on the spot many times and had to rack my brain at 3 am in order to get a solution.<br />
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It is interesting watching people learn. Like I said before, I had the opportunity all fall to teach fellow nurses, PCAs, and Nurse managers on how to use the system. We faced a lot of kickback, frustration, tears, confusion, etc. And although I saw a lot of frustration with the Go-Live as well, overall these nurses knew that frustration was not going to help their patient and that if they just sit back and let us teach them how to handle the problem, they would go a lot further. Therefore a lot more health care personnel were a lot more open to learning this time around since we were working with real patients, real time, real problems. It was also delightful getting a lot more "Ah-ha!" moments from our users.<br />
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It is a known fact that users always learn faster when emerged inside of a real situation. We can only teach these users so much and get them to remember when we are working with "John Playdough" instead of a real patient, and when we are teaching 2-3 months away from the Go-Live day. And yet when these users are using it every second of their shift because they have to for their real patients, they pick it up much faster. Just like learning a language- You learn French much better stuck in the middle of France than you do in a classroom.<br />
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Overall this whole experience so far has reinforced within my own self that I love informatics, I love teaching people and I still love healthcare. I can't wait to grow inside this field and to accomplish more tasks. I love being in charge of projects around the hospital and reporting to and talking directly to high-up administration (literally had multiple conversations with the vice president of my hospital over the weekend!) not because of a power trip- but because I like being trusted and knowing that people believe I can accomplish difficult tasks.<br />
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Well, another weekend of work ahead-stay tuned! In other news, I get to go to my orientation for my masters program tonight! Super awesome! And next Tuesday I start my class! So exciting! Nerdddddddd. :-)A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-55094456316275394672016-01-07T23:22:00.003-05:002016-01-07T23:22:52.995-05:00A Story and a Dream<br />
"If theres any body out there listening to me, all I have is a story and a dream. Here I am, and thats all that I can be." -Tori Kelly<br />
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Hi. It's me. I'm writing again. I'm here.<br />
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I've been thinking about this blog for a very long time. It started in 2009 and around 2013 I lost my drive, my writing mojo. All together. I tried so hard to keep it all together and as my nursing career was starting and going strong I began to lose the writers part of my brain. I began to feel burnt out as a nurse after my 3rd year and it started to consume my entire life, my entire brain. It made me not want to write anymore. I didn't feel like I had anything to say. For awhile I tried making 1-2 posts a year but that just made me feel even worse. Even more guilty.<br />
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I guess part of me didn't know what to say and the other part of me didn't want to let my audience down. I worked so hard bringing this blog to where it was, gained so many followers and internet attention as It was being born- and then during my block- sometimes I would think of a post and instead of just going with it like I used to- Who cared what people thought?- I would filter it and ask myself, is this good enough for my blog? And usually I'd talk myself out of it or then find myself too busy to log on and try so the thought wouldn't come to fruition. The evil cycle continued.<br />
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However lately, my life has taken many strange and exciting turns. It has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. Like I said, I've been thinking about this blog and have desired to start it back up for quite some time now. But again thought to myself, do I have anything to say? But now I have realized within myself- the same self that started this back in 2009 that who cares what people think? This is my blog, my writing, my self. Lately I've really started paying attention to myself and reacting and standing up for myself and whats right. So from now on I will write what comes to mind and if it bores you then great, find a list to the right hand side of my page with other fantastic blogs you should go read. I need this. I need this blog now to be an open space for me.<br />
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So where is my life now? Where is my career? In recent exciting news, I have gotten married! Yeah! Crazy. I married a wonderful gentleman back in October. To say the least, it's been an incredible but very busy fall! I thank fates and heaven every day for my husband and this wonderful man, even though i'm pretty sure he doesn't even know how thankful I am for him every day. I try so hard to be a "good wife" but its not in my genetic code to be very wifely. Once in awhile I pull through for him though. ;) He's so patient with me, takes care of me, encourages me, inspires me, questions me in a good way, watches out for me, protects me, and loves me so much. Just the other day I was explaining to someone else that found them self in a rather new relationship- the friend asked me how I knew this man was the one- I said because we can read each other's minds. Although that sounds telepathic and futuristic- Its true! We can't actually, but we almost always know what the other is thinking.<br />
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We haven't been able to take a honeymoon however, much to our dismay. Why? That leads me to my next exciting news. My career took an exciting change for the better in August. The Hospital Network I work for has recently decided to adapt a new electronic health record system. For privacy purposes, I won't outwardly say which one, but if you know anything about health informatics and what system is currently sweeping the entire nation- you can probably guess which one. In August I was selected to come on to a team of trainers to teach all the nurses and care assistants in my entire network on how to use this system before it goes-live. So even though I had spent the last four years on the nursing unit at the patients bedside, I decided it was time for a "break" from the bedside and to follow my heart into healthcare informatics. Although I had never really been a trainer or teacher of any kind before August, I dove right in and for the last few months have been teaching nurses!<br />
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My mom is a sixth grade teacher. Growing up watching what she did every day, I didn't think I had it in me-the strength to do what she did. I admired her but didn't think I ever could do it. But, it was what I faced at the time so I jumped right in and started teaching! I soon found out after a few bumps and practice runs that I actually loved to teach! Sure I had a ton of challenges and challenging people (turns out teaching adults is very hard!), but that feeling of sharing your own wealth of knowledge and seeing other people "get it", is very rewarding. I even had a student tell me I was the best teacher he has ever had, including nursing school, and grad school. Go figure!<br />
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I knew I was good at it and ran with it. I was good because I was a nurse, teaching nurses. I understood what they go through on a daily basis, because I went through it all too. I understood what I needed to teach them in order for them to be successful. I was able to relate to them, tell stories about my own nursing care, give examples and scenarios on how this new system will make *our* lives easier as nurses. It was the perfect recipe.<br />
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So that whole process of going-live with the software? Yeah, that starts tomorrow. I know I am prepared because being a trainer, I know the system inside and out. However I start my journey back on the patients bedside during this whole process, my trainer/teaching time opportunity is thus far all done. So the next couple weeks/months will be stressful at best as we all cope with this very big change in my network. I am personally excited, even though I know it will be stressful. I am excited for the end result because I know the system will eventually better our patient care, give us more time with our patients instead of unnecessary charting. Just, in time. Everything good happens in time, right ? Something like that?<br />
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All that time all fall in the classroom has also inspired me to *finally* begin my Masters of Nursing program at a local university, in Clinical Nurse Leadership. I start in a week and a half and I am sooooooooo excited, but also nervous! I LOVE school, and I LOVE to be a student, and I am such a nerd because I honestly seriously do LOVE to learn new things. I want to soak up all the knowledge in the world, the only trick is remembering it all! And paying for all that knowledge. -__-<br />
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So upcoming between my return to the unit and starting school, I will have a ton to write about! I will also need this venting space now more than ever. I don't know how I will find the time, but somehow I found the time during my Bachelors program so I can find it now too.<br />
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Also in recent months, my beloved 85 year old grandma and best friend, has moved into my state! I tried for it to be the same town, but two towns over isn't too shabby either. She used to live in Long Island, New York, and on a good day it was 3 hours to go see her. On a bad day, up to 6 hours. With her increasing age and frailty, that was too long to travel on a moments notice. So the past couple months has been lots of realty and picking things out and spending time with lawyers, but best of all spending more time with my Grandma. She moved December 10th and I have been able to spend so much more time with her since. I already considered her my best friend prior, I have since I was a child- but even more so now. I am able to get to know so much more about her, and her I. The best part is with all this time spent with her, I felt inspired of all her tales about her life that I wanted to write about it all. So I'm writing a brand new, fresh start, new book. I know I've said that before, but this one feels different... It just does.<br />
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Well, this has been a long enough first blog back. I work all weekend as we "go-live", but I assure you after this weekend, I will post again to tell you all about how that all went down. Probably with a glass of wine. ;)<br />
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For the followers that still follow, thank you from the bottom of my heart for still having interest. For any newcomers, welcome!<br />
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With love,<br />
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A Writer in a Nurse's Body<br />
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P.S. That quote up top and the title of my post. There's a (small) story to that. As I tried to muster up the courage to come on here and write again, as I loaded the webpage, a song by Tori Kelly called "Where I belong" came on and I heard these lyrics and it was exactly what I needed to hear. Because thats exactly what I think, what I am, where I belong. I am just a girl with a story and a dream.A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-85208233709233913672014-07-24T16:31:00.004-04:002014-07-24T16:32:39.034-04:00My First InterviewHey Folks! So I have been contacted by a webmaster for a neat nursing website (<a href="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/">www.cnacareeragency.com</a>), and was asked to be interviewed as a "Nurse writer", being that I so frequently demonstrate my creative side and nursing abilities equally. How cool is that!? Someone out there wanted to interview <em>me</em>. <br />
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So, over the last couple weeks, I completed this interview with this webmaster and this is what came out of it! Enjoy! Thanks for tuning in. :-) The link to the interview is here: <br />
<a href="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/interview-with-a-writer-in-a-nurses-body/">http://www.cnacareeragency.com/interview-with-a-writer-in-a-nurses-body/</a><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us! Can you tell us a little about your own background, and why you decided to become a nurse?</span></strong><br />
A: I have a bit of a comical background. I’ve always been an “old soul” type and have been thinking about what I want to be when I grow up ever since I was five. In fact, when I was five, I was sure I wanted to be a writer. I stayed with that notion until high school where the career goal bounced around at least once a week. One week I wanted to be an architect and the next I would want to be a child psychologist. I’m the type of person that is interested in everything and fascinated by what people do. I wanted (and still want) to do everything and it was so hard to narrow it down to one thing to do for the rest of my life. That’s part of what made me choose nursing.<br />
I remember exactly the day I decided to become a nurse. I don’t have a sappy story of a family member being sick for so long and I was the caregiver, and that’s what made see I could be a nurse. No, I’m much different, in probably not a good way. I was a junior in high school and my history teacher (a horrible one at that) was out for the day and the substitute played a video about World War II. In this video was a small clip of healthcare, and nurses taking care of soldiers and newborn babies during the war. For some reason, It was right then that I realized that was definitely what I wanted to do, And I haven’t changed my mind since. I then became a Certified Nurse Aide for 5 years as I worked through college, and now have been nurse for almost three. Crazy!<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Can you tell us about the challenges of being a nurse? What are some of the benefits?</span></strong><br />
A: There are many, many challenges to being a nurse, particularly a hospital staff nurse. So much so that I see new graduates or nursing students and I want to blurt out, “are you sure you want to do this??” But then I stop myself because I know deep in my heart that if I had to do it all over again, I’d still be a nurse.<br />
It’s a very thankless job. Nurses run the hospital and don’t get any of the credit, rarely even a pat on the back. We work the hardest and it’s a blessing if we even get a chance to urinate or chow down on a protein bar on the run. There will be days when you as a nurse will try your absolute hardest and you still can’t save everyone, or someone will think your hardest just wasn’t good enough. You just can’t be everywhere at one time.<br />
Yet we still come back, shift after shift because of the benefits of nursing. Not only are there global benefits (general good pay, you can work anywhere in the world, there’s over 200 types of nursing jobs you can do, flexible schedule with unconventional hours), but just the benefits on shift are amazing. Once you break through that first year as a scared nurse who doubts himself or herself every day, you push into this amazing nurse leader before you even realize it. Suddenly you find an extreme high after a code blue and you helped save someone’s life. Or even something simple, where you spent the extra twenty minutes helping a patient cope with something completely unrelated to their diagnosis and they thank you for listening to them. It’s the small joys on the job that really make it worth it in the end.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: What is your proudest moment as a nurse?</span></strong><br />
A: Oh, there are so many, and probably some cliché. But that’s OK. I like to think a lot of nurses most proud moments involve a lot of “firsts”, as do mine. My first successful IV, successfully doing CPR for the first time, giving your first ACLS drug and watch as it saves someone’s life, putting your first foley in and seeing that wicked awesome flashback of urine makes you want to squeal for joy (I’m telling you, it’s the small things on the job!).<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: What is your *strangest* moment as a nurse? Some of our nurses have told us some pretty crazy stories!</span></strong><br />
A: Oh boy. Where do I start? Seven years in healthcare now I definitely have a couple!<br />
There was one time I was in charge of the unit and a couple of us heard some shouts for help. Running towards it we found a middle aged man in his patient bed, with a 70 year old Portuguese woman in bed with him. At first we thought it was some sort of weird marital dispute going on, until I saw they were BOTH in patient gowns! We quickly realized that this woman was the patient next door and had crawled into bed with her neighbor! Not only did she have advanced dementia but she didn’t speak a word of English and she was trying to snuggle up with her patient-neighbor! As we tried to wrestle her out of the bed she grabbed one of our stethoscopes and used it as a lasso and whips it up over her head and is screaming. We eventually got that from her and with about 6 people were able to pick her up and slide her into a chair which we slid into her own bed next door. Then security showed up. Helpful.<br />
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I’ve definitely seen a lot of weird and strange stuff, especially on full moons. We had a 30-year-old female patient who when we entered the room, found it was covered in baby powder. Walls, the floor, the bed, everything. We found her sitting on the couch sitting in the baby powder. Her excuse? She was trying to “dry up the air” as it was too humid. Another patient also thought it was a good time to cut her hair, in the shower no less and this clogs up the shower plumbing and we find water flooding into the hallway. Good times. Lots of crazy stuff in healthcare!<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Many of our readers have expressed concerns about being overwhelmed when beginning a career in the medical field. Do you have any advice for them?</span></strong><br />
A: Honestly it is overwhelming and I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’m three years in and I’m still overwhelmed. But, it does get better. The only thing I can say is to literally take it day by day. I can’t emphasize enough to not be afraid to ask questions. Especially on orientation. That is your golden time, a time where your new unit has specifically budgeted out a large block of time where an experienced nurse is there for just you and to teach you and answer all your questions. Don’t be afraid to ask the “stupid questions”, because that is your time. Heck I still think I ask stupid questions three years in, but always think- Would you rather ask a “stupid” question or make a fatal mistake because you didn’t? I put stupid in quotation marks because there really is no such thing as a stupid question in healthcare.<br />
The only thing I have to say in addition is that when you start out in nursing, research as you go! Don’t throw away the textbooks as soon as you graduate! When you encounter a diagnosis you’re a bit unfamiliar with, go home and study it and you’ll be that much the wiser the next time and might even be a resource for someone else!<br />
Just remember it will be overwhelming, so prepare yourself for it. Every shift will be different. Some will be easy, some will be hell. On those hell days, finish your shift, go home, and forget about it. Your next shift will be different. Don’t take it home with you!<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Do you have any favorite websites related to nursing?</span></strong><br />
A: I’ve always personally been a fan of <a href="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/interview-with-a-writer-in-a-nurses-body/www.allnurses.com" target="_blank">www.allnurses.com</a>, whenever I have a question I can generally find a good consensus of what I’m looking for.<br />
Some of my *favorite* nursing/medical blogs are:<br />
<a href="http://newnurseinthehood.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://newnurseinthehood.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/interview-with-a-writer-in-a-nurses-body/www.drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com" target="_blank">www.drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sharayurkiewicz.com/" target="_blank">http://www.sharayurkiewicz.com/</a> (really profound pieces)<br />
Also I love to browse <a href="http://www.nursingworld.org/" target="_blank">http://www.nursingworld.org/</a> It’s not that expensive to join and it’s a great resource!<br />
<a href="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Nurse-Writer.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="The Nurse Writer" class="alignright wp-image-364 size-full" src="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Nurse-Writer.jpg" height="250" width="250" /></a><a href="http://www.cnacareeragency.com/interview-with-a-writer-in-a-nurses-body/www.nurse.com" target="_blank">www.nurse.com</a> is great too.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Do you have any advice for the www.CNACareerAgency.com readers who are interested in becoming nurses?</span></strong><br />
A: If you’re not already in healthcare but you’re thinking of becoming a nurse, I suggest you find a way to get yourself immersed in healthcare somehow to see what nurses do on a daily basis. Many states will hire you as a Certified Nurse Aide with no prior background or class training, training is on the job. This job is a GREAT way to see what Nurses really do all day. Every nurse should be an aide of some type first. If you can’t handle being an aide, you can’t handle being a nurse. If you’re interested in becoming an aide but your schedule or life situation can’t support it at the moment, try volunteering at a hospital or becoming a unit secretary. As unit secretary, you get tons of experience learning medical lingo and the behind the scenes know-how of how orders happen, doctors names, doctors handwriting, etc. Plus it gets your foot in the door! If getting a job like this is simply out of the question, just try and find a nurse you know and ask her what a typical day is like, what are the worst and best parts? Ask if you can shadow him/her for the day. You MUST do any of these options BEFORE investing in any type of nursing school!<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: What’s your favorite novel? What are you reading now? I just read “Shantaram,” and it was AMAZING. It was, like, 1200 pages, but I’m considering reading it again. Here’s a </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330537/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404850165&sr=1-1&keywords=shantaram" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">link to the book</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">.</span> </strong><br />
A: Thanks for the recommendation! I love to read! Right now I literally just finished (Like an hour ago) reading “If I stay” by Gayle Forman. I read it mostly for research on my own book I’m writing, because the book seemed like it’s a lot like mine. It was a really good read and very interesting! I have like 14 books on my nook that I keep downloading and plan to read next, and I haven’t decided which ones yet! Some medical books I have that I want to read include, “No Good Deed” by Lewis Cohen, MD., “Life Support” by Suzanne Gorden or “Call the Midwife” by Mary MacLeod. But some non medical books I’m dying to read are “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, or “Reconstructing Amelia” by Kimberly McCreight. Lots of good choices!!!<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: We’re always surprised at how many nurses start blogs—there must be something about the profession that lends itself to reaching out to others. Your blog is a lot of fun—you’ve got your own bucket list, a page where you discuss the things that keep you happy and motivated, and a section where you discuss your latest projects. Do you have any advice for our nurses who are starting their own webpages?</span></strong><br />
A: Aw, Thank you for such a high compliment! If a nurse wants to start their own blog, obviously they have a lot on their mind they want to get out to the world! That’s awesome! First things first though, do your research! Know what you’re talking about before you go blasting a medical opinion online. Secondly, find your twist. Be original. If you want to become a nurse blogger for the sole purpose of reaching thousands or millions, you must be original. Like anything else in media and fame, something must be different about what you have to say. Maybe you have a unique type of nursing job. Or maybe you want to write about one type of medical condition only that means something to you. However, if you just want to write for your own benefit and for sole documentation purposes (how I started out in 2009), then simply write whatever comes to mind and see what happens with it!! When I started my blog, I had one reader and that was my best friend. Now I have readers from all over the world and over 55K views. Who knew?!<br />
Last but not least, if you want to start a blog, I cannot stress enough that you must be very careful! If you are employed as a nurse, you simply cannot speak as freely as anyone else online. Anywhere. I am careful not to post anywhere on my blog where I work. Even with that precaution, I still won’t give too many details when telling a dramatic or funny story about a patient. If I talk about something happening in the medical community, I stay very general and don’t criticize any hospital or network. Be careful what you say! Hospitals and employers are watching everything online nowadays, don’t let a simple blog be the downfall of your career.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: That </span><a href="http://awriterinanursesbody.blogspot.com/p/my-latest-project.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">drawing you have on your site</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> is incredible! Where do you come up with your ideas?</span></strong><br />
A: Thank you!!! I mostly draw from photographs that inspire me. Usually they are photographs I take, but not always. I am good friends with an amazing photographer that I love to draw from. Unfortunately I haven’t quite perfected the art of drawing from within my own mind. I like to draw people and settings that display a lot of people, or an emotion of some kind. I just use drawing as a portal to get from this world to another- A world of peace and happiness where I can just be myself.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: How has nursing helped (or hindered!) your creative instinct?</span></strong><br />
A: Hmmmmm….This is a great question! My Creative instinct has control of my brain at almost all times. I think if you let it, creativity and nursing go hand in hand and help each other. I use my creative side in nursing all the time. If something isn’t working or malfunctioning, I find a new way to improvise and make a solution. Nursing has further powered my creative instinct also because nursing brings forth so many powerful emotions. Nurses usually aren’t the type to let those emotions out, we don’t want others to know that we’ve been affected by someone else’s pain, sorrow or joy. So having a healthy outlet in art to pull forth and let out those emotions is a wonderful blessing I will always cherish.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Do you have any advice for those future nurses who want to develop their creative abilities?</span></strong><br />
A: Get out there and do it! Nothing is stopping you. Nurses typically only work 3 days a week, so you have no excuse but to do whatever it is that makes you creative the other 4 days. You already have a brilliant mind if you are a nurse (or becoming one) so go make it happen. Go show the world who you are!A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-35748201549267539332014-05-02T13:22:00.001-04:002014-05-02T13:22:38.491-04:00The Modern Day American Vacation: Healthy style
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">Hello
all! So this is my first “guest post” if that’s what you would like to call it.
I’ve been approached by a friendly fellow internet blog-reader/blogger and
asked to co-write a little bit about healthy vacationing for the modern day
American family, so - here goes!</span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">Most
of Americans seek vacations as a time to do and eat whatever they want, and
vacation destinations cater right to that need. All-inclusive beach resorts,
cruise ship 24/7 buffets, etc. But the consequences aren’t as desirable, for
you and your family. So let’s think about some different options for the
modern day vacationing American family!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">I’m
a simple person and have spent my childhood and what’s begun of my adulthood with
both some simple vacations (beach, camping) and a little more luxurious
vacations (cruise ships, Disney world, etc.) So I will try and cater my tips
towards both types of vacationers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Take Breaks for Your Health on Family Vacations</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><strong>I've gone on a number of trips over the years.
I've always managed to splurge a little too much and found myself dreading the
scale when I got home. That's why I started planning exercise and healthy
eating habits even when I'm going on vacation for my family and me. It's
important to give yourself a little room to splurge, but I always want to make
sure that I'm not going overboard. These are some helpful ways that I have
managed to keep off the pounds when traveling. My family loves the water.
Paddleboats are one of the best ways to explore and also </strong><a href="http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/lose-weight/total-body/pool-workout/"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>burn
off some calories</strong></span></a><strong>. You never know what kind of adventures you'll find when
out on the lake too. Kids love to feed ducks, and it's also great just to view
some beautiful scenery. It's engaging for your muscles, and if you get your
family into it, you'll have burned off a ton of calories from that
all-you-can-breakfast you had earlier.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">I
luckily live near the shore and have not gone one summer without some type of
beach vacation, long or short. On our beach
vacations, my parents have always had a golden rule for eating: We get one meal
out, and that’s usually dinner. We pack enough food for the week for the beach
house to eat pancakes, waffles, smoothies, cereal, etc., for breakfast, and
some loaves of bread, deli meat and some chips for lunches. We also buy lots of
fruit in bulk and snack on that, with lots of water. If you choose to stay in a
hotel rather than a beach house, look for a hotel that offers a fridge or a
kitchen suite so you can accommodate these types of “DIY” meals on vacation
rather than relying on restaurants for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Find
the Right Hotel</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><strong>There are some valuable hotel packages out
there that offer fitness centers as part of the amenities. These hotels are the
best value because you can always take a break or plan an afternoon where you
get in some cardio and strength training in between the amusement parks. For
our upcoming trip to Orlando, it was important that we find a hotel with a
quality gym. With so </strong><a href="http://www.gogobot.com/orlando-walt-disney-world-florida--hotels"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>many places
to stay</strong></span></a><strong>, the process proved to be a bit overwhelming. </strong></span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"> With all my trips to Disney, I usually come out
even- weight wise. I do recommend looking into renting a time share or a hotel with kitchen
suite to make breakfast yourself rather than relying on Disney hotels. Although
expensive, I do recommend the Disney dining plan for the rest of your needs.
For the basic plan, you are allotted one snack, one counter service (fast
food), and one table service (full-service). All Disney restaurants, fast food
or not, strive to always offer healthy choices for you and your children, so
that’s all up to you. Perhaps strive to order healthy options for lunch at the
counter service (grilled chicken, fresh fruit, water) and then order whatever
you want for dinner. After all, it is your vacation </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"> .This type of high protein
lunch will keep you going strong all day, you’re going to need it in Disney!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Drink
Lots of Water</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><strong>One thing I have been able to do on vacations
is to replace most of my drinks with water, no matter what the vacation. I </strong><a href="http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/prevention-wellness/food-nutrition/nutrients/hydration-why-its-so-important.html"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>bring
water bottles</strong></span></a><strong> along on road trips and try to buy a cheap pack of water for
my family before we go to the hotel. This way we're not always in need of
drinks and looking for something quick such as a soda. It's also important to
stay hydrated, and water truly helps the best.</strong> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">As
for cruise ships…..oh, boy. Buffets everywhere you turn. This puts all of the
decision making on you. Perhaps discuss a plan with your ship-mate vacationers
or your family before you board on what your food intake will be like. Perhaps
you can pick in advance what days you plan on doing the buffet and which days you
won’t. When you do go to the buffet, try and stick to a 2 plate rule. One for
your entrée and one for your dessert. Try and adapt the mindset that buffet
should not stuff you to the point you must roll out of the restaurant, but
should merely just offer you many choices to make your whole family happy. Two
plates!</span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking
of All-You-Can-Eat</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><strong>I try to avoid buffets whenever possible, but
when you're on vacation, it's inevitable that your family will want to head out
to the nearest lunch or dinner buffet. I stay healthy by only filling my plate
once, and while I may pick up a few treats, I try to stay away from the really
rich foods. In addition, the next day I always go for lighter, vegetable meals
to balance out the food that I eat at the buffet.</strong></span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">Despite
these tips, it really is all up to you in the end. You probably wouldn’t be
reading this entry if you weren’t at least a little concerned for your food
choices and overall health. So take these tips to mind and go forth making your
own smart choices! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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With love, </div>
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WNB and guest co-writer, Kendra. </div>
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. </div>
A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-89886242656738011942014-04-15T13:46:00.000-04:002014-04-15T15:53:10.812-04:00Never Work a Full MoonYou'd think that by now I may have learned my lesson, but alas, that is false. When self scheduling as a nurse, I always forget to check when the next full moon is and almost always find myself working over the full moons. Not just one shift, or two, but three fabulous shifts all in the spree of the full moon. And this past one was extra special, being the lunar eclipse last night. Patients were lining up outside the hospital 5 days ago for this full moon.<br>
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Now I'm pretty sure everyone knows that full moons make patients go crazy in hospitals. But it's not just that. <em>Normal</em> patients start acting crazy, and the crazy ones just get even crazier. It's like they all gang up and conspire with each other on how they can plan the most eventful full moon shift ever. And that's not even it. Equipment acts up. You'll hear the strangest noises come out of your machines and equipment, or all of the sudden it stops working, or all the sudden your hospital phone won't work anymore. And things come alive and get lost and walk away. You'll be looking for your bladder scanner and turns out its 4 floors down and they have no idea how it got there. And then there's other just weird stuff, like your patient comes in with one thing and you're dealing with a completely different, extremely time consuming issue. Great fun. <br>
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<br>
So, within the past couple shifts I worked over the full moon, these are the top 15 reasons that I hate working full moons.<br>
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1) I asked my patient if she could tell me her full name. She tells me, "I'm Italian! Do you think I know not my name!?" <br>
<br>
2) A patient on the floor tried to convince me he was legit abducted from aliens, I wasn't good enough to have been abducted, and he was looking to speak with a scientist. But I was definitely not the scientist.<br>
<br>
3) Same guy as said above proceeded to injure staff and scream down the hall, wrestle people in the hallways, despite 5 doses of Ativan, 2 geodon, and 1 haldol. <br>
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4) My patient tells me when I get on shift, "I just had diarrhea." Me, "Ok.....thank you....for....letting me know..." patient,-"yeah...its still in the toilet. I need you to look at it." Me,-"why?" patient, "I think I swallowed something. Can you tell me what those colored things are?" <br>
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5) one of my IV poles presented with "ERROR" on the screen. Despite me being tech-savvy and familiar with the IVs, I have not only never seen this error message, (or the horrifying beeping eradicating from the machine), but I couldn't get it to turn off, either. The best part is it wasn't even on in the first place. <br>
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6) Call light goes on, about 330am. Me, "Hi, how can I help you?" Patient-"The music! I turned on the music box and it kept ringing, and ringing, and I couldn't get it to stop, but then it stopped. Do you hear the music now?" <br>
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7) my (previously normal) patient tried to pull out her NG tube and foley. At the same time. <br>
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8) same patient, turns out her NG tube was draining poop. Because, why not? For my fellow nurses out there, you know how rare this is, but it definitely happens. lots of fun. <br>
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9) The giving nurse tells you, "the patient came from home taking ThisWeirdDrugIveNeverHeardOF but were not giving it to him here because you can only get it from canada. WTF.<br>
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10) I take a chest pain admission and the patient speaks ONLY (literally) Italian. So does the wife. And the son is trying to order pizza to the hospital room, and only speaks Italian and is trying to ask me (In Italian) how to order pizza. I only know this because he's shouting PIZZA and the 8 year old grandson is translating into English for me. Turns out the patient has no chest pain, he's severely constipated. So you know, pizza should be good for that. <br>
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11) Same patient as above was angry that we could not get his Italian drugs imported from Italy for him to take during his stay with us. Because that is extremely unreasonable. <br>
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12) I had to explain to said patient that I had to give him a laxative suppository. Since I don't speak Italian, I tried to do this through gestures. That Involved a lot of gestures I hope to never have to use again. <br>
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13) One of my dementia patients told me he wanted his Easter bread. If he didn't get his Easter bread, God would strike me with zebras and the patient was going to leave and go to the hotel next door ( room # 745 specifically) so he could get his Easter bread. <br>
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14) Patient asks me for Morphine. I told patient she doesn't have an IV, how am I supposed to give her morphine? She told me I can inject it into her brain. <br>
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15) Patient asks me for food at 3:30 AM. I offer crackers. He asks for an egg sandwich. I tell him kitchen is closed. He says OK how about Cornbread? Ummmm, no. I don't have cornbread. He then asks for fresh fruit. I tell him again kitchen is closed but I can give him crackers. He said he's not hungry enough for crackers but what about a Milkshake? <br>
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16) The nurse before you tells you she charted she gave medicine but really didn't and can I please call the doctor to see if he really needs it? Um no. No I cannot do that. <br>
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17) My 93 year old patient asks me what a Hookah is. <br>
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18) My 36 year old female patient tells me she hasn't urinated in the past 14 hours because she doesn't like to use public bathrooms and asks me what I can do for her. <br>
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I can't make this stuff up you guys. Seriously. <br>
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A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-61142740323908071422013-11-28T15:47:00.000-05:002013-11-28T15:47:07.768-05:00Thankity Thanks Thanksgivingsly ThankfulHey everyone! So although I don't get to post much, it wouldn't be thanksgiving without my annual thanksgiving post. It has after all been....four years? <br />
<br />
So my personal tradition annually is to list things I am thankful for each year. Just like my traditional new years resolutions, I don't really do it for others to see, more so for myself to see each year and watch myself grow. <br />
<br />
What am I thankful this year? Where do I start? <br />
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I am so thankful to have had a very successful first year in my first house! No disasters, no fires, nothing bad so far. Just a couple ghost sightings (friendly!) and lots and lots of house improvements!<br />
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I am thankful for having a big-girl job that pays me well enough to be able to afford all of these amazing improvements to my little humble house. Every day I thank my lucky stars that I am decently comfortable.<br />
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On that note I am also extremely thankful for a job that although comes with some drawbacks, I am so blessed to be able to have the schedule I do and go into work every weekend and see what I can truly call some pretty awesome friends. My weekend co-workers and I are a true team, we help each other out and don't let anyone drown and that truly makes the difference in hospital nursing, when someone has your back.<br />
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I am thankful for my family, all healthy, all loving! My father is absolutely the most helpful father I could ever ask for when it comes to starting up a first year house with lots of necessary home improvements! And my mom is certainly helpful when it comes to critiquing home improvements and help decide on future renovations! <br />
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I'm thankful for my healthy grandma that finally got to see my house just a week ago! Although facing severe macular degeneration and hip pains, she strives every day to enjoy life and enjoy time with family.<br />
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I am thankful for what is now my year and 3 month boyfriend, Brian. He teaches me and motivates me every day on how to be a better person. He also keeps my house looking amazing and helps with a lot of improvements as well! What more could I ask for? <br />
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I'm thankful for my sister, we've been getting to know each other on a more adult-personal level and turns out she's a pretty cool cat, a lot cooler than when we were 5 ;) I think I'll keep her around.<br />
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Speaking of cats, I am thankful for my two most adorable kittens in the world, Ms. Lilly and Belle. Although they at times torment my house and my sleep schedule, they make me laugh every single day and are always there to greet me when I come in the door and always know when I need a hug and some love. And they are cuddly :-) <br />
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I am thankful for my own kind heart. I've been facing a lot of adversity lately. I've been feeling slightly jaded as a nurse and I hate that, and I've been going through a lot of self reflection lately. And although many in the world believe the only way to survive is to only think and fight for yourself only, I strive to believe that is not the only way. Through all this self reflection and taking a step back to look at myself, I've noticed the things I do that I consider to be very kind, and I do it out of pure reflex, or instinct. I don't do them for any monetary or personal enrichment. I just help people because that's what needs to be done. I'm trying to spread this attitude and I want others to see that if we just sprout more and more kind hearts, that maybe we can overcome the evil in the world. SO many kind hearted people out there are masked with evil actions because they feel that the only way to beat evil is to be evil themselves. I'm thankful for my acceptance that for at least the time being, I refuse to screw someone else over in any way just for my own benefit.<br />
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I'm thankful for my new side job, with Premier Designs Jewelry! Although I never would have guessed I'd be an independent business owner for jewelry (I used to hate jewelry), it has truly been a wonderful and interesting experience, and certainly worth my time! <br />
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I'm thankful for my vision, as I've seen what my grandma is going through and it makes me so, so thankful for my own. I do wear glasses and my vision is awful without them, but at least I have no tunnel vision or black spots, I have full range of vision and for that I am thankful. Without my vision I couldn't do three of the things I am most thankful for, art, writing, and reading.<br />
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I am thankful for my hearing, for without it I would not have music. Music is my therapy, the only way I know how to calm down and focus. Music Is there for me when I've had a nursing shift from hell, music is there for me when I want to just be calm, be by myself and create art. Music is always there for me and it is my love. Music can do so much more for me than any person. <br />
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I am thankful for my studio. Although I haven't had time to be a writer this year, I am thankful for my new space that is just for my studio and I have since created multiple pieces of art that I love. I am thankful for that space. <br />
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And most of all, I am thankful for this blog! Woot! I have readers from all over the world and over 50,000 views and you guys are seriously awesome for reading what I just think is my regular thoughts every day. <br />
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That's all folks,<br />
love you, all. Miss you, all. I'll write soon. :-)<br />
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</3>A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-63639480576346685552013-10-02T11:50:00.000-04:002013-10-02T11:51:33.364-04:00Life in the Middle Lane Hello lovely, lovely readers! You are lovely because you still read this blog, even though I never post as much as I should! I really do always have a lot to say, just never the time, or balls, to actually say it. <br />
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I write this blog today because I've just about exactly hit my "Two Years" Nurse Anniversary. This is a definite bittersweet anniversary/year. <br />
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Lets discuss.<br />
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It is sweet because, hell, I've been a nurse for two years! I've SURVIVED! If I can survive this long, chances are I'll survive the entire career. I've made it past that point where I doubt myself every minute of every shift. I've made it past the point where my coworkers doubt me every minute of every shift. (Now only some coworkers do, lol). No really though, in all seriousness, I've been on two <em>very</em> autonomous, heart-wrenching (literal and figurative), fast-paced hospital nursing units now, and I can proudly say I've seen and done a lot in those two years where I legit feel comfortable with my knowledge base now. So much so in fact that I'm craving more knowledge. <br />
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This is also the problem, knowledge. Now, roll with me guys. Does it make sense at all, if I tell you that despite what I just said above, hitting the two-year mark also means I'm hitting the "I've been a nurse for two years and I still don't know what the hell I'm doing" mark? I know you're confused but let me (try) to explain. Despite having a wide array of skills and a comfortable knowledge base that has grown in these two years, there is still so much I don't know. And I understand that nurses feel like that after fifty years of nursing, too. There's always going to be something new or confusing. I know enough now where my unit seems to think I'm charge-nurse quality and I'm frequently elected charge nurse to this telemetry unit, where I'm in charge of 2-6 nurses and 14-36 patients at a time. And yet when I am in charge, there are still so many times I run into a new situation that I don't have an answer to. And those times, I have nurses that <em>need</em> those answers from me, like I needed from my superiors back when I first started. And that's batshit crazy.<br />
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It's just, nurses are required to know the entire body system. Even though I work on a telemetry cardiac-focused care floor, the heart can affect many other organs and I must be prepared to handle anything. And there's so much to know and remember I don't think I'll have it all down by the time I'm retired, but I'll always be trying. I want to be the nurse that knows everything, that can help everyone, my staff and my patients. I want to always have an answer. But as the saying goes, the nurse that knows everything can be the most dangerous. So I have to be patient with myself. I have to accept the fact that it's okay to not know everything. But I'm finally at the point where at least I know a lot of things. <br />
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So that's where I am now. But looking towards the future, I'm still at a loss. I don't want to become stagnant In my position, I want to keep growing. I talk to my patients in their 80's that tell me they worked the same job for 50 years and I can't even fathom that. I know that generation workforce is entirely different than the one today. Not only could I not last 50 years in this position, but I feel almost <em>pressured</em> to move on. Like good nurses are <em>supposed</em> to keep growing, keep changing, keep moving to different units so their knowledge base becomes even more diverse and themselves more experienced. Like If I stayed on this unit for 10 years and did nothing else, I would feel like nothing. Like I'm taking my life nowhere, In no direction. <br />
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So now that I've hit that two year mark where I feel slightly confident in my skills, I feel that pressure that I need to do something else with those skills. I've recently successfully passed ACLS, which stands for Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support, which is a major step up from only being allowed to do compressions and airway support with just a BLS (Basic Life Support) Certification. Now with ACLS I can direct and lead a code blue in an emergency situation, even without a doctor being present. I can push life-saving medications into a patient during, just before or just after a code. I can participate in advanced airway management techniques now. So this has quenched my thirst for more self-evolution and knowledge, but only temporarily so. <br />
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So where does that put me now? Well, I want to go back to school. Not only because I just actually really do like school, but because that's the ticket to advancing my career. The only major problem is, what career? Applying for a masters in nursing is like a senior in high school that is trying to pick a career out of all the choices in the world again. Yes I am trying to advance my career in nursing, but in what route? There are so many choices and routes that I could potentially see myself being successful in, but how do I know which one I actually will be happy in? I can't get a degree in everything (as much as I'd like to), so I have to be sure.<br />
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I've debated starting to a local program near me that is for a "Nurse Executive" degree, basically a dual-degree of MSN/MBA. It would take forever and be super expensive but would put me down the road of maybe eventually being very high up in the hospital administration pool one day. But as high-paying, important and as cool as that is, is that really what I want? To leave the patient bedside? To lose what it <em>really</em> is to be a nurse? To hold someone's hand and tell them they are not alone and will be okay? To instead be in an office making and revising policies, firing and hiring people and enforcing rules? Is that what I want? I don't know yet.<br />
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I've also been interested in the future of nursing informatics, but I would also completely lose the bedside nursing aspect there, too. With a degree in there I could help formulate programs and design new computer charting for nurses. I've also fantasized about working in epidemiology, where I could easily travel and investigate new diseases around the world and help stop or control them. I'm also very interested in the route of emergency nursing, where that <em>would</em> keep me at the patient bedside, but in a totally different manner. I'm slightly interested in ER nursing, but even more interested in field nursing, but even that has many different routes. I could do pre-hospital nursing (riding with ambulances providing pre-hospital care), or I could go completely crazy and apply to be in a disaster relief system to travel to new disaster areas and help triage (that really is crazy I don't think I'd actually do that). I'd miss my kittens too much. ;-)<br />
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But can you see how overwhelming this could be? That is the blessing and the curse of nursing. Just because you're in nursing as your one career, does not make you limited. I can still pretty much do anything I want and that scares the shit out of me. <br />
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So that's where I am. I know a lot but am craving to know more. I've been a nurse for two years and don't know where I'll spend the next 30 years. So (too) many options.<br />
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I just try and like....meditate, and try and picture myself in the future, what am I doing and am I happy? And I just can't see it. I guess that's because I can't tell the future....makes sense I guess.<br />
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Anyway, with love.....<br />
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~WNB <br />
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. A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-27556694963206602922013-05-22T11:48:00.000-04:002013-05-22T11:48:34.529-04:00Patient Freedom Hey everyone! <br />
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This post stems from something that's been brewing in my mind for quite some time in my nursing experience. It is an unrealistic fantasy, but still one I'd like to talk about. Enjoy!<br />
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When patients are admitted to the hospital, a lot of things happen. They go to the ER, their problem either gets resolved or it needs further treatment or observation and they get admitted to a floor. When I receive patients, they only have a couple of orders to start out. These being medication orders and nursing task orders. When a patient then gets settled and is being taken care of by day 2-3 ish, these orders are probably bound to change a little based on the patient plan of care. Now, lets say a patient gets a headache- a normal headache that is completely unrelated to the problem admitted with, but instead related to the high amounts of stress from missing work and being away from family and stuck in hospital? So this patient with the headache asks me for a Tylenol. Simple request, right? Something the patient would naturally do if at home with a headache. <br />
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Well, I as the nurse, take this request. But if your doctor wasn't nice enough to order you Tylenol as a pain management preventive to begin with, I have to call the doctor for an order for Tylenol. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind doing this at all. But then when he finally calls back, it may be up to 10 minutes already. Then lets say he says yes, he orders it, it goes down to pharmacy and they can take up to 30 minutes for it to be profiled in your orders and in my medication dispense machine. So you as the patient have a headache that's bad enough for you to have reached out for help from me, and it may take me up to 40 minutes, 20 if you're lucky. Maybe up to 3 hours if something else- like CPR or something- takes precedence- if you're unlucky. For a <em>Tylenol</em>. <br />
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Don't you think this severely restricts patients freedom? Patient's involvement in their own plan of care? How do you think patients feel when treated like a 5 year old asking for something they can easily buy over the counter and take at home, without a doctors order? <br />
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So here's what I propose. What if we gave patients that meet a certain criteria a packet of OTC medications that they can take at their own will in the hospital? Some things included in these packs would possibly include: Tylenol, Motrin, Colace (stool softener), Benadryl, just for starters. <br />
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I realize that this idea comes with a <em>lot</em> of complications and responsibilities. First off, only certain patients would qualify for having the privilege of having this pack. Some qualifications to start might include being in complete stable mental health, no drug abuse history or impulse decision making, and patient must have no dementia-short term or long term, and patient must be 18 or older. Those are just some qualifications I can think of on the top of my head. Also, there are some health qualifications. For example, someone admitted with liver cirrhosis or alcohol abuse shouldn't exactly be taking Tylenol. Or someone receiving a lot of Percocet or additional high strength relief NSAID therapy, shouldn't have access to their own reach of Tylenol or Motrin. <br />
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Next complication is cost. It would be very expensive to give each patient a pack, and to replace the supplies and stock of medications in the pack. But would it equal out in the high amount of patient satisfaction? In the press ganey scores? If you remember from my last post, happy patients make happy scores, which makes a lot more insurance reimbursement to hospitals. Plus, giving a patient freedom to lose Tylenol and restocking that has got to be less expensive than constantly giving patients the most powerful narcotics such as Morphine and Dilaudid, right? I know that there will always be that patient population that <em>purposely </em>seeks out those types of narcotics, but for the patients that have minimal amounts of pain that could lead into a more serious amount of pain in the future, maybe having bedside OTC painkillers to start out with might help <em>prevent </em>that pain from exceeding too much in the future, therefore saving having to give the patient an expensive narcotic. <br />
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Take the following scenario as an interesting example: <br />
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A patient of mine not too long ago was in her 60's. She was admitted with kidney failure and was having a lot of back/kidney pain as a result of a recent stent placed. When I initially assessed her, I asked if she was having pain. She said no, but she was having pain earlier that day. I told her that if that pain crept back, to let me know and I could give her something to help with that. She said OK. Now, the way my hospital is designed is that we can sit in between two patient rooms and chart if we so desire. It's supposed to help with keeping an eye on our patients, but I see it as a peaceful escape from the nurses station sometimes. So it just so happened that I was charting outside this patients room, the one with the kidney pain. It was a couple of hours after my initial assessment, and I overheard the patient talking with her daughter, small talk mostly. The patient must have repositioned herself and winced in pain, because the daughter asked "are you having pain, mom?" The patient must have nodded and the daughter said "Well you gotta tell the nurse, mom", in response the patient said "No I hate to bother those girls, they are busy." <br />
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Now I could write a book about that statement right there. I hate it when patients think they can't call because we are too busy. And all it takes is one time, one nurse to really have been too busy with something else - to make the patient feel that way. Other patients think we are too busy because they hear stories from family members or friends that work in healthcare. Others just genuinely don't want to rely on other people and don't like calling for something they need. <br />
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So in these examples, these patients could take their bedside pack and take something like Tylenol or Motrin. A lot of times, its enough to do the trick- especially with the elderly. <br />
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Something else to worry about in terms of cost is waste. How would healthcare handle leftover medications in these packs that the patient didn't use? For infection control reasons, <em>anything</em> that enters a patients room <em>cannot</em> be used again in another patients room. So we would have to throw good OTC medications away at the end of the patients stay. However this could be reduced with a couple measures: We perhaps can only give these packs to patients that have been declared inpatient status, those that are more likely to be there for longer than 2 days- rather than those on observation status (supposed to leave before 24 hours). Also, we would only stock about 2 doses of each OTC medication in each pack. Also, analytical studies can be done to see which medications patients are using or not using the most in these packs, and we can adjust what we offer. <br />
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Another complication is how do we keep track of how much the patient has taken? Easy. Like I said earlier, these packs would be given to patients in sound mind, and would receive an education sheet on these packs AND drug information about all medications in the pack. They would sign a sheet on admission, upon receiving this pack- that they acknowledge the responsibilities of the pack and respect it. They would be given a sheet that would be at bedside, for them to log what medication they took, and what time/date. Now either nurses can collect these sheets at the end of each shift, or every 24 hours (like midnight), depending on what system works best. Now the nurse can log into the computer what the patient has taken at this point, or can log when the patient needs more supplies. <br />
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Consider the following example: <br />
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The patient has 2 doses of Tylenol in her pack, amongst other OTC meds. She uses her 2 doses of Tylenol within the recommended time frame, every 4-6 hours. Now she needs more doses replenished in her pack. The nurse at this point would look at her log and make sure the patient would not exceed the safe amount of Tylenol per day, and replenish the pack- at the same time completing medication documenting in the computer. <br />
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It would be very hard for a patient to lie that they took less than what they said, because missing medication packets would be in the pack. If at any point the nurse feels the patient is using the pack irresponsibly or if the patient outwardly breaks the commitment signed upon admission, the nurse can take it away. Of course this creates confrontation between the nurse and the patient, confrontation that a lot of nurses would feel uncomfortable with. But its the same thing as confronting a patient about hiding cigarettes or unsafe medications or street drugs in their possession in the hospital. We've all been there and it sucks to have to be the bad guy and take it away. <br />
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The way I see it is, patients are going to take whatever they want when they go home, regardless of the doctors firm instruction. There aren't cameras watching them at home, and patients are free to make their own choices upon their own judgment. So maybe if we watch them, watch what they are most inclined to do, we can better predict what they will do at home.<br />
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I know its a long stretch, and will probably never be adopted as a practice in the hospital. But I do think it would be nice. Maybe in futuristic hospitals. Although we have potential for our hospitals to be even stricter in the future, at the rate we're going now. So thanks for listening to my inventive rambling! Anybody in healthcare have any thoughts? Pros or Cons to this idea? I'd love to hear some other viewpoints!<br />
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Anyway, with much love, <br />
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~WNB<br />
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A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-64070319901935052222013-05-08T12:05:00.000-04:002013-05-08T12:06:11.257-04:00Impossible Customer Service for All Hey everyone! I want to thank you for the astounding amount of view counts on the last two blog posts I received. WNB in back with a bang! Thank you everyone! <br />
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Anyway, todays post is a nursing post, a somewhat controversial one and I even debated awhile even posting it at all. But, here goes...<br />
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So I worked Friday through Sunday this past weekend. What started as a slow-ish weekend quickly turned extremely busy (who woulda thought for early May? Weird.) Anyway, Saturday night I thought I had a pretty easy assignment. Most of my patients were in their 50's, the easiest and very nicest age range group in my opinion. This is not to say that they don't have potential to be very sick because by all means- any patient in any age group has potential to be critically sick. But it just so happened that that night my patients were very nice and had what I thought to be easy diagnoses to take care of. <br />
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Now, when it comes to customer service in the hospital- patient satisfaction means <em>everything</em>. It's how hospitals get reimbursed from huge insurance companies. It's how we get more patients. You've all heard the term, one patients good experience- they tell one person but if they have a bad experience they tell ten. When something good happens to a patient in the hospital, it makes them smile. But they still feel yucky. They just want to feel better and go home. They *might* go home and remember that they had a good nurse, but probably won't remember your name. But, they may tell other people that your hospital has "good nurses". But all it takes is <em>one</em> bad experience mixed with <em>one </em>grumpy or really sick patient to create a chaotic mess of unhappiness. Suddenly that patient feels wronged, that what has been done to them is unjust- even if all it was was that they had to wait 40 minutes for you to remember to bring a soda back they asked for. What they don't know is that when you leave their room, maybe you had to suddenly help a coworker in a dire situation, or another one of your own patients needed you, or whatever! Patients don't think about that. Realistically, patients <em>do</em> know that they obviously aren't the only patient there on your floor. They know that. But they don't like to think about it. <br />
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Think about how you would feel or have felt if you were a patient. You are <em>bored</em>. You're thirsty and all you want is a coke. You ask the aide to bring you some when she comes in for vitals- and she says yes but then keeps going along with vitals and when she's done she forgets. Thirty minutes go by and you ring your call bell and the nurse comes in- you ask her. She says no problem but then gets pulled into another patients room and forgets about your soda. The nurse doesn't even realize how big of an issue to you this is because in our eyes, the nurses, its just a soda in the whole scheme of things. We are worried about your vitals, your health condition, our other patients, etc. But to the patient, they just want the friggen soda and they feel that as if everyone is forgetting about them. Next they go home and tell ten people that your hospital has horrible customer service, <em>even if </em>you provide the <em>best </em>healthcare. <br />
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On that note, I always try and do my best possible job when it comes to customer service. I always knock when I enter patient rooms. I always address them properly and then remember how they like to be addressed after that. I smile with them, I listen to everything they have to say and I don't belittle them. I do my best to remember if they asked for something and I get it as soon as I can. I always tell them what shift I'm working and what time they will be under my care until. Before I leave at the end of my shift I make sure to explain that I will be leaving in approximately a half hour and then your next nurse will be in shortly after so that patients know. Patients tend to not like when their nurse just disappears and a new nurse takes over, or when a nurse hasn't been in for over an hour because they were in report or seeing other patients. I always <em>always</em> do my best to explain <em>everything</em> to the patient, even if its just pushing a saline flush into the IV. To us its a simple saline flush, harmless- to them its a large syringe of <em>something</em> that is being pushed into their body. <br />
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So despite my best efforts to be attentive to all and provide the best customer service, sometimes its truly impossible. The more patients you have, the harder it gets to be as attentive to all as the patient wants you to be. Take the following story as an example.<br />
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I had a young patient, lets call him John Smith. He was in his 50's and his wife was as well, and was staying with him in the hospital, watching and listening to everything. John had just had a heart procedure done with us and was put on a very good blood thinner, now extremely necessary and important for his heart to function. However, John was prone to nosebleeds. In addition to the (very good) blood thinner and the dryness of our hospital, he came down with a nosebleed. When my nurse aide had told me that it had begun, I went in right away to check it out. I told him exactly what to do and told him I'd be back in ten minutes. At that exact same time an admission had just arrived under my care. Now, small blip- patients just admitted to the floor require a <em>lot</em> of customer service. They are scared, probably tired, hungry, they don't know whats going on, they need a lot of answers. They don't like rolling up to your floor on a stretcher and then being left there for 90 minutes before the first person comes in to see them. I always try to greet admissions within ten minutes of their arrival and do my whole admission shebang. So anyway, I told John I'd be back, and I went to go say Hi to my admission. I gave her the downlow on what was going on and completed a quick assessment. I told her the aide would be in soon and we should be able to get her to be able to sleep shortly, as it was 12:30 at night. So back I went to see John, and suddenly realized it wasn't just a nosebleed, it was a water fountain. I tried a couple more tricks and then quickly got my nursing supervisor. <br />
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To make a LONG story short, I was basically in that room from 12:30 to 7:00 am, with maybe a 45 minute break (in which I quickly went to the bathroom, got something to eat, and charted like my life depended on it). The nosebleed was so severe that it required my constant attention, constant manual pressure to the nose, and a STAT consult to the ENT MD team, twice. <br />
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Okay so point here- In this case, I was able to provide excellent customer service to John. Him and his wife even said at the end of it all, right as I was saying goodbye, how fantastic I was all night and how excellent this entire hospital has been so far. They were pleased, despite John being in a very uncomfortable clinical situation. However, I had a brand new admission that was probably wondering where I was after I gave her the down-low, and I had 4 other patients that needed me as well. One of those four patients began having chest pain while I was with John, and another was yelling that he couldn't breathe. Because it was necessary for me to stay with John, I had to delegate responsibility to handle these new problems to other nurses on the floor. <br />
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Now think about this for a second. While I was doing what I had to do and on my end <em>was </em>taking care of the patient by sending another nurse in- this is what the patient feels: Its 2am and you wake up with chest pain. You ring for your nurse who you've had for two nights now and knows your story- but in comes the aide. You tell her you have chest pain. She goes and gets me, who unbeknownst to her- sent in another nurse. Now one of my (very good) friends and coworkers handled the chest pain for me by attending to this patient by explaining that I was tied up in another room. But does the patient want to hear that some other patients problem is more important in my eyes than her chest pain? Probably not. <br />
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Maybe I over think things. In fact I know I do. But to me, its basic human connection. I've always been extremely aware of peoples emotions around me and I have the extraordinary ability to put myself in others shoes and see how they might be feeling, and then I have the decency to try and fix it. I try to make patients as happy as possible and in situations like that shift, those five other patients probably weren't very happy with me, but John was. So I made one patient happy and sacrificed five. But let's say I had left John to be on his own for his nosebleed- to provide his own manual pressure to his nose for six hours while I tended to five other patients. Sure- I would have made five happy and sacrificed one, but that one sacrifice would turn into a monstrous story if not even a lawsuit. So although I couldn't obey the law of attending to the greater good, I obeyed the law of excellent nursing. Although I may not have made my patients the happiest, I at least knew about their problems and made sure they were taken care of by at least someone. To me that's the best I could have done. <br />
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Well thank you for reading today, as always! I love you all, <br />
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~WNB<br />
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<br />A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-58658594431408127482013-05-03T11:14:00.000-04:002013-05-03T11:14:19.391-04:00What's Wrong With our CountryHey look at me go, two posts in one week! Woot!<br />
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Anyway, this topic sprouted into my mind a couple days ago. Let me give you a small back story. Lately, my boyfriend and I have come to the inevitable conclusion that its seriously time to lose weight. Neither of us are significantly overweight, but we're both at the point where it definitely couldn't hurt to lose, either. Those happy blissful first years of dating make for a lot of restaurant frequenting and alcohol, neither of which are good for you! :( So we decided to do this together, the whole diet and exercise thing. <br />
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Now I overall thought I ate pretty healthy to begin with. As some of you know, I decided about 6 years ago that I was never going to eat or support any fast food franchise ever again. By support I mean I refuse to even take my kids there and give the franchise money even if its not actually being eaten by me. Will that change when I have ten minutes to feed the kids en route from soccer to dance practice? I hope not! Time will tell, but I hope that I can stick true to my beliefs. <br />
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So being that I never eat fast food (except for Subway and Panera if you want to count them), I also never drink Soda, never eat Chocolate and don't typically indulge in a lot of sweets, I eat a LOT of fruit and a fair amount of veggies....My only understandable downfall is my love for restaurants and that I probably don't drink enough water. I also have a bad habit of eating late at night. Also, working night shift doesn't help at all. So based on all that, it didn't seem fair or right to me that I was still seemingly gaining weight at a rapid pace. So I had to put a stop to it before it got any harder to lose, and my boyfriend was on board. We thought about a couple programs, including Weight Watchers (a personal favorite of mine) or perhaps trying it on our own, or going to see a nutritionist, or a freelance dieting company, or one of those marketed weight loss pills/shakes or whatever. <br />
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But instead of spending money right away, we decided to do it on our own with the help of the program "my fitness pal". It's available online and via apps on a lot of phone carriers. Via phone, you can literally scan bar codes of what you are eating and it calculates everything for you. It's futuristic and awesomely awesome. It sets up a profile for you and makes goals and predicts progress for you based on how your day went. At the end of the day it even gives you pie charts of the breakdown of carbs, protein and fat you ate. It's pretty cool, and all for free. It focuses on calories mostly, but also tracks the remainder of nutrition for each product. Like Weight Watchers, It really teaches you what you were doing wrong and opens your eyes to how much you actually eat during the day and where you can cut back. Just from using the app for three days now I've realized a couple of my hinders to weight loss, some being: Starbucks Green tea frapps with soymilk/no whip (still unhealthy), Thai tea with bubbles, RITAS (I'm a ritaholic), my soy ice cream, and wineeeee. All of those said things I knew to not be extremely healthy per say but I didn't consider them to be *the* reason I wasn't losing weight. Now I treat myself to one of those said things when I have a couple calories to spare. <br />
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Anyway, the point of this post- what's wrong with this country? <br />
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The other night for dinner, my boyfriend and I picked Saladworks for dinner. For those of you unfamiliar with the franchise, its a lot like a Panera Bread- you can pick soups to eat, salads, sandwiches. What I found to be cool is you can create your own salad. My boyfriend got a Chicken Cesar premade salad, dressing on the side- And I made my own. I got romaine lettuce and added chick peas, carrots, egg whites, wheat noodles, croutons and lite raspberry vinaigrette dressing on the side, and it came with a whole wheat roll. For me, that's 509 calories. Not too bad for what I got (a lot) and the roll is to blame for a lot of that. My boyfriends was 441. <br />
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Now before I make my point here, lets think about a meal at McDonalds. Now I went to their dollar menu choices and picked out a theoretical/fake meal for my boyfriend and I. <br />
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Two McDouble Cheeseburgers, two medium fries and two sweet teas. This led to 1,840 calories, being 920 each. <br />
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So Saladworks: 950 calories for BOTH of us, cost me $19.58.<br />
Mcdonalds: 1,840 calories, would cost me about $6. <br />
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Yeah.<br />
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I had to pause there for a second because it makes me so angry. So lets think about this. The country of America has a raging epidemic of obesity. We have ads everywhere to lose weight. Take this pill, drink this, eat this, join our program, be high school skinny again! Yet we have endless ads for fast food, too. So Okay lets say someone wants to lose weight but they are on a budget, like 89% of the country is. Lets face it the majority of us aren't swimming in cash. So someone wants to go lose weight so they think, oh hey! Saladworks! I like salad! It's healthy! I'll lose weight! But oh, how much? That's $20!? When I used to spend about $6 dollars on my dinner? I can't afford to lose weight! So they go back to McDonald's, spend less but also eat less matter, but eat more calories, gain more weight. See where I'm headed here? What incentive does the majority of America have to lose weight when it's obviously dramatically more expensive to lose weight. Joining Weight watchers alone will cost an individual about $52/month alone. People go to the fast food because its cheap, its fast and it tastes good. Places like Panera and Saladworks are dramatically more expensive and it takes longer. This.Is.Why.America.is.Overweight. <br />
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In an ideal utopian world, well- my utopia- people would have incentive to buy healthier things because its a lot less expensive. Popular fast food chains would become sky rocket prices-the dollar menu would cease to exist and "Value" meals would now cost $20. People on severe budgets would be drawn to healthier food because its cheaper. Think about it, we are digging ourselves a hole right into health care itself. <br />
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Someone on severe budget---> Eats fast food----> Becomes severely overweight----> A lot of health problems arise (diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, muscle/bone issues, etc)----->they don't go to the doctor because they don't have the money----->they wait and wait and those problems now become---->Strokes, heart attacks, knee replacements, gastric bypass, lifelong rehab, or even death.----they can't pay for that either.<br />
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Those second problems are so much more hard to take care of, not only on the demand to healthcare workers but to our economy! Treating someone for a FIRST heart attack that they can't pay for could cost the economy tens of thousands of dollars- and that's if its remotely uncomplicated!<br />
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It just gets me so angry. I am blessed enough to be able to afford the higher prices that come with losing weight. But a single mom with 3 kids trying to feed herself and her kids? Perhaps not so much. Yes I over exaggerated, yes I picked out dollar menu items as an example from McDonald's to make my point. Perhaps a more in depth meal at McDonald's would cost up to $15, but can you imagine how many calories that could be? Not only that, but my boyfriend and I were very full after our meal at Saladworks, and we felt great. If I ate $10 worth of food at McDonald's- Not only would I probably feel like complete crap, but it wouldn't be able to keep me full. I'd be craving more fat and sweets within an hour or two and then the cycle repeats. <br />
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Okay so I'm done now. I could probably talk for hours and hours about the Nutrition problems with our country, but I can't keep my audience forever. You're probably hungry by now. Just kidding. No I'm actually pretty hungry, I shall make myself some strawberries perhaps....yumm. <br />
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I'm sure some people won't agree with me, and that's totally cool- that's ALSO what America is all about- freedom of speech. Amen to that!<br />
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With love, <br />
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~WNB <br />
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. A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-16058839026203403062013-05-01T22:51:00.001-04:002013-05-02T10:23:18.883-04:00Life in the Crazy Lane <br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wow look at how fast time goes by… I cannot <em>believe</em> it’s
been nearly over 3 months since I last blogged. Inexcusable! I have that
daunting personality that once I start procrastinating, it just gets worse and
worse… But anyway, so much has happened! This post has potential to be one of
those “get your popcorn out” posts; except for the fact that I should try and
tell you everything I have to say in multiple posts so you don’t get all
WNBOverload with all this in one post. But getting me back in decent fashion
and time to this computer might take a while, so I might as well just dish it
all out now! I keep saying I’m going to work on that and then I never do. Sigh.
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of my best friends recently started his own blog and I think
that’s inspired me to get back on here and update ya’ll. When he feels comfortable with sharing it with the world, I'll publish the link here, because although it has nothing to do with nursing- he's a great writer and has a strong political voice. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> I truly do love my
blog, it’s been a part of my voice since 2009 (4 years!!!) and I cherish it. I
aim to make it a bigger part of my life upcoming, like it used to be. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, my new house is amazing. It’s shaping me into the
person I want to become just as fast as I’m shaping it into the house I want it
to be. There have not been any catastrophes (knock on wood) and the repair
process has been fun, and a huge learning experience. I never thought I’d be
the type of girl to watch HGTV in my spare time….yet the inside of the house
has undergone minor (but very noticeable) improvements and I love it. The
outside, however, has yet to undergo a lot of work. The Inside has all been
repainted, all of my furniture is finally in, and a lot of my decorations are
up. I can’t believe I finally get to decorate my own house. It’s truly surreal.
I’m still getting over the fact that in my apartment, my bedroom, studio and
office were all in one room. Now I have a separate room for each of those. I
LOVE my studio, I’ve been painting so much- and I plan to soon start painting
the walls and make a giant mural.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ogD8yYvDu2M/UYHQeJlHPUI/AAAAAAAACvc/ww2EhXmK6Fo/s1600/IMAGE_25CDCA84-D506-4257-909C-F00AD2993C2F.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ogD8yYvDu2M/UYHQeJlHPUI/AAAAAAAACvc/ww2EhXmK6Fo/s320/IMAGE_25CDCA84-D506-4257-909C-F00AD2993C2F.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ART STUDIO!!!!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> It saddens me to think that whatever changes
I make to the house, although it technically belongs to me, do affect the
resell value. I know it’s mine now, but it’s hard to think about a new owner someday
living under this same roof after me. I mean this is my first true home. I still
drive past my original first home from when I was a child, my parent’s first official
house, and to me it still feels funny knowing that new owners are living under
the walls I made so many memories in- and we moved over 10 years ago!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But anyway, like I said-the outside still needs a lot of
work. I still think back to when I first saw the listing for the house and saw
the outdoor picture and I thought, “I’m not buying that house.” There I am, a
Gemini eternally known for judging a book by its cover…Then I walked inside and
saw beautiful hardwood floors, brand new windows and kitchen cabinets, and my
bookshelf! Inside the hallway wall is a built in bookshelf that pretty much was
a big factor in how much I wanted the house. It was pretty much love at first
sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C4xTH1EU4nc/UYHREd5Js2I/AAAAAAAACvk/2rbjo29ioM0/s1600/IMAGE_D96C7E25-0192-4934-9803-D74933ABE540.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C4xTH1EU4nc/UYHREd5Js2I/AAAAAAAACvk/2rbjo29ioM0/s320/IMAGE_D96C7E25-0192-4934-9803-D74933ABE540.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of my bookshelf on the left with my CRAZY cat </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I aspire to power wash the entire outside of the house, for
starters. Then I hope to have the siding painted, hopefully getting new window
shutters at the same time. That alone will be a remarkable improvement. Next I
want to change a lot of the landscaping to complement the house. There are
currently these awful bushes out in the front that look like they haven’t been
attended to in over 10 years and they are pushing up against the siding of the
house (no bueno). And that’s another thing, GARDENING. Holy crap. Growing up,
like even into my highschool/college years, I *hated* gardening. Mostly because
I hate weeds. And bugs. And mulch. And flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let me make this clear, I hated weeding more than vacuuming, and I
<em>loathe</em> vacuuming. If my parents drug me out to weed the garden I wondered what
I could have <em>possibly</em> done to deserve such eternal punishment, and I’m pretty
sure my parents have only asked me to weed maybe once or twice. That’s how much
I hated gardening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But something changes I guess when you move into your own
house. Like, truly your own. I don’t know what clicked inside me but suddenly I
saw an entire yard before me, completely mine and completely in need of some
attention and all of the sudden I had hopes and dreams of making the entire
backyard a recreation of the “secret garden”. I wanted to race out to Home
Depot and buy bags and bags of mulch, lots of mulch! And Flowers! So many
flowers! And SEEDS! Seeeeeeds! I had to contain myself. I could hardly believe
it. Once I planted one bed, I was hooked. It was mine and I did it. I made
something look pretty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My current
outside project is making a pathway in my backyard. It was originally a very
muddy area, so I decided to make a pathway with some stepping stones and some
flowers. Still a work in progress, but I was amazed at myself for getting out
there all by myself with a shovel and doing manual labor. Bought the stones,
dug up the dirt, planted the sand, etc.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hMEka1FEhWI/UYHRfAsBnpI/AAAAAAAACvs/1vMImnNf8Qk/s1600/IMAGE_A6FB847A-487C-4430-BF0E-3FC5758F344B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hMEka1FEhWI/UYHRfAsBnpI/AAAAAAAACvs/1vMImnNf8Qk/s320/IMAGE_A6FB847A-487C-4430-BF0E-3FC5758F344B.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my pathway, the beginning stages...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Now I find myself constantly
gravitating towards the “Outdoors” sections of home improvement stores,
originally a section I <em>never</em> frequented. What’s happening to me?! I like
digging! I like garden tools! I like recreating! And flowers! I like them!
Woah. Change, folks, <em>change</em>. I also want to completely redo my outside patio
but that may have to wait till funds can support it, till perhaps Summer of
2014 or 2015. We shall see, save and hope :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let’s see, what else is new…I’m also cooking! It’s still a
struggle, being that I am limited on my food choices with my never-ending list
of things I can’t eat. However I’m slowly working in the knowledge of how to
cook and try new things. I finally learned how to actually cook raw chicken
(don’t make fun of me I know it’s easy), and learned to cook some Zucchini and
squash. I find myself experimenting a lot- and it always turns out yummy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I just need to start expanding. My goal
is to one day not rely on what I can put in the microwave but what I can cook
fresh. The thought of eating vegetables straight from a garden is alluring but
not the thought of actually tending to my own garden…Maybe in retirement. I
used to have someone very close to me, his family had a full sized garden with
lots of vegetables and it was practically a full time job. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s a work in progress, expanding. I like
squash and zucchini and it’s easy. I like salads. But then I go to the grocery
store and try to look for new ideas and it either looks really icky or I don’t
know how to make it or my boyfriend won’t eat it. Sigh. I used to hate
vegetables too, but I think the key here in this new change in taste is the
whole theory of if you make it by hand; you’ll be more inclined to appreciate
it and eat it. They say in order to entice children to eat vegetables, have
them help you make them and if they feel a part of it, they will want to eat
the reward for making it. I guess I'm relating myself to a child here....hm. </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What else, what else… I got a kitten!!!! Holy crap, yes. Yet
ANOTHER change in my life I never saw coming. I have never had a pet growing
up, other than a fish. My dad was always allergic and my parents didn’t want
the pet responsibility in general. So I never really expected to have a pet as
an adult. Of course I had those rebelling fantasies like, “Once I move out of
this house I’m getting a puppy since my parents won’t let me have one!” but the
actual thought of raising a dog seems rather daunting when it’s actually a
possibility. When my boyfriend started living with me, he was asking from day
one that I should think about getting a puppy or a cat. I wasn’t too keen on
the idea, for reasons already stated. But one day, my boyfriend was working
very late at work. It was about 11:30 at night and I was walking around my
house and it was just eerily too quiet, and very lonely. I wanted another
little soul to be with me, to keep me company, follow me around when my
boyfriend wasn’t there. Something to talk to, to love and cuddle with. And that
was it, my mind was made up and about two weeks later we bought a 2 month old
kitten home, her name is Belle and she’s remarkable. I never thought a pet
would be able to make me laugh (out loud!) every single day. Sure she’s a lot
of work, at times, but it’s so worth it. Times like when she’s done playing
with her toy mouse or scouting my window and she comes to cuddle with me on the
couch, falls asleep on my stomach. Or when she plays hide and seek with me and
literally has me doubled over laughing because she’s so cute. Of course she
also likes to nibble on our toes at night and wakes us up at 7am so she can be
fed, it’s still so worth it. Being that I never had a pet and am not used to
it, and have never had a child of my own, it’s fascinating to me to be able to
hold a living creature in my arms- a living, breathing creature in my arms that
although not human, is a part of God’s creation and she looks up into my eyes
and trusts me, she sees my home as her home. It’s truly remarkable and very
hard to describe. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope she’s a part of
my life and my children’s life for a very long time to come. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzl4ykOFXaTRPkoQGQZkM5riiz5yNQ9p98kGYnQh-RR2muOgEHj5oE8LqdWftQS9NjazjCpvcm4vaRQacwOnJQ8kMHHJUadMGDER95LHeoGQAGngNdAxS0d4yAIXE2fimfYL8d-9jHwpM/s1600/IMAGE_65528371-8968-47BB-BCC5-B23768D533DF.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzl4ykOFXaTRPkoQGQZkM5riiz5yNQ9p98kGYnQh-RR2muOgEHj5oE8LqdWftQS9NjazjCpvcm4vaRQacwOnJQ8kMHHJUadMGDER95LHeoGQAGngNdAxS0d4yAIXE2fimfYL8d-9jHwpM/s320/IMAGE_65528371-8968-47BB-BCC5-B23768D533DF.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She loves to hide</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uc_5mCZeph0/UYHS-l2ohbI/AAAAAAAACww/jg7lI1e2Xsk/s1600/IMAGE_F3632128-6EDB-469F-9E90-CA33BC4CD5CC.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uc_5mCZeph0/UYHS-l2ohbI/AAAAAAAACww/jg7lI1e2Xsk/s320/IMAGE_F3632128-6EDB-469F-9E90-CA33BC4CD5CC.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the vet said she's weird because she likes her belly rubbed...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dNDUvFkGlxI/UYHSvOrkJwI/AAAAAAAACwA/1ViD9c-PiLE/s1600/IMAGE_7434916B-2386-4AC3-BB06-40F562A9DFDF.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dNDUvFkGlxI/UYHSvOrkJwI/AAAAAAAACwA/1ViD9c-PiLE/s320/IMAGE_7434916B-2386-4AC3-BB06-40F562A9DFDF.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She thinks shes the queen of England. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the day she got home, when she was a weeee bitty kitten! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2FaydcIRVg/UYHS09TqbwI/AAAAAAAACwY/dUDRgx9gWK8/s1600/IMAGE_C845E3D7-1915-4D15-AE0E-DDFAE4FF4667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2FaydcIRVg/UYHS09TqbwI/AAAAAAAACwY/dUDRgx9gWK8/s320/IMAGE_C845E3D7-1915-4D15-AE0E-DDFAE4FF4667.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">taken tonight, she loves me, 80% of the time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjQkRgO-plVLHioFayT2cwAH1uOrQ0ajzPPwDZD7XkmXUkTKvJWdu7LaajkpSTMDLu9bVFpXrUm3krHpZyAnWwK9bIN0oQMsQ4g-RQcwVxAp09VOeLlA5u8wVFWCn6r9qrctqgiDtSNo/s1600/IMAGE_7FD5A413-CFDF-4A04-B04C-9FAA2A7393B0.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjQkRgO-plVLHioFayT2cwAH1uOrQ0ajzPPwDZD7XkmXUkTKvJWdu7LaajkpSTMDLu9bVFpXrUm3krHpZyAnWwK9bIN0oQMsQ4g-RQcwVxAp09VOeLlA5u8wVFWCn6r9qrctqgiDtSNo/s320/IMAGE_7FD5A413-CFDF-4A04-B04C-9FAA2A7393B0.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sitting on "her" window</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DFnNYVUf3-A/UYHSxGu7kiI/AAAAAAAACwI/dbjOm6pq0Bo/s1600/IMAGE_4128835F-C43C-4014-A978-664A61420067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DFnNYVUf3-A/UYHSxGu7kiI/AAAAAAAACwI/dbjOm6pq0Bo/s320/IMAGE_4128835F-C43C-4014-A978-664A61420067.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">she sleeps a LOT</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Okay new topic, nursing! </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The nursing world has also been incredible, packed tight
with lots of new changes! (I told you this was going to be a popcorn-post!).
Let’s see, since I last updated, approximately four brand new responsibilities
have come upon me. For those that don’t regularly follow my blog, I recently
switched hospitals in my network so that I could have the opportunity to work
in a brand new hospital and a brand new cardiac unit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For starters, seeing myself grow from someone
who sat for the first time in a telemetry course this past October to someone
who is now counseling others on deciphering EKG rhythms, it feels incredible.
This coming August will mark my second complete year as an employed RN, and I
can notice so many changes in myself and my critical thinking thought process. Recently,
my hospital has hired a lot of new nurses to my unit. Some new grads, some new
to hospital nursing but not new nurses, and some just transfers from other
hospital units in the network. Being that we hired so many new graduates, our
management crew needed a couple more interim preceptors. One night on shift I
got the call that I would be precepting a new grad for the remainding 8 hours of
my shift. Although I had never done that before, I was really excited. I never
really considered myself a teacher type- mainly because of a lack of confidence
in myself and knowledge- but suddenly I found myself wanting to teach her
everything I knew. I had to exercise the art of restraint in order to not
overwhelm her. Now being surrounded by so many new grads on shift at once on the
unit, I can truly see the difference in expertise. I remember being exactly in
their shoes, just a short time ago. Elementary questions, concrete problems. It’s
interesting to see them come to me with a problem they are so worried about
with their patient, something I remember being equally so stressed about in
their stages, only to now be able to coach them into making the right decisions
now and to educate the severity of their concerns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of weeks
after my precepting experience, the unit assigned me to be in charge of the unit
for the shift that night. I was taken aback; to me it felt like I had just
transferred to the hospital- there was no way I could possibly be in charge of
the unit. The duties include taking a lighter assignment of patients and then
overseeing the entire floor, usually about 4-7 other nurses and anywhere
between 20-36 patients, give or take a few. The charge nurses assigns
admissions to nurses, is there to help any nurse with any problem or seek the
next appropriate level of help, and is there to smooth things over with any
unhappy employee, patient or family member on the unit. The charge nurse in
general helps out wherever needed over the entire course of the floor and
throughout the shift, constantly checking to make sure none of her nurses are
overwhelmed or drowning. The charge nurse also attends and takes a leadership
role in any emergency on her unit or throughout the hospital. It’s a pretty big
responsibility, and I felt surprised and honored that they would ask me to take
that role. My first time as charge, everyone survived- employees and
patients<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and myself, and a couple weeks
later I was then charge again two nights in a row. Maybe it will become a lot more
common, maybe not. Maybe I want it to, maybe I don’t. But regardless, I
consider it an honor and a huge step forward in my career process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Aside from work but also in the nursing field, I recently
have been hired to work as a substitute school nurse in the same district I
grew up in. This is a plus, since I know the district very well, they know me,
and my mother works there. It’s well paid and could perhaps serve as a gateway
for a job opportunity down the line if I want to work school hours (M-F 8-3,
summers off!), especially once my own kids (not on this earth yet) reach school
age. Something to think about…I haven’t started subbing yet but have shadowed
the school nurse in both the elementary and middle school. It’s unreal facing
the new challenges working as a school nurse will present. Suddenly you’re
acting on your, and only your own accord- making decisions without a fellow
team of nurses and doctors in the same building as you. Sure, I can give
someone IV cardiac drips and do lifesaving hospital workups but the thought of
splinting a childs fractured finger? Yikes! I’m a hypochondriac; you know that
if you have been reading this blog. Not only am I a hypochondriac in myself,
but it extends to those around me. I worry a lot. If I’m working as a school
nurse and a child comes in with complaints of a headache, I’m of course going
to be worried they could have meningitis! But of course I had these extreme
anxiety-stemmed fears when I first started as an RN in the hospital and the
fears eventually dissipated into realistic fears. So I’m sure you’ll see some
posts in relation to my new adventures of a school nurse soon! I get to go on a
class trip with the kids in late may :)</span><br />
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Also in the nursing field but completely on the other side of
the field, I also recently have been hired to work as what I call a “Geri-sitter”,
it’s like a “babysitter” but for geriatric population. I have a friend from my
childhood whose mom is now in need of some additional household overseeing, and
I’ve been highly recommended as a good choice to come sit with her. It’s been a
very interesting journey so far and this journey will continue until mid-June.
It’s fascinating to me, because patients I only see patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s
as my patients in the hospital. Sometimes I wonder what their daily life is
like, how they are at home. I realize that when these patients are placed in
the hospital without their family or familiar surroundings, their dementia
worsens- they become more forgetful, scared and act out more in a defensive
manner. And I wonder, are they OK at home? How can the family take care of
patients like this? But here, having the opportunity to witness and observe
this woman with early onset dementia in her own home, it’s fascinating. Yes she
is forgetful and asks a lot of the same questions, but she moves about the
house comfortably. She doesn’t enter harm’s way, or harm anything. She’s
comfortable here. It’s very interesting and I’ll probably be learning a lot
more about the dementia phenomenon in the months to come… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, I think that’s about all I have to update you with
on my life. Sorry it’s such a long post. It just truly blows my mind to see how
much my life has changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In May last
year this was my life:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">MAY 2012:<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Living: With a roommate in my first apartment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Working: RN on a surgical/oncology unit, no change foreseeable
in the future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dating: Single, and looking </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hobbies: Photography, drawing, painting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>MAY 2013:<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Living: In my first HOUSE that I OWN! Well, the bank owns-
but I have a mortgage!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Working: On a brand new telemetry unit in a brand new
hospital- lots of change foreseeable in the future, new opportunities. Also
working as a substitute school nurse and “geri-sitter”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dating: The most wonderful, kind, caring, thoughtful,
forgiving and romantic young man I could ask for, and were going on 8 months </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hobbies: Photography, drawing, painting, gardening, home
improvement, cleaning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And I have a kitten!!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So that’s my update. Hopefully I’ll find something new to
update you all on soon! Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far! Thank
you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">_WNB<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-13328492083796925662013-01-31T00:27:00.000-05:002013-02-01T11:09:12.676-05:00Life's Changing Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I posted, yes- But good news! I closed on my house January 18th!! I CLOSED ON A HOUSE. I have to type it in capital letters because I'm still trying to get used to it. Right now, I'm sitting in my <em>office.</em> Yeah. <em>My office.</em> I <em>own</em> it. Well, technically the bank owns it, but I will own it in 30 years! Woot! I've been drastically busy, but having so much fun renovating and decorating the house. My weekends have still been spent working Fridays-Sundays, and my mondays-thursdays have consisted of either:<br />
<br />
- Packing<br />
- unpacking<br />
- cleaning<br />
- painting<br />
- spackeling (sp?)<br />
- cutting things<br />
- staining wood<br />
- applying stained wood to wall (well actually my dad did this- I'm not allowed to hold big machines that nail things to walls)<br />
- Cleaning some more<br />
- making to do lists<br />
- moving furniture<br />
- cleaning said furniture<br />
- taping painters tape<br />
- untaping painters tape<br />
- cleaning things I've already cleaned, again<br />
- applying floor tiles<br />
- buying a lot of crap<br />
- making a lot of friends at Lowe's <br />
- buying a lot of magic erasers<br />
- cleaning some more with those erasers<br />
- making a lot of decisions<br />
- painting second coats <br />
<br />
<br />
...And it goes on and on. Getting up early and staying up late, every day has been full! But FUN!<br />
I know that these are the days I will cherish and look back on in ten years. I will marvel at how far I've come in comparison, and cherish the memories I'm making with my dad and my boyfriend as we renovate. It's been hilarious, fun, and a tremendous learning experience.<br />
<br />
For example, here are some small, some big, all useful things I've learned in this whole experience:<br />
<br />
- It's not that hard to buy a house, especially if you're a first time buyer like me. A lot of the stress comes from selling a house. Buying a house isn't terrible once you've picked it out and have the money to do the down payment. The rest is thousands of phone calls and a shitton of paperwork and deadlines, more paperwork and a lot of signatures. But its no big.<br />
- It's not as hard as I thought to paint. But everything needs a second coat. <br />
- I'm not a good enough painter to not use a drop cloth. *sigh*<br />
- Almost anything in your home can be fixed with the right amount of money and sweet talking with employees at Lowe's and Home Depot. And asking nicely. <br />
- Always sample colors before you buy in the gallon size. But I've noticed the samples are sometimes just a twad different from the real thing so be prepared. <br />
- I learned how to stain wood!<br />
- Always let the stain DRY before you try and touch something with it on, and try not to let it get on your bare skin, its really not fun to get off. <br />
- Make sure your ladder is definitely sturdy before getting on and off it a million times. Like don't use the one you found in the garage that was there when you bought the house. <br />
- Keep track of how much improvement money you are putting into the house. <br />
- If you think a room is small, just put on and take off painters tape around the perimeter of the room, on the ceiling and floor. Your perspective will change. <br />
- Make getting blinds a first priority!<br />
- Rome wasn't built in a day. <br />
- It takes 24 hours for spackle to dry.<br />
- Don't take painters tape off until you're certain whoever painted what they painted definitely did their second coat. <br />
- LABEL BOXES when you pack, it will make it SO MUCH easier to unpack and maybe your box with the silverware won't end up under 20 boxes in your office or bedroom. <br />
- ITs your house, don't be afraid to be daring and create your own ideas/designs. Think outside the box!<br />
- If you hear a noise, go check it out. Make peace. Learn about your house. <br />
- When you hire any time of professional, follow them around and learn about your house and what they are doing. That way you know more about your house and you know how to do what they did. Ask questions!<br />
- If you think you may have a ghost, make friends with it on day one. I got mine some pumpkin seeds and she loves it. I'm only partially kidding.<br />
-Almost anything can be cleaned with a magic clean eraser.<br />
- Its not the end of the world if you get paint on the molding, trim, ceiling, etc. Either it wiples off easily, or you can go back with touch up paint. <br />
- Just give in and get the MyLowes card. Preferably not on your last visit to buy paint...<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway, I'll probably add some learning experiences as I continue to work on the house. We're still not done painting, we need 40% of our furniture yet, and still so much CLEANING. I honestly never thought I had it in me to clean this much, but I guess you grow up a lot when you have your own house. I first noticed myself caring about cleanliness when I had my very first dorm room in college. I had a single, so it was all up to me to keep it clean. If I didn't, I always was mortified when friends stopped by and saw my messes. So I <em>finally</em> understood why my mom was always so adamant about cleaning the house when company came over. But then by the time I was a senior in my single dorm, I really didn't care about my rooms appearance. I would *maybe* <strike>clean it for my boyfriend</strike> HA! Just kidding, I would let my boyfriend clean it, lol. Then after college I moved into an apartment with a roommate and I noticed again that I cared about it being clean. I thought, hey wow- I'm actually <em>paying</em> to live here, I should keep it looking nice. Now in the house, my house, its worse than ever. Get this- I used to think people that insist you take your shoes off when you enter their house were being overly meticulous and afraid of dirt. Now that I'm the one that has to constantly clean/swift/mop up trails of mud and dirt around the house, I totally get where those people are coming from! <br />
<br />
But anyway, 2013 will be a huge year for me. I've got to learn how to start cutting coupons and paying attention to sales. I've got a friggen mortgage now, which is scarier than anything. I've always been the kind of girl that's afraid of commitment, and having a 30 year commitment to anything is nerve wracking to me. But I'm ready for it. This feels right. I fell in love with the house when I first saw it, and I plan to put a lot of love into it. <br />
<br />
<br />
Look for more updates on the house, more to come! Maybe I'll tell you my ghost story. <br />
<br />
<br />
- With love,<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
~ WNB<br />
<br />
<br />
.A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-16191013834519653672013-01-10T21:25:00.000-05:002013-01-10T21:25:54.690-05:00Not in My World So this post is about an issue that has come up recently in my little nursing world. Very recently, only over the past week have I noticed it but it's happened 5-6 times in separate instances...<br />
<br />
<br />
So in case you don't know my nursing history, I was an aide for five years until I graduated nursing school and was hired, at the same hospital as an R.N. For awhile I struggled accepting the differences between being a nurse aide and a registered nurse. I couldn't grasp the fact that now I had to delegate tasks to my coworkers that used to be the same position as me, but now they were beneath me. I knew how busy they were because I had been in their exact shoes. So I became determined to always try and do everything myself and only ask for help from the aides when my patients safety depends on it. <br />
<br />
Then this year I came over to a new hospital, where it was a little easier to accept the boundaries between being an RN and the aide. I respect my new aides very much and still always try to help them out, even with patients that are not my own. I try and only ask for help when either I cannot do it or another patient needs me more or I just need an extra hand in the room. <br />
<br />
But recently, my patients (like I said, 5-6 different patients within the past week) have done something peculiar. <br />
<br />
I go into the room to do my nursing assessment, or perhaps give them a medication of some kind. This one patient asked me the other day, "Do you have CNAs (nurse aides) or something?" I said "Yes, we do." She said, "Can you please send one in when you have a chance, I need some ice water." I looked perplexed, I said back- "well I can certainly get you some ice water, I'll be right back." and she quickly said, "No no, you're the RN, you have much more important things to do. Send a CNA in." This was the first time I had ever heard something like this. I assured her I had the time to do it and I wanted to get her ice water and that I did. <br />
<br />
A couple of other patients have done the same thing, and its only been recently. A male patient I had last night spilled a drink of water and needed a new set of napkins, and a towel to clean up the water. I said "sure, I'll be right back" and when I got back, he said, "you didn't have to do that, that is dirty work, i know you have more important things to do." <br />
<br />
I looked up at him , almost incredulously- as this was the 5th or 6th this same instance had happened with other patients, and I assured him that helping him and making him feel better in any way was just as important to me as anything else. I don't mind doing anything, that is my job-regardless or not if it can also be the aides job. In fact I think I think it's even in my hospitals nursing policy that we do not leave any room without making sure the patient has everything they need and they are happy. If they aren't happy, we need to find a person with different capabilities that can make them happy. I don't know why my patients have gotten it in their head that the RNs are "better" than the aides. We aren't better. We just can do different things for our patients. Just like I don't necessarily consider doctors "better" than RNs, they just do different things. Sure, I respect the doctors I work with and they are obviously a vital part of health care. But so are nurses. And so are aides. Ok I've gone off on a tangent. <br />
<br />
Anyway, my boyfriend has puppy eyes and is staring at me over top my computer screen waiting for me to finish, so I'm wrapping this up. Sorry for the short blog, I just wanted to write about it since its happened so many times recently....and it just doesn't fly in my world. <br />
<br />
<br />
With Love, WNB <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
. A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-34580382189117089812013-01-01T01:48:00.000-05:002013-01-01T01:48:41.148-05:00Finally Enlightened Hey! Wow, 2 blogs in < 48 hours! THats an accomplishment for me! <br />
<br />
I hope everyone is having a good 2013 so far! I have a really good feeling that 2013 is going to be a life-altering year, in a really good way. I can just feel it. <br />
<br />
I got a call this morning from my job offering me a deal to come in for day shift hours and I would be allowed to leave at 11pm , instead of 7 am, so that is awesome and totally is what I needed. I ended up getting out at 11:45 and got to hear the radio dance party on my local station. It was awesome being able to bop along to my favorite 2012 songs, even if I was in scrubs, in the car, and not at a party or anything. It was such an unexpected treat to even be able to listen to it in the first place since I was supposed to be at work. Anyway, so when the radio DJ count-downed( is that a word?) to midnight, and there it is just seconds after midnight and fireworks are going off in the distance as I travel down the road, and I finally felt it. I was euphoric. And what was this, was I actually crying?? Yea. I have *never* cried tears of happiness, ever. Never ever. Which made me cry even more because I was so shocked I was crying happy tears. I was just so happy that I wasn't at work, I survived hell week (between xmas and new years in healthcare) and did a really good job, my boss told me I was a really good nurse....and my favorite songs were playing. I couldn't stop smiling. <br />
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So THAT my friends is how I know 2013 is going to be a good year. Because after so long of my emotions being shut down, guarded from heartbreak, I can finally feel euphoria again. I cannot wait. <br />
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Anyway, my yearly tradition of resolutions! If you're new to my blog, every year I go through my prior years resolutions and comment on how I did. After that I write new ones. Unfortunately, I read through last years and not much has changed. But its tradition! The italicized are last years, the normal font is me commenting on it. Following the whole set are 2013's. <br />
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1) <em><span style="font-size: large;">Have at LEAST half of my book #1 completely written by 2013. Part of me wants
to say write the whole book by 2013, but....I'd rather be proud of myself for
accomplishing a resolution than to not because I set the standard too high. So,
yeah. Half the book. I think this is definitely possible. </span></em><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Haha. That didn't happen. But I have a good excuse. Last year when I wrote this, I was working night shift on a 12 bed unit, and although we had our fair share of insane nights, most nights I had time to write a little when all my work was done and my patients were sleeping. Well, then the summer got really busy, and then I got transferred, and at this new place- I barely have time to pee. My home life has been pretty busy as well :(</span></span><br />2) <em><span style="font-size: large;">I need to
learn how to go with the flow....I'm 23, I have to stop trying to PLAN
everything. Stop trying to overanalyze everything and just......be. Just do.
Accept new challenges. Accept new people in my life. Do new things. Play new
sports. </span></em><br />
I did a good job with this one! I joined racquetball! I stayed with it! I didn't quit! I joined tennis lessons! I got out and did things I was afraid of this year. I took a leap of faith with my new boyfriend this year. I screwed the logical planning of every single step of my life. I like my life a lot better this way. <br /><br />3)<em><span style="font-size: large;"> I want to really focus this year on becoming a much better
nurse. I want to do a lot of research on my practice, and really better myself
in unique abilities. My hospital is offering the position of a "wound care
champion" that I might look into. It would be nice to be exceptionally good at
at least one thing among the amazing nurses I work with. </span></em><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I did end up becoming a wound care champion at my old hospital! It was pretty sweet to be good at something, and to my new job I therefore brought the knowledge of how to dress a wound pretty awesomely. Sweet. Also, being on a cardiology floor has taught me SO MUCH in so little time and I can't wait to be a proficient cardiac nurse. </span></span><br />4)<em><span style="font-size: large;"> Along with
number 3, in general (in nursing and in life), I need to learn to be more
confident in my abilities. In my self. In my knowledge. In my instincts. This is
really hard. I need to trust myself.</span></em> <br />
I have serious self esteem issues and I don't think I will ever learn to be completely confident in myself. I always question myself. I just hate to do things wrong. I still have to work on this. <br /><br />5)<em><span style="font-size: large;"> I need to learn how to COOK! Not
just any cooking, but I need to learn how to cook in general and cook for
lactose intolerance specifically. So, I really need to get on this because right
now my food groups consist of: Rice, beans, chicken, chinese food, fish &
chips, vegetables, chicken tenders, fries, and smoothies. So, More variety
needed? Yess.</span></em> <br />
Okay. This was hard. Thats still pretty much my entire food group, except I eat less chinese food now, less fries, less tenders, and less fish and chips. So I basically eat: Fruit, veggies, BREAD (so bad), Thai food, chicken, rice and lactose intolerant specially made products. Sooooooo, yeah. HOWEVER, I have a lot of influential people in my life that have been teaching me how to cook real things. I've dated two people this past year that loved to cook and worked with my allergies and taught me how to make some good meals. My grandma is a great cook and did the same for me. My aunt has also been guiding me through some really dumb questions online! With buying a new house soon, I'm going to have a full kitchen to myself that I need to use! Goal: next year, I'm making thanksgiving dinner all by myself :) <br />
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<br /><br />6)<em><span style="font-size: large;"> I need to learn how to love again. But at the same
time, I need to learn how to just be ok with me. I need to get to know myself
better before I let myself attach to anyone else at this point. I feel like
right now, when I "attach" to someone, or see someone, they are dating an empty
vessel of a girl that needs to figure out a lot right now. I am in here, I
promise. Just need to work on my firewall right now, let people in. Its a new
year. New beginnings. Let our endings go. Forever, and ever, and hit the ground
runnin! Woo.</span></em> <br />I did this! I so did this! I'm doing it! I dated a couple young gentleman in 2012 but there was always something that was off. After a couple bad experiences, I decided it was impossible to meet new people working night shift and the only other thing I did was go to Barnes & Noble, the gym and out with my family and girlfriends. Plus, strangers don't meet and start dating anymore nowadays. And my friends tried setting me up and it just wasn't working out. So I threw in the towel and joined the ever so promising eHarmony. And within three weeks of my membership (and a lot of conversations), I met my amazing boyfriend. He lives in the town right next to mine, yay! We had talked online and through texting for about two weeks, until we decided to have our first date on a Wednesday. By that Friday, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. So it went really fast but everything just felt right. Which is huge for me, because I'm very picky. He is one of the main reasons I think my heart is opening back up to feel emotions. I held true to myself and am comfortable with myself, I know myself pretty well and I am strong. I don't believe in 1/2 and 1/2 makes 1 when it comes to partners. I believe in 1 + 1 makes 2. We do not complete each other, nor should we. Nor should anyone, because then what are you without them? We are each our own unique person, our own soul, our own complete set of strengths and weaknesses, and together we bring that to the same table and combine from there. <br /><br />7) <span style="font-size: large;"><em>I already am doing this, but I want to draw a LOT
more. I already have drawn so much since school let out and I love it. I also
want to do more with my photography this year. Like sell it. Big time. :-) On
that note, look for a photography post sooN! I am WAY overdue!</em></span> <br />
I drew a LOT this year. I got a drawing desk!!!! Its the best!!!!!! I've been on a drawing hiatus because I've been so busy but I plan to go back full force this spring. My new house has room for my own studio :) Oh, and I still owe ya'll that photography post...ha<br />
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Alright so here's what I've got for 2013. I haven't thought about my resolutions until literally right now. Usually I think about this blog for like a week. Soooooo, here goes. <br />
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1) No more sugar. This is something I've been trying to do for a couple of months now, but it's so HARD. What I mean by no sugar is no OBVIOUS sugar. I still plan to eat fruit. What my problem has been, is raspberry friggen Iced tea. That stuff is packed tight with sugar and I've become addicted to it. I've also gained like ten pounds. I also eat more bread than..........Peeta Mellark. I seriously love bread. Its bad. I don't want to eat any obvious sugar. It will be hard, but I can do it. At least cut out 80% of it? <br />
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2)Lose weight. I am uncomfortable with my body and have to change. I come from a past of not being good enough for those I loved. My boyfriend now tells me he loves just the way I am and that makes me so happy but I can't stand the way I feel, the extra jiggles and lovemuffins. I hate the mirror. So, by 2014 I plan to be holding steady under 130lbs. I'm 145 now. I can do that!<br />
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3) Budget- Budget- BUDGET. Buying a new house, its not like an apartment. There is no escape plan this time. If I couldn't handle the rent at any point, I could have left at anytime. Not with a mortgage. I have to cut coupons. And actually pay attention to sales. I have to think twice about buying 6 books that will sit on my bookshelf. I can do it. <br />
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4) Keep my damn car and room clean. WHY IS THIS SO HARD. I have the cutest little sports car, which looks awesome from a distance and then people get in it and realize its not suitable to non-julie human survival. Sad. <br />
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5) Join a badminton team . Join a swimming team. <br />
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6) Be smarter. Although I AM a LOT smarter as a nurse now than I was last year, there is still so much I don't know. I so badly want to be the nurse that the new graduate comes and gets and says "can you help me?" and I can just come in and teach and finally know everything and put it to good use. I want to maybe start school this Fall for my nursing MSN. I want to research more about my patients conditions. <br />
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7) WRITE MY GODD*** BOOK! <br />
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Thats it, folks!! Love you all! <br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">HAPPY 2013!!!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Make a difference. Make it your own. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><em>__WNB</em></span> <br />
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<br />A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-71236640305613418452012-12-31T02:02:00.000-05:002012-12-31T02:02:34.877-05:00Appreciating the MomentsWow...So I don't even know where to start. I know I haven't written in awhile and that bothers me, in more ways than one. I haven't written on here in awhile and I haven't written written, like on my novel and that makes me sad. I remember awhile ago (like in the summer maybe?) I remember saying how busy I was, and I couldn't wait for the fall when things would calm down some....well, things are busier than ever and life is moving faster than I can even watch it. <br />
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This is going to be a long blog, I think. So 1) I apologize, and 2) like I always say, go get some popcorn and make yourself comfortable. <br />
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Let's start with life updates and then I'll focus on the title of this blog. Maybe they will relate to each other, maybe not. Then again I'm running on 5 hours of sleep right now and earlier tonight I was thinking maybe I was having a stroke because I was delusional and words were coming out of my mouth before I could catch them. I do that a lot when I'm really tired. Its remarkable how much the brain changes on a lack of sleep, and quite scary come to think of it, considering I'm a nightshift nurse. Hmm....<br />
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Anyway, life updates. So I'm buying a house! I know, crazy, right? It's absolutely insane. I'm 24 and if you told me when I was 14 "In ten years you're going to be a successful college graduate with a good job and buying a house by yourself", I can guarantee I would have laughed at you. And then probably would have gone to burger king or written some teenagery post on my xanga. <br />
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But yeah! Everything in my life so far has been.....like right place/right time kinda thing. Everything bad thats happened to me has opened up a brighter door, even if that door didn't open for a long time. So this sort of falls under the same circumstances. The entire situation started from something I didn't know how I was going to get through, to now I'm buying a house because of it. The same push that knocked me down to the ground is the exact same push that gave me the courage to actually get a realtor and now I'm closing on a house. I honestly didn't think I'd be buying a house until I was in my forties. I thought thats how it worked. I guess I'm still a kid because I don't consider myself an adult that can buy a house. Ah!<br />
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So thats my big update. It's amazing and all but holey moley crapbeans, buying a house is stressful. I'm probably an idiot for buying a house and starting a new job all in the time span of about 3 months. Smart, I know. <br />
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<br />
As for the new job....thats been....interesting. Like my old job, there's been some shifts where I leave and I'm like "I know I chose the right profession". It's those shifts where you do everything right, go above and beyond and feel awesome about it, your patients tell you they love you, you help your coworkers, your boss is like "Yeah good job!" and everything is just awesome. And maybe throw in a really nursy emotional moment you have with a little old lady or something and its icing on the cake. <br />
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But then there are those shifts where you SERIOUSLY question why you ever would have wanted to not only put yourself through four years of tormenting nursing school just to deal with crabbypants doctors, deal with patients (or family members) that call the police because they pooped in their bed and couldn't find their call bell (that happened), or tell you you just aren't good enough despite doing the best you can, having 7 patients every night, dealing with a lot of WTF is going on situations, etc. And there's been more of those shifts than the good ones lately. And like the typical human condition, we always remember the bad memories which totally override any good memories. <br />
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I've been realizing lately that I have some serious issues I need to get over, and STAT. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my job. I care about my job. I care about my patients, deeply. I'm a hypochondriac with my own body and this translates to extreme anxiety when it comes to my patients. They complain of new pain and I'm automatically thinking OMG they're gonna end up in the OR by the end of the night. Thank goodness after a 1.5 years of being an RN, I'm finally beginning to know the differences between serious symptoms and symptoms that may appear to be serious but aren't. But back to my serious flaws, I am the type of nurse where I hate leaving shit behind for other nurses, I hateeeeeee giving medications late or letting a patient down when I said I'd be there at a certain time but end up not being able to. I hate when the computer yells at me for giving something late and it's all like "WHY ARE YOU GIVING THIS LATE?" and there's no option to write in, "because my other patient couldn't breathe and I was swallowed in another room and I HAD MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO". It sucks. So I try and finish everything and be everywhere at once and solve every problem. I don't ask and I hate asking when I have to, for help. I hate admitting weaknessess in myself and asking for help. I try and do everything on my own and its going to be the end of me one day.<br />
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I also have a problem with appreciating the good times, hence my blog title. I always thought that I related to President Obama in a way that I heard once from someone that he finds it hard to feel extreme emotions. He's always calm and cool, he's neutral. He doesn't feel extreme sadness, anger, but also doesn't feel extreme happiness either. And that's how I am and I hate that. Hate it.<br />
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I cannot tell you how many times I've been in the middle of a shift, and thought; <br />
"man I cannot wait to be in my bed later, it is gonna be so amazing" or<br />
"I can't wait to blast my favorite song on the way home and wind down from all this" or <br />
I see a patients tv and its a good show and my patient is enjoying it and I'm just like, "how much do I seriously want to be at home just chilling watching tv? THe next time I chill and watch tv, I'm gonna think of how lucky I am." But then.....when I finally get to my bed, when I'm finally done with my shift and blasting my music on the way home, when I'm finally just chillin watching tv, I don't think of how much better it is, because I carry home the sorrow and anxiety from my job. I drive home like a super zombie, my mind reeling from what I did wrong or right at work. When I watch tv, I just get lost in the show and watch it like a zombie. When I have a day off, I let myself get stressed of the shit-ton amount of things I have to do that day, that I don't even enjoy it, because hey- I'm not at work at least. So I have to work on that this year coming. <br />
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I started noticing this in myself when I first saw a baby being born. This was a moment I dreamed about for a long time, one of the BIGGEST reasons I went into nursing in the FIRST place. All I wanted was to see a baby be born. But about 3 years ago when I finally got the opportunity, it was happening right in front of me- I was all decked out in the scrubby gear, I saw the whole thing happening and I just stood there watching. There was no euphoric moment in my head. Sure It was a lovely thing happening, but in my mind I wasn't freaking out like "Oh my god this is actually happening". Nope. <br />
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Ever since then I've noticed this a lot on multiple examples. <br />
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The only way I can seem to find enlightenment or euphoria, is when I surprise myself. It can't be something I've been looking forward to. It has to be something I decide to do last minute, something that surprises myself and everyone else. It usually involves a journey of some kind, like when I was driving home from Long Island one time and just decided (literally last minute before the exit) to just go to the beach. Being on the beach that day by myself, walking along the ocean waters, one of my most enlightened moments ever. <br />
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I'm not perfect, I get that so much. But I try so hard. Too hard, And I have to learn to let that go. Because humans aren't perfect. But somehow I've got it stuck in my head that I have to surpass normal humanity and be a superwoman. <br />
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Which is funny, I actually just giggled to myself just then, (that could be because I'm really tired), because if you saw my room right now you would NEVER EVER peg me for a perfectionist. My room is literally not sustainable to most forms of human life except me. I would normally try and blame it on the fact that I'm back in my parents house while I wait to close on the new house, and all of my belongings are shoved into this little room with me along with the stuff my parents moved into here as an extra storage room since I moved into my own apartment, BUT I really can't because my rooms normally a mess anyway. *deep breath that was a really long sentence*. <br />
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Back to the point, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my performance, in all areas of my life. In my relationship. In my job. In my friendships. I always try and prove to the people that love me that I am a worthy friend, I am a good girlfriend (I usually fail miserably on my face on that one just ask my boyfriend), or I try and prove that I am a good nurse. I am usually very generous, and this past Christmas I could only get people very limited gifts because of money and that killed me. It seriously hurt my heart and I'm still feeling bad over it. My boyfriend hates how I can never remember stuff he told me already and I hate that I can't be perfect, the model girlfriend. In nursing there will always be moments where no matter how hard you try, something will always fall through the cracks. You give extra attention to one friend one day and then the next day another friend chews you out for not spending enough time with them.<br />
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I know I said above that I don't let myself feel extreme emotions usually. But there have been so many instances in the past month and a half where I felt like I was seriously in over my head and I was about to lose it. And I usually, usually can contain myself, keep my cool even if my plate is overfull, but its when something really small goes wrong on top of everything else is what tips over the edge. <br />
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*sigh* . Sorry for the sad ish post. It wasn't all sad, was it? OK yeah it mostly was. Sorry. I say sorry way too much too. I have to work on that as well. <br />
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Don't get me wrong, I have an amazing life. Like I said, everything in my life has happened for a reason. I have a great job, good pay that's stable, I am like 92% healthy (lol), I have the most amazing boyfriend that makes me so happy, I have the most supporting, nurturing nuclear and extended family, I have some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for. I have a good life. <br />
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I just saw the movie "This is 40" tonight, and despite its comedic nature, it really hit on a serious topic. Or maybe I just thought too much into it. It showed really well that everyone is under their own ridiculous amounts of stress, and we all try and hide it, we are all about to blow up but we all try and keep our cool. No one knows what another person is struggling with, and we all try and put so much crap for other people to deal with, not realizing how much they already have to deal with. People accuse others of "not understanding" or "you don't know what its like!" or "you do nothing all day" but they really could be struggling with anything, you just don't know it. So have patience with everyone. Be nice to everyone. Try and see the best in people, I try to (Sometimes its hard, I know). Trust people even when you know you shouldn't. Have a little faith and go with it. <br />
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So I'm going to leave with you with one of the most famous and most helpful prayers that got me through one of the shittiest shifts last night (that ended in tears- there's real emotion for ya), <br />
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"God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." <br />
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That prayer is perfect and applies to so many aspects of my life. Nursing, relationships, and just life. <br />
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If you've made it this far, you get.....a gummy worm..........ok well you would if I had some. It was really just the first yummy thing I thought of. But you get my love, that's for free. Gummy worms are expensive.<br />
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With so much love, <br />
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~ WNB <br />
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. A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-37903097010007384142012-11-27T08:04:00.001-05:002012-11-27T08:04:30.037-05:00Close, but no cigar.So I have two random funnies for you, direct from my new hospital! <br />
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The patients are the exact same type as my old hospital, I'm just in a newer nicer setting. The patients have the same diagnoses, same problems, same families, and same funny things to say- which makes for good stories for you! <br />
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Funny #1!<br />
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So I get in report that my patient is confused at times, but it's questionable. Sometimes patients just don't feel like answering the question or don't understand. So I go in to see this patient, and it turns out she answers all her questions correctly. She knows who she is, where she is, and what day it is. So I'm just about ready to leave the room after I finish my assessment, and im taking off my gloves- literally stepping out of the room when I hear- from my patient- "what's that giraffe doing outside?" <br />
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And I froze. What? Giraffe?<br />
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So I wasn't sure what to say, really. I kindly looked out the window from where I was standing, and due to the fact that my hospital is not in Africa and its not next to a zoo, I did not see a giraffe. <br />
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So I'm all like, "I don't see a giraffe."<br />
And I'm thinking, should I recheck her orientation? Is she hallucinating?<br />
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And she's all like, "it's right there! It's a giraffe! Its right outside my window and I'm scared at how close it is."<br />
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So I'm like, shit. Shes hallucinating...giraffes. Like, why giraffes? Why not turtles? Or koala bears? <br />
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So then I'm like, "I still don't see a giraffe....but you let me know if it comes in the room."<br />
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So then she's like, "come to the window and see it!"<br />
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So to amuse her and I guess myself too, I go over to the window....<br />
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<br />
....And low and behold.....<br />
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...there wasn't a giraffe. There was a crane. My hospital is under construction, just so happens a construction crane was right outside her window.<br />
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I couldn't contain my giggles as I explained to her the differences in our construction vehicle naming misunderstanding. <br />
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It was a nursing giggle funny, my patient was not hallucinating after all, and we both giggled about it all day. <br />
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Nursing funny #2!!<br />
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Okay so I'm admitting this elderly male last night with heart failure. I figured out pretty quickly into the admission that he was *extremely* hard of hearing, and oh- he left his hearing aids at home, of course.<br />
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So I couldn't get much out of him from his admission, because he couldn't hear me. But I'm all like, I can't not try. I have to at least try and communicate, that's my job. So I struggle through all the questions, one by one. <br />
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Well I get to this one, what religion is the patient? And at first I'm all like- is this really an important question to ask when I'm struggling with all the rest? No. But then I remembered that I'm a bit biased one the religion side of things, and what if this guy is like an ex- priest or something and he's actually super religious and it means a lot to him that someone come to see him when he's here (even if he couldn't hear them- that's beside the point). <br />
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So I ask my patient, "do you have a religious preference?"<br />
<br />
"what?"<br />
<br />
"do you have a religion?"<br />
<br />
"a what?"<br />
<br />
"a religion? Like catholic, or presbyterian or something?"<br />
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"oh..a religion...a religion.....hmmm..."<br />
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So he literally took a moment to think, and I was just about to give up, when he shouts out, "yes! I'm American!"<br />
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I had to try so hard to not laugh. I smiled and I thanked him and clicked "no preference/other" on the religion choice.<br />
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Well that's It for the funnies this week! It's been an adventure so far, that's for sure. But I'm slowly starting to fit in and learn the ropes. :)<br />
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Thanks for reading everyone!<br />
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With love, <br />
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WNB <br />
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Hope I made ya giggle :)<br />
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A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-7502184011959268852012-11-22T10:30:00.001-05:002012-11-22T10:53:58.688-05:00Settling in and Grateful Hey all! <br />
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It's been a rocky couple of weeks, and the months ahead will be up and down! Welcome to the adult world, I guess. <br />
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But regardless, my favorite holiday of the entire year and I get to spend it with some of my favorite people. Like I did last year, I'd like to dedicate a post to what I am most thankful this year. I don't mean to sound cliche, but I think everyone (including me!) forgets what blessings we truly do have and we tend to focus on the negatives in our lives. I've had a lot of negatives lately and today I am making it a point to focus on the positive, not just today but for the months to come. <br />
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I am most thankful for the following, in no particular order:<br />
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- My health. I have all four limbs, I can walk, talk, hear, see and smell. I have all my organs. Nothing hurts every day. I can breathe. I am blessed.<br />
- My family. My parents have supported me so much and are always there when I need to fall back on them. I couldn't ask for a better set of parents, ever.<br />
- My sister, she's growing up to be a pretty cool grown-up :)<br />
- The most amazing, loving, nurturing and caring boyfriend I could have ever asked for. I definitely don't deserve him and yet he sticks around anyway. He is always there when I need him and he can read my mind and always knows when I need a hug. His smile brings a smile to my face every day and I am grateful for that. <br />
- My grandma and grandpa. I am with them both this holiday today and they are both able to walk, talk, hear, see, remember everything, and laugh. I am thankful they are still present in my life and I will cherish that.<br />
- I'm thankful for a nursing job that recently changed into one of the most amazing deals I can think of, working less and getting paid more. I am grateful that this leads me to have more time to finally finish my book.<br />
- I'm thankful for my gym, its one of the most amazing gyms and has introduced me to racquetball, one of the hardest and fastest sports I've ever played and I love it. <br />
- I'm still thankful for my car. It's still, so so so awesome. <br />
- I'm thankful for the United States troops- Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and all the reserves that are away from their families today, fighting for their families, fighting for our freedom so that we can enjoy our day today in peace. Thank you. <br />
- I'm thankful for all my fellow nurses out there, we are our own breed and we can communicate with each other so well, also thankful for all the police officers, firefighters, EMS workers, mechanics, grocery store workers, and everyone else that is stuck working today instead of with their family.<br />
- ARTSQUEST!! I'm thankful for Artsquest, my escape, my place to smile in. <br />
- And Barnes & Noble. ^^ <br />
- I'm thankful for a roof over my head and a warm place to live in. I have the most amazing apartment in the BEST little city and I couldn't ask for anything better. <br />
- I am thankful for the BEST friends a girl could ever ask for. My friends this year, new and old, have taught me that its okay to open up to them and not keep everything inside. They truly care about me and I will love them forever in return. They know who they are.<br />
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I guess thats about it. <br />
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It's 2012 and this country is in a severe economic crisis, and by all means not every 24 year old in America has their own apartment, car, and an income to support themselves. Not every person, regardless of age, has what I have said above, and every single human deserves it all. THe human race amazes me every day, despite all of our flaws. I know I am very blessed and I have so many people to thank for that. I truly do. <br />
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So, I'm settling into my new job and its going somewhat well, I'll dedicate a new post soon all about that. Anyway, I hope whoever is reading this enjoys the holiday today with their loved ones, friends and family and takes a moment to think about what they are most thankful for this season. It's okay if its what you've been thankful for last year, because all that matters is that you remind yourself of your blessings. <br />
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With love, <br />
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WNB.<br />
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. A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-42471503054998372092012-11-09T16:57:00.002-05:002012-11-10T06:16:29.207-05:00What This Election Means So now that all the political aftermath has seemed to maybe calm down a bit, let me take a minute to talk about my favorite part about the American Democracy. Let me remind you I am not passionate about politics in any way. I voted, sure. It's the basic American right. What I felt most passionate about when I was following this election, was which candidate was going to take care of the country's healthcare system better? Thats basically what made my vote for me. <br />
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But thats not the point of this blog. <br />
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The day of voting, I went after a long day in class/work/orientation. I stood in line like many across the country did that day, and in front of me was an elderly gentleman. I noticed this man was on supplemental oxygen and was alone. He managed to either drive or get dropped off, but regardless made the effort to participate in the election. He then walked all the way into the polling center, and waited in line like the rest of us. What I was pleased to see was that other people in line in front of him, all let him go before them. They also went and got a chair for him to sit in not only while he waited but during the process of actually casting his vote. Other people helped him carry his oxygen machine. The poll director helped him back down the stairs and to his car. <br />
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Now I was pleased to see that not only people in my country but people in my community, still have human souls and would go out of their way to make this gentleman comfortable. But what really made me so happy was that this gentleman bothered to come out and vote. <br />
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It made me angry to think of how many young and able people don't vote because they're lazy, think their vote won't count, or they don't "believe in politics"....and yet this 90+ gentleman citizen believed enough to make it out to vote. <br />
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I don't even care a single ounce if he voted different than me. I don't care whose side he is on. He is on my side because he lives in America, and that is the point. To just participate. To make your voice matter, no matter what you believe in. Thats what election day is all about. <br />
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Thats all, simple post today. :)<br />
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~WNB<br />
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.A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-3855040498629604462012-11-07T16:05:00.000-05:002012-11-07T16:05:24.614-05:00EKGing it up!So, a lot has happened lately! <br />
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FIRST OFF, I got the job! Woot! I officially start there on Monday, it is a med/surg position still, which is great because I need my two years and I like the constant variety... However it will be a weekend night position. What's that? You basically strike a deal with the devil and agree you will be there 2 nights, every single weekend except TWO per the entire year...but that's it. You get off 5 days per week, work the weekends and get paid more. I see it as a win! <br />
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But anyway, at this new hospital I will be responsible for my own EKG readings. For my non-medical readers, an EKG is a test involving 12 little stickers or "leads" that are placed on your chest, legs and arms to monitor the amount of electricity through your body conducted by your heart, which is displayed on a strip piece of paper and we can see the type of rhythm your heart is making. By knowing this rhythm, we know what's wrong with your heart and what part of your heart isn't working. <br />
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So! Here I am, a one-year RN going from a med/surg unit where I never had to worry (much) about heart rhythms to a unit where I will be responsible for my own. Yikes! I skip completely over the unit where they have techs to watch the monitors and tell you what they mean. *sigh*<br />
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The first time I floated down to that unit, my cardiology unit in my hospital here, I first asked my old preceptor, "do you have any really important advice to give that I should know about cardiology?"<br />
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She looked at me very seriously as she nodded, got a piece of paper out and drew this: <br />
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As she drew that line she said, "if you see this, it's not good."<br />
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Of course she was kidding. Well, sort of kidding. Partially kidding. Only in the aspect where every nurse (or really anyone every that's watched a medical show on tv in general) knows that a flat line is never good. So that pro founding bit of advice wasn't exactly that helpful. <br />
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But I learned quickly. And whatever you don't know in nursing, you quickly get someone that does know. <br />
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But being that I have the type of brain that loves to do math, figure out mysteries, do busiwork, etc., I found that I fell in love with trying to figure out each rhythm. It was like a puzzle. <br />
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I finally finished the class and all of the sudden I feel 200% more competent as an RN. No more constant dread that I can't competently take care of cardiac patients. I can look at the tele monitor now and understand who is in critical condition, when to call the doctor, what to do about certain rhythms. It feels amazing to connect those synapses in your brain when things coming together, applying knowledge you gathered in nursing school to knowledge you learned on the field to knowledge you regain after like this, on top of the clinical knowledge. <br />
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For example when I came on shift recently, I looked at my patient on the monitor. I had asked the nurse taking care of him prior what rhythm was his normal, and they had trouble reading it so they had to move his room to better wireless area. So I was the first to read his rhythm. I looked at it and right away thought, "that's a.fib". My heart threw a PVC (haha), and I thought "shit! My patients in a. Fib!" but then I remembered the basics. 1) assess my patient. 2) assess the heart rate (is the heart able to accommodate or control the a fib? 3) does the patient have a known history of the a.fib? 4) does be doctor know about the a.fib happening on this hospital stay? <br />
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Luckily, they were all in my favor. My patient was not symptomatic. His heart rate was under control. He had a history of the a.fib, and the doctor already knew because they saw it during surgery earlier that hospital stay. So all I had to do was continue to monitor my patient, monitor the heart rate, make sure it doesn't enter an uncontrolled rhythm. The reason I bore you with this story is to show you (or myself ) that before this class, I would have freaked out if my patient was in a. Fib because that's a scary term and I wouldn't know the difference of good or bad a.fib....but now, I am competent enough to understand the heart enough to see that rhythm on the monitor and not have to 1) initially freak out 2) enter a bout of colitis because I would be stressed all shift about it until my patient went normal sinus (the normal heart rhythm). <br />
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With every bout of learning I learn, I love nursing more and more. The days I hate nursing are the days I feel incompetent. Those are the days I feel stressed. I don't mind having a completely shitty, busy as all hell day, whatever bring it on. But the minute I feel like I aren't good enough to care for my patient, that's when I feel that I hate nursing and can't wait for my shift to end. But when I feel like I can take care of my patients no matter what and can help other nurses even, I love my job. I love being able to feel confident. It's empowering and it makes me want to learn more, more, more. Soon I will be taking an ACLS class, which would further my certification to enable me to take care of more critical patients. During code-blue situations I would be able to push life-saving drugs into patients. I can work in the ICU or the ER with this certification. So, that's pretty cool and up and coming. <br />
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I finally have fully functioning power back and at least 134,342,114 posts ready to write, so look forward to that! Hopefully I still have readers =) <br />
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Love you all, thanks for reading. <br />
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~WNB. <br />
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<br />A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-18377270504290621212012-11-02T12:11:00.001-04:002012-11-02T12:11:20.221-04:00Not coolHey folks! Sorry I haven't been able to update, I'm in those pa/nj statistics you're hearing about on the news that still don't have power because of sandy. I have tons of blogs to write but finding power isn't easy. One public outlet actually has a waiting line. Gas is hard to find, it's scary. No heat in our homes and my house is currently 54 degrees. Hopefully well be restored and back to normal soon! :-/ <br />
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-WNBA Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699931173317355974.post-12872676215884698572012-10-19T14:16:00.000-04:002012-10-19T14:16:11.995-04:00C-Ch-Cha-Changes!Hey everyone! I am so sorry, It has been forever since I last posted, it has caused me so much anguish. I feel like a lot of my posts lately start with this apology. It *kills* me that my 2012 post count is like four times less than 2009-2011, what I usually write. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty to write about, PLENTY, all these thoughts every day race through my head and some formulate themselves into blog posts, some don't. And in my haste of constantly being busy, I just store it in the back of my head and think, "Make that into a blog post one day". But it never happens because I am busy all-the-time. <br />
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Here's an example of how busy I am. This week, starting around Sunday, I was so stressed that I gave myself one of those stupid mouth sores, like inside your mouth after you bite your cheek or sometimes stress literally does cause them (my dentist told me that!). Anyway, it hurt so bad to eat, (I had one on both sides), so I kept telling myself, "I should stop at the store and get Oragel or something", and so my counterpart subconscious was like, "Yeah thats a really good idea, do it." So then my other part subconscious in return was like, "Okay I'll put it on the to-do list." ( I have conversations in my head a lot like this, don't be concerned, or do be, its your prerogative). Regardless, I put it on my to-do list. Now stopping at the grocery store to get Oragel might take what, 10 minutes? Tops? Yeah. So from like Monday to today, I have not had *ten spare minutes* to stop at the store. Tonight I finally had *ten extra minutes* because I was *cancelled from work* (otherwise I wouldn't have had time)....and there I am in CVS, about to pick it up, when I thought to myself, "I waited so long to get it, now it doesn't even hurt anymore." So I stood there like an idiot in CVS, alone in the store, staring at the mouth care products. My other part subconscious was all like, "put it back, then. Don't just stand here." But my other part in return was like, "But we might as well get it for the next time you get a canker sore." and then I was like, "Yeah, true." So I got it. Now I just applied it anyway, (can't hurt, right?) but it did hurt because I accidentally swallowed some and now it feels like I'm dying except I can't feel it.....because its numb........<br />
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Yeah. Anyway. I'm not dying. Or delusional. Or crazy. I swear. Well maybe a little crazy, thats argumentable. << Is that a word?<br />
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And thats just the past WEEK. The past MONTH has been INSANE. Literally, I envy people that say they are bored. I forget what that's like. I forget what its like to READ, to WRITE, to just have nothing to do. I crave a day, an empty day to just do whatever I *want* to do. The problem is that I'm so busy, that when I get like three spare hours somewhere in my day, I'm just like "Oh thank god, NAP TIME", Instead something that makes me happy like reading or writing....or drawing. Even reading nowadays feels like a chore because I have a stack of books that my friends are like "Read this!" And I want to read those, I do! Except I have "homework" for two classes I'm taking for work this fall. So when I sit down and "read", Its about EKGs and ACLS. Super. <br />
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But I truly have been meaning to update my blog community for a long time now, the last thing I want to do is lose my amazing readers. The only reason I am writing right now is because I have twenty spare minutes, because my computer is so slow, and its trying to upload photos to my website that are from 1 of 2 photoshoots I did this past weekend. Phew! Also, because I got cancelled from work. <br />
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A lot has been happening....Like, a lot. <br />
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First of all, I think I mentioned this in a post in August or September, but the nursing unit I was hired to work on as a starting RN (surgical oncology women's health unit) closed down due to lack of patients. It closed down in August and we all thought it would be temporary, a week or two perhaps, a month tops. Just until we could keep the patient census up again. Meanwhile we had been made an unofficial float team, floating around the entire hospital. Not having a home got real old real fast, so they gave us a permanent home on the Medical/Surgical unit, putting a bigger number of people at "risk" for being floated (not many people like to be floated). But due to patient census not improving and one floor adding on a whole other units worth of staff, a lot of people were getting cancelled or floated still. Now, I am financially stable, enough so that I don't mind getting cancelled at all, I enjoy the surprise night off! But some of the older nurses with families, kids in college, etc., they need every last penny and don't enjoy getting cancelled, especially when its all the time. So they had too many complaints. Well, a month later, in Mid-September, they announced we were officially closed down (my old unit). In result, to improve the surplus of nurses and lack of patients which leads to cancellations and floatation's, they asked ten nurses to leave the hospital and transfer to another hospital in our network. <br />
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Now I saw this as a BIG open window. The hospital they want us to move to is not only gorgeous (practically a hotel), but its brand new, with *amazing* technology. I saw it being built from the ground up and daydreamed about transferring there, but never thought it could actually happen. I figured they'd have nurses at the front door begging to work there. So, I applied, I interviewed, and I'm waiting for a call back this week!!! I would still be on a Med/Surg floor, so it's not going to be glorious. It will be the same stuff I do now, just different setting. But that's okay, because as *hard* as my job can be sometimes on Med/Surg, I cannot even begin to explain how much I learn, due to the extreme variety we see. I can have 6 patients and not only can they range from 18- 105 year olds, but they can range from meningitis to cellulitis, to pneumonia, to COPD, to respiratory failure, to Acute Renal Failure, just to name a few. Med/Surg nurses see it all, all body systems. As much as I know I am destined to one day change the entire nursing healthcare field, I know I need to build my roots first. I need to stack my building blocks of knowledge first. <br />
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So thats exciting! I'll post again about whether or not I actually get the job. <br />
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The other exciting big change in my life is that I applied to graduate school! I'm waiting to hear back from them as well. If I get the new job, it will be a weekends nights position (I would work all weekends, but get mon-Fri off), allowing me to go to school during the week. Win! So I'm deciding between which to major in, Nursing Administration or Nursing Leadership.... I know in the past I've talked about Nursing Epidemiology or Nursing Informatics, and I still want to do that in the future. However those specializations I can get as certifications, after I make the building block of my MSN. So super exciting! <br />
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Being that School wouldn't therefore start until January, I would have until then to work on/ maybe finish? my novel, finally!<br />
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I'm working on not being as busy, that is key. Part of me likes being busy, it gives me purpose and drive....but I hate letting my friends down when they ask when can I hang out next, and I say......Hmmmmm....in three Tuesdays?? I feel like I'm already doing so much and then someone says I'm not doing enough. So I'm working on it. I'm excited that If I start this weekend position, that opens up a lot of time for me and I can write, which makes me happy. <br />
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Lately I've been doing a lot of questioning if I'm in the right field or not...it usually comes to me when I'm in the middle of a crazy shift and I think, "Am I meant to really be doing this?" "Is this making me happy?" But then I have a patient that tells me such high compliments that it makes me wonder how I could have thought I wasn't in the right field. In the past week I've received three compliments from patients. On the first one, I was just hanging an IV bag and making sure all her IV lines were where they were supposed to be. I had just spent awhile with her making her comfortable. She was a 40 something woman with very advanced cancer. And in the middle of the silence she said, "I can't tell you how much everything you've done tonight means to me." I looked at her kind of like, what? And she continued, "You are a great nurse but there are a lot of great nurses here, but you have that extra touch. Like that extra sense of knowing what I need. I just want to say thank you and that it means so much to me." Another patient, I was helping to feel better after she was crying due to a long day of testing she had had in the hospital. Later, when she was feeling a bit better, she told me out of the blue, "You know, you're in the right profession." It made me smile. <br />
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So, I've got a lot to work on coming up. A lot of change happening this year. But I have faith. I just have to breathe. <br />
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Thanks for reading, <br />
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~WNB A Writer in a Nurse's Bodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08305471508341379618noreply@blogger.com0