If you come to the ER weighing 82 pounds at the age of 48, skin the color of freshly bloomed daffodils, vomiting blood, have a heart rate of 140, a blood pressure of 138/79, and have tremors so bad that you can't hold a cup without dropping it - I will not believe you when you tell me you do not drink alcohol on a regular basis. I will prove you wrong when the labs come back and your ETOH level is .280.
Don't go there.
Truth - it's a good thing.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Foul Language
I got a comment on another post basically saying that I cuss too much. So I read back through my posts from the beginning and I will have to say she was right. The question remains though - will I change?
Probably not. I work in an environment where cussing is a native language. I don't know a single one of my co-worker who has not uttered a foul word, even the "good girls." We are faced with people cussing us out almost on a daily basis because we won't give in to their demands for pain pills, work excuses, or other things. We get cussed out by people who have no medical training telling us that we are doing our job wrong. We get called bitches, fuckers, and the Queen of the mean - c.u.n.t. Why? Because we care.
We come to work ready to save lives, dress wounds, set broken bones, run our butts off all for the sake of getting called names when one person is unhappy because their morphine shot had to wait until we were done with CPR in the next room.
Are these valid excuses? Not really. But I tell you one thing. You will never catch me cussing at a patient or their family members. Never. I may cuss all day long on my little blog-a-roo here, but I will be respectful and professional with you if you are seeing me as a patient. I will probably continue my use of shit and such here, but I suppose that will expose you (my 12 readers) to the world I work in every day that I put those scrubs on my butt.
Welcome to the ER....... it's the place to be.
Probably not. I work in an environment where cussing is a native language. I don't know a single one of my co-worker who has not uttered a foul word, even the "good girls." We are faced with people cussing us out almost on a daily basis because we won't give in to their demands for pain pills, work excuses, or other things. We get cussed out by people who have no medical training telling us that we are doing our job wrong. We get called bitches, fuckers, and the Queen of the mean - c.u.n.t. Why? Because we care.
We come to work ready to save lives, dress wounds, set broken bones, run our butts off all for the sake of getting called names when one person is unhappy because their morphine shot had to wait until we were done with CPR in the next room.
Are these valid excuses? Not really. But I tell you one thing. You will never catch me cussing at a patient or their family members. Never. I may cuss all day long on my little blog-a-roo here, but I will be respectful and professional with you if you are seeing me as a patient. I will probably continue my use of shit and such here, but I suppose that will expose you (my 12 readers) to the world I work in every day that I put those scrubs on my butt.
Welcome to the ER....... it's the place to be.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Linkylooloo
This post over at Emergiblog got me all fascinated and such. She makes some great points about ideas for health care for our new President.
I love it when someone can speak my mind better than I can.
Loved this one also. It is an amazing play by play of a trauma death.
And THIS video over at Mel's blog made me tear up. It's an amazing testament to the strength of women and their friendships.
I love it when someone can speak my mind better than I can.
Loved this one also. It is an amazing play by play of a trauma death.
And THIS video over at Mel's blog made me tear up. It's an amazing testament to the strength of women and their friendships.
Yeah, Sorry.
I suck.
At Blogging anyway.
The past 2 months have been extremely difficult at work. Actually the last 4 or 5 months have been. Too many changes, too many cooks stirring the soup. Getting emotionally punched in the face every few days by someone you used to be very close with but who now feels the urge to "take you down" takes it's toll. A new job is sounding better and better.
Enough of my useless prattle. Onward and upward they say! I just don't say it with them today.
16 year old drug into the ER by her parents. She is visibily shaking in Triage. I can see her heart pounding through her chest. Heart rate about 160, respiratory rate about 40. Glassy eyed, scared shitless.
"Emily says she took something but she won't tell us what," Mom says.
After an extensive workup we found............................. nothing. Nothing popped positive on the drug screen. No weird labs. Just crazy vital signs. Was she just nervous? Did she take something else that we can't test for? Salvia came to mind.
"Can I have some ice cream on my toes for my trip to Maine?" Emily asked.
Um....................... huh?
"I need some tiles for my eyes on Canada."
What the hell? She is as confused as Grandma Mabel - who thinks it's 1812 and that she's a man fighting in the war.
Little Emily gets admitted for a few nights stay at our overpriced hotel. I came back a few days later to check on her and they finally figured out what she took.
Hold on - are you ready?
Dramamine.
Yep, you heard me right. Who knew? I've never had anyone come in that took Dramamine to try to get high. Holy crap. These kids will take anything. Do they not understand that almost anything can kill you if you take enough of it? I think they finally figured out that she took about 7 or 8 tablets.
***********************************************************
I've been taking practice tests for my CEN (certified emergency nurse) exam. Apparently they were designed to make you feel like the dumbest nurse on earth. The other night our crew sat down and did them all together, reading the questions out loud and discussing them. We argued with the book many times on the correct answer. Is that a sign that we might not be right in the head?
"Oh bullshit! That is not the first thing you would do for that patient."
"What a load of crap. Who wrote these questions?"
"Close the book and let's go get chocolate!"
Yeah, I like the last one.
***********************************************************
I've found my nursing soul mate. One of our night shift nurses moved to day shift and I'm finding that we work wonderfully together. I can read her like a book. We argue like sisters about practically everything, but when it comes down to the knitty gritty, we don't even have to speak. We get it all done for the code/trauma with little fussing and only relevant communication. We can briskly shout commands to each other without getting offended, which is the absolute frosting on the cake. I lubs her and she's my favorite team member now.
OK, I'll try to jump back on the blogging bandwagon, but I can't make any promises. My internet time lately has been limited to hours on Facebook and shaking my head at some of the responses on AllNurses.com. We'll see how it goes.
At Blogging anyway.
The past 2 months have been extremely difficult at work. Actually the last 4 or 5 months have been. Too many changes, too many cooks stirring the soup. Getting emotionally punched in the face every few days by someone you used to be very close with but who now feels the urge to "take you down" takes it's toll. A new job is sounding better and better.
Enough of my useless prattle. Onward and upward they say! I just don't say it with them today.
16 year old drug into the ER by her parents. She is visibily shaking in Triage. I can see her heart pounding through her chest. Heart rate about 160, respiratory rate about 40. Glassy eyed, scared shitless.
"Emily says she took something but she won't tell us what," Mom says.
After an extensive workup we found............................. nothing. Nothing popped positive on the drug screen. No weird labs. Just crazy vital signs. Was she just nervous? Did she take something else that we can't test for? Salvia came to mind.
"Can I have some ice cream on my toes for my trip to Maine?" Emily asked.
Um....................... huh?
"I need some tiles for my eyes on Canada."
What the hell? She is as confused as Grandma Mabel - who thinks it's 1812 and that she's a man fighting in the war.
Little Emily gets admitted for a few nights stay at our overpriced hotel. I came back a few days later to check on her and they finally figured out what she took.
Hold on - are you ready?
Dramamine.
Yep, you heard me right. Who knew? I've never had anyone come in that took Dramamine to try to get high. Holy crap. These kids will take anything. Do they not understand that almost anything can kill you if you take enough of it? I think they finally figured out that she took about 7 or 8 tablets.
***********************************************************
I've been taking practice tests for my CEN (certified emergency nurse) exam. Apparently they were designed to make you feel like the dumbest nurse on earth. The other night our crew sat down and did them all together, reading the questions out loud and discussing them. We argued with the book many times on the correct answer. Is that a sign that we might not be right in the head?
"Oh bullshit! That is not the first thing you would do for that patient."
"What a load of crap. Who wrote these questions?"
"Close the book and let's go get chocolate!"
Yeah, I like the last one.
***********************************************************
I've found my nursing soul mate. One of our night shift nurses moved to day shift and I'm finding that we work wonderfully together. I can read her like a book. We argue like sisters about practically everything, but when it comes down to the knitty gritty, we don't even have to speak. We get it all done for the code/trauma with little fussing and only relevant communication. We can briskly shout commands to each other without getting offended, which is the absolute frosting on the cake. I lubs her and she's my favorite team member now.
OK, I'll try to jump back on the blogging bandwagon, but I can't make any promises. My internet time lately has been limited to hours on Facebook and shaking my head at some of the responses on AllNurses.com. We'll see how it goes.
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