The Nursing Meme

1. How long have you been a nurse?
I have been a nursing student for 3 years and 3 months.
2. What Dept/area will you never work in?
Outpatients - when the first thing you get told is 'this is where they put the old nurses out to pasture', it really doesn't endear you to the place.
3. What Dept /area would you like to eventually like to try?
ITU and maybe Paeds (but I'd have to retrain for that)
4. What Dept/area are you in?
Surgical urology
5. What is the grosses thing you have encountered?
Nothing really grosses me out. Did once come across a wound I could put my fist into though.
6. What is the weirdest thing you have seen as a nurse?
Glass eyes always strike me as weird, necessary but weird
7. What one piece of advice would you pass on to new nurses?
Take advice that's offered. Ask questions. Don't act like you know stuff when you don't. (sorry that was 3)
8. How would you help retain nurses?
By NEVER saying 'Why are you doing nursing?' to the students
9. Do you have days you wondered why you ever became a nurse?
Yep whole weeks...
10. If you hadn’t become a nurse what would you be doing?
I would probably be a physics teacher

Oh and new blog rec from where this is been lifted - LivingDeadNurse

Brilliant Day

Monday was brilliant. Yes, Monday. Ah when you work shifts it really doesn't matter when the week starts! Not for anyone else really. But it was for me. They relied on the fact that I could take on the appendix and it's 13 theatre list patients and get through the day.

I have been stupendously proud of myself since then. I can take on the world now.

.....

Now I need to go write about it in great detail... for tomorrow.... I'm up at 6am.... baws.

Red

Currently I'm all red, literally. I'm sunburnt. Yes, in Scotland. Yes, in April. Sometimes it does happen! I think I have 1st degree burns on both my arms. If it blisters tomorrow I'll have a real problem. I burn so easily I usually wear factor 50 but it is Scotland in April, I wasn't expecting burns.

I've also re-dyed my hair mostly so that I don't have to mess with the blog header. I was brunette for a month back there but it just wasn't me. I'm back to being a red head. My mother doesn't understand. She didn't get my need to dye my hair purple and have a crew cut years ago. And to think that NO-ONE thought I was gay! Mind you even I didn't know back then.

So I'm red from head to foot! Well not exactly my feet.... they didn't burn today.

Pecking Order

We have quite a few students now. More than 2 and, say, less then 10. We're a big, immensely busy, ward we can take it.
And so the pecking order has developed. You know it had to at some point. Limited chances at the advanced clinical skills makes it first come first served at time. So it's an event that would make Animal Planet or National Geographic happy. We are essentially animals.

And I'm fighting to be alpha female. We have other students doing care management and they only just have their foot in the door. I've been there for 7 weeks now and I have a previous 16 weeks before that, I'm not going to roll over easily. Course that means whoever makes alpha will essentially be the best.

The year 1's and 2's have been on a bit of a steep learning curve, for some this is their first hospital placement. I've been teaching one or two of them a few skills I can do with my eyes shut. Like measuring pre-op patients for TED stockings. Sexy aren't they?
Who wouldn't fancy you in a pair of those!

I hope the claws don't come out too far. Much as the pecking order will fall into place, we need to remember to play nice while we do it. There were 2 drains to be pulled today and 2 management students. One each huh? Nope only one was there quick enough and the other was removed by the staff nurse. It may get dangerous.

Better go get my riot gear on.

I've Found the Love AGAIN!

For those who are eagle-eyed, sharp of brain and generally better at picking up on problems you might have noticed that when things go badly I don't post. (If you didn't, don't feel too bad. I can never see when my friends get haircuts. That's worse!) You really don't need to hear me go on and I don't want to type it as it happens like a bad copy of Nursing Big Brother.
I haven't posted since the first of the month.... It's now the 14th.
I'll leave you to your own conclusions.

Anyway... I'm back and I've found the love I had for nursing way back in the beginning. Which leaves me wondering if I had a period of burnout back there. Personally I think anyone would consider tossing in the towel after 16 weeks leading to failed placement, to be followed by an episode of 'why the fuk am I still doing this' and hitting the wall of 'too exhausted to function' last week.

Weeeeeee I'm gonna be a nurse!! I will be a nurse! I will no longer have to sign 'Student Nurse' after my name!

I'm back baby!

Wow

I didn't know there were that many people out there who read the blog.
Shucks.

I wish I could hug you all!

Pond Crossing Differences

I'm looking for a little input here.
The last post showed that nursing in UK isn't really the same as nursing in the USA, although it's the same job. The training isn't.

So to clarify a couple of things....
In the UK we don't sit a board exam at the end of the course (like the NCLEX) before we are placed on the register.

We do have to renew our registration every year to continue being a registered nurse and able to work.

I can be in charge of as many as 12 patients (in this current placement) (with a nurse shadowing me) per shift. These are general surgical patients (or even the rehab patients from my last placement) and not those requiring high levels of care (2 patients to 1 nurse) or ITU care (1 patient to 1 nurse).

Our courses are specific to the area we will be employed in. Cellar Door will be a mental health nurse and is on the mental health branch training (you don't mind being an example do you?). I will (someday) be an adult / general nurse and am on the adult branch. There are also separate branches for paediatrics and learning disability nursing. Midwifery is a separate course altogether.

The majority of nurses in the country are employed by the NHS. Only 25 to 30% are employed by the private sector.

Anyone see any more differences?

The Stethoscope Tag

I was tagged by both Little D, S.N. and Undergrad RN for this one.

Here are the rules:

1) Post a picture of your stethoscope

2) Tell what you love about it
3) Tell what you hate about it
4) Tell me what your dream stethoscope would be
5) Does it have a name?
6) Tag all your nursing friends (Including the one that tagged you) and don't forget to leave a comment on their blog telling them that you tagged them!

So they are both about to have a WTF moment.

We don't have stethoscopes as nurses or student nurses over here. Actually that's a little inaccurate. We do HAVE them. We just don't use them so prolifically.

From what I can tell Student Nurses / RNs across the pond (like we do just not as often) use them for measuring BPs and listening to lung sounds and heart rates. We don't commonly take manual Blood Pressure measurements. For some patients we have to but mostly we use digital machines like Dinamaps. OK mine doesn't have a thermometer on the side but it's just the same thing.

I have done manual BPs but not in a long time. When you have say 12 patients under your care and you need obs on all of them it's not really enough time to do manual BPs.

As for listening to hearts? I've done that. I've heard the sounds of mechanical heart valves. But again we don't do any of this routinely.

Lung sounds? Only in my ITU placement so far and really only then because of the risk of Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia. So there you were checking for air entry into the lungs at the top and bottom and any other noises like crepitus.

If you're looking for a stethoscope on the average ward around here you better start by finding the crash trolley. There'll usually be one hanging off of that.

I remember working the neonatal clinic in an outpatient's department as agency one day when I walked into the consulting room and the docs stethoscope was lying on the desk. He caught me staring at it and I said "That's a tiny stethoscope."
"It's for tiny patients." He replied. See because I'm working with adults most of the day it's easy to forget that we start of as little human beings, who need equally little equipment.

Sorry guys I don't have my own stethoscope. I have a pen torch for doing neuro obs and measuring tape for sizing TED stockings if they count as specialist equipment.

I have no-one to tag I guess. Unless of course Cellar Door has a stethoscope moment she would like to contribute?

Update Fail

Sorry guys! I've even been tagged and I've still not updated.
I'll post later honest.

I Gonna Do A Cuddy

I'm gonna do a Cuddy on the FY1's tie if he doesn't get a tie clip!

For all those who don't understand there's a scene in House (season 1, episode 4 - Maternity) where Dr Cuddy gets mad at another doc while swabbing the place for not having his tie clipped and well she cuts it off. Granted his tie was trailing into sinks and all sorts of waste. An infection control risk.

Yea I had a moment when, after having spent all day cleaning the ward, I went ape about our poor FY1 and his long sleeves, watch and tie. Poor sod. Sorry doc. I won't really cut your tie off. Well I might if it gets in someone's wound.

And yes I can find a House related moment for EVERY medicine related moment.