Today was the hospital’s quarterly skin survey.  I’ve been my unit’s representative on the skin council ever since that fateful day in October when I found my name  on a list taped to one of the cabinet doors in our station. However, until today, I’d only been to one meeting that became a canceled survey due to lack of participation. Go figure.

I didn’t really know what to expect.  We paired off into teams to assess two or three units so that every patient was checked for pressure ulcers. It was awkward at first because I was basically walking from room to room saying, “Hi. My name is Diana, and I’m here to look at your ass.”

We soon fell into a natural rhythm, and I was enjoying the break in routine.  My team’s assessment took about 4 hours.  When finished we took our documentation to the wound care nurse’s office.  She was eager to show us her latest purchase: a dummy butt (modeled after a 70-year-old woman’s  own derriere) complete with every pressure ulcer stage as well as an example of dehiscence and …. wait for it… a lifelike gluteal fold that could be spread apart to check the skin integrity!

And you know what? I must be getting into this skin thing, because it was kind of exciting.   Of course, I had to ask:

So, what exactly were  your options?  Do they come in different ages…and sexes?

1. ~ Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon. ~ Dag Hammarskjold
2. ~ Nursing would be a dream job if there were no doctors. ~ Gerhard Krochker
3. ~ Caring is the essence of nursing. ~ Jean Watson
4. ~ Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription. ~ Val Saintsbury
5. ~ Nurses - one of the few blessings of being ill. ~ Sara Mosse-Wolf
6. ~ Nurses are angels in comfortable shoes. ~Unknown
7. ~ The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest…. ~ William Osler
8. ~ Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse. ~ Elizebath Kenny
9. ~ “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - ‘devoted and obedient’. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman ~ Florance Nightingale

The past two days at work have been very stressful and tiring, mostly because of one patient. She is only 32 and her condition is poor, which is tough for me to begin with because of how close in age we are. Her cancer has spread from her breast to her brain, causing her to be very confused, hallucinate, and be unable to speak clearly. She spends a lot of the time crying, no, wailing, and her husband, family, and friends are extremely anxious for her to the point of being demanding to our staff.

All of these things are stressful to a nurse who has 3-4 other very sick patients to deal with as well. To make matters worse, little things just kept going wrong with her care. Her IV came out just as the doctors came to do a procedure requiring the IV. In trying to start a new one, we had to cut her armband off. Her veins blew, so we sent her down to get a central line put in, but they wouldn’t take her without an armband. They had to reschedule the procedure.

After all of this on Wednesday, my one thought was that I hope I don’t have this patient again Thursday. But, I did, and it was every bit as stressful as the first day. I thought that for sure the family would think I was incompetent by this point, but they didn’t seem to. I worked my tail off for them, and stayed an hour late to get her discharged. When they left, they were giving me hugs and calling me an angel.

This experience stands out to me because I was at Bible study on Tuesday and we were discussing spiritual gifts. There is a gift of mercy which involves working with the downtrodden. I don’t know if I have this spiritual gift, but I do know that I work with the downtrodden. Romans 12:8 in The Message says, “If you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.”

With this particular patient, I admit I was both depressed and irritated. But I worked through it, tried my best to be a dang good nurse, and in the end I was happy with how I did.

Sarah Gaff’s baby enjoys a meal from the best source possible — mom’s breast!

Trifillin' Bitch!

http://www.wisn.com/cnn-news/18796315/detail.html

Ok

One question, why would you do this?

I would like to think that in the event I did do some weird shit to my penis and had to get it checked out at the emergency room, that a picture of my temporarily problematic unit wouldn’t end up on the nurse’s Facebook page…

But I guess that’s just to much to ask for these days, now isn’t it?

These 2 nurses I am referring to from the above article, were fired for taking a picture of a patient who got a sex toy stuck in his rectum, and then putting the pic on Facebook…

Talk about some scandalous shit!

This is the type of shit that signifies a general decline in character.

Once upon a time, certain things were private.

You just wouldn’t do it because you were raised better.

You wouldn’t want to take the chance that if you did get caught your poor mother would turn on the TV and see that her son got fired for taking a picture of a trapped dildo and putting it on the internet…

But nowadays, that shit doesn’t even cross ones mind.

Sad shit man…

Where’s the scruples?

Where’s the class?

All for a few shits and giggles on Facebook…

As Mr. Bomer said, only in America…only in America…

Logical

D.Smith

Jimmy Gomez, previously with AFSCME in Washington D.C., will start
at UNAC/UHCP March 2 to represent the voice of nurses in politics

California – Jimmy Gomez is set to become the Political Director for the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals on March 2.  UNAC/UHCP is the second largest nurses’ union in California.

Gomez will develop and manage the overall direction of the 16,000-member union’s political program, including introducing and monitoring legislation, maintaining relationships with elected officials and key staff, and directing the UNAC/UHCP PAC.

“Now more than ever, it’s vital that elected officials heed the voices of health care professionals when making decisions that affect our society,” says Kathy J. Sackman, RN. “We made that clear when our union successfully mobilized for safe staffing ratios, and we’re thrilled that Jimmy is going to help us amplify our voices in today’s crucial policy debates.”

Gomez brings to UNAC/UHCP more than a decade of political experience in Washington, D.C., and California. Most recently, he has been California’s political action representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), UNAC/UHCP’s parent union.

He has also worked for the National League of Cities, the Democratic National Committee, L.A. City Councilman Michael Feuer, and Secretary of Labor-Designate Hilda Solis when she was a member of Congress. Gomez graduated from UCLA and earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

“Year after year, polls show that the public holds nurses in high esteem when it comes to integrity,” says Gomez. “It will be my job to make sure that legislators know when they listen to nurses, they are listening to the voices of their constituents.”

# # #

A mother, father and baby make for a great family picture — especially when the mother is nursing the baby. Angela Elliott’s husband joins her as she breastfeeds in this photograph.

Thank goodness it’s Thursday!  I don’t know about you, but I am tired!  Those of you who think us school nurses do nothing but hand out band-aids have got another think coming!  I saw 25 students today, not including medicines and staff!  I sat at my desk and chomped on a sandwich (turkey lunchmeat on pump bread) and slugged a Diet Coke in between patients…which gave me a bite every five minutes if I’m lucky!  Then, worked on Immunization updates, called parents, put documentation in computer on all patients, saw two staff members for health problems…Okay, I got that out of my system…anyway, at least I didn’t have any 911 calls, seizures, asthma attacks, or dangerously high or low blood sugars…today….and yes, I love my job!