January 18, 2012

Paula Dean?!?!

Cooking star Paula Dean has told the world that she has been fighting diabetes for the past 3 years. Having seen her cooking show it is not a shock that she has type 2 diabetes. But what made me upset and confused is how she told the interviewer that she did not blame her cooking style on her disease. She states she has been cooking that way for years.

From a medical stand that is exactly how one develops type 2 diabetes, you just don't have 1 super bad meal and the BOOM, you have type 2 diabetes. It develops over time from a long history of poor eating habits. I think she needs more basic information before she becomes a spokes person for this issue.

January 16, 2012

Honestly in Nursing

This post is about what happens behind the scenes while taking care of patients


1. When we see you (the patient) laughing and talking to family and friends and then state you are 10/10 pain, we (nurses) don't believe you. We will still medicate you with pain medication, but we are documenting your outward appearance, and recommend to the MD's to discontinue the hard narcotics.

2. We are the ones that make sure the MD's don't make mistakes that kill you. So if some time goes by after the doctor talks to you about starting a medication it is the nurses that make sure it is in your best interest. So that is one reason why you may not get your medications right on time.

3. We cant write medication orders but we do... As a night nurse when we need a medication for XYZ problem, we have to call the MD for a order. But this doctor is not functioning at maximum capacity when being woken up at 3am with a complicated problem. So it is a unwritten understanding that we basically tell the MD what orders we want and why and 99% of the time he/she will say that's fine.

4. We do laugh at you behind your back.....Sorry but we have a job that can be very emotionally draining and humor is a cooping mechanism. We will treat you with the utmost respect and dignity while with you, but sometimes you (the patient) say or do something that is really funny. And we share these stories with other nurse, to escape from the very sad stories we sometimes have to deal with. So your funny situation or phrase is keeping us healthy....So thank you :)

More to come. :)

Back to Blogging

Hello again everyone, It has been a while since I last posted... Sorry for the delay

So in terms of what I have been doing with my time, I have completed my BSN in Nursing. I am now a fully qualified nurse. Also I am working at the top hospital in a major city as a Neuro/Tele nurse. That means I deal mostly with problems with the brain and heart.

In terms of the path of my blog, I will still be posting interesting medical and non-medical words to sharpen your mind, but I will also be posting some of my nursing stories adventures, with names changed to insure confidentiality.

I hope you enjoy....... :)

October 30, 2010

You know your a Nurse when...

ODE TO A NURSE.

You believe that every patient needs TLC: Temazepam, Lorazepam and Clonazepam.

You would like to meet the inventor of the nurse buzzer system- some night- in a dark alley.

You believe not all patient's are annoying- some are unconscious.

Your sense of humour gets more warped each year.

Your kids get their presents in TED stockings and hospital pillowcases, and their presents are secured with micropore tape.

You know the phone number of every late night food delivery place by heart.

Almost everything can seem funny- eventually.

When asked by the doctor what colour the patient's diarrhoea is, you show them your shoes. If it missed your shoes, you use the well known "poo curry colour scale"- ranging from chicken korma to spinach vindaloo.

You can identify different causes of diarrhoea by the smell of it.

Everytime you walk you make a jingling noise because of all the keys, scissors and clamps in your pocket.

You can tell the pharmacist more about the medication they are dispensing than they know.

You use bladder lavage bags to drip water onto your plants when you're on holiday.

You refuse to watch Casualty because it's too much like the real thing and it triggers flashbacks. Or your family refuses to let you watch Casualty because you spend the whole time correcting everyone and pointing out upside down x-rays.

You avoid answering the phone on your day off in case anyone from the hospital is trying to call and beg you to work.

You've been telling stories about work in a restaurant and made someone at another table throw up.

You notice that you are using even more 4 letter words than you did before you started nursing.

You've seriously considered catheterising your children before a long car journey.

Everytime someone asks you for a pen, you can find at least 4 of them on you. Most of them have the names of laxatives on them.

You don't get excited about blood- unless it's your own.

You live by the motto "To be right is only half the battle. To convince the doctor is more difficult".

You've blasted your christmas turkey with a 50ml syringe.

You've told a confused patient that your name was that of your co-worker- and to shout it if they need help.

Eating crisps out of a clean sick bowl is perfectly normal.

Your bladder can expand to the size of a water tank.

When checking the level of a patient's orientation, you aren't sure of the day yourself. Or, if nightshift, the month.

You find yourself checking out other customers veins in supermarket queues.

You can sleep soundly at the hospital cafeteria table on your dinner break and are not embarrassed when you wake up.

You avoid un-healthy looking people in the shopping centre for fear that they will drop dead near you and you'll have to do CPR on your day off.

You throw a farewell buffet for a co-worker and use a bed sheet for a table-cloth and bed pans to hold the nacho's.

You often stay awake for 24+ hours at a time when you work nights and realise you don't need alcohol or drugs to hallucinate- just lack of sleep.

You pull over in a lay-by after working nights because you are too tired to drive home and wake up to someone knocking on your window thinking you've had a stroke because you're passed out in your car and are drooling.

Your finger has gone into places you never thought possible.

You've seen more penis' than any prostitute.

You've sworn to have "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" tattooed on your chest. Soon!!

If you are not a nurse and have been sent this by a friend who is, it's just to help you understand our mindset and questionable mental state!!

Did you hear about the nurse who died and went straight to hell?? It took her 2 weeks to realise she wasn't at work!!