MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'code blog: tales of a nurse' source. Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:44:08 +0100 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/my-brain-is-overwhelmed-with-info.html Girlvet at Madness: tales of an emergency room nurse recently posted something I’ve been thinking about a bit lately: There are times at work when I am astounded at the amount of information that we are expected to absorb. Honestly it is hard to think of another job in which new information is given, and expected to be remembered, on a daily basis. And the information is not simple it is often complex. New drugs, procedures,etc. I’ve had the thought of trying sometimes to write down what we are asked to retain. It would fill an encyclopedia. I work every other weekend.  That amounts to one day a week.  Do you remember how you feel at work after a 2 week vacation?  That’s how I feel at work all the time. I used to feel pretty competent at work, and I still do.  But mor... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2073778 Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:54:31 +0100 2073778 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/about_this_site/code-blog-gets-four-calling-birds.html Ever want to know who my favorite reindeer are?  How about my most embarrassing moment at work?  I dished it all over at Addicted to Medblogs! And that picture?  That is soooo totally me, right down to the white fur-lined knee-high platform boots :) (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2039804 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:31:20 +0100 2039804 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/uncategorized/so-true.html So unbelievably true.  This is really how we see you, and this blogger put it perfectly. (thanks to GruntDoc for the link) (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2017432 Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:55:39 +0100 2017432 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/uncategorized/charity-auction-for-lobster-quilt.html Benefiting the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation. The author at Suture for a Living doesn’t only suture up people, she also sews quilts!  And she made a lovely lobster quilt to auction off to benefit this foundation. All the details can be found here. (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2017433 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:28:17 +0100 2017433 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/are-you-missing-a-man-in-a-kimono.html “Zookeeper, RN” writes: I am an RN at a very large public safety-net/regional trauma center/teaching hospital. It is a very interesting place to work as a nurse as there is always some kind of drama going on. I work on a medical floor where we see lots of infectious disease (HIV, MRSA, VRE, TB, c. diff, you name it), complications of IV drug use and booze, diabetes, renal failure, and many psych co-morbidities. As we are a public safety-net hospital, we see a lot of the same people over and over again because, well, no one else in town will take them. One such gentleman we see quite often, we’ll call him Sammy, was assigned to me recently. Sammy is what happens when you drink too much for waaaay too long. His liver is shot and all those toxins that a healthy liver would f... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2013550 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:01:29 +0100 2013550 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/change-of-shift.html A Thanksgiving edition of Change of Shift is up over at Rehab RN.  I hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving!  :) (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1998835 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:42:49 +0100 1998835 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/naked.html Anne writes: A friend once said that if you throw enough putty at the wall, something’s bound to stick!  Well, here’s some unedited putty. I’d been practicing nursing for 20+ years when I was diagnosed with lupus and fibromyalgia and there was a nasty bout with previously well-controlled epilepsy. I needed to stop working, stop practicing my chosen profession of nursing. I began freelance writing to occupy my time and found instant success and satisfaction; hey, I had my own byline and received pay, (albeit poor), for articles! This was life affirming, and at the same time invalidated feelings of low self-esteem because I was no longer able to work in nursing. Several years later, a new clinical editor was unable to increase my compensation for a column that I was editin... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1990538 Thu, 27 Nov 2008 07:12:24 +0100 1990538 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/662.html I don’t usually post this kind of story submission, but it does ring a bit true.  I do know preceptors sometimes have a difficult time providing feedback to their preceptees at the end of the shift, only to spring problems and issues on them later.  Anne, RN writes: It was toward the end of my orientation as a new grad when I got a message from my day shift preceptor, wanting to know “how orientation was going.”  When I called her back she proceeded to tell me a long list of everything I had done wrong over the weekend with my night preceptor.  I was at home on the phone and she was at work talking to me, so I felt backed into a corner. Meanwhile, over the weekend, my night preceptor told me I had done a great job as she scrambled onto the elevator to go home. I had g... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1980497 Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:19:20 +0100 1980497 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/copder.html Anon, RN writes: I’m trained as an ICU nurse but lately I’ve been picking up these shifts in an outpatient pain treatment clinic. It hasn’t been an easy thing to get out of that critical care mindset. In critical care you stick with the ABC’s (airway/breathing/circulation). In clinic nursing the first question after the procedure is, “Does my patient have a ride home?” So I’m working there the other day. Pretty much twiddling my thumbs all day and bored out of my mind because there’s really not much to do except take vital signs and fill out intake forms. But then one of the clerks grabbed me. “There’s a patient in the bathroom that needs assistance.” Indeed there was. I found a patient who needed me to help her out of a lit... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1968633 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:03:12 +0100 1968633 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/observations/wheres-our-bailout.html Here’s a very thought-provoking post from edwinleap.com: So the money is flowing from the taxpayers to the industries in order to keep all of them solvent.  Mind you, we in medicine have asked for some crazy things like: increases in reimbursement for actual work on actual people; tax credits for uncompensated care; limits on malpractice awards.  As a result, Medicare payments fluctuate along with Medicaid.  Care is still free.  Malpractice litigation sails along as smoothly as the Love Boat. Great post! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1968634 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:17:41 +0100 1968634 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/dr_val_podcast_and_grand_round.html Dr. Val hosted a great Podcast this last week about stereotypes in nursing. It was attended by myself, Terri from Nurse Ratched's Place and Strong One from My Strong Medicine. We had a really great discussion which Dr. Val so nicely summarized. At the end of her post there is a link to the podcast. I really enjoyed participating in this and talking with Dr. Val, Strong One and Terri! DrRich at the Covert Rationing Blog wrote an interesting post related to the podcast that I highly recommend reading. Another post that I highly recommend is Grand Rounds hosted by Musings of a Distractible Mind this week. I have no idea how he managed the number of submissions... it will take me a week to read them! As for the new codeblog, the template is finished, the tweaking is done... now I just have to ... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1951764 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1951764 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/election_day_grand_rounds.html Election day Grand Rounds are up over at Nurse Ratched's Place. She did a terrific job and all the historical info about the Presidents is fascinating! Codeblog is part of Blog Networks on facebook. So if you're on facebook and you feel like joining the Blog Network, come on over! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933004 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1933004 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/the_sound_ill_never_get_used_t.html I've written before about the myriad of sounds in the ICU environment. That post mostly dealt with IV pumps beeping, ventilators alarming, and constant talking. But there is one sound that will always rise above the cacophony: the soul-deep sob of someone who has just gotten the worst news of their entire lives. The average office worker, barista, pilot or librarian may never hear that sound their whole life. Even for a nurse who works in a critical care area, I would say it's fairly infrequent. Most people take devastating news rather well in public. Some people are so shocked that no sound could come out even if they wanted to cry. You may think you've heard it on TV shows or seen it in a movie. But not even the best actor in the world could accurately capture it well enough to shake the... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1930155 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1930155 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/cos_grand_rounds_and_a_blog_up.html Kim at Emergiblog hosted Grand Rounds this week. Another great edition as usual! And a spooooky Change of Shift is up at This Crazy Miracle Called Life. As for codeblog's status - I've moved everything to wordpress and am making changes to the site there. My husband and I (and sister!) are currently tweaking the template. I hope it have it up sometime in the next week or so! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1920882 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1920882 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/this_weeks_change_of_shift.html Change of Shift is up over at Nurse Ratched's Place... with a Be True To Your School theme! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883242 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1883242 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/public_service_announcement/injuries.html Kim wrote a recent post about why nurses leave the bedside. She referenced an article that talked about more of the same. Sinus arrhythmia then wrote a response post about nurses and salary. Both the posts and the article are a very intriguing read. But of all the reasons a nurse would leave the bedside, one of the biggest reasons must be injuries, and this was not mentioned anywhere at all. There are a few articles about injuries and nurses; feel free to get your facts and figures there. I personally know of nurses who have had such severe shoulder and back injuries from caring for patients that they required months and months off of work and surgical intervention. I know of one nurse who was kicked in the head by a patient. She was not harmed in any serious way, thank goodness, but the p... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1875927 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1875927 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/about_this_site/update.html Thanks to those of you that answered my poll. To the 3 people that told me I should stop - I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I think codeblog will go on. :) Codeblog will go on, slightly repurposed. Only slightly! Until that's all taken care of, I've pruned my sidebar, a la GruntDoc. I was really sad to delete some of those buttons. I know many more medblogs have started up and are thriving, though, so new buttons will be added as I come across them! If I have deleted your button by accident, or you want me to add a button for you, email me at codeblogrn ~at~ gmail . com. (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1870531 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1870531 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/general_medical_happenings/live_blogging_a_liver_transpla.html Moreena at Falling Down is Also a Gift live-blogged her daughter's third liver transplant. If you want to read from the beginning, here is where she gets the call. Annika is out of surgery now and is in PICU but not yet out of the woods. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. I'm sure a comment or two of support would not be unappreciated! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1865393 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1865393 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/about_this_site/where_ive_been.html Where to start? As I've said in the past, I've never been a very prolific blogger. I don't subscribe to the idea that one can't have a successful blog if they don't post several times a week. Unfortunately, I'm now blogging even less than my own personal threshold. Part of it is motherhood. My son is a very busy little guy and I'm enjoying spending lots of time with him. Another thing is that I've been working from home this summer. Thus, many spare moments have gone into finishing that job. Lastly, I only work one day a week in the ICU. I simply don't see anything interesting to write about because of working so infrequently. PixelRN wrote a post about how one could be a better blogger by just writing posts after imbibing some wine. The idea is to let down your guard a little and post sa... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1862641 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1862641 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/looking_at_the_bigger_picture.html Here's a story submission by Michelle G, RN. My thoughts are in italics at the end. I called first thing this morning to see if they needed me to work extra. Sure enough, a scheduled nurse was not coming in. I show up on my unit which is the medical floor to see that I have been assigned 4 patients. Wonderful! Great not to have 5 right off the bat. Today I take care of a gentleman who I had taken care of just 4 months ago. He was diagnosed back then with liver failure and was not a candidate for liver transplant. This admission brings him in with End Stage Liver Failure which means he could have a few weeks to under 6 months to live. He is in denial and refuses some of the treatments/medicines/blood draws. Patient's wife is excited to see that I will be his nurse again with this admission... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1794297 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1794297 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/what_i_wanted_to_say.html ... but didn't: Travelers getting requested cancellations are almost unheard of. I know that has not been the case since you joined us, but take it from me - these are usually very rare occurrences. I did not make you join this staff as a traveler and thus inherit all of the injustices that the position comes with. If I remember correctly, though, you are very well compensated. I did not make the policy which dictates that regular staff get cancellations before you do. I just have to follow it. It does not matter that you asked for the cancellation before everyone else. The only thing that matters is the numbers. Having said that, it was not I that requested and received enough cancellations to put your numbers higher than the other traveler's numbers. That was all you. Was it an extra kic... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1696043 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1696043 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/shift_change.html Not to be confused with "Change of Shift," for which you should head over to Emergiblog to get info on how to submit your entry for the next edition! It's quite easy - all Kim wants is your very first post! We were recently on vacation and on our way to returning the rental car, we stopped to fill it with gas. I thought I'd go in and get the boy some pretzels to munch on until we could get him some real food. I picked out a bag and went up to the counter to pay for them. The clerk informed me that they were doing "shift change" and that I'd have to wait if I planned on buying that bag of pretzels. Seriously? I have never been in that situation before. I was quite surprised. My face must have shown it, because she said that she'd allow me to have the bag if I provided exact change. In the h... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1575323 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1575323 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/if_you_are_idiotic_enough_to_d.html Maybe you won't be after reading this. (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1450194 Sat, 17 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1450194 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/this_post_has_zip_to_do_with_n.html Like the title says, this post has nothing to do with nursing. Or medicine. Ok then! I just read this on Yahoo! news: "His father, Yosef Cavalin, frets about the piano-playing, noting that his only child recently broke his arm pursuing another passion, martial arts. He has won several trophies for his age group. "Finals are coming and everything and he cannot play with both hands. He'll just try to play with the right hand," he says. "I don't know how his grade's going to be in piano. It worries me a bit." Um. Your kid, who 10 and is excelling in college level science courses, broke his arm while winning trophies in karate. And you're worried about his piano grade? I can confidently say that no one is going to take the kid to task over a B in piano that he earned while playing one handed... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1445869 Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1445869 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/why_cant_we_just_give_them_a_b.html This weekend we had a patient who had come in with chest pain. He was taken to the cath lab and was stented. Normally this kind of patient would go home in a day or two if there were no complications. Unfortunately this patient had a big complication - he was an alcoholic. So by the time he was ready for discharge for his heart problem, his alcohol withdrawal had kicked in. He is now on day 5 of his stay at the hospital. He spent at least 4 of those days in ICU which costs many thousands of dollars a day. He was still there Sunday afternoon when I left, and still on his Ativan drip. He was nowhere near getting transferred out to the floor. I'll cheerfully bet you $100 that even after all of the hell his body went through detoxifying from alcohol, he will get some good 'ol ETOH from somewhe... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426213 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426213 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/general_medical_happenings/oxygen_flow_meter_christmas_tr.html ERNursey wants to know: What do you people do with the christmas trees off the flo-meters anyway? Why do you take them off? Not a comprehensive list by any means: 1. Take them off the flow meter, add some beads, and you can make a kick-ass ID Badge lanyard. 2. A naughty little addition to that voodoo doll you made. 3. As, well, Christmas/fir trees for your kid's miniature doll house yard. 4. They go for about a buck apiece. They're always in demand. I think patients steal them and sell them on the black market. 5. Respiratory Therapy hoards them. 6. Add a little ball on top, some wings on the back, a little halo: instant green angel finger puppet. Okay, so the real reason we take them off the oxygen flow meters is so that we can put them on the portable oxygen tanks when the patient goes o... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1364876 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1364876 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/random_stories.html "milly rn" writes: Another day, another patient - of kuwaite nationality. No surprise I work in an icu in a private hospital in london uk. kuwaite families ship their loved ones out to london when given any kind of grim diagnosis in the misguided hope that we over here will be able to fix the problems! they usually arrive half dead having been rotting in one of their own country's hospitals for weeks ( tip - dont get ill next time you visit kuwait) all paid for by the kuwaite government (nice lot arent they!) Anyway mama m arrived, supposed to be very sick ventilated unstable blah blah blah........... in a wheelchair launched herself into her bed on arrival with no assist (we didn't have time to get near her such was the speed of her action all we saw was a blur of black cloth) and procee... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1344100 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1344100 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/coasting_through_the_weekend.html Wow. Life has been rather busy lately. I recently moved, my grandmother passed away necessitating a last-minute trip to the midwest, I'm in the process of starting a business and am chasing after a 16 month old. Oh, you want to see a picture? Ok! Work has been as busy as ever, with both the regular and overflow units open. Lots of sick people this time of year as usual. Lots of scrambling for transfer orders so that we can get more sick people in. It's a revolving door. Primarily working weekends, I am more attuned to the Weekend Syndrome now than ever before. This syndrome is characterized by a lack of decision making on the part of doctors who are covering their partner's patients on the weekend. I'm assuming that the covering doctor gets a sign out from the doctor who is off (usually -... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1337850 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1337850 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/a_lesson_learned_the_hard_way.html Submitted by My Own Woman: It was one of those rare nights on midnight shift where the ER was eerily quiet. The quiet and calm doesn't happen often in the ER and the nurses try to take advantage of it when it occurs. After all the supplies were stocked in each room and the trauma carts and the Zoll monitors were checked to make sure all was functioning properly; the nurses sat down together for a rare moment of rest. It was 4 AM, the time on night shift where the wind starts to go from your sail before you catch your second wind about 5AM. As we sat and talked about non-nursing related things in our lives the Ambulance phone went off. I got up to take the call. "This is A-1 Ambulance. We're bringing in a 20ish year old male with severe injuries to both of his legs. He was hit by a car wh... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1269535 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1269535 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/to_the_doc_that_rounded_on_my_.html I know you know that our patient was on isolation, because it's very hard to miss: 1) the big red "ISOLATION" sign on his door, 2) the big cart outside of his room containing gowns, gloves, and masks, and 3) me, standing at the patient's bedside wearing said garb. So when you come in ungowned and unmasked and I say, "Um, you do know that this patient is in isolation?" the correct response is not to hold up your gloved hands and say, "It's okay; I'm gloved up." When told that this patient requires more personal protection equipment than gloves, the other correct answer is not, "I don't have time to bother with that shit. I'm not touching him anyway." Do you want to know how I know that this answer is incorrect? Because when you were bending over ever-so-slightly to listen to the patient's c... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1222276 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1222276 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/grand_rounds_a_recommended_pos.html She loves you, yeah yeah yeah - enough to bring the Beatles to Grand Rounds, hosted at Emergiblog! As usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short for the link, and as usual, Kim has done a fabulous job hosting. There's a post I wanted to bring your attention to, because it is the funniest story I have read in a very long time. There's screaming, pain, and the payoff of a special 8 pound delivery... Disappearing John brings you the tale of a delivery that he was fortunate enough to be involved in. Funny funny funny stuff! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1192779 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1192779 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/change_of_shift_at_pixelrn.html Change of Shift is up at PixelRN! Lots of great entries there, complete with cute icons. Great job, Beth! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1174831 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1174831 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/cheap_drugs.html Awhile ago, I read a post from The Angry Pharmacist about Wal*M*art's $4 prescriptions. I really felt for his point of view - after all, isn't W-Mart responsible for putting zillions of mom-and-pop stores out of business? And over the years I've heard about them skimping on their employee's health insurance. I've always had the impression that W-Mart is pretty much squashing "the little guy" out there with its giant yellow smiley-faced foot. Of course I'd heard about their $4 antibiotics. Is that what they started with? Just antibiotics? I was unaware that they've expanded their $4 drug list considerably until this weekend. My patient was in the hospital for heart failure. We got him all tuned up, the docs tweaked his meds a little, and I was all set to discharge him. While talking to the... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1150614 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1150614 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/facelift.html My last post referred to making new buttons for some blogs that I noticed that had gotten facelifts. Makeovers. New 'do's. However you want to say it. One of those blogs belongs to PixelRN. A web designer in her previous life, she did a great job redesigning her blog. She explains how she did it in this post. She should put out a shingle, maybe redesign the sites for a few other bloggers, don't you think? (hint/wink/hint) :) Another post she did was about RSS feeds, and it is also very well done. If you are a blogger, you really really really need to know about RSS. For me personally, it doesn't matter how good your blog is... If I can't subscribe to your blog to read in Google Reader, I'm probably not going to read it. There's another side to that. You can choose how much of your post sho... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1136750 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1136750 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/about_this_site/how_do_you_explain.html I've updated the sidebar links again. My loooovely husband got me my Image Manipulation Program of Choice for Christmas and it's been so very nice playing around with it again. I've added some blogs, deleted some, and in checking to make sure the links work, I've noticed that some of your blogs underwent a makeover. So if the mood struck, I went ahead and redesigned your button. As always, if you don't like your button please feel free to make one of your own and I'll replace it. You need to stick it in a .jpg file that's 90 pixels x 25 pixels. Yeah, it's small. Here's a story submission from "traumanurse," and she sent it almost an entire year ago: I am a fun-loving person. I work in a Level One trauma unit. We have a lot of fun as all the RN's and MD's are great people and we make a grea... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1132665 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1132665 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/general_medical_happenings/working_the_night_shift.html Over at Nursing Voices, there was a recent post about working the night shift as a new grad. I worked 11p-7a right out of school. I trained on evenings (3p-11p) for a few weeks then switched to night shift. There were no day/evening shift positions at the time. I'd worked nights during school on the weekends as an aide, so it wasn't completely new to me. But it still completely sucked. I sleep best at night. I like it dark and quiet. Sleeping during the day, for me, was horrible. Room darkening shades helped, but nothing much helped the noise. The majority of the world is awake during the day, and there are lots of traffic sounds, lawns to be mowed, and doorbells to be rung. At first it was kind of neat, being a full-time child of the night... but the novelty wore off quickly. Driving home... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1117551 Wed, 26 Dec 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1117551 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/change_of_shift.html Change of Shift is up at Emergiblog. (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1093013 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1093013 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/tagged.html Remember this baby? Well, he turned into this 1 year old: I have never done anything so simultaneously frustrating and rewarding. Mostly rewarding :) I was tagged by PixelRN, so here goes: 1. I have a few goals in life: I want to someday design and build my own house, see the northern lights and visit the 7 wonders of the world. That last one might be a little difficult, though, seeing as how I'm not very fond of traveling. 2. For one summer in college, I worked at Eastman Kodak in a lab. I'm amazed that I can't remember exactly what I did, but I know it had to do with testing the silver emulsion for.... something. Anyway, it was a fascinating job and I still remember my coworkers there, although I don't keep in touch with them anymore. 3. I make mosaics. 4. If I could have any job in the... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1090382 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1090382 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/about_this_site/5_years_old_happy_blogirthday.html As of this week, I've been blogging here at codeblog for 5 years. I know I'm not the most updative poster. I know I only post a few times a month, if that. But I still love being a blogger, and I love knowing that codeblog is here when I want to write. This blog has been mentioned in Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal (couldn't find a link to that), and Nurseweek. I've hosted Grand Rounds four times. I still remember starting... My husband and I spent all day coding the site. Well, it was mostly him doing the coding - I just told him what colors I wanted and how I wanted things to look. :) Here's the very first post. Who knew it would still be here in 2007? Happy Blogirthday to me! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1085522 Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1085522 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/what_was_this.html From "psychosis buster, RN:" (For the longest time I kept reading it as "psychosis butter.") Way back in the eighties I was working on a 40 bed acute psychiatry ward in a fairly large Canadian city. One day, one of our repeat customers, a chronic paranoid schizophrenic patient, was admitted from Emergency. She hadn't been looking after herself and she was covered in lice, as was her (expensive) fur coat. Two of my co-workers figured they'd do her a favor and send the coat down to our laundry department for cleaning. Unfortunately, they thought it would be a really good idea to send it in a red "contaminated laundry" bag - this was before the advent of universal precautions. What they didn't know was that the laundry department didn't open those bags - they just tossed the whole kit and kab... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1079666 Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1079666 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/the_government_contemplates_nu.html Nursing ratios are very important. When I worked in IL, I once had to take 3 critically ill patients. I had never been so busy at work in my life and I constantly felt as though I was way behind. I was very scared of possibly missing something. There simply was not enough of me to pay very close attention to each patient. There were a few nights on med-surg that I took 9-10 patients, mostly fresh post-ops. That's a lot of patients. And that was over 10 years ago. Even in the last decade it seems like patients have been getting more and more complicated what with their chronic medical problems. Here in California, there's a law protecting ICU nurses in particular; it says that we can only take 2 patients in ICU. Even if they require a lower level of care and are overflow from full med/surg ... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1033447 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1033447 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/dopamine.html I had a patient a few weekends ago that was elderly and had many acronyms wrong with him (COPD, CHF, CAD, s/p CABG, HTN, DM, PVD, was HOH, CRF, past CVA, TIA's and, um, osteomyelitis). During report, I asked the nurse to just tell me the diseases he didn't have. Anyway, his CRF was turning into a nasty case of ARF and the primary care doc came in and ordered renal-dose dopamine. Does anyone actually still prescribe renal dose dopamine? Well, obviously, because this one did. But does anyone else? Being the dutiful nurse that I am, I started it at a whopping 2mcg/kg/min and sort of rolled my eyes at the whole situation. The patient was one of those cantankerous sorts that I love taking care of: Me: I have to give you a shot in your abdomen. It's a blood thinner that will help prevent blood c... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1017582 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1017582 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/not_getting_in_the_middle_of_i.html Ohhhh I have been away for awhile. I did not think anything could rival my blogging addiction, but my husband wanted to get an Xbox. Many hours have been sucked up playing Catan, Carcassonne, and Viva Pinata :-) I am completely hooked. Anyway. A patient I had a few weeks ago was intubated, even though she told her family she did not want to be. When the chips were down, they chose to tube her. She was pretty pissed when the tube came out. I tried to talk to the doctor about it. I told him she didn't want any of this, and that her wishes should be respected. He said that she had been unresponsive at the time that the decision was made, the family chose to tube her, and in the absence of documentation to prove her DNI wishes, that was that. But the thing that really got me was this: "It's be... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=971361 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:00:00 +0100 971361 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/uniforms.html When I started out in nursing, the hospital I worked at required CNA's to wear cranberry, RT's to wear teal, and RN's to wear royal blue, etc. We could wear certain scrub tops that were approved and that matched the royal blue pants. The hospital did not pay for them. When I moved and got a new job, there were no standard uniforms. We could wear whatever we wanted. Some people took this too far and started looking a bit unprofessional - scrub pants with little t-shirts that actually showed off belly buttons, that sort of thing. One or two nurses wore street clothes, but they actually looked fine to me. It wasn't like they were wearing jeans or anything. It looked appropriate in my opinion. A committee was formed to discuss the possibility of requiring standard uniforms. Most of us in IC... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=868145 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:00:00 +0100 868145 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/secret_pal.html To my sweet Secret Pal: YUM!!!!. I had to hide the box from my husband :-) (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=847208 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:00:00 +0100 847208 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/interview.html My interview with Bertalan is up at ScienceRoll! (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=838738 Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:00:00 +0100 838738 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/about_this_site/grand_rounds_and_button_poll_r.html Grand Rounds was hosted this week by Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good. The results of the button poll are in! Over 90% of you voted to keep the buttons. I was kind of surprised! So I guess they're stayin - sorry to the 9% of you who are tired of them. :) Now. Who's got an extra copy of Photoshop laying around? :) (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=829891 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 829891 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/an_inopportune_call.html His normal mood is quite sour. Typically indifferent. He's not chatty, never cracks a smile, never jokes around. All you normally get out of him are softly-spoken and terse, hard to understand answers. That day he agreed that the prognosis was probably hopeless. When I called with an update on her deteriorating condition, he said he wasn't surprised but that he'd be in to see her. He was there within 15 minutes. His mood was elevated to what most people would describe as ambivalent. He seemed almost chatty. More willing to explain things. I was surprised. During the procedure, his cell phone rang with what sounded like an annoying pop song. His eyes, usually partly cloudy, became dark and stormy. One of us was holding her still, the other was sterile. He fixed his troubled gaze at the one ... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=821257 Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 821257 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/carnivals/change_of_shift_and_blogospher.html Get along lil doggies (what does that mean, anyway?)! Change of Shift is up at Nurse Ratched's Place! She's got the niftiest stories of the nursing blog world all rounded up. As far as gossip goes, Babs RN and Ambulance Driver have announced that they are in sweet bloggy love. If you're in the mood for the down and dirty, visit Babs. But for the long sweet romance story, visit AD. Good luck you crazy kids! :) Might there be live blogging from the wedding? (Source: code blog: tales of a nurse) code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=818711 Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 818711 http://www.codeblog.com/archives/story_submission/whos_had_sepsis_raise_your_han.html Suzi has a question for ya'll: I had a kidney stone episode January 2007 which took me to the hospital unexpectedly. My urologist could not remove the stone because there was massive infection caused by the stone rubbing up against the "wall." I spent five days in the hospital with fever, passing blood, on IV antibiotics, oxygen, and with incredible "sweats" that required clothes and bedding changes several times in a 24 hr. period. I couldn't get out of bed alone to use the bathroom. I was terribly weak. After 5 days and under medical advice I was sent home to bed. I was to continue oral antibiotics, and a "stent" was put in place until the stone could be removed. A week or two later I did have the surgery and the stone was removed and another "stent" was inserted. My doctor told me I h... code blog: tales of a nurse blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=817517 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 817517