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Thursday, October 30, 2008

 

spit

I learned a random fascinating fact today: Byetta (a drug used to help treat type II diabetes) was derived from the saliva of the Gila monster. The coworker & I who were looking up the drug agreed that we couldn't make this stuff up!

I also did a good thing for a patient today - the patient had a painful wound that needed to be cleaned and have the dressing changed twice a day. The night nurse told me that it was so painful the patient was literally crying loudly... so before I did his wound care, I paged the doc and asked for an order for topical lidocaine. Which he stopped by and wrote for me almost immediately. So I was able to blast a bunch of numbing medication into this guy's wound - and it made a huge difference in his comfort level for the rest of my shift. That felt really, really good.

Of course, I also forgot to label a syringe of Reglan that subsequently got thrown away, and forgot to hang an antibiotic in a timely manner. This is why I will not be getting too big for my britches anytime soon.

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

 

undecided?

Undecided

I haven't really bought into the whole David Sedaris thing, probably just because everyone in my age group thinks he's the best writer that ever existed, but I have to say this made me laugh out loud. Especially this bit about the undecided voters who keep showing up on the evening news:

"I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

Sunday, October 05, 2008

 

adjustment

I noticed this week that I'm feeling like I'm getting the hang of being a nurse. I go to work, I get my assignment, I go about my day, and I generally don't freak out about any of the regular stuff that occurs in my shift. I still leave the hospital each day thinking that I could have done better/more/in depth/smarter... but I suppose that's always the case.

I continue to get good feedback from my patients, which is pretty reassuring. And I am really growing to like my coworkers. I already knew I liked the 4 others I went to school with, but I like the ones I didn't know in advance, too.

I did post-mortem care for the first time this past week. The patient wasn't assigned to me, but the nurse who was assigned to him was busy with a semi-emergency and the deceased patient was, well, deceased. So I helped. And I was surprisingly okay with it. I suppose it helped that the patient was elderly and had a do-not-resuscitate order and died peacefully.

On a personal note, I'm finally getting some time off. I didn't work last weekend, but my in-laws were here so I didn't exactly have down time. This weekend, however, I have been lazy as hell, and I have two more days off before I go back to work. Sometimes working 12 hour shifts is so worth it!

Two of the best patient quotes this week:

(little old lady to male nurse) "Don't you touch me, or I will KICK YOU IN THE BALLS!"

(head-injured young patient to the same nurse, on the same day) "Dude, do you think you could get me some weed?"

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