The Days When I'm Not a Nurse

Life After NCLEX: Continuing Education as a Nurse

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Happy February!

I am thrilled to be hosting the Nurse Blog Carnival this month! For those of you who don’t know what that is, check this link out. But essentially, it’s an opportunity for a bunch of nurses on the internet to get together and talk about nursey stuff.

So lets talk.

You’ve gone through nursing school, you’ve taken your boards, and now you’re a nurse!

BYUI nursing student

 

Yay you!

But wait.

The learning has only begun. From here on out, it’s up to you to maintain your education and to stay current in your practice. There are several ways to do this.

The first thing you should keep in mind is that, depending on the state you live in, you might have a certain amount of continuing education required of you. RNDeer (aka David) was kind enough to compile a list of  states and their education requirements. While I live in Idaho, one of the states that doesn’t require any education, the facility that I work for DOES. So keep in mind, this list is only explaining the state board of nursing requirements.

Joyce (International Nurse Support) talks about the difficult decision between a nurse getting an associates degree vs. a bachelors degree in her post. She breaks it down between new nurses and experienced nurses and lists the pros and cons. Ultimately, it’s a personal decision and once you figure out how you plan to use your degree, that will help make the decision of what level of education you need easier.

There’s another Joyce (joyceharrell.com) who suggests joining an association related to your chosen specialty as a way to continue education. They usually let their members know about upcoming conferences and programs with approved CEUs. They will sometimes have a journal or other publication that goes out to their members as well. (Personally, I’m a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and have loved the information I receive from them!)

There’s 3 things nurses need to know about continuing education and Brittney (The Nerdy Nurse) tells us what they are in her post through NursingJournal.org. First, she says that continuing education is not one size fits all- there are SO many ways it can be done and in so many different forms! Second, continuing education can improve a nurse’s lifestyle and further your career. Last, continuing education provides a way for nurses to stay up to date with best practices. All practical, all true.

I tend to agree with Lorie from Empowered Nurses. She talk about lifelong learning and how knowledge is power and it’s good to take advantage of every learning opportunity that comes your way. Not just in the nursing world though! Learning in all areas of your life will help make you a well-rounded person. Also, read Beth’s post from Confident Voices in Healthcare if you need something to get you excited and jazzed up about continuing education. I mean, we all have to do it, why not make it exciting?

Speaking of making it exciting, try reading Beth’s post from NurseCode.com. She goes through a list of 10 characteristics of a lifelong learner. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be going through this list thinking, “Yep, that describes me right there… and that, and that… and yep, all of that.” It’s nice to identify qualities that help you be excited about learning opportunities.

If you’re concerned about the return of investment for your continuing education, check out Jennifer’s post at RN Evolution. She makes some good points about CEU’s benefits at a personal level, an organizational level, and at a financial level.

There’s a post from Jamie at The Nursing Show that discusses research that has proven that online education is just as effective as traditional education. This is good news! Get a little wi-fi, some kind of electronic device, and you’ve got all you need to further your education.

I love Joan’s (thenurseteacher.com) take on continuing education because it’s the most similar to what I’m doing right now. She talks about specialty education you may learn on the job, seminars through work, and, her favorite (and mine too!), attending nursing conferences!  Just Google the phrase “nursing conference” and you’ll be bombarded with a TON of different options of conferences you could go to. Or better yet, Google “nursing education cruise” and see what comes up. This is SO on my bucket list. :) To summarize, learning never ends in nursing.

Something I found interesting was Erica’s post about continuing education for nurse entrepreneurs. It talks about education options for nurses who have started their own businesses. At first I had a hard time figuring out exactly what an example of a “nurse entrepreneur” might be, but her posts about business ideas for experienced nurses and ideas for nurses with little to no experience helped me get an idea.

YogaNurse is a perfect example of  a nurse entrepreneurs who has found a way to use her nursing license and create a business from something she’s passionate about. Annette encourages nurse entrepreneurs to create their OWN continuing education! She has some great insights about what it takes to work through your state board of nursing and get organizational credentialing for your continuing education activities. Until reading this post, I had never thought about this concept but I love it!

Marsha (aka The Bossy Nurse) talks about CEUs and how they can help a nurse in their business. The example she gives is going to a conference where she 1)learns a new skill, 2)makes new connections, 3)can nourish old connections, and 4) practice “your story.” Just throwing this out there, but if I were a nurse looking to start a business, I’d consider Marsha’s help. She looks like she knows what she’s doing. :)

Here’s another nurse entrepreneur for you. Elizabeth over at Nursing from Within makes the argument that advancing your nursing career doesn’t always have to include education in the traditional sense. She asks 3 questions: what do I desire, where am I now, and how can I reach my goal? The answer to these questions can help when it comes to making a continuing education decision.

Greg at Big Red Carpet Nursing says something similar. After sharing his incredible personal journey to where he his now, he challenges the reader to look all around because there are many paths to success and there are “lots of fish in the sea” when it comes to finding your way.

To top it off, Dr. Rachel Silva, NP at shares a post about what it’s like to be “terminally educated.” While that phrase initially sounds like some kind of torture technique, it’s really about taking your nursing education to the highest level it can go: to the doctoral level. If you LOVE learning and think you want to take it to that level, you should read her article!  While you’re at it, read through her blog, there’s all sorts of interesting things in there.

There you have it! A compilation of all things “continuing education.” A huge THANK YOU to all of you who contributed to this conversation! I’ve learned so much by hosting this month! I do not apologize for the information overload. It’ll do you good.

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This post is a collective effort of nurse bloggers as part of the Nurse Blog Carnival. Find out how to participate.

Nurse Blog Carnival - The Nerdy Nurse - 300x300

Nurses Week Day 2: WhiteCoat Clipboard Giveaway & How to Get a Nursing Job

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On the second day of Nurses Week, I give to you TWO WhiteCoat Clipboards from MDpocket!

May 7 2014

I just did a product review for this company (read that post here) and in collaborating with them, they offered to give away 2 of their nursing clipboards! I have a white one and a silver one (I had to go generic since this prize could go to anybody!)

Also! Use the code NURWK14 for 25% off your purchase! You will have to FIRST be logged in onto an MDpocket user profile for the code to verify. This code expires 5/12/14.

If you procrastinate (no judging), I have another code that is good through 5/14/14: AMONW14 will get you 15% off at checkout. Again, you’ll need a user profile before the code will work.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Paige and I do these monthly link ups where we blog about nursey things. And we welcome all you nurse and student nurse bloggers to join us! The more the merrier. :) 
Here are my suggestions to help the average nursing student get a job in the nursing field (after you’ve gone to nursing school and passed your boards, of course).
1. Get some sort of medical experience. 
Be a CNA. Volunteer in a hospital, a clinic, or a nursing home. Or start shadowing people in the medical profession! Just start exposing yourself to where you will end up someday. 

2. Bulk up the resume (with medical related things if possible).
If you’re sitting around waiting to hear back after you’ve applied somewhere, take that time to be proactive. You can go ahead and get certification in things you’ll need once you DO land the job. Go get your CPR and ACLS certification! Yes, most employees will pay you to do that training after you’re hired, but it shows you take initiative and looks good on the resume to show you’re already certified. Add whatever medical experience you got in #1 and add it to the resume. 

3. Connections. 
When I switched jobs to my current one, it was an in-house transfer. It really helped that I was acquainted with the manager and that my old co-worker was working down on that unit. Thanks to her, the manager was told when my application had been submitted to HR and therefore knew when to start bugging them about getting my interview set up. Same thing works for outside the hospital: it helps if you know people on the inside who can talk to the right people. Make connections while you’re doing clinicals or during your preceptorship. 

4. Follow up.
Our HR is notorious for taking a while to respond after an application is submitted. Call them and keep following up! They’re busy people and it’s ok to let them know that you’re waiting to hear from them. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Just be professional about it. 

5. Interview well. 
My mom taught me to send a thank you note to my interviewer the same day you’re interviewed. Like a hand written, snail mail, personal thank you note. It’s amazing how a simple gesture like this can leave a lasting impression. Also, take time to look up “most popular interview questions” online and do some research! Have good answers ready for those questions because they will be used. 

Good luck on the job hunt, all you new grads!

My Nursing ABCs [and linkup]

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I have this massive medical dictionary book that I got in nursing school and it’s one of the few I decided to keep. You can literally open it up and find something new every time. And there are pictures! I wanted to use it as a coffee table book but Mo said no because people eat in that room.
Anyway, I wanted to make my own personal version of that and share a little bit about my job by using the alphabet. Here goes.
A is for apnea.
Defined as the absence of spontaneous breathing. It can be induced by respiratory suppressing medications, like narcotics. Or it can occur in individuals while they’re asleep. It’s not normal. Get treatment.
B is for beta blocker.
A classification of medication that target the beta-receptors specifically on the cells of the heart muscle. Helps with hypertension, managing arrhythmias, and protecting against a second heart attack. 
C is for chest tube. 
So, so many chest tubes. Rarely do we have a patient without one. 
Picture of chest tube placement after lung surgery
Majority of the time, they’re placed to drain blood and fluid after heart and lung surgery.
D is for dialysis. 
There are several types of dialysis but the one I have to know about as a nurse in an intensive care unit is CRRT (continuous renal replacement therapy). It’s basically a slow, continuously running dialysis that the nurse manages. These patients are 1:1.
E is for Electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG). 
My heart patients have this done before surgery, right after, and as needed. Often times, the little stickers get left behind and we’re pulling them off for days. Helpful hint: the longer those stickers are left on, the gummier they get. It’s awful.
If you can’t get an order for a rectal tube, these can save you!! And the patient’s skin too. 
G is for gonorrhea. 
Actually, I never have to deal with this in my patient population (*knocking on wood). I was just stuck on G for a while. 
H is for heart. 
My favorite organ of the body. 
The real deal vs. the Hallmark deal
I is for Insulin. 
Our goal after surgery is to keep a patient’s blood sugar well controlled to prevent infection and promote healing. We do this with the help of our amazing Glycemic Management Team and keeping the patient on an insulin drip for the first 48 hours (diabetic or not) or as long as needed. 
J is for jaundice. 
It’s not just for those newborns, I’m telling you. It’s often benign for babies, but for adults it’s cause to worry and investigate. As a nurse, it’s awfully uncomfortable watching someone turn yellow.
K is for kilogram. 
In the hospital, we use the metric system. And military time. Kilograms for weight, centimeters for height, milliliters of fluid, and Celsius for temperature, just to name a few. It’s not so bad once you get used to it. The hard part is when a patient wants to know what their temperature is, but in Fahrenheit. Lucky for me, our hospital has a conversion table taped to the inside of the cupboard door where we can easily figure it out for them. 
L is for Lasix (also known as Furosimide). 
It’s a diuretic. It makes people get rid of extra fluid in their body. Our heart surgery patients get a TON of fluid from surgery and we want to make sure they can get rid of that fluid. We keep track of their daily intake/output and weigh them every morning to see how they’re doing. If the doctor thinks they need a little extra boost in getting rid of the fluid, they’ll order Lasix. 
M is for myocardial infarction (aka heart attack).
Heart Attack illustration - Myocardial Infarction
MIs occur when blood flow to the heart is blocked long enough that part of the heart muscle becomes damaged or dies. Please take care of your heart. And if you EVER have anything that could possibly be chest discomfort, tightness, pressure, whatever… get checked out! Don’t mess around with the heart!
N is for nosocomial infection (aka hospital-aquired infection).
It happens. Hospitals can be dirty places sometimes.
O is for Oxygen. 
Interesting fact: I recently had a patient tell me that oxygen helps her nausea. She has been on chemo and has definitely had her share of nausea and has found that when they put oxygen on her, the nausea lessens. 
P is for pacemaker.
After heart surgery, our patients come out with temporary pacemaker wires to have as a backup way to help the heart beat if there are problems. 
There are also external pacemakers and permanent pacemakers and transvenous pacemakers. We get exposed to all of them. 
Q is for QRS complex. 
File:Qrs.png
R is for Red Man syndrome. 
I’ve seen this once or twice during my 6 years nursing. It’s like the jaundice thing, it’s disconcerting to watch someone turn a different color, red being one of them. This one occurs as a drug reaction (Google image this one if you’re feeling brave).
S is for sternotomy. 
This is probably one of the most common post-operative incisions that I care for (besides throcotomies, but see the letter T for more on that).
Sternotomy diagram, showing the sternum and incision
There are YouTube videos of this, if you’re morbidly curious. Don’t watch it if the idea of blood or retractors makes you squeamish. 
T is for tamponade.
Cardiac tamponade is a potentially life-threatening condition where blood or fluid gets trapped between the heart and the pericardium. It puts pressure on the ventricles and limits how much blood the heart can pump out to the body. Either the fluid must be drained by a needle (pericardiocentesis) or, for our heart patients, sometimes they have to take them back to the OR and open their chest again. 
When life gives you tampons, make tamponade. LOL..........
U is for underwear. 
It’s something that patient’s don’t get to wear basically the entire time they’re on my floor (or in the hospital, for that matter). They have to take everything off when they’re admitted and don’t get to be in anything but a hospital gown until they get their discharge order. 
But I think it makes them feel young again. For most of them, they haven’t gone commando since they were 5. 😉
V is for valve. 
The heart has 4 of them. 

W is for walker. 
Not the zombie TV show. Walker as in “an extremely light, moveable apparatus, about waist high, made of metal tubing, used to aid a patient in walking” (Mosby’s Dictionary).
Double Trigger
X is for Xarelto. (I bet you thought I was going to say x-ray, huh?)
Xarelto is a prescription medication that is used for preventing or treating blood clots. We occasionally have patients taking this, although Coumadin (Warfarin) is more common. And that’s all I’m going to say about that so I don’t sound like a drug rep. :)
Y is for yeast. 
Nystatin powder, anyone? 
Z is for Zaroxolyn. 
Another drug. This one is a diuretic that we use from time to time (usually with Lasix- see the letter L).
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Did you learn something new? :) Link up with Paige and I below!
ps. April’s topic is all about finding a nursing job! This is for the especially for the nursing students who are about to graduate!!

Nursing Bucket List

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February is ending and it’s time for another nurse link up with Paige and any of you lovely nurse bloggers out there who’d like to join us!

Did you watch that Grey’s Anatomy episode where Christina gets to make a bucket list of all the surgical procedures she’s ever wanted to do? Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, anyone else get burned out   watching it? (talk about never-ending story).
Back to the bucket list. I’ve got one, except for nursing. It’s always changing. I’m either adding to it, changing it, checking things off… but here’s a general idea of where I am at, as of TODAY. 
1. Go on a nursing conference cruise. 
They really have these! Most nurses have to get so many continuing education hours each year and I can’t think of a better way to get them than on a cruise ship. Who’s with me? 
2. Volunteer more.
My hospital always has volunteer opportunities for the community events they hold. I’ve been apart of some of these and it’s always such a rewarding experience. 
3. Become a certified nurse. 
In the nursing world, there are all sorts of certifications we can get. While I’m currently set to take the PCCN soon, my bucket list absolutely includes getting my CCRN (certification as a critical care nurse).
4. Get a master’s degree in nursing. 
While I’m not currently working on this one, it’s on the bucket list as more of a ‘long-term’ goal. First, I have to convince myself to go back to school. It’s hard to get back on the horse when it’s really nice to be off it! :) Then I’ll have to figure out what sort of program I’d want to apply to. There’s so many options: advanced practice registered nurse roles like nurse practitioner (NP), clinical nurse specialist (CNS), certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), and certified nurse midwife (CNM). There’s nursing research, nurse educators, clinical nurse leaders (CNL), nurse administration, and more!
So much to think about. 
5. Try out a nursing leadership role. 
Now’s as good a time as any to mention that we’ve had some management changes in the CVICU recently. Our wonderful manager of 5 years transferred to the ER to manage their unit. So now we have an interim manager and the hospital is interviewing for a new manager.
To make a long story short, I interviewed.
And it went really well! When all the changes first started happening, I thought I’d maybe consider  an assistant manager position or something, but after some reflection and some external encouragement, I decided to show some initiative and go for it.
Round 2 of interviews is coming up later in March and I can honestly say that I’ll be excited for whatever happens. Even if I don’t get the position, I’m so happy with the unit and the co-workers and we’ll all get to adjust to a new manager together. If I’m chosen to take over the role, it’ll be a wonderful opportunity and I’ll have a ton of learning opportunities coming!
I’m sure you all will hear if something happens. :)

Speaking of buckets…

I found this in Portland. And I took a picture of it specifically so I could include it on this post. :) 

What do YOU want to do with your nursing career? 
Let me know, I’m curious!
ps. last chance to guess these heart rhythms! I’m choosing a winner next week when I’m back in town!

Nurse Link Up: Essentials

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Link up day with Paige and I! 
Refer to this post if you have no idea what we’re doing. :)
So. You’re a brand new nurse and you’re wondering, 
“What am I going to need out there in the real world?”

With 5 years under my drawstrings, I’ll tell you everything I know.
Accessories
-scissors. the bandage kind. I use mine every day.
-a hair tie. unless you have short hair, that is. It is a very rare occasion indeed when you see me with my hair down at work. Body fluids are everywhere- I don’t like to take the risk.
-a watch. Digital or analog, it doesn’t matter as long as it has a way for you to count seconds.
-a pen. You will need one. Or many. I usually have a black one and red one in my pocket and I constantly lose them, so I don’t get fancy ones. In fact, I just use the ones at work.

What to splurge on
–good shoes. You start these 12-hour days and you’re feet aren’t prepared for it. They WILL get used to it (eventually) but a good pair of shoes is vital. A large amount of nurses wear Danskos, but if you don’t like the clog feel/look, good tennis shoes are fine too (these shoes are my current favorite- worth every penny).
-scrubs. You want to look nice and you want to be comfortable. Buying scrubs after you graduate is basically a rite of passage. My first pair after school were purple, in case you were wondering.

What to save on
– a stethoscope. I used the same one from school for about 3 years after I graduated and it worked fine. It was only when I lost it that I upgraded to my Littmann Cardiology III and thereafter enjoyed the ‘lub-dub’ of a beating heart in surround sound! It’s NICE to have a fancy stethoscope, but you don’t need it.

What you DON’T need
-a drug book. Sell it. With most hospitals having computers in every patient’s room and many nurses having smartphones, looking up drugs has never been easier! For my hospital, the computer charting system will link a medication with a reference text that will tell me all I need to know about unfamiliar drugs. Our hospital website is linked to a pharmacy website that can again, tell us what a drug is for AND tell us IV drug compatibilities (it does other things too, but that’s what I use it for). If you have the resources, ditch the book.
-EKG calipers. I actually had a student in my class who owned a set of these! They come in handy when you’re getting in-depth with an EKG, but they aren’t essential. The heart rhythm strips I print off at work come with a computerized caliper for me to measure waveforms.

And when in doubt, ASK! Ask the other nurses at work or ask us here online! We love new nurses and we want you to have a smooth transition from new-grad to nurse. :)

Blog direction.

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I have been blogging for 4 years, and it hasn’t gotten really serious until the last 2, I’d say. I have amazing readers who inspire me and who I hope are inspired when they come here. Or at least entertained for a moment. :) As ironic as it is (because of the name), my blog really has become more of a nursing blog than anything. And I’m okay with that. 
It’s not the sort of nursing blog where you’ll find articles with the newest evidence-based practices. It’s not a blog about technology in nursing, wellness tips, or about the humorous parts of the job. If I had to define it, I’d say it’s a nurses’s personal blog about life inside and outside the hospital. 
So. For 2014 you can expect more stuff for nurses. More nursing product reviews. More linkups with Paige and you nurse-bloggers. Another awesome week of blogging in May for Nurses Week (here’s 2012 and 2013 if you want a look). As I write, the part I look forward to the most is hearing what my readers have to say. I love the sense of community having a blog gives you!
And so, as my blog is settling into it’s own little niche, I hope you’ll stick around. Please let me know if there is something more you’d like to see here! And follow on instagram (@anna_the_nurse) where I post more non-nursing stuff than anything. :) 
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A little bit about the nurse link-ups if you’re new:
Each month Paige and I pick a theme for nurse-bloggers to write about. We post on the last Wednesday of every month. Linkups are open to nurses, student nurses, aspiring nurses, retired nurses…we’re flexible. :) We follow HIPAA guidelines and do not post any identifying information about patients in our posts. We LOVE when people link up with us! 
Our January linkup is all about the essentials. What does a new nurse need when they’re first starting out? What do you wish you’d had in the beginning? What did you get and realize you never used? 

October linkup: Because I’m a nurse…

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It’s the end of the month again! Only a couple more linkups for 2013, friends! I’m trying to gauge the interest in these and then I’ll decide weather to continue or not for 2014. Just FYI. I get it though, being a nurse sucks up your life! To be a nurse AND blog? Well, Paige is a good example of how to be amazing at both!

1. Because I’m a nurse, smells don’t bother me like they used to.

2. Because I’m a nurse, people don’t hesitate to ask my advice on any medical related topic. (I typically fall back on, “if it doesn’t get better, go see a doctor.”)

3. Because I’m a nurse, I get to wear pajamas to work. :) I mean, lets be honest, scrubs are the most comfortable things! I’ve met some guys who like the way girls look in scrubs, and I’ve met other who don’t. Mo is in the former category, which is a shame since I’m in scrubs half of the week.

4. Because I’m a nurse, I have the bladder the size of a watermelon.

5. Because I’m a nurse, nailing an IV makes my day.

6. Because I’m a nurse, I often think about what it would be like to have a ‘normal’ job. And then I realize the pay wouldn’t be the same. 😉

7. Because I’m a nurse, my hands get all red and dry in the winter time from excessive hand-washing. This is the time of year I start trying to find the perfect lotion: something neutral smelling (to not bother patients) and something that won’t wear off too quickly.

8. Because I’m a nurse, my back is already starting to have weird muscle twinges… and I’m only 25!

9. Because I’m a nurse, I have work dreams that involve me nearing the end of my shift and realizing I had another patient and I neglected them all day!

10. Because I’m a nurse, I feel valuable and satisfied and proud.

Make a list like this on your blog and link up below ANYTIME in the next week! :) Paige and I would love to hear yours!

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To my fellow Nampa citizens: 
Halloween time! Are you excited?! 
There’s a couple things going on that I thought I’d mention really quick:
1. Tonight, Oct 30, there’s a Trunk or Treat here in Nampa from 6pm-8pm.
(If you go to this one, come find me! I’ll be with the roller derby people) :)
2. Downtown Nampa has their annual Halloween festivities on the 31st from 3pm-5pm. If you have kids and you don’t want them out after dark, check this event out!

What Nurses REALLY Think About Medical TV Shows…

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I think I’ve confessed before that Mo and I are up to date on Grey’s Anatomy. All 9 seasons (this happened over long periods of time, promise). I’ve also been exposed to a little bit of House, some Scrubs, and I do watch Dr. Oz on occasion. :) As a nurse, I can’t help but judge these shows a little a lot.

-All the fake CPR. You know what I’m talking about.
I don’t want someone giving me sub-CPR just because they saw it on TV and think that’s the way to do it. Plus, no one is saying dramatic things like, “Come on! Don’t leave us!” It’s more like, “give another milligram of epinephrine.” It’s all business.

–Ethics. It’s like they don’t exist in these shows! People are breaking rules all the time, it is NOT like that.

–Crossing the Line. In nursing school, we were required to watch this video, “Crossing the Line,” about a nurse who grew too close to a patient. I think all of these TV characters need to watch it!

-Doctors don’t do everything. Emma brought up a really good point: “My biggest pet peeve about Grey’s Anatomy is the doctors doing everything a nurse would do. Would a doctor ever draw labs?! No. So annoying!”
In general, the nurses aren’t represented well in this show at all. I think out of the 9 seasons, there have been about two main characters who were nurses. 

The BEST part about these shows is the back story: so-and-so is having weird symptoms- is it cancer or flesh-eating bacteria? I guess that’s why I keep going back. :) 

What do YOU think?
Link up with Paige and I below!
Also, you have until Friday to enter my Dansko shoe giveaway. :)

Link-up Day! Talking about my very first nursing job.

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Are you a nurse/nursing student who also happens to find enough time in your life to blog??
First of all, congratulations. 
Second of all, you ought to consider linking up with Paige and I! We love meeting other nurse bloggers. :) We pick different monthly themes to talk about (like a book club, kinda?) and we’re always open to suggestions! 
This month we’re talking about our first nursing jobs (because Paige is fresh out of school and just went through the process of finding a job!) If you’re already a nurse, tell us what your very first job was and what it was like. If you’re a nursing student, tell us what you HOPE your first job is. :) 

In nursing school, everyone told me that the best job for a new grad was in the medical/surgical unit. Have you heard that too? They said it’d be a good place to start because of the large variety of patients and how general it is… it would be a good opportunity to find out what kind of nursing you’re really passionate about.

So, there I was, little new grad Anna.
I was just finishing my associates degree and planning on finding a job to work part time at while I finished my bachelors. I applied to maybe 3 or 4 places and ended up interviewing with Madison Memorial Hospital, a small but adequate hospital in my college town, for their med/surg unit. It was a pretty competitive place to get into, since they always had new grads applying, but I was lucky enough to get a part time slot and started up.

This is the job where I first learned the tricks to putting in a NG (nasogastric) tube. This is the place where Mo went for his kidney stone. There was the time when I had my first run-in with a surgeon (some misunderstanding about a patient getting a catheter put in before surgery or in the OR). This is the place I learned what exactly a septic patient looked like. I learned the joy of hitting a vein on your try. And as I look back on this job, I realize how much I didn’t know and how grateful I am to those wonderful, experienced nurses who kept an eye out for me and answered my never-ending questions.

(Quick story from the picture above: this was the night I dropped my ipod in the parking lot and it got run over by a car, but the very next day, someone on campus found it and emailed all the Anna’s at school (because when you plug it in, it said “Anna’s Ipod”) and I correctly identified it and got it back! And it still works! Mo likes to remind me of this story and tells me “This is why we don’t have nice things.” The end.)
After working at my first job for a year, Mo and I were moving to the Boise area and I started applying for another position. I did a phone interview for a telemetry position and that became my second nursing job… and then I haven’t left cardiac nursing since. 

If my fortune cookie from last night is right, then it looks like I made the right choice. 😉

Link up below!
(please)

How to be the Perfect Patient (a link up)

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This month’s theme is actually inspired by one of my favorite readers’ comments in May’s nurse link up. She said, “I think sometime you and your nurse friends should do a post about what makes a good patient. Whenever I am in the hospital (having babies and what not) I wonder if I’m being annoying to the nurses or if they think I am delightful.” 
Well. :) Let’s talk about it, shall we?

How to be the Perfect Patient

I should probably mention that I’ve only been a patient a couple times in my life and never in the hospital (think laser eye surgery and wisdom teeth). Oh. And I just found out I’m going to be having a frenulectomy later in August. It sounds much more serious than it actually is… apparently they use a laser and trim up some of the fiberous tissue that connects the upper lip to the front two teeth. No biggie. But it’s probably worth at least a milkshake afterwords. :)
So, the point I’m trying to make is that what I have to say is coming from the nurse perspective, due to my obvious lack of real patient experience. 
1. The infamous call light: use it, don’t abuse it. 
We actually don’t mind if you use it. In fact, PLEASE use it when you need something! Pain pills, assistance to the bathroom, you get the idea. In fact, we’d much rather you use the call light than, say, send a family member out to track down your nurse who might be in the middle of grabbing some more supplies for the code brown team down the hall. The call button is great, in moderation. I can only speak for myself, but less than once every couple of hours awesome. Multiple times in an hour, and the nurses will label that patient as “needy.” You light will still be answered, but it’s lost it’s effect and there could be a delay in response time. At my hospital, either the nurse or CNA will round on the patient at least once each hour to check and see how they’re doing, if they need anything, how their pain is, etc. This this helps decrease call light use and makes it easier for nurses to cluster their cares and then do their charting with fewer interruptions. We understand things come up and emergencies happen and we really do want to be there for those! When you can, save the pillow and bed adjustment calls for when we’re already in the room. :) deal? 

2. Family. Please intervene when necessary. 
As the patient, you are our priority. It is easier for us to focus on your care when we don’t have ten different family members calling for updates. I always tell my patients to pick one spokesperson (a spouse, parent, power of attorney) that we can communicate with and they can disperse that information to everyone else. If there’s family drama, please find a way to deal with it. It’s hard for a nurse to also be the bouncer responsible for keeping the patient’s ex’s mother out of the room. Lastly, it is unnerving when a family member is in the corner with a notebook, writing down every detail of your hospital stay with the name of every person who walks into the room. (seriously. this happens more often than you think.) I promise, when you leave here, we’ll give you a stack of discharge papers that have more than enough detail of your hospital stay and you can take as many notes on them as you want… in the meantime, please have your family refrain from writing down every meal eaten in the hospital unless they have a good reason. 

3. Ask educated questions. 
You might think asking your nurse a bunch of questions would be categorized as annoying, but in reality, we don’t want our patients blindly swallowing a handful of pills, we want you to know what they are and why they’re prescribed to you. We don’t want you to just sign the consent form, we want you to understand what the procedure it and why you need it. We want you to know why we’re checking that blood sugar every hour, so question away! If a patient doesn’t ask, nurses might assume that they understand. And when it comes to leaving the hospital, discharging an educated patient goes much smoother than starting from scratch. Plus, it’s nice to know that a patient will be able to take care of themselves at home and that they won’t have to come back the following week for the same problem. 
4. Know your limits. 
We love independent patients. Just PLEASE make sure you’ve cleared it with your nurse before you get up and down out of bed without assistance. Nothing like walking into a room and finding a patient off balance and tangled in their oxygen tubing/catheter/IVs/chest tubes to give a nurse a little boost of adrenaline! Better safe than sorry totally applies here. When you fall, there’s extra paperwork your nurse has to fill out. And that paperwork takes much longer than the time you thought you’d save the nurse by going to the bathroom by yourself. Moral of the story, see tip #1 or we will activate the bed alarm. 

5. Recognition.
Nurses like when their hard work is recognized. It’s really common courtesy, more than anything. Use your ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ It’s emotionally draining to try your hardest to satisfy someone, only to be bombarded with more requests and think you failed for the last 12 hours to make your patient happy. I realize that being in the hospital is probably going to be the low-light of the year for you (unless you’re having a baby or something), but I will do all I can to make that experience as tolerable as possible. 
PS. Nurses’s don’t say no to chocolate. 
If you make your nurse happy, she will gladly warm your antibiotic up with her body heat before infusing it into your veins. :) Among other things. 
Want to add your thoughts to the topic? Link up with Paige and I below! :) 
*Even if you’re not a nurse but you have some tips on being a patient, I’d love to hear them!