I couldn't make this up if I tried

In the my short (8 days, to be precise) experience as a primary care nursing student, I've heard some sentences and learned about some situations that just make me shake my head in wonder.

Today I heard my nurse say the following to me: "You can't miss your patient. She's wearing a orange and green Hawaiian shirt, is barefoot and clutching a stuffed chicken." Say what?

OK.

Only it wasn't a chicken, it was a Holstein cow. But I still managed to easily find my patient, even with the wrong animal info.

Comic Relief: Brian Regan Emergency Room

Need a laugh today?
I needed some laughter today, as I focus on the homestretch of the med-surg rotation and third year nursing school.


Here's a short clip I stumbled across: Brian Regan's take on the ER.


I l-o-v-e this guy's take on rating pain according to the pain scale!!!  And he's certainly got a valid point on the need for valet parking in Emerg. I've thought about that being very useful before, too.


Enjoy! ("say eight, say eight!!!")

Fun Nursing Links

OK -- time to lighten up a bit.  I've noticed how serious I'm getting, as the stress of what is third year nursing school drags on.  I knew this would be one of the toughest years of my student life -- and its living up to expectations.  Luckily its also been one of the most interesting and rewarding semesters of my student life, and even more luckily, the end is coming into sight for this semester.  Yay!

So, on a lighter note, I wish to add two links to some sites I check regularly.  They never fail to bring at least a smile to my face, if not actually a "lol". 

I've got two weekend shifts waiting for me on labour & delivery (double yey!!!) and a maternity midterm exam on Monday morning.  So guess what my focus is during every spare moment until Monday morning...

Enjoy!

http://nurseeyeroll.com/  (I'll be sharing the latest post, "So, You're Married to a Nurse" with my husband...it will be required reading for him!)

http://whatshouldwecallnursing.tumblr.com/

http://adventuresinbabeland.tumblr.com/  (BTW -- that title refers to the nurses adventures in post partum nursing -- that type of "babeland"...the real thing, not the other "babe" type...This site has not been updated in eons, but the clips in the archives are good.)

Its always good to have a laugh.  :-)

Simulation Labs

Sim labs are great.

Every Friday we (finally!) get to wear our brand new scrubs and casually toss our Littmanns around our necks as we parade into the lab. We get to look like the medical professionals that we aspire to be...our reality is quite the opposite!

Honestly, I love simulation lab. I have a great lab partner, Z, who gives what she gets from me. We learn from each other, and we don't hesitate to give each other feedback. We each have three kids. I didn't mind her examining my post-kids abdomen. She rocks!

In the sim lab, we are now saying sentences to each other, sentences I never thought I'd be saying, like, "Of course you don't hear anything well through your stethoscope, Z, you've put it in your ears backwards!"

And I get it back from her, "Umm, Kate, I think percussing the dorsal chest means percuss my BACK, not my FRONT chest!" (OOPS, that was awkward!!!...and I've known the difference between dorsal and ventral/anterior and posterior, since high school...)

It is just suddenly so different when doing it in a (quasi)medical context.

All I can say is "thank goodness" we have this semester to practice on each other, and our new buddy SAM, the Student Ascultation Mannequin, before we're let loose on the unsuspecting public, when clinical rotations start in January!!!

Bring it on!!!

Mental Health Humour Break!

Do you have one of those friends who just seem to instinctively know what you need, and when you need it?  I do.  I am lucky enough to have one such great friend (thanks T!!!).  You're awesome!!! :-) 

In my email in-box this afternoon, I found the following jokes -- whether they are true or not, I have no idea, but they put a smile on my face in this long week of studying!

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EMBARRASSING MEDICAL EXAMS

A man comes into the ER and yells ...'My wife's going to have her baby in the cab.'
I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's dress and began to take off her underwear.
Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs - - - and I was in the wrong one.

Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald ,
San Francisco

At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall.
'Big breaths,' . . . I instructed.'Yes, they used to be,' . . . replied the patient.

Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes ,
Seattle , WA

One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct.
Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a ' massive internal fart. '

Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg

During a patient's two week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications.
'Which one? ' . .. . I asked. ' The patch...
The Nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and now I'm running out of places to put it! '
I had him quickly undress and discovered what I hoped I wouldn't see.
Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body!

Now, the instructions include removal of the old patch before applying a new one.

Submitted by Dr. Rebecca St. Clair ,
Norfolk , VA

While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, ' How long have you been bedridden? '
After a look of complete confusion she answered . . .
' Why, not for about twenty years - when my husband was alive. '

Submitted by Dr. Steven Swanson-
Corvallis , OR
  
Baby's First Doctor Visit

A woman and a baby were in the doctor's examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in for the baby's first exam.
The doctor arrived, and examined the baby, checked his weight, and being a little concerned, asked if the baby was breast-fed or bottle-fed.
'Breast-fed, ' she replied.

' Well, strip down to your waist, ' the doctor ordered.

She did. He pinched her nipples, pressed, kneaded, and rubbed both breasts for a while in a very professional and detailed examination.

Motioning to her to get dressed, the doctor said, ' No wonder this baby is underweight. You don't have any milk. '

'I know, she said, ' I'm his Grandma, but I'm glad I came here today!'