Don't try this at Home

This past Sunday night a wife called 911 worried about her husband who decided to do a little surgery, on himself.

It appears a 63-year-old man was tired of having his hernia protruding from his abdomen, so with a butter knife in hand he went outside and lay in his lawn chair and started to operate on himself. That is when his wife called 911. Police arrived to find the man with a butter knife sticking from his gut. As they watched, he pulled the knife out and put a lit cigarette in the wound.

As I heard this story on the radio like many I thought drugs or alcohol would be involved, but he was sober. Although, no surprise that they put him under a 5150, which is California’s 72 hour psychiatric hold and observe law. In the end, he was admitted to the hospital and will be having his hernia fixed.

Personally, I will clean and dress big nasty wounds and do most things for patients without a second thought, but for some reason trach care and hernias make me uneasy.

My Nursing Diagnosis

You ever catch yourself saying the wrong thing in front of a patient or their family? I have kicked myself for saying something in front of a patient who is unconscious that I would never say if they were even a little conscious. You get busy and stupid, the other day I needed to prep a patient for surgery, a new admission was coming and time management was a good concept at the beginning if the shift.

My nursing diagnosis would be brain deficit R/T neurons not firing secondary to lack of caffeine and time. 

Travel Nursing Pitfalls

So glad I'm not travel nursing although the offers are coming in for jobs, I guess there is a huge strike that may happen in Minnesota on June 1st, and they are offering all kind of crazy money to go. I would think about going there, but school will not allow the free time.

But the main reason is what a friend went through yesterday, she started a new assignment up near Napa and after classroom orientation had one shift on the floor before being on her own. Well I guess she got stuck with a tough group of patients on the first day, and a staff member asked her how it was going? She was honest and said it sucks, most of the time people do not want an honest answer. Anyway they let her go after just driving here from AZ.  She has been with the same company for nine years so we'll see what they say, anyway we will have a chance to hangout for now.

Travel nursing

My Florida license is up for renewal, and I'm not sure if it is worth keeping? I do like the warm weather and sunshine, but I've only had one good experience there out of four hospitals as an RN, not good odds.
Travel nursing companies are calling again so maybe things are picking up a little with the economy? I've let a couple of licenses expire, and I don't plan on travel nursing again. Although I remember Oregon making me jump through extra hoops because I had let it lapse, so maybe I'll renew for two more years. It also feels like a little bit of insurance to have more than one active license.

Drive-thru flu shots, and do you want fries with that?

Doing a little volunteer work with the county, because it seemed like a good way to get out and do something different. But let's be honest, it also looks good on the application for the NP part of the program.

Yesterday it was a free community flu clinic. Well actually it wasn't much of a clinic, more like a mass drive-thru service. We had four tents set up with two lanes at each tent, I think our group did just shy of 400 seasonal and H1N1 vaccines. Because it was so well organized, and well staffed, it turned out to be kind of fun. Plus most of the people coming through were in good spirits. Maybe there is something to being outside in your car with 60 degree sunshine, versus your average waiting room.
  Since we treated mostly higher risk individuals that meant kids, lots of kids. Most were good, and never cried. Some were happy to be out, that is until they saw the needle. Others just sensed something was not right, and were crying before they even pulled up. Early on one set of parents pulled up and got out of their SUV to help prepare their two daughters. Mistake, the girls being around eight years old decided the best thing to do was to hit the electronic button, and lock Mom and Dad out of the car. Because we make them turn off the vehicle, dad had the keys in his pocket, but it was good for a laugh. It was also a good day to own the closest McDonald's, because many a parent could be heard saying to their crying tots, we'll get an ice cream when it's over.