Hater...part II
Wow, straight off of the whole financial aid pain-in-the-ass-ness and here I am being subjected to automated call center hell just so I can make an effing doctor's appt. Whatever happened to just calling the doctor's office and making an appt. with a human being and being off the phone in, at most, 2 minutes? Gah. I hate everything.
8 minutes and 37 seconds later I have made an appt. It seems like sometimes advancing technology creates more work and takes more time to complete a task than just putting a schedule book in the hand of a single human being at the other end of the line. Durr.
Tomorrow I'll find something nice and wholesome to say about, I don't know...something.
Different Fummer, RN. A shiny new graduate nurse embarking upon her second career while navigating the insanity that is healthcare in America.
6.30.2009
6.25.2009
6.21.2009
Procrastination nation...
More like procrastination household but I love me some Stphn C0lbert. There are a million things I should be doing right now but I'd rather sit here with my coffee and the internets instead. I should be making appts with the dentist and GP, calling the stupid FAFSA office about my pin, calling financial aid at school, sorting mail, shredding credit card offers we don't need, running the weed whacker, buying some tomato stakes from Lowe's Depot, doing a hundred things for school, call for an appt to get the oil changed and the tires rotated on the car...you get the picture. Serious life maintenance + school work = a crapload of things to do. And now it would appear that I may be coming down with a sinus infection which will throw a monkey wrench into my plans to get it all done. Durr.
In other news, the pediatrics rotation is coming along. I absolutely hated it the first day because I didn't feel in the least bit competent to do my job but it's gotten better. It's just a very overwhelming rotation. Not because you're taking care of sick kids (let's face it, the only healthy hospital stay involves maternity) but because their ages vary, their parents may or may not be present, their parents may or may not be really involved with the kids' care, vital signs are different at different ages, med dosages have to be calculated and at this hospital, the place is overrun by residents and their attendings so there isn't much elbow room. You have patients who have been on the ward for weeks and months and some who just pop in every now and again. There are a lot of congenital disorders and chronic diseases and it's a lot to remember. Honestly, I just don't know how MD's do this. So many signs and symptoms can be indicative of so many disease processes and they all manifest differently in kids. Hell, vomiting and diarrhea alone can indicate umpteen conditions.
For now, tho, I'll spare you the sad stories. You can go over to 6YearMed for that. There are some uplifting ones as well but I need to hang on to those for myself. As with any hospital experience, uplifting and happy moments are like gold.
More like procrastination household but I love me some Stphn C0lbert. There are a million things I should be doing right now but I'd rather sit here with my coffee and the internets instead. I should be making appts with the dentist and GP, calling the stupid FAFSA office about my pin, calling financial aid at school, sorting mail, shredding credit card offers we don't need, running the weed whacker, buying some tomato stakes from Lowe's Depot, doing a hundred things for school, call for an appt to get the oil changed and the tires rotated on the car...you get the picture. Serious life maintenance + school work = a crapload of things to do. And now it would appear that I may be coming down with a sinus infection which will throw a monkey wrench into my plans to get it all done. Durr.
In other news, the pediatrics rotation is coming along. I absolutely hated it the first day because I didn't feel in the least bit competent to do my job but it's gotten better. It's just a very overwhelming rotation. Not because you're taking care of sick kids (let's face it, the only healthy hospital stay involves maternity) but because their ages vary, their parents may or may not be present, their parents may or may not be really involved with the kids' care, vital signs are different at different ages, med dosages have to be calculated and at this hospital, the place is overrun by residents and their attendings so there isn't much elbow room. You have patients who have been on the ward for weeks and months and some who just pop in every now and again. There are a lot of congenital disorders and chronic diseases and it's a lot to remember. Honestly, I just don't know how MD's do this. So many signs and symptoms can be indicative of so many disease processes and they all manifest differently in kids. Hell, vomiting and diarrhea alone can indicate umpteen conditions.
For now, tho, I'll spare you the sad stories. You can go over to 6YearMed for that. There are some uplifting ones as well but I need to hang on to those for myself. As with any hospital experience, uplifting and happy moments are like gold.
6.12.2009
It's a shame...
That we don't treat our adult patients the way we treat our pediatrics patients. The pediatrics floors are brightly decorated and there are murals and pictures and scales that look like rockets and giraffes and there's so much effort put in to making a stay at the hospital seem less scary and more fun. And yet, we don't do that for adults. There are far more adults in a hospital setting with bland, boring walls that blend into white tiled floors and seemingly little effort put into making an adult floor more appealing. I think it's wonderful that the peds floors are so nice but what about the adults?
That we don't treat our adult patients the way we treat our pediatrics patients. The pediatrics floors are brightly decorated and there are murals and pictures and scales that look like rockets and giraffes and there's so much effort put in to making a stay at the hospital seem less scary and more fun. And yet, we don't do that for adults. There are far more adults in a hospital setting with bland, boring walls that blend into white tiled floors and seemingly little effort put into making an adult floor more appealing. I think it's wonderful that the peds floors are so nice but what about the adults?
6.11.2009
That was a fast 5 weeks...
Well, my maternity rotation is over and now it's on to pediatrics. Tomorrow is my first day on a new ward at a new hospital at a new time and at a place where there is no street parking on weekdays and a parking garage that costs $24/day. On the other hand, it only slightly interferes with my tennis schedule but leaves me free to worship at the church of Kelly on Sundays. Why, hello, leisurely breakfast with Michael and the Sunday Times and a trip to the market followed by tennis and the remainder of the afternoon spent in my backyard. How I've missed you.
Anyway, maternity. There are lots of good things to be said about my rotation but seeing the birthing process from start to finish was not one of them. Durr. It was a great hospital and the labor and delivery nurses were awesome. The midwives were awesome. There just weren't any women in stage 2 labor while we were there. The darned babies would always come out at like, 3 am or 5 am or something. You know, when we weren't there. Seriously, I was about to stand on the street corner shouting to pregnant women about eating some indian food for dinner, having sex with their partners and then coming to us in labor. I don't even know if eating indian food works, but whatever.
Overall, it was good. It was a really different experience to work with women and their families and the fact that there is a constant rotation of patients is nice. There were always new moms and babies when we were there unlike in med-surg where we saw patients who were there before we started the rotation and were still there when we left 10 weeks later. And while there was poop, it was meconium and it came out of the behinds of tiny babies. And let me tell you, it's a lot easier to wipe poop off of a baby than an adult. But that meconium? Yeah, it sticks like crazy to skin. That stuff is like wallpaper paste.
But it isn't always sunshine and rainbows. There are lots of ethical dilemmas and internal conflicts to deal with. Like the 16 yo who already has a 2 yo and encouraging her to breast feed even though she doesn't want to. Internally, you're thinking "dear god, put that girl on Depo, stat!" and you're also thinking "breast feed!" Here's the thing: studies support the "breast is best" idea but it's not for everyone. But just trying it is so important even if it's only for a few weeks. My job is to support mom in whatever her plan is but it's also my job to educate mom and encourage her to breast feed. If she's got her mind made up to bottle feed, well, so be it. If she's on the fence, it's my job to help her decide what will work best for her and the baby. But it doesn't always work out and formula is a nutritionally-adequate substitution. Did I mention the support thing? That's always the most important part.
Then there are the other issues: sending a baby home with parents who may or may not be fit to parent (CPS and the hospital social workers make these decisions but the nurses and MDs alert them based on certain evidence); adolescent moms; moms with histories of spousal abuse. Those things are hard to deal with but all we can do is act within our capacity, alert the authorities when abuse is suspected or evidenced, be supportive and keep our mouths shut re: everything else.
In L&D, you have those issues but also the labor and delivery part. The hospital where I was stationed is great if you want the natural childbirth experience. Laboring women are not on a time clock and the staff are super supportive and let you do your labor thing. But sometimes birth plans have to be pushed aside because of fetal intolerance and moms suddenly find themselves having an emergency c-section. And, man, those moms are pissed. This hospital has a 3% c-section rate and they're only performed if it really is necessary (not just b/c the doc wants to go hit a few rounds of golf on the way home). It's not like in the documentary that R. Lake produced (which was really good, btw). But there was a mom who came in 3 times during labor and 3 times checked herself out against medical advice because she really wanted to have a home birth and did not want the emergency c-section she needed and...ultimately her baby died. She finally agreed to the c-section but the baby had been in distress for so long that she died 3 days later. It's really, really sad. But it goes to show you hard this can be sometimes. You really want moms to have the childbirth experience they want and deserve but sometimes it can't be the experience they planned and hoped for.
But I don't want you to think that maternity is a huge downer experience because it's not. It's a wonderful and beautiful thing to watch families get to know their newest additions and to help moms prepare for going home to raise their babies. And those babies are just precious. It's a privilege to be a part of that experience and maybe someday I'll be back as a maternity nurse. For now, onward to pediatrics.
Well, my maternity rotation is over and now it's on to pediatrics. Tomorrow is my first day on a new ward at a new hospital at a new time and at a place where there is no street parking on weekdays and a parking garage that costs $24/day. On the other hand, it only slightly interferes with my tennis schedule but leaves me free to worship at the church of Kelly on Sundays. Why, hello, leisurely breakfast with Michael and the Sunday Times and a trip to the market followed by tennis and the remainder of the afternoon spent in my backyard. How I've missed you.
Anyway, maternity. There are lots of good things to be said about my rotation but seeing the birthing process from start to finish was not one of them. Durr. It was a great hospital and the labor and delivery nurses were awesome. The midwives were awesome. There just weren't any women in stage 2 labor while we were there. The darned babies would always come out at like, 3 am or 5 am or something. You know, when we weren't there. Seriously, I was about to stand on the street corner shouting to pregnant women about eating some indian food for dinner, having sex with their partners and then coming to us in labor. I don't even know if eating indian food works, but whatever.
Overall, it was good. It was a really different experience to work with women and their families and the fact that there is a constant rotation of patients is nice. There were always new moms and babies when we were there unlike in med-surg where we saw patients who were there before we started the rotation and were still there when we left 10 weeks later. And while there was poop, it was meconium and it came out of the behinds of tiny babies. And let me tell you, it's a lot easier to wipe poop off of a baby than an adult. But that meconium? Yeah, it sticks like crazy to skin. That stuff is like wallpaper paste.
But it isn't always sunshine and rainbows. There are lots of ethical dilemmas and internal conflicts to deal with. Like the 16 yo who already has a 2 yo and encouraging her to breast feed even though she doesn't want to. Internally, you're thinking "dear god, put that girl on Depo, stat!" and you're also thinking "breast feed!" Here's the thing: studies support the "breast is best" idea but it's not for everyone. But just trying it is so important even if it's only for a few weeks. My job is to support mom in whatever her plan is but it's also my job to educate mom and encourage her to breast feed. If she's got her mind made up to bottle feed, well, so be it. If she's on the fence, it's my job to help her decide what will work best for her and the baby. But it doesn't always work out and formula is a nutritionally-adequate substitution. Did I mention the support thing? That's always the most important part.
Then there are the other issues: sending a baby home with parents who may or may not be fit to parent (CPS and the hospital social workers make these decisions but the nurses and MDs alert them based on certain evidence); adolescent moms; moms with histories of spousal abuse. Those things are hard to deal with but all we can do is act within our capacity, alert the authorities when abuse is suspected or evidenced, be supportive and keep our mouths shut re: everything else.
In L&D, you have those issues but also the labor and delivery part. The hospital where I was stationed is great if you want the natural childbirth experience. Laboring women are not on a time clock and the staff are super supportive and let you do your labor thing. But sometimes birth plans have to be pushed aside because of fetal intolerance and moms suddenly find themselves having an emergency c-section. And, man, those moms are pissed. This hospital has a 3% c-section rate and they're only performed if it really is necessary (not just b/c the doc wants to go hit a few rounds of golf on the way home). It's not like in the documentary that R. Lake produced (which was really good, btw). But there was a mom who came in 3 times during labor and 3 times checked herself out against medical advice because she really wanted to have a home birth and did not want the emergency c-section she needed and...ultimately her baby died. She finally agreed to the c-section but the baby had been in distress for so long that she died 3 days later. It's really, really sad. But it goes to show you hard this can be sometimes. You really want moms to have the childbirth experience they want and deserve but sometimes it can't be the experience they planned and hoped for.
But I don't want you to think that maternity is a huge downer experience because it's not. It's a wonderful and beautiful thing to watch families get to know their newest additions and to help moms prepare for going home to raise their babies. And those babies are just precious. It's a privilege to be a part of that experience and maybe someday I'll be back as a maternity nurse. For now, onward to pediatrics.
6.04.2009
Feeling irrational...
When I tell you why I'm feeling irrational, you'll undoubtedly laugh but this is something about which I am very upset. I got a B+ in maternity. A B+. In my book, a B+ is practically an F. An F- at that. Effe menos. This is the lowest grade I've gotten in nursing school and it kills me that I didn't get an A. This sucks. I'm going to go stew in my irrationality and have something with alcohol in it. Boo.
When I tell you why I'm feeling irrational, you'll undoubtedly laugh but this is something about which I am very upset. I got a B+ in maternity. A B+. In my book, a B+ is practically an F. An F- at that. Effe menos. This is the lowest grade I've gotten in nursing school and it kills me that I didn't get an A. This sucks. I'm going to go stew in my irrationality and have something with alcohol in it. Boo.
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