The Nursing Student Daily

Thoughts from my journey through nursing school

[cdnnurse]

[cannabiscomrade]

🎃👻🎃🍁🍂It’s October folks that means it’s time to…..

get your fucking flu shots!! 🎃🎃🎃

[cannabiscomrade]

Bringing this back this year!

Protect yourself and others by reinforcing herd immunity 💕

[emergency-nurse]

Chief complaint of dislocated jaw. Went into this rythym when he got his IV placed, and after he wakes up he looks at us and says "Hey! My jaw is better!"

[purkinjebastard-deactivated2023]

Did he literally go into a full arrest?? It look like there’s some p waves that failed to conduct so I guess it could be called sinus arrest but what the hell is that about

[theonceandfuturedoc-deactivated]

Uh...PEA??? Did y’all run a code on him?

[purkinjebastard-deactivated2023]

I’m curious what to call that rhythm though, it’s definitely PEA but why would having an IV placed trigger that?

[emergency-nurse]

Not PEA because pulses were present.. at least they were when his heart made the conduction attempt. This was a healthy patient in his 30's with no history and it self resolved before CPR took place.

For those wondering, the likely explanation is a vasovagal response: similar to those used in first line treatment of stable Supra-Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT). Usually, this vasovagal response can be achieved by "bearing down" the abdominal muscles and is usually forced by having a patient blow into an empty syringe. The (ideal) results for a patient in SVT can be seen below.

but Jason, how did this happen during an IV stick?? Individuals who are scared of IV's usually hold their breath and bear down their muscles in anticipation of the IV stick as a fear response. This is the same action we try to reproduce for vagal reproduction in SVT, which produces both of the EKG strip above.

The moral of the story is to remind your patients that they should NOT hold their breath when they're scared of an IV!

[theglowstickchronicles]

But why did his jaw feel better!?

[timewillfly]

New nurses, student nurses

I need you to know these things.

This job is hard. It’s hard as a student, learning things most people will never understand. It’s hard as a brand new nurse; no patient or seasoned nurse truly has faith in you.

You want to learn. You want to know things. You want to get to the point in your job where you are comfortable in your skills, the patients trust you, and the doctors start to know your name and believe in your abilities.

It takes time. The first year of nursing will be the hardest year of your life and you will find yourself truly doubting your intelligence and intellect for the first time ever. You will make mistakes, second guess yourself, cry after work, cry during work, cry before work. You will triumph, and you will fail miserably.

But with literally every single moment of every single day, you will learn so much more than you’ve ever learned in your entire life combined. You will learn about human suffering, joy, love, sorrow, insanity, and pain. You will experience moments that will haunt you forever. Moments you will bury down deep inside because the people closest to you could never understand.

Student nurses, stay with it. You aren’t there yet. School is hard. It does get harder. But it also gets better.

I was a student. Nursing school was the hardest thing I had ever done up to that point. I will not downplay that. Ever. It is so hard.

But then I was a new nurse. And it was harder. I experienced things that will haunt me to the grave. I was bullied by patients, doctors, and nurses.

I’m still learning. I’m still a baby nurse. But I’ve got a bit of time and a little experience under my belt now. I’ve been a nurse in the burn ICU, a med-surg nurse, and now a bone marrow transplant/oncology nurse. I’ve dealt with nurse bullies, bully doctors, and abusive patients and families. I’ve seen all kinds of sickness, I’ve welcomed new life, and I’ve held countless hands as their pulses faded away.

I’m here to tell you, student nurses, new nurses, that this job is hard. It is cruel and unforgiving at times.

But it is so worth it. It may get harder, but it will get easier as time goes on. The bonds you form with patients, doctors, and fellow nurses will bring you through it.

You knew it would be difficult when you chose such a selfless profession. This job takes heart. It takes a special kind of person that was meant to heal this harsh world.

Stay with it. It gets so much better. It is rewarding. We are here and we want you to succeed. Forget the nurse bullies, forget the bad. You are a guardian angel and you chose this noble path.

Thank you student nurses, thank you new nurses. I was there, not long ago. If I could go back and do it again, I would in a heartbeat. Because I am right where I want to be.

[natrasharomanova]

i work at a children's hospital. as per hospital regulations, all employees have to go through regular fire safety trainings. most of it is pretty standard. and then there's the Baby Vest.

it looks like this:

it fits six babies. and in the event of a fire we're literally supposed to just put it on, fill it with babies, and then evacuate the building.

[homotology]

Okay...but this is a lot better of a mechanism to use than any pediatric hospital currently uses in the US for emergency evacuations.

[half-great-adventures]

Our NICU has these for fire evacuation. I’m ver jealous of them. For the big kids we have to take mattress off the hospital beds and make a slide down the stairs. Much less fun in my opinion, as my hospital is over 20 stories tall. 

[homotology]

Our NICU interlocks a set number of bassinets together and trails them out train style....

[half-great-adventures]

[theglowstickchronicles]

I’ve had these at all 3 hospitals I worked at!

[thenursingstudentdaily]

so it begins...

In a few days I start an externship on the unit where I eventually want to work. I’ve literally had this on my list of goals since 10th grade and almost 6 years later I’ve made it. I’m going to try to reflect on what I learn here- not only the clinical/skills stuff, but also the stuff you learn just by being present in the unit; dealing with families, ethics, bad news, more I’m sure I don’t even know about yet. Nursing school is no joke but its gotten me to this place that I’ve always dreamed of being and I can’t see myself anywhere else. Not every day is a good day but I can look back and say that I’ve gotten myself here and that’s something to be proud of. Stick around if you’re interested to hear what this externship journey is like for me-- I’ll try to update regularly!

[half--agony--half--hope]

When my drug seeking patient says he can’t take PO pain meds because he doesn’t have an appendix

[a-flickering-soul]

*takes a fat sip of my tea* what a great day to remember that you cannot “detox” your body, nor do you need to!!! your liver works very hard to do that for you (your liver, coincidentally, does not need to be “detoxed” either).

also a fantastic time to remember that detox/weight loss teas are diuretics and are designed to shit yourself to a certain weight, activated charcoal is useless unless administered as poison control by a medical professional, and please get yourself vaccinated!!!

[mymedlife]

Strap your kids in properly friends.

[feministism]

[omghotmemes]

Sometimes it really should be like that

[i-hate-chick-fil-a]

This is a strange way of colonialism repeating again

[politijohn]

The anti-vax movement is not based in scientific evidence.

This is the consequence - a measles outbreak across Washington state

[nicathor]

Notice the parents aren’t sick, BECAUSE THEY’RE FUCKING VACCINATED 

[confessionsofapicunurse]

Staring at my patient’s monitor, trying to mentally force their sats to go up:

[homotology]

I need a minute

The nature of our healthcare system has changed. It has become less about making patients better, comfortable, and ensuring they get out of the hospital to go home and not leaving in a casket, to only caring about what they have to say about their “experience” during their stay. Might as well start putting hospitals on Yelp and Tripadvisor. Our system focuses too much on patient satisfaction and less on medical skill. Less about doing what is necessary to improve someone’s medical state and more about doing everything in our power to keep them happy. And worse is Administration across the country is all about this model of practice. So the healthcare systems slap down regulation after regulation to automize us basically turning us into robots. When the medical staff isn’t walking around on their tip toes trying not to break these outlandish rules that help keep pressgany scores up the level of medical care provided improves. Currently if our system performs poorly we lose all of our incentive bonuses at the end of the year. Last year we didn’t get anything yet everyone in admin got over a million dollars in bonus pay. Nurses and Doctors both get fired from patient care because “she didn’t have a pleasant look on her face” or “they said I had to stay here another night when another doctor said I could leave I want them and not you,” or “you’re too young to be a well doctor get me someone with some actual experience in here and don’t you come back.” Yes patients deserve to be happy and well taken care of obviously. But when it comes to a point that getting a bad review because we forgot to bring you water due to the fact another patient was actively dying, and then we get more of a lecturing about the negative review instead of figuring out what we could of done better for the other patient…is absurd to me.

[chelsfournier-deactivated201806]

Patient satisfaction scores are the literal worst thing to ever happen to healthcare.

[homotology]

Say it louder for the people in administration!

[aspiringdoctors-blog]

It’s also proven that chasing patient satisfaction negatively impacts patient care and, you know, practicing good medicine. Ughhhhh.

[cardioboss735-deactivated201907]

I see nothing but truth in this post. As soon as you change the focus of healthcare from the patient’s wellbeing to solely the patient’s satisfaction, you jeopardize the very cause the medical field was created to fight for.

[thegingernightowl]

What people want is not always what is best for them.

[cakesexuality]

Hey

Psstt

The guy who invented the theory that vaccines cause autism had his medical license revoked for it

[denyselfandfollowchristsgni-blog]

thats ridiculous

they took it away because he came up with a seemingly plausible theory?

[cakesexuality]

They took it away because other scientists have been unable to reproduce his results, his results were made up, he didn’t even get approved by an ethics committee, and now he’s risking the health and lives of a whole bunch of people

[avocados-and-avocadonts]

It’s not just that he came to incorrect conclusions, he falsified data on purpose, apparently because he had patented a related medical test and stood to make a lot of money off people using his test instead of vaccinating.

It’s crazy how this one person, in a study of only twelve children, gained so much traction in the world. He put this lie out there—and it was a lie, not just interpreting data incorrectly—and now it doesn’t even matter that he’s been proven totally false. Years of effort to reestablish the truth can’t undo the lie once it’s out there in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people believe that lie, and actual children are getting sick and dying because of it.

This is a really troubling aspect of how human minds work, and it’s something conservative politicians take advantage of on a regular basis. If you just say that “well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does“ is provide abortions, it doesn’t matter how often people recite the objective truth that abortions are a tiny fraction of Planned Parenthood services. You can say the truth 1000 times for every one time the lie is repeated, and thousands of people will still trust the lie.

[t-akver-blog]

I’d never heard this before, and it’s actually really helpful information to have, so thanks. Here is a scientific article by the American Academy of Pediatrics explaining the flaws in Wakefield’s research and briefly summarizing four studies that refuted the fraudulent claims. Here is an article by the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal calling him a fraud in no uncertain terms. Here is the first part of a nine-part investigative journalistic series, published in the BMJ, uncovering his fraud.  And the General Medical Council conclusions that stripped Wakefield of his clinical credentials can be found here.

I’m honestly so mad right now reading about this guy. People are dying of measles right now because vaccinations fell off so sharply, and those deaths can be laid at the door of this man.

[magicalgirlmindcrank]

When the apocalypse comes, pestilence will ride wearing Wakefield’s face

[meta-child]

DO NOT GIVE OR GET ANY VACCINATIONS FOR YOURSELF OR  YOUR KIDS………..

[blu-thoth]

Ok, lets break this down nice and simple.

Formaldehyde is from the purification of the vaccine. 99.9% of which is removed. The reason it doesn’t give a dosage is the ammount is so minuscule that it can’t be measured without going into picograms. That’s one trillionth of a gram. You breathe in more formaldehyde by driving down a busy road than in a vaccine.

Thimerosal is NOT elemental mercury, It is a molecular compound made up of carbon, hydrogen, mercury, sodium, oxygen, and sulfur. This is used as a preservative for the vaccine. Thimerosal is used in a variety of other things, like tattoo ink, facial creams, nasal sprays. It’s toxic to humans only in fairly large quantities but highly toxic to aquatic born organisms like infectious bacteria. In short, it makes sure you don’t get salmonella from a stray bacteria from the chicken embryos. As for the dosage of the Thimerosal. That is the most laughable point in this post. It says 25 mcg, that’s micrograms, or one millionth of a gram. To put this in perspective, a dollar bill weighs roughly 1 gram, the average human eyelash is around 80-90 micrograms. The box also says that it contains a 5ml (milliliter/cc) vial which leads me to my next point.

A little simple math and we find out that 25 mcg = 0.00003 ml and a little more math we find that 0.00003 ml is 0.00006% of 5 ml. Let me put this another way. By the age of 5, an American child weighs about 50-55lbs and their body contains 55 mcg of Uranium. I don’t see any kids running around with radiation sickness, so I think they’re safe with a preservative in them. TL;DR: This is like saying you don’t want your child eating their baked birthday cake because raw eggs were used to make it and you don’t want your child getting salmonella from it.

[lotolle]

Thank you so much person.