Having just arrived back at the nurse's station from a room with a cardiac/tele patient with impending need of a bi-ventricular pacer, to see Unit coordinator staring at tele monitor with a puzzled look on her face-
U.C.: "What's a-sis-toll?"
ME (With a snap of my head that should have by all means broke my neck to look at the monitor): "!!!!!!!"
I BRISKLY walk (hospital rule # 25 that they don't teach you until you have already broke it- DO NOT RUN unless you are sure it is an emergency by HOSPITAL standards.) to the large male cardiac patient's room. Round, red-faced, sweaty pt is sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling and chatting with his wife, just as I had left him.
ME: "Dude (substitute pt first name)! Where are all of your telemetry leads?"
PATIENT: " Oh you mean those wire-y thingys? Well, they just kept falling off me, so I put 'em back on for you. Only I couldn't quite remember where they went, so I just put them all right here...."
Patient lifts up his T-shirt to reveal all of his tele leads, stuck in a single horizontal line just under his navel, like a sticky-white plastic-y wire belt.
ME: "Sigh. Nice fashion statement but not so effective for monitoring your heart. Mind if we put them back where they are supposed to be?...."
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Art
So this has nothing to do with nursing or homesteading, but a co-worker was showing me some art that inspired her and it got me thinking about art that inspired me. This is what came to mind and I found myself with the time to look it up.
This is the guy who did the screen art for sleeping beauty. Once, while I was waiting for the bus in nursing school, I went into a bookstore and started flippign through one of those big glossy art mags and stopped on these beautiful, colorful pages of this guy's work:
http://www.eyvindearle.com/Default.aspx
This is the guy who did the screen art for sleeping beauty. Once, while I was waiting for the bus in nursing school, I went into a bookstore and started flippign through one of those big glossy art mags and stopped on these beautiful, colorful pages of this guy's work:
http://www.eyvindearle.com/Default.aspx
Friday, August 19, 2011
Welcome to the Weekend, enter chickens
I figure that I probably won't have enough material to just blog about the hospital. Actually, I figure that you all will get semi-tired of reading about my hospital adventures. So I am going to try out a "weekend feature" that will tackle the issues of being a wannabe weekend homesteader AND... I have an excellent first topic! CHICKENS!
So I have wanted to get chickens for YEARS... well at least three or four years. A couple of weekends ago a neighbor volunteered to give me some hens who had just started laying FOR FREE. Now, if there is one thing you will learn about me should you choose to follow this blog- I am an s-u--c-k-e-r for a "deal" in any form. "Hey look! They are giving away a 200 pound metal tank that is all rusty with a hole in the bottom and smells like last year's turkey rotting in the garbage can! FOR FREE! Let's take it home! I am sure we could sell it for a small fortune to the metal recycling place! I bet the turkey smell will disappear when they melt it down."
Anyway, I conned my husband into the chickens with one caveat from him- "I am so NOT helping you with this." OK I can do this, I am an independent woman who happens to be married. I can use a chainsaw, cut some poles, dig some holes and build a fence. But I am not a builder. I'll just buy one of those ready-made coops down at the feed store in exchange for the small fortune I'll be making when I get the metal tank down to the metal recyclers. Easy money people, easy money.
Problem number one- the ready made coop though cute, is not insulated. Chickens don't like -15 degrees Fahrenheit weather. It could prove challenging to insulate the coop after it is put together (kind of hard to work through that 12 x 14 chicken door). But when I arrive at the feed store to pick-up the coop, it is not assembled yet. But wait, this is perfect! I'll just insulate the coop while I am assembling it! The guy at the feed store assures me that the instructions are enclosed and all I need is a screw driver. I'll use foam board insulation and front it with metal flashing so the chickens don't peck it to death. Yesssss, I am so smart and independent! The chickens are dancing in my head.
Problem number two- arrive at home chickens and two large boxes that are my coop, in tow. I get to work on the coop while the chickens wander around inside my garden fence trashing strawberry plants and teasing the dog who is locked out of the garden so as not to chase them. I open the box and unpack it- No directions or hardware anywhere in sight! I call the feed store- "Uh wow, this has never happened before. Those parts won't be in until monday". Chickens go in there coop every night like clockwork. No coop on friday does not mean they can wait until monday.
Enter my husband. Driving home from a hard day at work he sees me in the corner of the garden surrounded by assorted puzzle pieces that are my coop, with my chickens running around decimating raspberries and taunting the dog. I swear people, any project relating to building or wood emits a siren-like tone audible only to him that is irresistible- he came over.
"What are you doing?".
"Building a coop."
"How does it go together?"
long pause.
"I don't know. But you don't have to help me. I can do this by myself" thinking "Yah, I soooo have this handled!"
Raised eyebrow "uh huh, sure looks like it. There aren't any instructions?"
At this point, I can no longer resist his prodding. I spill about all of the days hiccups. This doesn't seem to matter, as he has now fixated on the wood and is moving pieces around experimentally, as happy as a little kid with a puzzle. I, not being very good at wood or puzzles, choose not to complain anymore and we set in trying to assemble the coop. It still doesn't assemble an hour and a half later.
I throw three inches of shavings in the bottom of the large dog crate that I picked the birds up in, chase them around the garden for 20 minutes until I have them all safely in the crate, put the crate into the green house for the night, and then go inside to make dinner.
Husband: "How much did you pay for that coop?"
Finesse: "Too much"
Husband: "How much?"
Finesse: "Uhhhh, $$$.... but I am still going to trade in the big metal tank and...."
Husband: "How about I just build you one."
Finesse: "OK"
So that's it! Yup! Marriage is really that easy! I will take the cute hunk of crap back to the feed store tomorrow, and Husband will probably have the entire brand new coop, way more nice and skookum built and insulated done by the evening. In exchange, I will help him finish the last 1/4 mile or so of barb wire fence around our property.
I think this is a pretty good trade :)
So I have wanted to get chickens for YEARS... well at least three or four years. A couple of weekends ago a neighbor volunteered to give me some hens who had just started laying FOR FREE. Now, if there is one thing you will learn about me should you choose to follow this blog- I am an s-u--c-k-e-r for a "deal" in any form. "Hey look! They are giving away a 200 pound metal tank that is all rusty with a hole in the bottom and smells like last year's turkey rotting in the garbage can! FOR FREE! Let's take it home! I am sure we could sell it for a small fortune to the metal recycling place! I bet the turkey smell will disappear when they melt it down."
Anyway, I conned my husband into the chickens with one caveat from him- "I am so NOT helping you with this." OK I can do this, I am an independent woman who happens to be married. I can use a chainsaw, cut some poles, dig some holes and build a fence. But I am not a builder. I'll just buy one of those ready-made coops down at the feed store in exchange for the small fortune I'll be making when I get the metal tank down to the metal recyclers. Easy money people, easy money.
Problem number one- the ready made coop though cute, is not insulated. Chickens don't like -15 degrees Fahrenheit weather. It could prove challenging to insulate the coop after it is put together (kind of hard to work through that 12 x 14 chicken door). But when I arrive at the feed store to pick-up the coop, it is not assembled yet. But wait, this is perfect! I'll just insulate the coop while I am assembling it! The guy at the feed store assures me that the instructions are enclosed and all I need is a screw driver. I'll use foam board insulation and front it with metal flashing so the chickens don't peck it to death. Yesssss, I am so smart and independent! The chickens are dancing in my head.
Problem number two- arrive at home chickens and two large boxes that are my coop, in tow. I get to work on the coop while the chickens wander around inside my garden fence trashing strawberry plants and teasing the dog who is locked out of the garden so as not to chase them. I open the box and unpack it- No directions or hardware anywhere in sight! I call the feed store- "Uh wow, this has never happened before. Those parts won't be in until monday". Chickens go in there coop every night like clockwork. No coop on friday does not mean they can wait until monday.
Enter my husband. Driving home from a hard day at work he sees me in the corner of the garden surrounded by assorted puzzle pieces that are my coop, with my chickens running around decimating raspberries and taunting the dog. I swear people, any project relating to building or wood emits a siren-like tone audible only to him that is irresistible- he came over.
"What are you doing?".
"Building a coop."
"How does it go together?"
long pause.
"I don't know. But you don't have to help me. I can do this by myself" thinking "Yah, I soooo have this handled!"
Raised eyebrow "uh huh, sure looks like it. There aren't any instructions?"
At this point, I can no longer resist his prodding. I spill about all of the days hiccups. This doesn't seem to matter, as he has now fixated on the wood and is moving pieces around experimentally, as happy as a little kid with a puzzle. I, not being very good at wood or puzzles, choose not to complain anymore and we set in trying to assemble the coop. It still doesn't assemble an hour and a half later.
I throw three inches of shavings in the bottom of the large dog crate that I picked the birds up in, chase them around the garden for 20 minutes until I have them all safely in the crate, put the crate into the green house for the night, and then go inside to make dinner.
Husband: "How much did you pay for that coop?"
Finesse: "Too much"
Husband: "How much?"
Finesse: "Uhhhh, $$$.... but I am still going to trade in the big metal tank and...."
Husband: "How about I just build you one."
Finesse: "OK"
So that's it! Yup! Marriage is really that easy! I will take the cute hunk of crap back to the feed store tomorrow, and Husband will probably have the entire brand new coop, way more nice and skookum built and insulated done by the evening. In exchange, I will help him finish the last 1/4 mile or so of barb wire fence around our property.
I think this is a pretty good trade :)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Hello Blogosphere
How to start. I want the ground to shake, I want to sound smart and snarky, I want people to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy reading their blogs. Hmmmmm, I think there is something wrong here, a little too much need for other's approval. SO we'll just drop those ideas for blog goal, and instead we will use the blog as a place to get out thoughts and ideas that would otherwise boil uncontrollably in my brain or bore my husband to tears. Yeah, that's a better idea.
Whew! This is so much easier now that we have set a tone. Is it overly nurse-like that I have to set a goal for my blog, and then educate my readers about it? Why must nursing bleed into all corners of my life, is nothing sacred? Ack!
So, let's change the topic to rural nursing.
Rural difference # 1 (in no particular order): Ancillary Staffing.
Example- I understand that in big hospitals, depending on acuity, nurses are expected to take about 5-6 patients per shift on a general medical floor. ER nurses seem to be expected to take about 3-6 beds/ shift that rotate through pretty rapidly (though not always). Evidently there are NAC's or ER techs that are assigned to these places that also help take care of these patients. Rural hospitals seem to have less ancillary staff.
"Hi, my name is Finesse. I work at backroads hospital. We have 22 beds, and in any given shift I am expected to care for a 10 bed nursing home, three bed ER, 3 extended rehab patients, 4 general medical patients, and perform out patient treatments and do IV starts for Radiology. To help out with this, there is one other RN, and two NAC's. One problem with the NAC's- they stay busy enough with the 10 nursing home patients, they rarely make it far enough down the hall out of the NH to even catch an acute care call bell let alone collect a set of VS in the ER. Oh yeah, we also have one Unit Coordinator to do admits, but she also stays busy auditing charts for completeness while there are managers outside chain smoking or in meetings."
Hmmmm, perhaps we shouldnt' start the blog with this story. May be a little too bitter. Is it to late to mention that Finesse *loves* rural nursing? That she semi-sadistically enjoys getting her ass handed to her and going home and crashing into the bed? That it gives her great satisfaction to serve as a nurse to her family, community members, and fellow man (even said managers who seem to have better things to do than help take care of the catharsis that is the nursing floor)? Its probably never too late to mention those things. People like to hear those things- DAMN!!!! We are back to the cursed approval of others issue! Well, at least it all comes full-circle in the end!
Whew! This is so much easier now that we have set a tone. Is it overly nurse-like that I have to set a goal for my blog, and then educate my readers about it? Why must nursing bleed into all corners of my life, is nothing sacred? Ack!
So, let's change the topic to rural nursing.
Rural difference # 1 (in no particular order): Ancillary Staffing.
Example- I understand that in big hospitals, depending on acuity, nurses are expected to take about 5-6 patients per shift on a general medical floor. ER nurses seem to be expected to take about 3-6 beds/ shift that rotate through pretty rapidly (though not always). Evidently there are NAC's or ER techs that are assigned to these places that also help take care of these patients. Rural hospitals seem to have less ancillary staff.
"Hi, my name is Finesse. I work at backroads hospital. We have 22 beds, and in any given shift I am expected to care for a 10 bed nursing home, three bed ER, 3 extended rehab patients, 4 general medical patients, and perform out patient treatments and do IV starts for Radiology. To help out with this, there is one other RN, and two NAC's. One problem with the NAC's- they stay busy enough with the 10 nursing home patients, they rarely make it far enough down the hall out of the NH to even catch an acute care call bell let alone collect a set of VS in the ER. Oh yeah, we also have one Unit Coordinator to do admits, but she also stays busy auditing charts for completeness while there are managers outside chain smoking or in meetings."
Hmmmm, perhaps we shouldnt' start the blog with this story. May be a little too bitter. Is it to late to mention that Finesse *loves* rural nursing? That she semi-sadistically enjoys getting her ass handed to her and going home and crashing into the bed? That it gives her great satisfaction to serve as a nurse to her family, community members, and fellow man (even said managers who seem to have better things to do than help take care of the catharsis that is the nursing floor)? Its probably never too late to mention those things. People like to hear those things- DAMN!!!! We are back to the cursed approval of others issue! Well, at least it all comes full-circle in the end!
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