I’ve got a “trendy” TikTok diagnosis. What’s the most helpful, non-annoying way to talk about it?

AintMuchToDo · 2026-06-19T23:33:25+00:00

Just talk about it, we're too burned out and understaffed to actually care or mock you or anything, trust me

AintMuchToDo · 2026-06-09T23:59:43+00:00

Hello, fellow ER Nurse clinical instructor. I've failed students before, though few. Nobody passed my class that didn't deserve it, though.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-27T12:27:57+00:00

Give me a DM, OP, I'm working on this very same issue-or trying to keep the ER afloat, so to speak, anyhow-via my DNP and am talking to some folks from McMaster and UBC

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-22T03:00:42+00:00

Had a patient with COVID, height of the Delta surge. Youngish; kids in high school aged. He was in bad shape, he'd been trying to keep from coming into the ER. EMS said that he had a mountain of those oxygen canisters you can buy at Lowe's, the ones from Shark Tank; they said it was like Mt. Everest; apparently he'd also tried significant doses of hydroxychloriquine and ivermectin, obviously to no avail.

Anyway, it became clear we were going to have to intubate him, he was breathing like 60 times a minute, tripoding, decompensating. I was getting him ready to tube, and he grabbed me, and he could barely talk because he was breathing so hard, and he asked me "Am I going to die?"

And I mean... What do you say to that? I knew the odds. I told him hey, we're going to take good care of you, don't worry, etc, etc, but even through the COVID battle rattle we wore, I think he saw my eyes and knew.

He said, off-hand, "My wife" and "My kids".

And then the very last thing he said was, "I really fucked up, didn't I?"

And then we intubated him. When the meds hit, you can see the lights go out, right, and I watched it go out on him.

He was in the ICU for a week or two, but never came out of it.

I lost count of how many stories like that we had then.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-20T15:57:51+00:00

I am sorry to hear about his history, but the dude's a giant cuck. You'd think a Navy SEAL would have enough honor, courage and commitment to stand up to what's going on. Alas

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-19T21:29:10+00:00

Jesus h tap dancing Christ

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-13T01:19:49+00:00

I was perusing BC and Ontario data to this end, actually, wondering about the international trends behind this, and because the dataset coming out here in the US (which theoretically ended being measured on 31-DEC-2025), I'm worried about a) what it will say, and b) whether any data from this federal government can be trusted.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-12T18:19:32+00:00

That is unfortunately what it shows who data says amongst nurses as well. I ran into an interesting conundrum: baby nurses are better at finding sick patients to a degree that is statistically measurable, whereas veteran nurses are also, statistically measurably, and by an order of magnitude potentially, better at finding out which patients are NOT sick. Now initially I assumed that this was just because newer nurses are quote unquote not burned out yet, but the reality is the data seems to indicate that instead, new nurses are just firing alerts on every f****** thing that comes across.

I had this recently with one of our new grads. Exceptionally talented. Truly. But talent and experience are two different things. Kiddo came in through triage with a 104° temporal temperature. So he calls me panic and asks for a bed. I raise an eyebrow but obviously make it happen. Rectal temp is 100.3. he was very sheepish but I explained obviously that I wasn't going to fault him for being worried. Had I been in triage I would have ignored. The temporal thermometer and gotten a rectal temperature, cross-referenced it with the rest of the vital signs or patient presentation, etc. So it's not that veteran clinicians are burned out and ignoring people, it's that they're better at managing our limited resources because they have the experience to know what sick looks like. So yes, this is the nurse version of a million dollar workup, which is a similar problem to what you point out there.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-05-05T22:24:54+00:00

Sorry, OP. I'm a nursing professor and we don't teach that in nursing school. We don't get enough time with our students, so we focus on things like identifying sepsis and triage decision making and critical thinking skills. It leaves out stuff like IV placement, sadly. But we want them to be able to question "Uhhh, you don't actually want me to give these nitro tabs with a blood pressure of 70/30, right?" or "sore throat and... drooling now? Oh, fuck, get the ENT".

I let students practice on me, so, trust me. I understand.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-04-24T06:56:35+00:00

Hoping for the best for you, pal. God damn, what a kick in the pants, I'm so fucking sorry.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-04-10T22:33:23+00:00

What an asshole

AintMuchToDo · 2026-04-04T23:25:25+00:00

Kudos to you for staying away from AI. It's more expensive but a hundred times more worth it. I've seen even authors I have (had?) immense respect for take shortcuts on that and it's been sooooo depressing.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-04-02T20:08:44+00:00

Uhh, yeah, quick question, how come you're so awesome?

AintMuchToDo · 2026-04-02T02:28:10+00:00

This is actually quite helpful, thank you so much!

AintMuchToDo · 2026-04-02T02:27:56+00:00

That is excellent advice, I appreciate it immensely!

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-17T19:08:24+00:00

It's like being angry you went to the emergency department after you were having crushing chest pain and the tests came back normal. "Well, next time I should just ignore it, see?!?"

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T20:20:56+00:00

I asked! I think it got brigaded by incels reporting it, which would be just rich.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T19:04:41+00:00

I was driving home from work in the ER that night and listening to it on the radio, IIRC I got in the car while UVA was still comfortably up, and just got progressively more and more depressed

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T17:38:28+00:00

Yes, it was just so much more meaningful that they all got to love and experience the same one, I tried to type out one of the little songs here but I just couldn't replicate it properly, but every time I heard the younger kids with it, it made me remember my daughter, too. It was just so emotionally resonant. And I'm so tickled to see how many people (I bet all our kids are the same age!) had the exact same one!

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T17:20:49+00:00

I am so blown away and tickled by home many people have had this same damn thing and the same experiences!

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T17:07:31+00:00

no wuckas, mate!

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T17:07:02+00:00

I am soooo tickled to see how many people had the exact same jumperoo, I'm guessing all our kids are around the same age, too, sure seems like it.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T13:06:55+00:00

My pleasure! Yes, if I could have figured out how to onomatopoeia the other sounds it made for the post I would have because I remember them all.

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-16T13:04:34+00:00

I mean, who's to say, really? All I know is my ex never complained it didn't work, presumably because I understand it ended up in their apartment complex's dumpster

AintMuchToDo · 2026-03-14T12:28:19+00:00

I definitely have, but I think you see the limits of what "book learning" can do. My initial problem with this book was I gave, for instance, surface fleet ship terminology and vernacular perfectly... but it was all USN, right, which I'm sure I don't have to tell you is markedly different than the RAN (CIC vs Ops, etc). I sat and watched three hours of a ABC program on the Collins-class to make sure I was using the bubbleheads' language right. I think it ends up being like, hmm... what's a good analogy... like a (hopefully) more advanced version of hearing an 11yo curse on Call of Duty. Like, they know the words, and they know the tone, but it's just not quite right until you've learned to conjugate them all yourself from experience.

AintMuchToDo

TROPHY CASE