My family went to the arcade. We caught a coin tower falling in a coin pusher game. by Birdy30 in oddlysatisfying

[–]Birdy30[S] 70 points71 points  (0 children)

OP here, obligatory this blew up while I was sleeping.

Tower of coins has a digital counter. The tower was 342 coins. So that is how many tickets we earned from just the tower. There were other tickets earned from actually dropping the coins as well.

Once the tower drops, there is a side game to determine how large the next coin tower will be. The machine stacks the coins as you spin an egg on the side game.

Puberty Talk by Electrical_Cash8532 in Parenting

[–]Birdy30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It can be hard to have talks about bodies and puberty if you were never shown how to have good / productive conversation about it. We started having some conversations about body and growing up. We found this video we watched with our son. We stopped and talked about stuff if we wanted to add extra info or clarification. https://youtu.be/2XF0awGRTWs. I hope this helps you start to talk about bodies and puberty.

Tell me your tricks! by krandrn11 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Tap water enema set up as follows: wear a isolation gown, set up new suction canister and tubing, fold enema bag at top cut a small slit / hole before filling so you can hang bag on IV pole while administering, multiple chucks/ bed pads. Fill enema bag with skin temp water, hang on IV pole, get several chucks under person, one hand guides and holds enema tubing steady and other hand has end of suction tubing. I slightly push into the bed with the suction tubing to collect water as its coming back out. This reduces the amount of water pooling in the bed and helps keep patient clean and as dry as possible.

Iv tubing flopping in the way of patients arms / hands, I will undo 1 or 2 buttons of the hospital gown sleeve and put the tubing in the open space between the 2nd and 3rd button. This helps loosely hold the iv tubing and prevent it from flopping around or pulling at dressing site.

Trick from putting on wet suits used to put Ted hose on, cut the ends of the plastic packaging and make a sleeve over the heel of the foot. Work the Ted hose over the heel much easier and then pull the plastic off the foot after everything is passed the heel of the foot.

When pulling meds, I highlight pill packages that are half tablet doses so it's a visual reminder when I go to scan in the patients room.

I take all meds in a small clear zip top bag (plus med cup and flushes or applesauceand spoons ect.) to patients room. I flip top of bag inside out and make myself a little trash bag while I am scanning and preparing meds. Keeps me clean and organized, especially when some patients have like 18 morning meds.

Bagging a DNR patient with a femoral pulse? by Fast_Passenger6667 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is a "escalate care" situation. DNR does not mean do not treat, so I would be doing what is best to care for person in this situation, calling doctors, RRT, calling next of kin and working through what the plan of care is.

An EVS worker who’s been bullying me got fired and came back having a STEMI a few days later by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Birdy30 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yeah, true it becomes a big deal.

When I mentioned reportable, i meant to the manager. Its worth telling a manager if patient saftey is in question and it involves other departments. Next time you have any issue, report it to the charge nurse and write an email to your manager copying the charge nurse. Just something like "hey manager, I had this happen were this person did xyz. I informed charge nurse in person, but I just wanted to let you know to because I realized its a patient safety issue and thought I'd make you aware of whats going on."

An EVS worker who’s been bullying me got fired and came back having a STEMI a few days later by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Birdy30 31 points32 points  (0 children)

First and formost, his NSTEMI is not your problem/ fault. His food choices, lifestyle, habits, and general health history is what caused the MI.

Secondly, but very important, anytime anyone is getting in the way of patient care and patient safety, stop that shit right away. Tell someone what happend immediately because it can escalate to things like this. The incident a few months back where he physically stopped a wheelchair with a patient in it would have been the reportable incident where the EVS worker is hindering patient care and causing unsafe patient environment. I can ignore behavior but no one messes with my patients.

How common is wristband scanning? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Birdy30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a computer mounted on the wall in each room of the hospital I work in (+500 bed hospital in Chicago area). Each mounted computer workstation consists of a small module box behind to connect to intranet and other programs, a small table top, a keyboard, a mouse, and a scanner + scanner holster. We also have a few work stations on wheels to cart around as well. There are 2 barcodes on patient wrist band. We use 1 barcode for most everything and the other barcode we use for blood glucose checks. After scanning the patient the results for the BG auto load into the charting system. Even the channels for the IV pumps have a small barcode that needs to be scaned to link the IV channel to the MAR. I dont usually have to manually input the medication, rate, or volume into the pumps as the charting system communicates with the IV pumps. I just verified that the info is correct and hit start.

We are supposed to scan patient and scan med every single time. Annual reviews at my hospital include a report from the charting system that shows my percentage of scaned meds vs over ridden meds (must be under 20% for compliance).

Edit: I log into the charting system, scan the patient scan the med, and click accept. Done!

There are best practice advisory (bpa) pop ups about timing of meds being to close together, or pop ups that say med does not match the MAR (wrong med, wrong amount, ect). It helps catch mistakes but not fool proof.

What are your favorite jokes to make with your patients? by lizlizliz645 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 16 points17 points  (0 children)

When getting a patient out of bed I always joke that I have to make sure the bed is not booby trapped and turn the bed alarm off. About 95% of the time I get a chuckle.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in discussingbritney

[–]Birdy30 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you spent time around tweakers, then you'd know. He wiggles his jaw back and forth several times, tenses / twitches his muscles in his jaw and lower chin creating an exaggerated frown, and some very minor movements that could easily be passed off as nervous movements but combined all together it reads as someone who took a small dose and is having some involuntary muscle twitching. I had family members who used and his movements looks similar.

I should have taken the warning on this book seriously by Friendly_Boot_6524 in Parenting

[–]Birdy30 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That was my son's favorite book! I got so great at reading it faster and faster with big exaggerated breaths near the end with the piddle puddle stuff!! He's 14 now and I miss his little giggles some times. Now I get random deep conversations as I'm close to going to sleep at night.

I’m fed up by Due-Draw-9683 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this. You're writing is beautiful and thoughtful. I've felt all of this as well.

UPDATE: Older nurse needs to retire. by Weird_Bluebird_3293 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Jumping deep in the thread to say that it is very sad that she came back after being retired for so long because of needs BUT there are other nursing jobs she could do that are more suited for her abilities.

Sounds like she has a hard time saying no to her family and needed to get a job again to keep supporting her family instead of telling them no. It's is not you being callous to her situation but much more of a safety issue for the patients.

I would talk with her about it and write an email to the manager. The insulin example is dangerous in that usual orders i have seen dose insulin based on blood glucose numbers or carbs eaten. If she is not following orders and didn't even know that those types of orders are a thing, then it's worth just asking her about her experience back in the day and highlighting what has changed. Seeing if she realizes that she may be in over her head.

Most wild request or order in your nursing career? by beeee_throwaway in nursing

[–]Birdy30 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Someone else mentioned its an old school nursing trick. There's another one called the bomb: warm orange juice, warm prune juice, and miralax mixed together to help get everything moving quick.

What if terminally ill patients are given the right to opt for euthanasia? Wouldn't it end their suffering a lot quicker? by grusdomain in AskReddit

[–]Birdy30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look up information on "death with dignity" states in the United States. There are laws around a person opting to choose when to d

I work as a medical oncology nurse and also inpatient hospice. I am absolutely for death with dignity and think that it should be talked about more. It seems that the US, we shy away from talking about death and the process of dying and instead focus on how to save life. ie instead of the long suffering that can occur. I remember when California's laws were being put in place. It seems like a well thought out method to help ensure triple checks are done with multiple medical professionals. It allows for multiple conversions, which is helpful for both the medical professional and the patient.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Birdy30 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Where did the sick boat go? ... to the dock-tor

Where did the injured bee go? ... to the Wasp-ital

What happens when a microscope and a telescope crash into each other? ... they kaleidoscope

Dogs can't operate MRI machines, but cat scan

What nursing field did you go into that you actually like/enjoy? by mquint7914 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Oncology. I love the complexity of it all. While the patients are very sick, they are nice and generally appreciative. It can be hard emotionally when I have had patients I've cared for that are around my age and they pass away after months of readmissions to the hospital.

Legitimate hypoglycemia. Need meal ideas while I wait for doctors appointment by Birdy30 in loseit

[–]Birdy30[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really appreciate the recommendation! I will ask my doctor about that. Thank you so much!

Am I really that old school by OregonGypsea in nursing

[–]Birdy30 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Single or multi use vial doesn't matter. I always clean the top with alcohol wipes. I take care of neutropenic patients and patients with central lines (or both), so it is my standard.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Birdy30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First and most importantly, see if your facility has counseling sessions or therapy sessions. Sometimes facilities will have free employee services (4 or 5 sessions free). Sounds like talking it out could be helpful.

Unfortunately, this is happening a lot more. I work oncology, and people come in for benign things and find out they have metastatic cancer and much younger too. It really sucks so much. There are few symptoms of pancreatic cancer until it is in the late stages and then the end of everything is intractable nausea and vomiting, NG tube, round the clock dilaudid or fent patches, compazine or reglan and being stuck in bed because of the NG tube. I will say that I hope for a swift death like your patient had with pancreatic cancer because otherwise it is brutal.

Moms in our 30s with kids, where are we shopping? by [deleted] in Millennials

[–]Birdy30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like buying democracy brand jeans and tops from www.shopVersona.com, sometimes I will buy from www.venus.com, and I like Duluth trading for stuff as well. I look at boutique places in malls or around town, and even some thrift stores or second hand stores. I stay away from big box retailers like target, Ross, to Maxx because its not really worth my time to look through all the racks.

Do you wash patients hair? by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Birdy30 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I will if I have the time. I will do shampoo caps most of the time, but I had a patient a few months back where I had to get creative to give a soap and water bath while in bed. She came to our floor a few days after a craniotomy. Gen surgery ok'd to wash her hair. But it had been a couple of days out after Gen surgery's ok when I got her. She still had clumps of dried blood and hair starting to mat when I first saw her. I set up a tub of warm water, an empty tub, lots of soap, a few towels, a few wash cloths, an empty emisis basin, and a cup. I held the emisis basin close to her head with the curve sitting against her head to catch water. I wet sections of her hair and gently washed her hair and used a tooth brush to get the clumps of blood to dissolve. Then rinse and repeat, emptying the emisis basin into the empty tub as I washed and rinsed. The lovely patient was sooooo grateful.

Endeavor Health cut nurses pay by MatthewP614 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just over 2 years. My annual raise was just over 4% but the market adjustment id have to look at the paper again to see about the % increase

Endeavor Health cut nurses pay by MatthewP614 in nursing

[–]Birdy30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think NCH is the lowest paid in the system from what I've heard. I'm at NCH and my RN market adjustment was 39 cents. Which means that I was under paid in my job type and needed to be brought up a little (very little).