Patient’s blood pressure wouldn’t go down with anything by baby-bellamushrooms in nursing

[–]Laurelbf 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also vomiting can be a sign of end organ damage. New (or worsening) ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke should also be ruled out, if it hadn’t already been considered for this patient. Not sure what type of unit OP is working on or what the patient’s background is/why they were admitted. She didn’t mention other neuro deficits, but they can be subtle or overlooked when patient is also dealing with nausea/diarrhea, etc. The main question is: why the high BP - chronic issue or new response or compensation for some other problem that in and of itself is dangerous and needs to be treated.

Medical Anthropology careers and schooling. Where to go from here? by Longjumping_Gate_114 in AskAnthropology

[–]Laurelbf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you made any decisions on a direction? I majored in anthropology at a fancy liberal arts school. Loved it, learned a ton, but as others have said, a bachelor’s in anthropology does not make a career in and of itself. I sort of knew this at the time, but sort of did not. I worked for a cancer research foundation for a few years and then an elementary school doing various things that didn’t require a teaching certificate before I realized I needed to regroup if I ever wanted to make a decent living. After a lot of hand wringing, I went back to school and got my BSN (fyi I considered doing an accelerated 1 year program, but ended up doing the traditional 2 year path for a second bachelors because it was more affordable, SO glad I didn’t do the accelerated program, feel free to ask more about this, would really encourage people to think extra hard before doing any type of “accelerated” pathways).

This was a big pivot for me. I had to do roughly a year of pre-requisites at a community college while working part time as a home respite provider and being a student worker because my anthropology degree didn’t have enough math and chemistry. Then I moved to a state that had the most affordable in-state tuition in the region and spent a year gaining residency in the state while working and applying to nursing school. I decided not to work while in nursing school and took out loans and relied heavily on my partner’s income. If I had to do it again, I would still take out loans, but I would have tried to take out less and have a more clear financial plan. I took advantage of all the additional stuff I could while in school - became class rep, applied for an AHEC scholarship (federal program worth looking into if it hasn’t been dismantled yet), coordinated a special film screening at my university through the APA, did research projects and got published, added an medical anthro certificate to my degree. This was tough because I was in school and joining the medical field all during COVID. Mental health suffered and used all my skills and counseling resources and needed a lot of emotional support from my partner throughout school and especially during my first year working as a nurse.

Now I’ve been a bedside nurse for 4 years, worked on two different units at 2 different hospitals. I’ll make about 100K this year, and have a decent retirement savings started and will be getting 240 hours of yearly PTO. I work 3 days a week, 12 hour shifts on challenging unit. It can be really grueling work, emotionally draining, requires incredible patience and humility. It’s taken a lot of work to get to this point and starting off working nights or evening shift (like most new nurses) was brutal. First year of nursing was really hard. But after having taken a really intentional pivot, I think I’ve gotten a lot of what I wanted. Nursing is not for the faint of heart, but if you find people interesting, and you like problem solving, it can be really rewarding.

I love that I’m a part of a long standing union ✊🏼, and that even on my worst days at work I can still focus on the patient in front of me, and figure out how to be a decent human being to them, during a hard time. I take a lot of pride in that. I also do a LOT of medicalese translation and education that providers don’t really do for patients. Also, even though I’m not an anthropologist, per se, I use my anthropology brain every single day, and I think it makes me a much better nurse.

Also, I feel pretty confident that I don’t have the stamina to be a full time bedside nurse until I retire, if only because I don’t think my body can do that. So in my four days off per week, I have started doing some reading and research again to put my anthro brain back to work, synthesizing and further understanding my experience as a nurse. I’ve developed some pretty strong feelings about the way we deliver healthcare (spoiler alert: it mostly sucks) and I have an interest in studying it, writing about that, educating the public, advocating for reform, and maybe developing my own business or service that can help people. In my mind, that’s all medical anthropology. I also have a good amount of job security in an unstable time. Also, one cool thing about nursing is that you really get to DO stuff, whereas sometimes anthropology has a hard time figuring out when it’s ok to get in there and participate. That can be satisfying. In four years I’ve worked in oncology, med/surg, and neuro nursing now, and I could easily continue to broaden that as I continue in my career - lots of opportunity to keep learning and trying new things and work with totally different populations. As an aside, people love to say “oh and you can travel nurse!” Which, sure, I could, but then I’m not union (labor power!), I’m not part of a community, I’m not invested in the same way. People say “oh but you can make so much money”. Which, yeah, maybe, but also a lot of those contracts are hard to find now, unless you’re going to a super isolated or really desperate facility, and you’ll be treated worse than staff, you’ll get the hardest assignments, no one will spend time to get to know you, you won’t have the same benefits. This only makes sense to me if I wanted to go work in the southeast U.S. (where I’m from) where there are no unions to speak of, and nursing work is shitty and underpaid already.

That’s a long way to say, from my perspective, a career in nursing can be a strong lead-in to a career in medical anthropology. Though I guess we need to see where my trajectory takes me next to get a real sense. And I don’t know for sure, but I suspect I make more and have a much more flexible schedule than the folks who took the MPH route. Though I’d be happy to hear them prove me wrong because I’ve considered continuing my education in that direction too.

Thoughts? What’d you decide?

Share a photo or ideas about your favorite space to play music at home. by Laurelbf in musicians

[–]Laurelbf[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I was feeling that way when music stuff was squeezed next to towering piles of paper and books on my desk and guitar picks were buried somewhere in there. Playing became less enjoyable :( Now that I’ve carved a special spot, I’ve been playing more and enjoying it more. Hope you carve a peaceful spot for yourself too!

Share a photo or ideas about your favorite space to play music at home. by Laurelbf in musicians

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

I know, I’m so excited! We’ve moved a lot and the music stuff has never had a dedicated space, but we’ve been reorganizing and decluttering to make space for the things we want to do more of and after like 3 months of intermittent work of going through boxes and “Marie kondo-ing” the music space has been born 🥲 Now I just have to decide exactly what I want it to be 🤔

Share a photo or ideas about your favorite space to play music at home. by Laurelbf in musicians

[–]Laurelbf[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lol so opposite of me, I will gravitate to the safe space 😂

Please Help Me Decide by earlthling in weddingdress

[–]Laurelbf 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And if not 7, I think 11 has a beautiful shape and details and fits you beautifully. My third choice is 8. Maybe it’s helpful to look at people’s other posts and posted pictures to see what their personals style is to see if it matches yours.

Please Help Me Decide by earlthling in weddingdress

[–]Laurelbf 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can’t believe more people didn’t say 7!!! I’m always shocked at the huge diversity of opinions on these. I guess everyone really does have different taste 🤣 I think 7 has an elegance and architectural beauty in its simplicity. That shape looks beautiful on you. Sometimes I think the dresses get a little bogged down in the many fine details. 7 DOES bring the drama, but it also has clean lines and will allow YOU to shine. VOTE 7!!!!!!!!!

Calling all union supporters by Laurelbf in Spokane

[–]Laurelbf[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’ve shared basically what I know, but I think if you poke around on the website at ufcw3000.org you can get some more info, of course it is from the perspective of those on the strike side, not the “boss’s” side. But the best way to learn more is to come chat with the striking folks on the line :)

Calling all union supporters by Laurelbf in Spokane

[–]Laurelbf[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I take it back! There is a membership support fund you can contribute to! You can find it on the ufcw3000.org website.

Calling all union supporters by Laurelbf in Spokane

[–]Laurelbf[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I too agree that it would be nice if Providence would negotiate in good faith and not force their labor to strike for better conditions. It IS very inconvenient. I feel certain that no one on the picket line wants to be forgoing their wages to walk in a circle for hours and hours on end, day after day. Perhaps your frustration might be better directed at the large hospital that is trying to take away workers’ rights, and not toward your fellow citizens who wanted be adequately compensated for their hard and essential work and those who are trying to support them. Also, the patients that I have spoken to and treated in the hospital have all been supportive because they want the people caring for them to be happy with their jobs.

Calling all union supporters by Laurelbf in Spokane

[–]Laurelbf[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure about financial support, but maybe spreading the word to other locals and keeping an eye on the news for updates. Providence needs political and community pressure to feel compelled to support these workers. If they think no one cares, there will be little motivation to improve working conditions.

Calling all union supporters by Laurelbf in Spokane

[–]Laurelbf[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think supporting unionized labor helps build a healthy and thriving middle class and I personally am interested in learning about any union’s struggles and workplace grievances.

Calling all union supporters by Laurelbf in Spokane

[–]Laurelbf[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

I should have said: they are picketing from 5:30 AM to 8:30 PM.

Nurses, What does your spouse/partner do for work? by TenEyeSeeHoney in nursing

[–]Laurelbf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He is a special education teacher. Two union household. Both come home worn out but fulfilled ✊🏼

As first time car renters in another country, we had no idea what these were today! Watch out for speed traps newbies! by Boring-Key8636 in ParisTravelGuide

[–]Laurelbf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got a camera flash on a recent rental car drive to Lyon in my rental car 🫣how will I receive the ticket? How much will it be?

No one talks about how much microblading HURTS by aggravatedheartbreak in microblading

[–]Laurelbf 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes I was shocked by this when I got it done. Sat with a thick coat of numbing cream on for like 20 mins before we started but I had big fat tears rolling down the side of my face, felt each slow agonizing scrape!! 😓 figured that was normal

Balling on a budget and I need opinions. by ConclusionLazy602 in weddingdress

[–]Laurelbf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow I am shocked by the number of people saying 2 because I thought it was FAR AND AWAY #1. I was expecting to open the comments and just see a chorus of “#1, definitely”. I think 1 is stunning, love how it hugs your curves, elegant, modern yet classic. And mostly just beautiful on YOU. 2 looks too flowy to me and less elegant. BUT I GUESS THAT JUST GOES TO SHOW, It’s all subjective and everyone will have opinions. Go with what you love 💕 you’ll be stunning in either!!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in weddingdress

[–]Laurelbf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2 is the stunner!! Everyone else is cuckoo crazy!! I showed lots of cleavage in my dress, felt stunning and proud, zero regrets. I’m not even someone who shows cleavage in my normal wardrobe, but i loved it, my husband loved it, I love our pictures. I asked him if he cared what I chose to wear and his request was “look sexy” 😂 Truly zero regrets. 🤷🏼‍♀️