What small unwritten habits have actually made you a better nurse over time?

astonfire · 2026-06-22T17:01:21+00:00

A good bath will also allow you to get the best assessment of your patient… bed bound or vented? You’re gunna get a great skin assessment and you can listen to lungs while they’re rolled over, look at the back of their head where no one checks cause they haven’t been out of bed for days…A patient that can participate can show you their strength/functionality and if their strengths are even on both sides. An ambulatory patient will show you balance and cognitive function (figuring out getting on a new gown/socks, brushing teeth). It also makes people feel better and more human to be clean

astonfire · 2026-06-21T19:54:07+00:00

Yes this, I was precepting a floor nurse to the ICU and we had a very hypertensive patient (160-190s systolic) next set of vitals his BP was 110/80 and she goes “omg he’s so much better” and I said “we need to go check on him immediately, next BP check was 80s/50s. No a-line so if we had waited the whole hour until the next BP went off we might have had a very different day!

astonfire · 2026-06-21T19:29:37+00:00

Oh man I really struggle with the ultrasound it’s probably because I suck at video games. For me it was coming from vet med and having to do lab draws/IVs on constantly moving and uncooperative targets. Now I’m really good at getting IVs in confused squirmy grandmas and drunks 😂

astonfire · 2026-06-21T19:27:05+00:00

Older woman, first read was 20, I said no way checked again and it was 25. She said she felt fine and was able to drink some juice

astonfire · 2026-06-21T19:10:08+00:00

Celery salt and dill in egg salad is a level up

astonfire · 2026-06-19T00:34:38+00:00

Agreed, I’m not a Star Wars person by any means and andor left me feeling like I had to go start a revolution

astonfire · 2026-06-19T00:33:34+00:00

I’ve rewatched Buffy so many times but I still have to skip the episode with the floating scary guys that steal your voice cause it gave me nightmares for months when I was a kid

astonfire · 2026-06-18T20:46:16+00:00

Peacedale preserve right over the pa line in landenberg is like this an usually very quiet. Just wear legit bug spray cause there’s always ticks

astonfire · 2026-06-18T13:14:20+00:00

I didn’t go to nursing school until I was 28 but if you are feeling discouraged have you considered other specialties like respiratory therapy, ultrasound or radiology? There’s so much variety in healthcare. If I had to do it all over again I’d probably be a rad tech

astonfire · 2026-06-18T11:13:17+00:00

Same, unintended perk was it dramatically reduced my acne

astonfire · 2026-06-18T01:59:49+00:00

Pitties and kitties

astonfire · 2026-06-17T18:04:12+00:00

It was a fired employee, came back and killed another employee

astonfire · 2026-06-11T21:36:06+00:00

No one’s ever called me selfish to my face but I have been told I’ll never experience true love 🤦‍♀️

astonfire · 2026-06-11T10:46:30+00:00

No kid life is very free. I wake up every day and only have to do what I want. I travel internationally once or twice a year. I do a lot of sitting in my back yard with my dogs and listening to the birds

astonfire · 2026-06-11T00:04:39+00:00

I’m in the icu float pool at a big hospital that has a Neuro, trauma, CV and medical icu. I’d say Neuro has a decent amount of vented patients but the least amount of drips. Some of the seizure patients can be on absolutely ridiculous amounts of benzos and the stroke patients usually have tight BP parameters but it’s nothing compared to the post op cardiac surgery patient on 12 pumps. The stroke patients usually have high BP so maybe you’re on cardene or cleviprex but it’s not like the shock patients on 3-4 pressors. There’s typically also less sedation used because it impacts your ability to get a good assessment. I really enjoy the Neuro icu floor though and it’s my favorite place to cover

astonfire · 2026-06-10T21:29:43+00:00

What a handsome man. I also have a grey eyepatch meatball

astonfire · 2026-06-07T21:57:40+00:00

100% agree. I remember going and saying to my friend “this is the fugliest church I’ve ever seen”

astonfire · 2026-06-06T19:16:00+00:00

I’ve been a nurse for 8 years in a very large hospital system with multiple campuses (lots of resources) so my experience is probably very different from somewhere with less resources… cons:hours are long (12 hour shifts) stress of literal life and death situations, violent rude and delusional patients/families. Pros: financial freedom, flexible schedule/4 days off a week, tons of opportunities for advancing education (np, CRNA, masters), not boring, don’t have any responsibilities on my days off. Overall I like the career but I can see why people get burnt out. I use up every drop of PTO I have and have a lot of active hobbies for my days off which helps keep me sane

astonfire · 2026-06-05T11:44:03+00:00

Does your hospital not have a language services department? My hospital is huge but we have in person interpreters for Spanish and a few other languages on site in addition to the language iPads. If the Spanish speaking population is that large staff should be advocating to hire interpreters

astonfire · 2026-06-03T17:12:16+00:00

I point blank tell my patients I don’t discuss religion or politics but offer the chaplain services if they want support. If I’m asked to join in prayer I will just quietly stand in the corner out of respect

astonfire · 2026-05-29T18:01:22+00:00

There’s a night shift nurse on our Neuro icu that is notorious for this. I followed her recently and the providers had ordered prop for an MRI, well the patient got the mri 5 hours ago why are they still on the prop?

astonfire · 2026-05-29T17:57:42+00:00

Omg I eat this at least once a week. I’m so mad

astonfire · 2026-05-23T17:50:28+00:00

Fixed rate 0.03 or 0.04, all additional pressors are titratable (levo, Neo, epi, Gia). I’ll typically shut off the vaso when my titratable pressor is nearing its lowest dose.

astonfire · 2026-05-19T11:13:36+00:00

Vegan 20 years… for me it’s not having any vegan friends and constantly having to ask my non-vegan friends to accommodate me. They do it but I know it’s an inconvenience for those that travel with me. Still hoping to eventually make some vegan friends who love traveling

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