1 mac + 1 rainy day =

Check this out.... watch the whole thing and you'll be speechless. Not only are Macs amaaaazing, but this girl obviously has WAY too much time on her hands. Wow. Just watch it, k?

Yes, it's *still* nursing week!

A few funnies (and inspirationals!) on my 365 Day Nursing Calendar:

- A palindrome is a number, word, or phrase that reads the same forward and backwards, such as "racecar." There is one for nurses that is particularly apt: "nurses run."

- In the 2006 Gallup Poll on professional honesty and ethics, nurses once again rated the highest of all surveyed professions with a score of 82%. Pharmacists were a distant second with 67%, followed closely by MDs (65%), high school teachers (64%), policemen (61%), and clergy (54%). Telemarketers and care salesmen held the bottom of the list.

- I always found ER to be extremely realistic. Why, just last week, we had a helicopter crash on our ambulance bay, squishing the director of the department. The day before, we had a patient drive a stolen tank up to the ER and a hazardous waste spill in triage. Luckily, all the doctors were around, but they are usually out intubating people in crushed buildings and doing emergency c-sections in wrecked ambulances. Of course, when they are here, there's not much for us nurses to do because, like ER, our docs to it all: cutting off clothes for trauma patients, starting IVs, pushing meds. This gives me time to run around looking for consent forms, especially since I'm the only nurse ever there, except our token Hispanic, black, and gay nurses who don't talk much. There is a real shortage of nurses because we nurses are dying to either marry a doc and have kids or become one of the docs, so we can do real medicine.

- The hospital is burning down ad there is no escape except by helicopter airlift. As the flames reach higher and higher, six doctors and a nurse dangle from a rope under the helicopter. The pilot yells, "One of you will have to let go, or we'll all die!" The nurse makes a tragic speech saying, "I will do it, I'm just a nurse and I wouldn't want the medical field to lose the talents of a doctor. Don't try to stop me!" The doctors are so relieved and full of admiration they burst into applause.

- A nursing student who goes by "nursingstud" posted this original Haiku on his blog:
code brown in room four,
missed bedpan means dirty sheets,
find the student nurse.

- Anytime you think you've seen the freakiest of the freaky - someone always comes along who raises that freaky limit. (Experienced ER Nurse)

- Nursing Job Description: Team player needed for challenging work. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work all hours. Must possess physical stamina and be able to walk up to sixty miles per hour. Must give advice and screen phone calls. Must be willing to write detailed nursing notes. Must always hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Must assume accountability for the quality of the end product. On the job training offered on a continual basis. (ES Redd, RN)

- Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

-This particular compound is known as dihydrogen monoxide, or DHMO for short. DHMO is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless chemical that is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people each year. Accidental inhalation is the leading cause of death due to DHMO. Prolonged exposure to it can produce serious tissues damage. Many people suffer each year from serious burns because of contact with DHMO. Current research has found DHMO in the tumors of terminal cancer patients. Scared yet? As I mentioned earlier, DHMO is short for dihydrogen monoxide. That is two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom combined into a molecule. Does that sound even remotely familiar? Have you ever heard of water? (Lindbergh's Artificial Heart, by Steve Silverman)

- According to a 2006 article in Money magazine, being a RN is one of the fifty best jobs in the ocuntry. Coming in at 47th on the list, nursing was ranked highly for job growth and salary, but only average or below in the categories of creativity, difficulty, flexibility, and stress. Physician's assistant came in at number five on the list, and pharmacist was number nine.

- A newborn baby expels the equivalent of its body weight in poo every sixty hours. (The Odd Body, Dr. Stephen Juan)

- A study sponsored by the Studer Group found that nurses who make patient rounds every hour both reassure their patients and reduce call light use. The study found that nurses are called into each patient's room twelve to fifteen times daily for non-urgent requests that require a minimum of four minutes of the nurse's time. The study found that by telling patients they would be back to check on them in an hour and then following up, patients were more likely to reserve the call light for emergencies. (Nursing 2006)

- Great moments in nursing: When a patient asks hopefully, "Will you be MY nurse again tomorrow?" When a patient says, "Thank you for taking such good care of me." When a patients family sends a thank you card.

- Nurses' Superstitions: Never say the "q" word or the "s" word: quiet or slow. Pronouncing your shift either quiet or slow will result in an onslaught of the most difficult patients with the messiest problems. Similarly, bringing a book, magazine, knitting, or any other time-killing activity will guarantee a backbreaking shift.

- Nurse's Superstitions: (by a retired RN) Always start a new baby breastfeeding on the right. If a patient is failing, tie a knot in their top sheet so they will make it through your shift. When a patient dies, crack the window open, or if there's no window, open a door so their soul can leave their body. Deaths always happen in threes.

- What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence. (Samuel Johnson)

- A 2006 study in the Join Commission Journal on Quality and PAtient Safety found that in 69 percent of all cases, nurses recognized, interrupted, and corrected a medical error before it reached the patient. In the remaining 31 percent of errors that reached patients, nurses either successfully prevented or limited the severity of patient harm. We just call it doing our job.

- I'm a nurse and my daughter in law is a nursing assitant and attends nursing school. I asked my four year old granddaughter what seh wanted to be when she grew up. She said, "I want to be a doctor like my mommy." I queried, "Your mommy is a doctor?" "Yes" she replied, "she hasn't worked hard enough yet to be a nurse!"

late mother*s day

So Mother's Day is over, but I just found this writing on another blog and thought it was lovely.

For All Mothers

This is for all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at soccer games instead of watching from cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see my goal?" They could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick children in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Meyer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's OK honey, Mommy's here."

This is for all the mothers of Kosovo who fled in the night and can't find their children. This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see and for the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes and for all the mothers who don't.

What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleeping to dread, from bed to crib at 2 a.m. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

Is it the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying?

I think so.

So this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn't.

This is for reading "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then reading it again, "Just one more time".

This is for all the mothers who mess up. Who yell at their kids in grocery store and swat them in despair and stomp their feet like a tired two year old who wants ice cream before dinner.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started to school and for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

For all the mothers who bite their lips (sometimes until they bleed) when their 14 year olds dyed their hair green.

This is for all the mothers who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won't stop.

This is for all mothers who show at work with spit-up in their hair and milkstains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

This is for mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home or are grown.

This is for mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children's graves.

This is for all the mothers whose children have gone astray and who can't find words to reach them.

This is for all the mothers who sent their child to school with a stomach ache, assuring that they would be just FINE once they got there, only to get a call from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up right away.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation. And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working moms and stay-at-home moms. Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money and mothers without.

This is for you, so hang in there. The world would be a terrible place without the love of mothers everywhere. You make it a more civil, caring and safe place for the precious children in our world.

...Author Unknown

Hope you had a beautiful Mother's Day!!

happy *mother*s day*!!!

This video made me laugh... Kind of reminds me of my sister and I, haha!

On a more serious note, here's some Mother's Day Post Secrets.

Isn't the bond of a mother and her children amazing? It's so deep, so nuturing, so rare... yet it's often neglected and always taken for granted. It's funny how when it comes down to it, a lot of us would rather die than live without our mother, and it's pretty amazing how much a woman will willingly sacrifice to become a mother. It really is a fascinating relationship when you think about it.

Take the time today to give your mom a hug and tell her how much she means to you. It'll last far longer than any bouquet of flowers, I promise.

Another silly Saturday...

It's time for our Saturday Kittehs!!

In other notes.... school is totally finally over!! (Until Monday at least, when I begin my summer classes.) I have a lot of reflecting and thoughts about last semester and I'm still wrestling with the tech job stuff, plus I am just now getting over a terrible drug intolerance to one of the hypersomnia meds they put me on, and around here all anyone is doing is getting ready for my sister's huge graduation party. I really want a few days to just breathe. Today I gave myself permission to relax. Not super successful though... I have half a mind to take another nap. :) I did get all of my Europe pictures chosen - I'm going wtih 590-something out of around 3,000 I believe, so I'm just going to run them through either Lightroom or Photoshop and then et them printed before Shutterfly's free shipping ends! There's just so much I want to do, but this semester is already looking nuts. Hopefully it'll be okay though. More later! xoxo

Friday of Nurses Week!

A good nurse knows the value of complete, extensive documentation, and unfortunately sometimes it means this. (well almost....)

it's *thursday* of nurses week!

How adorable is this!!


I had my last final yesterday and am on break until Monday when I start Pharm. After such a stressful semester, I'm hoping summer isn't as bad. We'll see. But just in case, I found these tips for Five Ways to Reduce Nursing Stress... :)

The strain of nursing school may end when you pass your certification, but the career itself holds many stressful moments. Nurses constantly deal with the pressures of helping the ill, working long hours and possibly being exposed to harmful diseases. However, the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives. In order to keep your nursing career in perspective, use the following tips to relieve your stress.

Sleep When You Can – One of the greatest contributions to nursing stress is the demanding and erratic work schedule. Although you may be tempted to enjoy some "me" time when you're away from work, don't overdo it. You need to sleep whenever you get the opportunity.

Get Organized – From tidying up your workstation to maintaining a professional calendar, you will feel better when you become more organized. Every day in nursing is unpredictable, after all, so you need to have some constants in your office life.

Always Be the First to Smile – Whenever you smile or laugh, your brain releases endorphins that make you happier and relieve your stress. Always be the first to smile at your patients, your co-workers and anyone else you encounter at work.

Bring a Piece of Home to Work – An easy way to help you get through the day is by keeping a special memento close to you at work. A picture of a loved one on the desk is a favorite choice.

Remind Yourself Why You Became a Nurse - Even the most stressed out nurse loves his or her job a majority of the time. Whenever you find yourself having a bad day at work, take a deep breath and remind yourself why you are there. You obviously had a calling to do this, so don't lose touch with that feeling.

The last one is my favorite. :)

it's still nurses week! (bet you never heard of doctors' week!)

Now if it weren't for us nurses, the hospitals would fall apart. Sure, doctors are nice but umm, well... yeah. We're the ones who make sure what they prescribe for the patient is actually carried out. We're the ones who catch their dosing errors. We're the one who actually spends time with the patients and can better predict an outcome. We're the ones who call the doctors with huge concerns and tell them what kind of order the patient needs. Sounds kinda backwards sometimes, doesn't it? But really, when it all comes down to it, the only thing a doctor can do that a regular nurse can't would be prescribe prescriptions and do the most invasive procedures that we simply aren't licensed to perform. (Doesn't mean we don't know how!) Then of course, once nurses hit advanced practice and masters, PhDs, etc., there is absolutely nothing a doctor can do that we can't, outside of a surgery. But hey, no big deal... we have better things to do anyways!!

But as things are progressing, nurses have so many more opportunities each and every day. This really is the most fabulous profession in the world. A lot of honest doctors will even tell you nursing is better these days - I've heard it from some of my own! I really love, too, how nursing is the nationally #1-rated trustworthy profession. We work so hard to maintain our positive, professional image and successfully heal the world by our interventions and care, so it's very inspiring to see proof in the stats.

Anywho...

It's nursing week, so why not have some nursing jokes...










:)