Nurses have some crazy holiday stories

 

 

Every nurse knows that holidays are far from sacrosanct when you work in healthcare. Patients in ICU can’t be left to fend for themselves. Those in long-term care don’t magically get well and go home. ERs must remain open to receive the steady stream of people who’ve flambéed themselves while trying to deep-fry a turkey. So, even during the season of good cheer, nurses routinely give up time with their families to fulfill their duties at work. They do have to get creative to improvise a celebration in a dreary hospital. Here are a few stories our readers shared about what they’ve been up to over the holidays in years gone by.

 

Food and Décor

 When you’re a nurse, you make use of whatever you can to enjoy your Christmas. That might mean using an irrigation syringe as a turkey baster or tongue blades in lieu of forks to eat a spiral sliced ham. An IV rack hung with lights and TED hose stuffed with candy canes wouldn’t pass muster with any serious decorating committee, but Lisa Renninger made it work at her job. Patients really do appreciate any effort; just ask Kim Battern, who made red and green finger Jell-O for patients in the hospital on full liquids. She says it was a big hit!

 

Gifts and Cheer

 If nurses get the holiday blues not being able to spend time with family, imagine how much worse it is to spend that time in the hospital as a patient. They need extra care to keep from getting down in the dumps. Erica Andersen says she “scrounged the unit for Christmas presents for a patient whose family bailed on her for Christmas at the last minute. I’ve never seen such appreciation on the face of someone unwrapping a new toothbrush and a bottle of lilac-scented shampoo.”

 

Rob R. Martin kept it jolly last year on Christmas Eve by playing Santa. As the only male charge RN on duty, he got volunteered for the part. Rob put on a happy face, donned the suit and delivered gifts to all the children. Turns out, the experience was well worth it. “You should have seen the eyes of the kids in PICU light up. PEDS also loved it. I was glad to do it and help out…families appreciated the gesture for sure!”

 

Acts of Kindness

 Nurses are always known for their warm hearts, but this special time of year may offer unique opportunities to reach out to those in need—even our furry friends. Melissa Ann Graham-Bailey tells a tale that would make Charles Dickens proud: “One New Year’s Eve, it was bitterly cold out. Around 23:00 a tiny dog showed up, looking inside through the ambulance doors. We brought him in, put him in the ‘Quiet Room,’ fed him and gave him a warm bed for the night. We ushered him out at daybreak before the day shift could find him!”

 

Unfortunately, sometimes the urge to spread holiday cheer can backfire. Cathy Hewitt Windham learned this lesson the hard way: “I made some sugar-free candy trees for my patients. I put the candy on a Styrofoam cone. In the middle of a quiet night shift, I hear ‘Ouch, ouch, ouch!’ My patient had taken all the candies off the tree and they were in the bed along with the pins! Next time I will put them on with tape!”

 

Fun, Games…and Other Stuff

 Getting snowed in doesn’t put a damper on the spirits of our intrepid readers. Rachel Petersen says she and her colleagues went sledding using backboards. She didn’t mention whether anyone ended up needing one for real after such daring stunts…

Nurses Week should be every week, says doctor

 

It’s now been more than three months since National Nurses Week, but one doctor is joining us in thinking that one week is just not sufficient to honor everything nurses do.


Brian J. Secemsky, M.D. is a resident physician in internal medicine at UCSF Medical Center, and has used the space provided to him as a blogger for the Huffington Post to document his first months as a new resident. And with his latest blog titled “Why Every Week Should Be Nurse Appreciation Week,” it seems that he, unlike some doctors we know, has already learned the importance of everything nurses do.


He writes that after first-hand observation of how hard nurses work, he “found it amazing what these individuals can accomplish.” He then goes on to list “only a few of the many hats that nurses wear on a typical day in the hospital,” which are “caretaker,” “educator” and “health care provider.” (We know you can think of a WHOLE LOT more).


All too often, the bad side of the nurse-doctor relationship is publicized, and it’s nice to see a doctor stating his appreciation for everything nurses do. Let’s hope this is a trend that continues all year round — the way it should be.

Memo from a nurse: Why is Nurses Week so weak?



May 6-12 is when nurses are nationally recognized for their efforts during Nurses Week. It’s a celebration of all things nursing. During that week, you have National Nurses Day, Student Nurses Day, and School Nurses Day to recognize the individual efforts of these “types” of nurses. The week ends on May 12, the birthday of the founder and mother of the nursing profession, Florence Nightingale.


Everybody with me?


Until recently, I’ve always enjoyed Nurses Week. I usually got a cool trinket or gift from my employer, and my fellow nurses would joke about the one time of the year we nurses actually are noticed.


These days, it seems the only time of the year we DO get recognized is now being watered-down (and maybe even flushed away) next to another nationally recognized week–National Hospital Week, which is also May 6-12 this year. The only difference I see from year to year is that the actual dates for Hospital Week can differ slightly, while Nurses Week always starts and ends on the same dates!


I guess maybe that’s my problem. Why must another week-long national celebration trample on the toes of our celebration?? (I kept getting circling results, so I gave up searching for some relevant history on National Hospital Week and the coinciding date.) Obviously, the celebration dates for National Nurses Week bear significance with one of its founding mothers.


In my opinion, nurses are getting shortchanged simply because most nurses work in hospitals, so it’s more convenient and cost-effective to celebrate both weeks jointly than to have two separate celebrations (it’s always about the money, you know).


Also, the health care personnel who are being recognized are equally shortchanged, because now they share their “week” with a much larger group of fellow health care professionals (nurses).


It’s become so common and convenient to lump them together that I found numerous articles that meshed this celebration into one singular event (I refrained from naming names here).


Deep breath.


Maybe I’m being selfish. Maybe I’m being obtuse. But the last time I checked, we nurses rarely, if ever, ask for recognition. And the one and only time the nation recognizes our sacrifices they decide to divvy up the recognition with another holiday?


What am I missing here?

How do you celebrate Nurses Week?


National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.



What are you doing for National Nurses Week? Any special plans, activities or traditions? I know that every hospital I’ve ever known and ever hospital I’ve ever worked for usually has some festivities planned no matter how great or small. Anything from a single day to activities that can span the entire 7 days that come with a full-fledged ‘program of events’.


I used to think that the bigger the facility the bigger the ‘event’, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason. I know some small offices put on quite a ‘show’ for their nursing staff, and I’ve heard of and have known a couple large organizations that almost forget it exists.


Some of the things I’ve witnessed and been a part of include free meals (that can vary from one meal to daily meals for the week), raffles for prizes (scrub uniforms, shoes, equipment, etc.), large extravagant presentations and conferences, free t-shirts (and other paraphernalia), and raffle drawings for free time off (personal time). The list is endless.


I find that when there are nurses behind the driving force for the activities, they tend to be more ‘worth it’ and a heck of a lot more entertaining.


Aside from the almost ‘expected’ activities from facilities that ‘employee’ nurses, what do you do personally (speaking to fellow nurses)? I mean this is a full week to celebrate anything and everything that you do as a nurse and all that in encompasses. You have to do something special don’t you?


 

Unfortunately I tend to think most of us don’t do a whole lot for ourselves. Some nurses forget the event even exists! Hard to believe isn’t it? Most nurses will answer by saying, “there is something going on at work.”


I’m not sure why, but we nurses spend 365 days a year working our butts off, pouring our hearts, our blood, our sweat and our tears into this amazing profession and most of the time all we want is a little recognition for a job well done. I know that most of us sure do feel unappreciated at times (some more than others). We may not say it out loud, but we love when someone validates our efforts – yet we rarely get it.


So.


Here’s the irony. We actually have an entire week dedicated to us and our awesome profession. The one time of the year we can shine and soak up some much needed attention from the public – yet we don’t take advantage of the nationally recognized event?


Maybe it’s due to the fact that most of us our humble. I’m not sure.


I think I’ve said this more than once….


We nurses are funny bunch aren’t we.


Happy national Nurses week to all my fellow warriors out there. You deserve the recognition. Thank you for all that you do.

The #1 trait of a good nurse



What makes a good nurse?


That’s a good question.


Ask most nursing students and they’ll say that it’s the desire to help people. Ask nursing managers and they’ll say that it’s good time management and a commitment to safety. Ask doctors and they’ll say that it’s attention to detail and knowledge of possible complications and side effects of treatments or surgery. Ask patients and they’ll say patience, focus and generosity of spirit.


All of these things are, of course, essential. And all of them miss the one thing that a good nurse needs most—more than a huge bladder, more than titanium feet, more than huge biceps:


A spine.


Nursing is a hard job primarily because the nurse is constantly being pulled between the patient’s needs and the doctor’s needs. Add the fact that we get to coordinate care, and then add the radiology department, food service, the guys from orthopedics, physical and occupational and speech therapy, the patient’s family…and about a zillion more that I’m sure I’ve forgotten. All of those people and services and therapies need to be coordinated in a way that’s best for the patient, while allowing us to do our jobs in an efficient and unhurried (in a perfect world) way.


That’s why you need a spine to be a nurse. Most new nurses don’t come in with spines; they have to grow them as they grow in their profession. As a nurse, you need to be able to put your toes on a line and say “No,” to be able to turn people down, reschedule things or push a recalcitrant MD to take action. That doesn’t mean you need to be combative or difficult to work with. It simply means that you have the guts to make sure that what needs to be done gets done in a timely fashion.


You also need a spine to make sure your patient care is safe and that you’re not getting abused. One of the best things I ever did as a new nurse was simply refuse to care for a patient who’d gotten violent with me, despite the nurse-manager’s insistence that I wasn’t allowed to refuse to take a particular assignment. I grew a spine that day, and it’s been getting stronger ever since.


So: spine. Remember that it takes a good one to have a long career as a nurse. Remember that sometimes it’s really hard to say no, even if that’s the right thing to do in the situation. Remember that being a strong, stubborn, thoughtful nurse doesn’t mean you can’t lean on your coworkers or ask for help. And remember that it’ll grow, whether you’re a new nurse or a nurse in a new situation.



 

Top 7 crazy nursing news items of 2012



Every year, millions of nurses all over the world go about their valuable work without significant incident. Many distinguish themselves with exceptional service and acts of heroism. However…


Remember when you went out with your friends as a teenager and your mother used to say she didn’t want to open the newspaper and read about you the next day? This is the kind of stuff she was talking about—only worse. We’ve picked the top seven to highlight just how crazy nurses can get (nobody you know though, right??) when they go over to the dark side. Make sure you’re sitting down for this one!


1. False Negative

A drug-addicted nurse in Australia is trapped in the web of lies she created to conceal her heroin habit. She claimed her first positive urine test was due to a drink-spiking episode. Then, she somehow accessed and altered the results of a second urine test to show it was negative for cannabis. Now, she faces the consequences of being caught and even harsher penalties for the attempted cover-up. In addition to having her license suspended, she’ll have to pay back more than $10,000 for the Medicaid billing and disability insurance fraud that funded her drug use. She’ll undergo counseling and training as part of her punishment. Let’s hope she can afford to go to rehab as well.


Next: Don’t Lie on Your Résumé →


2. Don’t Lie on Your Résumé

Apparently, you can procure and use illegal drugs, work as a nurse with a suspended license and steal more than 10 grand in Australia and still just get sentenced to counseling. But if you fudge your qualifications on a job application in the UK, you go straight to the slammer. An NHS nurse was sentenced to 15 months behind bars in September for making wildly fictitious CV claims over the seven years he worked as a nurse in Great Britain. Afghan refugee Abdul Pirzada claimed to have worked for the UN and the French Red Cross, as well as having been a registered dentist in Pakistan. Getting the truth out of this guy has been like pulling teeth!


Next: That’s Criminal! →


3. That’s Criminal!

An Arizona nurse working in a correctional institution was suspended in August for potentially exposing more than 100 inmates to hepatitis C. Instead of following basic protocols to prevent contamination, she apparently decided that “reduce, reuse, recycle” would be the best approach. After injecting a hep C positive patient with insulin, she used the same needle to draw more insulin from a new vial to finish dosing the patient. Then, she returned the new vial to the fridge where it was used again and again for other diabetic inmates.


Next: Be My Slave →


4. Be My Slave

In this revolting news story, a nurse practitioner running a family practice in Connecticut was arrested for allegedly trying to lure a 44-year-old patient into become his sex slave. He also tried to convince the woman to hand over her daughters (including an 18-month-old infant) for the same purpose. Of course, she reported him to the police immediately. As a footnote, this guy was also charged with larceny and Medicaid fraud. Whatever charges they end up convicting him on, we hope he goes away for a long, long time. If anyone deserves to get stuck with an infected needle in prison….


Next: Down the Drain →


5. Down the Drain

A transplant patient’s hope for a new kidney was dashed in September when an Ohio nurse flushed the organ down a hopper in a filthy utility room. The nurse apparently thought the bag full of icy, sterile solution was just medical waste. Unfortunately, it contained the viable kidney a brother was attempting to donate to his ill sister. More than one person has lost their job over this massive procedural failure, and the hospital has apologized for the error. If that nurse is a donor match for the patient, maybe she could offer to make things right by forking over a kidney of her own. “Sorry” just doesn’t cut it in some situations.


Next: But I Lurve Him! →


6. But I Lurve Him!

A nurse in New Zealand will have to pay for a supervisor to monitor her at work for 12 months after she was caught having an affair with a patient’s husband. The nurse apparently still sees nothing unethical about the arrangement. She reportedly told the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal that she did not believe her relationship with the man would have affected his wife’s care or rehabilitation. No news on whether or not the wife believed this statement.


Next: It’s Payback Time →


7. It’s Payback Time

A nurse in Australia has been convicted of “borrowing” more than $46,500 from generous-hearted patients starting in 2007. After providing care for terminally or critically ill patients, she would then visit them at their homes to beg for money. She made up sob stories about not being able to keep a roof over her family’s head or a no-good husband who had cleaned out their joint bank account. She asked the patients never to tell anyone about the loans. Unfortunately for her, patient/nurse confidentiality doesn’t work that way. She’s been banned from reapplying for work as a nurse for three years. Now, she really will need a loan to see her through the hard financial times!



 

You know you’re a nursing instructor if…

 


You actually miss your students once they graduate. Who, you? Yes, YOU!


Here are 10 ways you know you’re a nursing instructor (whether you want to admit it or not!).


You know you’re a nursing instructor if…


10. You hear your student state, “WTF?” and you automatically think, “Where’s the furosemide?”


9. You know the acronym “PFI” really stands for “Please Find Intelligence.”


8. You laugh when your nursing student states, “But our coffee break was only 30 minutes!”


7. You would be happy to NEVER correct another nursing care plan again.


6. You are called at 5:00 a.m. by students calling in “late” or “sick” to their clinical.


5. Panicking nursing students call you at home the night before an exam.


4. You know the letters “NCLEX” strike fear in every nursing student.


3. You make your students utter this phrase in your presence: “The Instructor Is ALWAYS Right!”


2. You cry with pride at every pinning ceremony.


1. You miss each and every student, especially the ones you swore you would never miss.