Nurse Ratched’s Place

The national election is just around the corner and so is the next edition of Grand Rounds. I’m serving as the election day host of Grand Rounds on November 4th. Uncle Sam and I want you to start sending in your submissions, so please send them to motherjonesrn AT yahoo DOT com. Deadline for submissions is November 2nd. Do it now, and don’t forget to vote on November 4th for the candidate of your choice. Make your uncle proud.

(Warning: This is a rant. I don’t hate all doctors. Just the ones who walk around with their heads up their butt.)

Wow, look at this doctor. He looks full of himself. I hoped he likes eating crow.

I’ve met a few doctors over my thirty-year career that need to learn some manners, especially when it comes to dealing with nurses. Most of these doctors treat nurses like appliances, but once in a while you meet one who treats nurses with outright contempt. Fortunately the universe has a way of putting pigheaded doctors in their place.

Karma is a nurse’s best friend, and doctors who treat nurses badly will eventually end up dealing with Karma’s wrath. This usually takes the form of the big, “Oh my God, the nurse was right and now I look really stupid” moment. These moments happen frequently when doctors don’t listen to nurses and we will stand in line at the nurses station just to watch the doctor squirm. Note to pompous doctors: Nurses are with your patients around the clock, so it behooves you to listen to what we are saying. Swallow your pride and suck it up. I know my colleagues and I are “just nurses,” but we’re there to keep your patients safe, and in the process, we cover your butt and keep you from getting sued. And while we’re on the subject, I also want to invite doctors who come from countries who don’t respect women in the first place to became more Americanized when dealing with nurses in the workplace. Seriously people, I’m really tired of being treated like trash because you view women as second-class citizens.

Remember, nurses hold grudges and we have long memories. We also know many ways of serving you crow the next time you walk into the nurses station.

Meet Nurse Weir. Notice her title. She’s was a nursing instructress at the Capitol City School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. This picture was published in 1933. I’m sure that Nurse Weir did a bang up job getting her students ready to answer State Board questions. Do you think that you could have passed the boards? Find out by trying to answer a couple of questions. These questions came out of a book called State Board Questions and Answers For Nurses. It was written by John A. Foote, M.D. and published in 1929.

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Give common names for the following: oleum ricini, tincture opii camphorata, oleum terebinthinae, hydrargyri chloridum mite, spiritus frumenti, spiritus vini gallici.

The common name of oleum ricini is castor oil.
The common name of tinctura opii camphorata is paregoric.
The common name for oleum terebinthinae is oil of turpentine.
The common name of hydrargyri chloridum mite is calomel.
The common name of spiritus frumenti is whiskey.
The common name of spiritus vini gallici is brandy.

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Cephaelis ipecacuanha

Name five emetics; five alteratives.
Mustard, sodium chloride, apomorphine, ipecac, and sulphate of copper are emetics.

Potassium iodide, mercury protoiodide, colchicum seed, sarsaparilla, and arsenous acid are alternatives.

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How are you doing so far? Hmmm… that’s what I thought. I’ll give you one more chance to pass the boards.

On whom does unprofessional conduct reflect most, the nurse or her profession?

Improper or unethical conduct in matters concerned with the nurse’s work reflects more unfavorable upon the ideals of the nursing profession than upon the standing of the individual nurse. (Don’t you just love the concept of collective guilt?)

So how did you do? I bet you’re feeling kind of stupid right now aren’t you? Don’t worry. Nurse Weir and I will give you a chance to redeem yourself some other time by giving you another shot at passing your boards. Nurse Weir loves giving tests and her study guide is packed with questions. Better luck next time.

I work with a very nice lady who is a diehard Republican. I call her Betsy Ross. Betsy is adorable and she is one of my best friends. Betsy knows that I’m a liberal and I know that she’s a conservative, and that’s just the way it is. We’ve never let politics get in the way of our friendship.

I walked onto the unit yesterday at change of shift and found Betsy sitting at the nurses station. She looked up and said that she needed to speak to me. I put down my handbag and asked her what she needed. Betsy meekly smiled and said that she was voting for Obama. Not that she really likes him mind you, but that she couldn’t vote for McCain after Colin Powell endorsed Obama. She said that Colin Powell is a man of principle, and if Obama is good enough for him, he’s good enough for her, too. She added that she didn’t agree with Rush Limbaugh’s statement that Powell’s decision to endorse Obama was based on race. I pinched myself. Betsy Ross is endorsing Barack Obama.

McCain is screwed.

I’ll really miss SNL’s great skits when this year’s election season is over.

Welcome to Change of Shift. Nursing school is hard work. We all had our good days and our bad days, but we somehow made it through nursing school despite our bad hair days. Check out this picture. That’s me taking care of Snoopy back in 1977. Thank God I had my cap to cover that hideous perm! I got this picture out of my school yearbook. Pictures from yearbooks can do a couple of things.  They can come back to haunt us as well as teach us about the history of the nursing profession. The following photographs come from yearbooks from my personal collection. Come join me for Be True to Your School Week at Change of Shift.

 

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My goodness, check out those bones! These nursing students look intense, and they are praying that they don’t bomb their next anatomy and physiology exam. Trust me, I know what they are thinking. Nursing students are notorious for cramming the night before a test with their classmates just so they can get a passing grade in the class. Classroom work in nursing school is no walk in the park. Have you ever wondered why nurses work their butts off to get through nursing school and then quit the profession? Jennifer from Online Nursing Degrees explains some of the reasons why nurses are jumping ship and leaving the profession. I encourage you to read her in-depth discussion about why nurses are still being underpaid. And if you are still confused about who is saying what about health care in the upcoming election, I invite you to read Jennifer’s post that strips away the Democrat/Republican rhetoric. This is really important stuff. November 4th is just around the corner so read her post right now!

 
 Nursing students learn all kind of skills when they are in nursing school. Meet Nurse Autoclave. She taught nursing students everything that they needed to know about working in central supply. I know it seems pretty amazing now, but nurses use to perform all types of nursing duties before techs made their way into hospitals. Somehow I bet there were a lot of nursing students who wondered why they had to learn how to use a stupid autoclave. After all, they had their hearts set on working in another nursing specialty. NurseExec from It’s a Skilled Nursing Thing knows exactly how those student nurses felt. Read her post about what she learned in nursing school. Feel free to leave her a comment on her blog and tell her that she’s not a twit.

Nursing school instructors cringe when they hear the phrase, “I’m just a nurse.” Back when I was in school, it didn’t matter whether a nurse ran the hospital autoclave or worked in ICU. Everyone understood that we all played a vital role in patient care, and we took great pride in the nursing profession. Kim from Emergiblog isn’t a fan of the phrase either. Read her post and decide whether you are just a nurse.

Look at these fun loving student nurses from 1978. This group really knew how to work together as a team. Nurses and other health care professionals are team members when it comes to patient care. We all help our patients in different ways, each according to his or her own discipline. Sometimes however, teamwork is kicked to the curb when squabbles breakout among team members. Nurses are often their own worst enemies. Miss-elaine-ious from Miss-elaine-ious RN remembers some rather unprofessional behavior that she witnessed when she was in nursing school. She wants to know why can’t everyone just get along.

It not only takes teamwork to get through nursing school, it takes persistence, too. Robert Fraser from Nursing Ideas knows about failure and persistence. He’s a nursing student and newcomer to the nursing blogosphere who is producing some very amazing videos. Welcome to Change of Shift, Robert!

Brad Levinson from Healthcare United knows that it’s going to take teamwork within the health care community in order to change our country’s failing healthcare system. Last week Healthcare United sent an e-mail urging members to submit questions to Steve Chaggaris, the Political Director of CBS News for the Oct. 15th Presidential Debate. Find out what nurses and other health care professionals want to ask the next president of the United States.

Keith from Digital Doorway sent in a post about the irony of mental health parity. It took a lot of teamwork over the years to push this important bill through Congress. Keith wants to keep the ball rolling by helping everyone in the world get the mental health care that they deserve. Thank you Keith for promoting this great cause.

 
 

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Nursing students learn that a nurse’s work is never done. They also learn that it’s the paperwork that keeps us from ever completing our work. I bet this nurse had writer’s cramp by the end of her shift. ER Murse isn’t crazy about paperwork, but he doesn’t mind filling out some forms that will keep drug abusers from invading his hospital’s ER. He writes that California is cracking down on rampant prescription drug fraud, including the top fifty abusers who average more than 100 doctor and pharmacy visits to collect massive quantities of addictive drugs like Valium, Vicodin, and Oxycontin. Go get em’ ER Murse!

  I wonder if this old time nurse is looking over an incident report. Nurses hate filling out incident reports, especially when a patient falls down in the hospital. Medicare rules refer to a fall as a “never event.” Dr Val Jones from Getting Better with Dr. Val calls them a fact of life. Dr. Val wants to know if Medicare rules are going to force us to start putting patients in straight jacket? Read her post.

 

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Check out the student nurse that’s diving into the swimming pool. Love the bathing suit! When this drawing was produced back in 1937, student nurses were taught that everyone needed a balanced life. All work and no play makes for nursing burnout. Poor little Ward Bunny from WardBunny’s Coffee Break is very stressed out. She writes that nursing school isn’t warm and fuzzy, it’s more like a cold hard surface. Sounds like she could use a break. Hopefully things will look up for her soon.

  Max E Nurse from It Shouldn’t Happen In Health Care thinks that he might be working too hard. He decided it was time to go on a family vacation when his three year old daughter started talking like a nurse. Read about a busman’s holiday.

Mofo from Nerdy (not quite) Nurse said that she’s finely making time to blog because she’s in the midst of some procrastination. She doesn’t feel like doing anything this semester. Sometimes kicking back is a good thing. Keep on blogging!

Caroline from Brain Scramble has had a couple of very stressful weeks.  She just lost one of her patients and she writes about it in a series of four posts.  Here’s the first post in her series.

 

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I call this picture, “The Iron Maidens.” I worked with these type of nurses when I was in nursing school, and I can tell you from experience, old time nursing supervisors were tough. They don’t make them like they use to. Strong One from My Strong Medicine writes that times are changing. So true! Also read his post, The Top Ten Reasons to go to Nursing School.

 Iron Maidens may have been tough, but they were fair. They also praised nursing students when they did a good job. Nurse Kathy from Nurse Connect agrees. She writes that a little recognition goes a long way. Iron Maidens nurtured nursing students and didn’t eat their young.

Sometimes nurses would do something that would make an old Iron Maiden laugh. Iron Maidens were stern, but they liked to have a good time just like everyone else. Running Wildly made everyone laugh when she suffered from a hysterical case of foot in mouth syndrome. These old gals would of popped out of their corsets with laughter.

 

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This student nurse is applying hot packs to her patient’s back. I bet they felt pretty good. Too bad about the patient gown. I’m sure that the patient would have been more comfortable in something else. Nurse Laura from Nurse Connect thinks that patient gowns are frumpy. I think that she is too kind. Patient gowns remind me of the movie title “Gone with the Wind.” They flap open in the wind, and your dignity is gone the minute you put it on.

 

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The class of 1934 and I want to thank you for stopping by Change of Shift. The next Change of Shift will be on October 30th at This Crazy Miracle Called *Life*. And as always, remember to be true to your school!

I hate making Kim from Emergiblog envious, but I had a great time at BlogHer DC. Kim told me that she was jealous, but that’s OK. She’s going on her own big adventure and I’m sure that she will be telling us about it soon.

BlogHer DC was held on October 13th at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, Maryland, and it was a fantastic experience. You could just feel the energy in the room. Just imagine a ballroom full of women united in their love of blogging. The best part of going to BlogHer was getting to meet up with my blog buddies. Here’s a picture of Beth Anderson AKA PixelRn with Dr. Val Jones from Getting Better with Dr. Val. I also got to hangout with my good friends Pam Meredith and Misty Turner from Nursing Spectrum magazine, and Rob Halper and Marc Monseau from Johnson and Johnson.

There’s one other thing that I’ll never forget about BlogHer DC. I got to meet a woman who made $1000 in one month on her blog. Here’s how she did it. She told her readers that she can read palms. No I’m not kidding. Readers sent her an image of their palm along with a very large check. I guess that there really is a sucker born every minute.

See you next year at BlogHer!

Everyone is talking about the upcoming edition of Be True to Your School Week at Change of Shift. The class of 1964 is very excited and they are hoping that you send in a post. Deadline for submissions is October 14th. Don’t wait! Send in your submission to motherjonesrn AT yahoo DOT com.

Good news! Dr. Val Jones isn’t homeless anymore. If you didn’t know, Dr. Val has been roaming around the blogosphere as a guest blogger, but her traveling days are over. Dr. Val has just launched a new website called Getting Better with Dr. Val. Her blog is full of useful and practical information about how to stay healthy. She is also a cartoonist and I especially love looking at her cartoons. Please stop by and check out her new home. Housewarming gifts are not required.

The patients are with me.
I shall not want.
I maketh them to lie down in warm blankets.
I feedeth them thru glass tubes.
I restoreth them to health.
I leadeth them up and down the halls for their health’s sake.
Yea tho I sit there all alone on night duty
I fear no evil for my patients are with me.
I washeth the patients feet.
Surely medicines and groans shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in my uniform forever. Amen.