Today's Letters {Nursing Edition}

Dear Kam, last night you brought me "shower cookies." Only my true love would know how much I love eating Thin Mints while washing the day's C.diff & other people's stool from my skin!

Dear patient with end-stage ALS, your sense of humor astounds me. Although you can't talk & can't move, you still found countless ways to make fun of me during my shift. I am inspired to be a more positive person. Thank you.

Dear stethoscope, I am still learning how to use you, and I think you are playing tricks on me. Either way, you make me look like a fool when trying to listen to the lung sounds of my patients. Please stop changing the way you go into my ears.

Dear 10-hour-shifts, why do you exist? Why do you call yourself 10-hours, when it is actually 10.5? Why not just be 12 hours and get it over with? I was intrigued by you before, but now I find you annoying.

Dear Mr. Toews (who gets two letters), thank you for volunteering to sleep in our walk-in closet on nights I have to wake up early. Your dedication to making my shifts the best they can be is amazing. [just know you never have to sleep in the closet]

+The idea for this post came from one of my favorite blogs called Today's Letters+

+Check it out+

Smart Enough to be a Doctor

I started my undergrad degree as a biology major planning on going to medical school. It wasn't until the beginning of my Junior year that I decided to switch to nursing. While some people may wonder if my grades were not good enough to get into medical school, I just laugh to myself.  It was a four year nursing program --- I did it in three.

Become a Nurse

How the times have changed...

• Train online through a correspondence course
• $18-$30 weekly
• Entire tuition earned in a few weeks 

I would like to pay off my student loans in a few weeks.

I am glad I make more than $30/week.

I wish we still wore those silly hats. 

Patient Relationship

(originally posted here)

There is one little girl from my old job who loves to throw temper tantrums. Who can count how many tantrums she throws a day. They usually happen when things don't go her way (duh, like every toddler) and/or during rest time - she refuses to lay down for a nap. I got to hang out with this girl twice at work the other day, and surprisingly to us all, she did not throw any temper tantrums in my presence. That made me feel very good.

The first time was during a fire drill. She did not know that the fire drill was going to happen and was confused when we told her to get her shoes & coat on. "Are we going to the park?" "Do we get to go to the store?" We just told her to be patient and she will find out soon. As we walked outside with the alarm wailing, Her questions kept coming. I was waiting for a full blow-out when we got to the "safe place" and waited to go back inside. Instead she just followed her friends, held my hand, and we were back in her class before we knew it.

The second time was during rest time. Like I said before, this girl refuses to rest and will throw a fit for 1.5 until rest time is over. Usually her teacher will sit in a quiet room with her and play until everyone wakes up. On this day, her teacher was gone, so she was brought into my office to hang out. Mind you... there are no toys, books, or any fun things. There is a computer with no sound, a weighing scale, and bandaids. So what did we do for an hour and a half? Well, we chatted. And that is basically it. I brought out my notebook and a purple pen, and she scribbled for a bit. We talked about our favorite colors. Then for most of the time together we did a Google image search of Van Gogh's A Starry Night. -- her favorite thing ever, besides purple butterflies. I printed off a picture  and cut out the "Van Gogh tree" and she played with that for the rest of the afternoon. Showed it to all the teachers & staff and never let it out of her hand.

The whole staff seemed very surprised at her behavior that day. I guess she just grew attached to me, felt safe, and didn't need to tantrum at all. It felt really good to have that affect on her. It is nice to know that I am making a difference at work.

Daily Journaling

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In nursing school, like most nursing programs, I was required to do reflections after each clinical experience. I want to carry on this practice to my nursing career. I have already been journaling weekly in a special journal meant just for RN-related thoughts, feelings, and experiences. If your are an RN or a student, I highly suggest this practice.

The picture below is available for you to use. Print it out. Carry it in your scrubs. Use as a bookmark in your own nurse journal. Please, if you use it, tell your friends where you got it from. Share the love.

Head Lice

(source)

During my last week at work in Jersey, a girl came into my office with head lice. I was not prepared for that. Granted there was a lice outbreak my last semester in the dorms in nursing school... I tried not to have anything to do with it in order to keep myself clean. Being the appointed "school nurse" for the kids, that was not an option this time. 

While I was putting vaseline on a boy with very chapped, cracked lips, a teacher brought in a girl with possible head lice. Yikes! The teacher started spelling all sorts of words as not to scare the kids, but I was in no place to comprehend the spelling and deal with head lice at the same time. Kinda stressful. Anyway. The girl's sister and cousin were also brought in because they were very likely to have lice as well. I start searching through their hair, assessing, picking out little bugs, when the school secretary barges in the room, and without gloves, digs through their hair telling me that there are not lice in there. Hmm... then what are these bugs I keep removing? But she insists nothing is there bug dandruff, until "SCREAM! There are lice in her hair!" Yes... that is why we have her in here. Then she runs out of the room, leaving me in my tiny little office with three little kids, one with lice, and no toys or ways to keep them entertained. So my office gets torn apart, the weighing scale gets jumped on, and papers fly all over the place. Finally someone thinks it is a good idea to bring in crayons and color pages. After awhile the kids; ride comes to take them home. 

When I got home, I stripped to my skinnies, threw my clothes in the washer, and took a steamy hot shower. ... I still felt itchy for the rest of the week. 

I did some research on head lice. Here you go. Learn lots!

(source)

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Here is a handout about head lice for School Nurses (like me!)

NJ RN Application Process

(I made this.)

I have lived in New Jersey now for 3.5 months. Do I have an NJ nursing license yet? Umm.. No. Have I submitted my license application? Yes. Almost three months ago. This state is crazy when it comes to licensing. I am originally licensed in a different state. After passing my NCLEX, I had a license the next day. What a difference now! Who else knows where I am coming from?

Day # 1- sent in the 19 page application

waited. 
waited. waited.
waited. waited. waited.

Day # 14 - emailed the BON of NJ asking about progress. No reply.
Day # 17 - telephoned the BON of NJ asking about progress. "It takes about 30 business days to process an application from when we receive it in the mail. Call back in two weeks."
Day # 31 - telephoned again, "Sorry, we don't have you in our system yet. Call back in a few days."

Then Hurricane Sandy happened.

Day # 55 - email & telephone asking about progress... no reply.
Day # 57 - notice the check from my application fee was deposited.
Day # 60 - receive letter from BON of NJ with info about getting fingerprinted for the background check.
Day # 64 - get fingerprinted for the background check, lady tells me "You will receive your license in the mail 3 weeks from today"

Day #74 - decide living in NJ is not working out (unrelated to the licensing process) & move back to the state I am already licensed in.

Still waiting for the NJ license.

So much for that process.