nurse-amanda87 - Tumblr blog

[nurse-amanda87]

Don't try me, I will kick you out of the room. It maybe your mom, but she's my patient today. #visitingisaprivilegenotarite

When your TBI patient’s family keeps over-stimulating them

For the love of God, this will be me if you don’t stop

[nurse-amanda87]

Xray: shows bone/skull only. Does not show the brain. Best used to detect if there are bone fractures. CT: quick test. Shows brain but detail not great. Shows if any larger bleed, stroke, lesions, or masses. MRI: long test. Shows brain and detail is great. Shows smaller bleeds, stroke, lesions, or masses. MRA: shows the flow of blood in the vasculature system of the brain. If there is vessel narrowing or blockage this test would show it. PET scan: shows how active different parts of the brain is. An active brain uses sugar as energy and pet scan detects how much sugar is being used by lighting up and turning different colors. The more sugar being used the more that area will light up and be different in colors. Cancer cells use the most sugar so cancer cells light up the most. PET scan is used to see if there are cancer cells. (Cancer cells replicate at a very fast and uncontrolled rate hence use a lot of sugar to allow that replication hence why they light up so much).

Via Meddy Bear

[nurse-amanda87]

[nurse-amanda87]

Yep

Sleek and seductive.

[nurse-amanda87]

For those who are afraid to become a nurse because they have a weak stomach,

It won’t be the vomit or needles or blood or urine or feces that turns your stomach. You’ll get used to that. You’ll come to accept it’s just part of the job and get to the point where you’re thinking of the 38 different things you have to do while absentmindedly cleaning up a bowel movement.

What will turn your stomach will be 40 shallow breaths a minute in a patient in respiratory distress

A freshly born infant that is limp and blue and hasn’t cried yet

Tripled troponin levels on your sweating and anxious patient as you realize they’re having a heart attack

Feeling cord during a cervical check, then trying to hide from your patient the shaking in your voice as you call for help

The pale skin of a Jehovah’s Witness with a hemoglobin of 4 as she declines a blood transfusion and says goodbye to her family because they haven’t found the source of the bleed and she’s running out of time

A blood alcohol level of .18 on a 4 year old who is barely responsive and being intubated after getting drunk on mouthwash and then hitting his head

An elderly woman in the ICU signing her DNR while her sobbing daughter begs her to reconsider, knowing if treatment is stopped then her mother will die

A child in the pediatric ICU who hasn’t had a visitor in months

Not being able to find the heartbeat on a pregnant mom who hasn’t felt the baby move in a while

In the face of everything else that comes with being a nurse, I promise you’ll get used to the poop.

[nurse-amanda87]

Me, in our med room, trying to find meds that aren’t in short supply/backordered

[nurse-amanda87]

The world’s most detailed scan of the brain’s internal wiring has been produced by scientists at Cardiff University.

Not only does the scan show the direction of the messaging, but also the density of the brain’s wiring. Conventional scans clearly show lesions - areas of damage - in the brain of MS patients.But this advanced scan, showing axonal density, can help explain how the lesions affect motor and cognitive pathways - which can trigger movement problems and extreme fatigue.

Prof Derek Jones, CUBRIC’s director, said it was like getting hold of the Hubble telescope when you’ve been using binoculars. “The promise for researchers is that we can start to look at structure and function together for the first time,” he said.

[nurse-amanda87]

0500 or 1700 I turn into a very tall toddler for about an hour

Me, when that 0400 nurse delirium hits.

By 0500 there’s a sharp increase in “that’s what she said” muttering

[nurse-amanda87]

When that neuro-breath hits you...

[nurse-amanda87]

Saturday morning goals

[nurse-amanda87]

Truth!

Me giving report as a new grad nurse:

Mr. Jones came into this world to a loving family. He was an overachiever from an early age, learning to walk at the tender age of just 8 months old. By 10 months, he was able to verbalize his parents’ names. He spent his formative years studying our nation’s history, mathematics, languages and he was gifted by all accounts…

Me giving report now:

So this dude is like sick as shit. And of course he’s a full code. Any questions?

[nurse-amanda87]

Love the sunlight shinning on Sammie, such a pretty girl!

[nurse-amanda87]

Skin Assessment Hgb Trick

Had a patient last night with a hgb 4.6. The doctor immediately knew his hgb was under 6 when he assessed him using this little trick:

You lose the color in your conjunctiva around a hgb 10.

You lose the pigment color that lines your lips with a hgb less than 8.

You lose the color in the skin creases of your hands with a hgb less than 6.

Not sure how easy this is to assess in a darker skinned patient, but works in lighter skinned folks.

[nurse-amanda87]

When the doc orders 15 labs, an EKG, a bolus, 3 new antibiotics, and two scans and is pissed because all of that wasn’t completed in the past five minutes

Last time I checked I am not an octopus!

[nurse-amanda87]

Trauma nurse crashing an OR tonight. #amazing #nurselife #sawabeatingheart

[nurse-amanda87]

Time to wake up and feed me

[nurse-amanda87]

Oh you want to sleep after working 12 hours... why don't you enjoy some kneading of the sternum, purring, meowing and head butts instead. #sammiethecat #nofilter #pleaseletmesleep #okayyouwin #catlife