there is hope for nursing yet

Nurses are bad at standing up for themselves. Why is that? Is it because we were taught to be good little boys and girls who always behave? Is it because deep down inside we don't think we deserve any better? Is it because it's a way of taking care of other people, not wanting to make them feel bad, even if they shit on us? After all, we are caretakers to the bottom of our souls.

We are professionals with college degrees who do a complex job that requires skill and brains.  Yet we are often treated like children by our administrators,  stupid servants by doctors and bad mothers by patients and their families.

We as a profession, ALLOW ourselves to be treated this way. It drives me absolutely INSANE.  I have told mysef, too many times to count, that I was not cut out to be a nurse.  I am a fighter, a rebel, outspoken.  I don't fit in with the profession. Never will.

All of this seems depressing, yeah? Don't despair my little flower blossom. Alas, every once in a while, we, the nurses, stand up for ourselves. We actually say -ENOUGH!

I am part of one of those *ENOUGH* moments right now. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

What is left behin

Jessica Gray wears the shirt of her late husband, Army Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray. He was killed in Iraq in 2007.

***from CNN

E coli as enemy combatant

Here comes news that there is a super freak e coli strain that has now arrived in the United states.  It is apparently considered an enemy combatant  because it's arrival was announced by the department of defense.  This is a super bug that doesn't respond to ANY antibiotic.  It kills 50% of the people who get it.

What this brings to mind is the sepsis extravaganza that is going on every hospital
in this country.  If you have a temp of 99 and a pulse of 101 you are a possible sepsis.

If your labs are off - OMG!!!!!!- you get the triple whammy .  Ceftriaxone, Flagyl, Vancomycin for you. There will be no germ left in your body dammit!!

This is only the beginning of a long line of resistant organisms.  It's a science fiction movie come true.

Cowardly chicken hawk donald trump dodged draft

Chickenhawk (also chicken hawk and chicken-hawk) is a political term used in the United States to describe a person who strongly supports war or other military action (i.e., a war hawk), yet who actively avoids or avoided military service when of age.

I am a veteran. So naturally I have STRONG feelings about veteran issues. I cannot stand people who use veterans (or even veterans who use their military service) for personal gain or attention.  To see one of the presidential candidates crow about being the greatest supporter of the military that ever lived sickens me. When they sponsor a fundraising event using veterans for political gain and lie about the results - where and to whom the money went, it enrages me.  Guess who I'm talking about? Yeah, that fucking idiot donald trump, a man who after 4 deferments,  wasn' t drafted due to " bonespurs" in his foot. Poster boy for being a chicken hawk.

Even the lowly UA has become complicated

UAs. So easy. So routine. One of the easiest things I do as an ER nurse. Used to be anyway....

Now even the lowly UA has become complicated. Instead of taking the UA cup , labeling it and sending it off, now they have added steps.  You, my dears, the UA cup is no longer just a UA cup. It has become a complex specimen creating contraption.

Allow me to elaborate: Your friendly neighborhood urine cup now has a hollow tube in the middle. On the top of the container is a a needle with rubber over it.  Said urine cup comes with two specimen blood type tube with the usual rubber stopper. Once you get the specimen you have to put the tube on the needle and it fills the tube with urine all spiffy like. You send the tube to lab, not the specimen cup. The specimen cup is thrown in a waste basket with all the other urine specimen cups. For some reason the urine is not emptied out before being tossed. Apparently there is a gnome in the basement whose job it is to empty all the urine down the sewer....

My thoughts about all of this: just shoot me now.