NursesPTO Making our time off, pay off.

The NursesPTO crew

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Nurse or pencil pusher?

by under Nursing

So when did nursing get to be a job where 90% of what you do everyday consists of filling out 20 different forms documenting the care you are supposed to provide? Of course that is if you have time after all that writing. Why is it that nursing is not nursing anymore? Why can’t we CARE for patients instead of just checking off checkboxes that say what we would do if we had time to get into our patients’ rooms? I understand documenting to a certain extent…. Read More

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Pissed off nurse.

by under Nursing

Ok, you are catching me in a bad mood today! All of this healthcare reform talk has got my feathers puffed up like a crazy rooster about to attack (except for the fact that roosters are male and I’m not but, you get the point). All I keep hearing over and over is how nobody can afford insurance and how the government is going to cut costs out of Medicare and make healthcare affordable for all. Read More

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What makes you happy?

by under Life

My husband brought up an interesting point…(I know, what a crazy way to start this post!) Anyway, he was asking what will make us happy? When will we finally be happy? Well, I thought we were kind of happy already….but I got his meaning. We are both so busy trying to get to the next thing…whether that is school, work or something we want to buy. What will finally be enough? Read More

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Nurses intuition.

by under Nursing

This post is more of a question to you, the readers, than it is a definitive statement.  My question is this: what is a nurse to do when there’s a conflict between her clinical suspicion and a doctor’s orders?

I vividly remember an incident that occurred on a surgical floor when I first started in practice.  A nurse I’d gotten to know (over shared cups of coffee while charting) was clearly distressed about something.  When I asked her what was wrong, she reluctantly relayed the following situation:

A patient had been admitted to the floor to a surgeon with a diagnosis of abdominal pain.  Read More

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Why we all need a financial planner.

by under Finances

I am the first person to admit that while I can cut into your chest and crossclamp your aorta within about 2 minutes, I cannot balance a checkbook.  I make a mean souffle, but my eyes cross whenever I try to enter even a month’s worth of expenditures into Quicken.  Since I plan on toddling into the nursing home in $800 Louboutin 5 inch heels, I had to admit my weaknesses and seek expert financial advice.

While my husband and I were still surgery residents, we first started visiting with a certified financial planner.  Now keep in mind that in our last year of training, our net worth was somewhere around negative $350,000 since our school loans/car payments/credit card debts far outweighed our meager assets which consisted of….. a lot of used scrubs and some drier lint.  To say I was skeptical about our need to see someone who might pee their pants looking at our bank statements….. you get the picture.

But it turns out that it was one of the best things we ever did.  They helped us set up accounts for important – future- life events such as a college fund (now funds with the addition of daughter #2), retirement planning, investment accounts and a debt paydown strategy which allowed us to eek away at the monster loans while still going out to dinner occasionally.  Now all of these accounts started out with only meager initial contributions, but those little seeds grew over time.  Granted, they got squashed like bugs on a windshield when the markets collapsed a year ago, but they’re now once again worth more than we’ve put in, which cushions us for the future.  And most financial planners charge little for initial consultations or offer them for free.

If I had stuck with my pitiful financial sense and my Scarlett O’Hara-esque sense of “tomorrow’s another day” then I’d likely be shuffling into SunnyShades Retirement on a pair of Payless bargain rack specials instead of plugged into some Jimmy Choos.  So let me please recommend seeking out a certified financial planner (the “certified” part is important – you don’t want somebody’s smelly aunt Franny who claims to be an expert, but got her “degree” from a Bazooka bubble gum wrapper) to help you set up a goal and devise strategies for getting there.  We chose a firm recommended to us by a friend with expertise in advising health care professionals because that was a good fit for us.

A good financial planner will fit your needs.  For those of you starting a new family, I recommend Vita Vie financial planning.  They specialize in helping young families plan their financial future.  I couldn’t say it any better than Kristin Harad, their founder, so check them out at their video link Certified financial planner.

Remember, it’s all about the shoes!

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“My mom is a nurse, she can fix anything”

by under Life

I got the biggest compliment of my life the other day. My little boy who is 10, was playing with his neighborhood friend who crashed his bike. In they come, neighbor kid with a bloody knee and a nice case of road rash. My little boy looked at his friend and smiled then said “My mom is a nurse, she can fix anything.”  I giggled, knowing good and well I wish I could fix anything. We got the injured knee all washed, cleaned and bandaged and out the door they flew only to take on the days challenges that were left.

My little boy was so sincere when he was talking to his friend. It really made me stop and think how wonderful children are and how they look up to us for so many things. It by no means had to do with the fact that I’m a nurse he feels that way, he also feels that way about his dad who is a laborer. It’s the fact that he looks up to us all for guidance and has every ounce of confidence we as parents and step parents can “fix anything”. His dad has taught him so many things, the man literally can fix anything.

Even though we are divorced we are fortunate to have put are children first. I’m by no means saying we haven’t had our knock down drag outs, but we did the best we could.   We are both now with other people so my crew of 2 kids turned into 4. His crew of 2 turned into 5. Our children are so lucky to have step parents that love them like their own. Now being the proud mom/step mom of four, the laundry load has certainly increased but, I love every minute of it!

I know this has nothing officially to do with being a nurse but, I just wanted to share with you the biggest compliment of my life. Sometimes it’s nice just to slow down, take a look around and truly appreciate what God has bestowed upon you.

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When the patient is Houdini, it’s not my fault.

by under Nursing

Most of us have been in the situation where things happen beyond our control. Well….when a patient gets the bright idea to rip out some tube or line or other very important and most often not easily reinserted piece of medical equipment….who gets the blame most often? NURSES. Now, I really do not find this to be fair. While we are the ones that are responsible for those that we care for, we cannot be at the patient’s bedside at all times. We have meds to gather, physicians to round with, charting to do, and yes every now and then we have to use the restroom or eat. Though I can say that there have been days I have not entered the bathroom door at work and I was lucky to shove in a bite or two of whatever happened to be lying on the break room table for lunch. Most of us have more than one patient as well which makes it impossible to watch each one at all times.

Anyway I say all of this because we as nurses get blamed for crazy patients pulling out their chest tubes, central lines, endotracheal tubes, and yes even ventriculostomy drains….NO nurse wants to make that call to the neurosurgeon and tell him such news. I have seen nurses in tears over this. I realize that taking a patient back to the OR on a Sunday afternoon is not fun, but it truly isn’t always OUR fault that these things happen. Most often it is that the patient is not sedated enough (per your orders), has Houdini powers and managed to wiggle out of restraints, or had been perfectly with it until they started seeing the bugs on the ceiling and decided to rip out that chest tube to use as a weapon….It really wasn’t my fault….I’m just sayin…

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